Carolyn's Community

If you haven’t been to “The Castle” at 388 S. Stone Ave south of downtown Tucson, then I encourage you to drop by tomorrow November 7, between 7 to 10 p.m. for the monthly reception of WomanKraft (www.womankraft.org), a non profit arts organization. Founded in 1974, WomanKraft’s mission is to “claim, validate, and empower women artists and other under represented groups.”

This November reception will highlight the beginning of their annual Holiday Bazaar–which started in 1986, to provide a venue for Tucson women artists and artisans to sell their “most affordable, original and diverse artworks”. Free & creative gift wrapping for all gallery purchases will be done by Darlene Kirk of Payson, Arizona.

I’ve been to a few of their receptions over the years, and the crafts on sale include acrylic or watercolor paintings, photographs, sculptures, metal creations, feathery boas, lots of lovely jewelry, notecards, etc.

Another second Holiday Bazaar reception will be held on Saturday December 5, also from 7 to 10 p.m. for more holiday shopping!

Regular hours for WomanKraft (located south of Cushing Street) are Tuesdays to Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m.

“The Castle” (built in 1918, photo below) houses the art gallery, the School of the Arts, The Sanctuary–an all natural beauty salon–and the Institute for Shamanic Arts. Read more about these programs on their website, or in their bi-monthly newsletter “The Castle Voice”, or call 520-629-9976.

The new Eric Firestone Gallery Exhibition and Event Space will officially open near downtown Tucson with a grand opening tomorrow Friday, November 6th from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight.
Live music by African Soul, and Blackwood and Company will be featured.

“Located in Tucson’s Historic Warehouse Arts District at 403 North 6th Avenue on the northwest corner of 6th Avenue and 7th Street the new Eric Firestone Gallery – Exhibition Space will feature exhibitions of historic and contemporary art and design as well as hosting related performances and events”.

This new Exhibition and Event Space is housed in the newly renovated Old Market Inn building which was originally constructed in 1880. My husband and I dropped by for a recent informal tour, and were pleasantly surprised by the charming exposed brick, large glass windows, and remnants of the old market posters still plastered on the walls in this huge gallery space on 6th Avenue, north of the underpass from downtown.

Eric Firestone gallerys, left at River Rd., right at 6th Avenue

The Main Eric Firestone Gallery is at 4425 N. Campbell Avenue, on the NW corner of River Road.

For a preview of their current art exhibition see: www.ericfirestonegallery.com. “Coatings” runs from November 1 to December 13, featuring:

OLIVIER MOSSET | CLIFTON TAYLOR | JEFF BURSEY.

For additional information and images please contact: 520-577-7711 or efg@ericforestonegallery.com.

RSVP requested for the grand opening to stacy@diamongirlpr.com.

For updated 2009 General Election results go to: www.pima.gov/elections, click on “results” for the November 3rd election in the City of Tucson.

These are the winning results with 98.9% of the precincts reporting (but subject to change and updating due to close vote margins):

Council seat Ward 3: incumbent Karin Uhlich (D) leading by 573 votes

Council seat Ward 5: Richard Fimbres (D)

Council seat Ward 6: Steve Kozachik (R) leading by 1199 votes

At first Proposition 400 (the Home Rule option) was winning at 10 p.m. but now it is trailing by 622 votes.

With the vote margin so close in Wards 3 and 6, the final winner may not be known for a few days as Pima County Elections counts the remainder of the Early ballots and Provisional ballots.

Congratulations to all the winners and to both the Pima County Democratic Party and the Pima County Republican Party for their hard campaign work.

Here’s some Interesting updated stats from the Pima County Recorder’s Office on voter registration.

Note: the “Others” are the growing number (almost 63,000) of Independent voters in the six City of Tucson wards.

Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona are teaming up to “Fish for a Wish” all day Saturday, November 7. Make-A-Wish’s mission: “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

Rubio's logo

ALL 29 Arizona Rubio’s will donate ALL proceeds from its World Famous Fish Taco sales to sponsor one wish, up to $10,000. “Please come out and eat some tacos to support the Make-A-Wish foundation and make the wish of a special little girl with a life-threatening medical condition come true.”

