Best of Your Love

Best of Your Love
File photo
Rabbi Stephanie Aaron

I love this town—and I am going to miss celebrating it in our most anticipated issue of the year, Best of Tucson®. But this is my penultimate issue as TW’s editor as I prepare to follow my bliss to new horizons, so I won’t be here to oversee our annual love letter to the businesses that make Tucson such a great place to live—our museums, our galleries, our theaters, our restaurants, our cafés, our bars, our bands, our playgrounds and, most especially, all of our people who make all those places so doggone great. But we can’t do it unless you share the best of your love. Voting starts at TucsonWeekly.com on Friday, July 1, and continues through Aug. 20, so you have plenty of time to cast a ballot, but don’t miss your chance to be part of this year’s BOT, hitting stands on Oct. 20.

In our feature story this week, Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Smith profiles Stephanie Aaron, a free-spirited Rabbi who came to the Jewish faith in her teen years. She’s a remarkable woman who officiated at the wedding of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly and who also aided in Gabby’s recovery from the 2011 mass shooting at Congress on Your Corner. As we were going to press, Aaron lost her stepson. Our condolences to her.

Elsewhere in the book this week: Columnist Tom Danehy wonders if state lawmakers will ever stop trying to dismantle public education in Arizona; arts writer Margaret Regan reviews the annual celebration of women at downtown’s Raices Taller Gallery’s Mujeres Mujeres Mujeres show; Laughing Stock columnist Linda Ray looks at two new comedy showcases in downtown Tucson and up in Catalina; calendar editor Emily Dieckman shares where to have a good time (often after the sun goes down); XOXO columnist Xavier Omar Otero finds some sweaty rock ’n’ in the sweet summer sun; and Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott looks at the collapse of a major cannabis bill that just couldn’t get sparked in the last days of the session. Plus, we have Our Best Friend, a special session highlighting all the love we have for our pets. Staff reporter Nicole Feltman introduces you to a retiree who discovered a hidden talent for sketching all creatures, great and small, while staff reporter Katya Mendoza profiles the people behind a nonprofit that aims to make service dogs more affordable for veterans with PTSD and other challenges.

Love to you all!

Jim Nintzel

Executive Editor