Thursday 27
NO CLEAN MONEY. If you're a cynic, you already assume there's no investment fund squeaky clean enough to ethically dump your extra cash into. But that doesn't mean you can't learn more from those who are trying to be socially responsible when it comes to financial strategies.
Building a Bridge Between Money and Values is a seminar exploring green investing. Last year's event addressed concerns from those who were worried about stock market crashes, as well as the lack of ethics of some prominent CEOs. (Funny, we're not hearing so much about the guys from Enron, WorldCom and Tyco these days.) This year, the focus continues in the same vein, with investors wondering how to better scrutinize those who play with their money.
The seminar takes place on two days this week--tonight at 7 p.m. and again on Saturday at 2 p.m.--and features three financial advisors. Hal Brill, author of Investing With Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference, presents compelling evidence that values-inclusive investors can actually outperform the market and be a force for social change. Bob Helmuth, an advisor with Pax World Funds, talks about the history of social screening from its origins in the Vietnam-era peace movements. And Tom Moser, an advisor with First Affirmative Financial Network, talks about the power of shareholder resolutions and community investing.
The discussion takes place at Bookman's, located at 6230 E. Speedway Blvd. It's free but seating is limited. For questions, call 514-6025.
Friday 28
JUNGLE DANCE. The idea for creating a new dance work based on the Ecuadorian Amazon came to its creators, Anne Bunker and Chuck Koesters, during a trip to one of the most remote lodges in Ecuador. While there, the pair was overwhelmed with the beauty and mystery of the jungle.
They met people who only became aware of the "outside world" a couple of decades ago. From this dichotomy of interior and exterior, the duo created Embracing the Moment.
Bunker and Koesters, along with Orts Theater of Dance, present an evening of modern and aerial dance, original music and video projection. The newest work, Mayatin is a multi-media performance whose name means "breath"--an appropriate word as the company learned that the Amazon Basin literally serves as the lungs of the planet. Orts dancers shape-shift from human to plant to animal forms as they attempt to integrate movements, music and video images and sounds--some of which are gleaned directly from the jungle.
Several other pieces round out the evening including Mercurial Origins, St. Teresa and Everlast. The shows get started at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at The Center for the Arts Proscenium Theater at Pima's West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Tickets cost $10 and $12 in advance or $12 and $14 the day of the show. Call 624-3799 for all the details.
Saturday 1
SWEET AND GOOD FOR YOU. It seems a contradiction when somebody orders a sugary sweet hunk of cake and then asks for a packet of artificial sweetener to put in their coffee.
Despite the confusion, Choc-A-Lot hosts its first annual Sugar-Free Chocolate Festival. Perhaps you had more than your fair share of Valentine's hearts or you have dietary restrictions that make sugar a no-no. Come try the safely sweetened treats from 2 to 7 p.m. today at the store located at 6350 E. Broadway Blvd. at Wilmot Road. Fellow El Mercado merchants offer other appetizers plus prize drawings for chocolates and gift certificates. Sugar-free chocolate samples abound.
For information, call 748-8889.
A LITTLE EARLY. Fat Tuesday is three days away, but you can get started on your Mardi Gras partying tonight.
This year's El Casino fest features the pride of Lake Charles--Lil' Malcolm and the Zydeco Houserockers. Our own local Hurricane Carla and her dance band kick off what is certain to be a rousing concert.
Lil' Malcolm plays a bluesy, funky style of zydeco. Along with rubboard player John Weatherwall, Malcolm likes to hover over the edge of the stage doing Motown-style synchronized routines. Don't be surprised if you get pulled onto the stage to dance and play with the band, which also includes Malcolm's dad, Percy Walker, Sr., on guitar; his brother Percy, Jr., on drums; and Classie Ballou, Jr., on bass. This musical family (and friend) likes to keep things pure--it's solid zydeco only.
The show is a KXCI benefit. Stop by at 7 p.m. when the doors open for Louisiana dinners cooked up by The French Quarter. Hurricane Carla starts tootin' on her sax at 8 p.m. Bring your dancing shoes down to the ballroom located at 427 E. 26th St. at the corner of Second Avenue. Tickets cost $12 for KXCI members or $16 for everyone else at Antigone Books, CD City, Reader's Oasis and at KXCI. Order tickets at 623-1000 or go online to www.kxci.org. If you wait until tonight, it'll cost $3 more at the door.
Get your tickets early. It sold out last year.
VICTORIOUS, NOT VICTIMIZED. When playwright and feminist Eve Ensler penned her show, The Vagina Monologues, she must have known that it would touch audiences deeply.
Out of the heartfelt honesty and humor that make up the vignettes--exploring women's power over their body image issues, their shyness towards talking openly about sex, their coming to terms with violent relationships--comes V-Day.
It's now a global movement to stop violence against women by using creative productions to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. It also helps to nurture innovative programs to stop the violence. The V-Day College Campaign comes to Tucson this weekend (notice its proximity to Valentine's Day) with three performances of The Vagina Monologues. The students run the shows and the V-Day events. Performances start at 8 p.m. on Friday, tonight and tomorrow at the Social Sciences Building in Room 100, located several buildings east of Main Gate at University Boulevard and Park Avenue. Tickets cost $8. Reserve them online at [email protected].
Sunday 2
AN ONGOING DISCUSSION. Today marks your last chance to see the voluminous collection of work in the exhibit at the Center for Creative Photography.
Americanos: Latino Life in the United States has traveled across the country with its 120 photographs featuring the work of 30 of the nation's top photojournalists including Alexis Rodriguez Duarte, Genaro Molina, Rita Rivera and Tucsonan Jose Galvez. To bid the show farewell are five people whose own scholarly or activist work focuses on the public portrayal of Latinos.
Today's panel discussion starts at 2 p.m. and goes to 4:30 p.m. Panelists include Arturo Gonzales and Gregory Rodriguez of the UA's Mexican American Studies and Research Center, Sandra Soto of the Department of Women's Studies, Javier Duran of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Isabel Garcia of the Pima County Legal Defender's Office and co-chair of Derechos Humanos. Together, they'll talk about racial profiling, presentations of the U.S. and Mexico border in literature and film, Latinas in popular culture and the changing face of Latino masculinity.
The panel takes place at the CCP, located in the arts courtyard east of Speedway Boulevard and Park Avenue. It's free, as is parking in all Zone 1 lots or at street meters. Museum hours today are noon to 5 p.m. For details, call 621-7968.
A MOUNTAIN OF FILMS. If you were to go to Telluride for America's premier Mountainfilm festival, you'd probably be inundated with the sheer number of cinematic explorations on the subjects of environmental politics and nature. We're lucky to get a mini-fest at the Loft.
Three distinct programs make up the one-day festival. The first, at 1 p.m., focuses on migratory birds with Wings of Nature, directed by Jacque Perrin, and adventure themes with The Second Step. At 4 p.m., it's a look at the environmental impact of dams in the United States and Africa with Troubled Waters and Ochre and Water. The directors of the first of these films, George and Beth Gage, make a cameo appearance. And at 7 p.m., attention turns to Ansel Adams with a screening of the new documentary of the legendary photographer by Ric Burns.
Spend the day in the dark watching nature films with all-day passes available in advance at the Loft box office or by calling 529-0764. Passes cost $25 for members of the Tucson Film Society or $35 for non-members. Tickets for each of the three programs cost $10 for members or $15 for non-members. Buy them at the door.
Monday 3
WOMEN ON SCREEN. To inaugurate Women's History Month, the folks at the Southern Arizona Alliance for Economic Justice offer a couple of films for their monthly screening series.
Film Focus on Justice plays host to The Wilmar 8, a story of eight Minnesota bank employees who decided to challenge sex discrimination at their work place. Following is a look at union organizing at San Francisco's Lusty Lady, where Live Nude Girls Unite! offers the best picket line chant you'll ever hear.
The free screening starts at 7 p.m. at El Centro Digna located at 842 S. Sixth Ave. at 19th Street. Donations are gratefully accepted. They'll provide the popcorn. Questions? Call 622-3561. (By the way, the chant goes something like this: "Hey hey. Ho ho. Hee hee. Ha ha. Dare to giggle, dare to grin.")
Tuesday 4
THE REAL FAT TUESDAY. If you still have soles left on your dancing shoes from Saturday's El Casino Mardi Gras party, come down to Fourth Avenue for a little more stomping.
Celebrate Fat Tuesday from 5 to 9 p.m. today. Here's what you can expect: a costume carnival procession, live music and dance, a costume contest and trolley rides. At 5 p.m., the temperature heats up with drumming by Samba Malandragem, zydeco by Black Leather Zydeco, Dixieland by the Olive Street Stompers and Cajun-style music by Ponticello. The dance troupe Hadia Sahara also performs. At 6 p.m., the Tucson Puppet Works leads the procession of revelers from Winsett Stage at 316 N. Fourth Ave. north to University Boulevard, then south to the starting point. Break out the Mardi Gras beads, don a costume and celebrate New Orleans style. For more information, call 624-5004.
Wednesday 5
CULTURAL VERTIGO. Guillermo Gómez-Peña's performances have the dizzying effect of erasing the borders between "us" and "them."
In Brownout: Border Pulp Stories, Gómez-Peña, brujo-poeta, explores fear of immigration, the dark side of globalization, the digital divide, censorship and interracial sexuality. He's created what critics call "Chicano cyber-punk performances" as is evident in earlier works--Warrior for Gringostroika and Codex Espangliensis. In much of his work, the alleged mainstream is shimmied out to the margins, treated as exotic and unfamiliar, making white folks in the audience feel like the "foreign" ones. Gómez-Peña uses multilingualism, spoken word, humor and hybrid literary genres as subversive strategies. If you've seen his work, you may recognize his personas: El S&M Zorro, El Web-back and El Traveling Medicine Vato. They're unforgettable.
Gómez-Peña was born in Mexico City and arrived in the States in the late '70s. He doesn't stick to one medium; instead, he slams through journalism, performance, radio, video, poetry and installation, often mixing them together. His list of awards and prestigious fellowships is long and deep.
The frenetic artist, satirist and phrasemaker visits Tucson as part of the UA's Poetry Center Reading Series at 8 p.m. at the Rialto Theater, located at 318 E. Congress St. Tickets cost $10 at the door or pick them up in advance at Biblio Bookstore, Antigone Books, Reader's Oasis or the Poetry Center. Charge them by phone at 740-1000 or go online at www.rialtotheatre.com (a $2 surcharge will be added). For more information, call 626-3765.