I knew such a little girl, Sydney Theresa Clanagan who died at age 11, back on April 3, 2003 here in Tucson. Her final wish was to swim with the dolphins in Hawaii. She got her wish compliments of this foundation, at the Hilton Waikoloa Village hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was there with her family, to experience her joy. Sydney was diagnosed at Tucson Medical Center with a terminal illness, metachromatic leukodystrophy at age 9. I knew her when she was an athletic, bouncy, normal child, and then I went to her funeral 2 plus years later.

This Tucson Citizen newspaper (print edition) had several articles about Sydney’s rare, genetic illness and her courage in facing death.

I also happen to be a fan of Rubio’s fish tacos. So “go fish” on Saturday to help make a dying child’s wish come true.

“Sustainable” seems to be the buzz word everyone is using in this 21st century. And if you’re curious about a group called Sustainable Tucson, here’s their mission statement:

“a non-profit, grass-roots organization that builds regional resilience and sustainability through awareness raising, community engagement and public/private partnerships. Our members focus their action, advocacy and research through working groups addressing the unprecedented challenges of our time, economic meltdown, population pressures, climate change, and resource depletion.” Whew, that sounds like quite an ambitious mission.

Coming up:
La Vida Verde Picnic and Open Space Event
Saturday Nov. 7
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (potluck picnic, with music till sunset)
Reid Park (between Country Club and Randolph Way, north of 22nd Street)
ramadas 14 and 15

Theme: “How do we unite our Tucson community during this Great Turning towards a peaceful and sustainable future?”

I didn’t know we were in a “Great Turning”– but I think I better find out what that means. Otherwise I may get left behind.

Sustainable Tucson holds monthly meetings at the Joel D. Valdez Main library, 101 N. Stone Ave. downtown, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 5:45 p.m. The next meeting is coming up on November 10.

Check out their informative website www.sustainabletucson.org for updates, and for lots of information on sustainability.

Everyone knows who Mr. Rogers is, that TV personality with the red sweater on PBS. Now the Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood Sweater Drive is helping families share “new, or clean & gently-worn” sweaters with others. All sizes welcome, to be donated to the clothing banks at local Tucson schools.

“The Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive promotes Fred Rogers’ giving spirit by helping children and their families share clothing with those who need it.”

Drop these sweaters off at any of the nine Shaffer Dry Cleaning & Laundry outlets listed online and in the phone book, starting tomorrow November 1st through 7th.

Or you can bring them to the Arizona Public Media tent at U of A Homecoming on the U of A mall on Saturday November 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Any sweater donation will also earn you a FREE Kids’ 3 oz vanilla ice cream cone coupon from McDonalds!

This is just in time for winter, so do consider cleaning out your sweater drawer. A few years ago I gave away most of my grown son’s childhood jackets on such a clothing drive.

Mister Rogers in his red sweater

For more info, see www.azpm.org.

I dropped by the final of eight City of Tucson Community Key Services Dialogues last night at the Ward 2 Council office, 7575 E. Speedway Blvd. My previous blogs outlined the process of these meetings and the discussions in the various break-out groups. See “Let the Dialogues Begin” and Let the Dialogues Continue.

City Manager Mike Letcher and Katie Bolger, aide to Councilmember Glassman made the welcoming remarks.

Neighborhood leaders present (whom I recognized) for this final dialogue were: Margo Gray, Dina Scalone-Romero (Pro Neighborhoods) and Paul Mackey, but there were also less people than were in attendance at the Wards 3 and 6 dialogues.

The results of all eight meetings will be posted online at www.tucsonaz.gov/dialogues. Already on this website are links –results from the dialogues– long, long lists of what residents/participants in the previous ward meetings thought needed to be improved, and what could be cut from the City’s budget.

Also online is the power point presentation made at these meetings for those of you who were unable to attend.

The website also states:”This is not a one-time effort. We will be inviting you to participate in additional dialogues in the future: City Budget & Work Plan (1 – 3 year view), Economic Recovery Plan (3-10 year view), and the General Plan Update (Vision for the future).”

Let’s wait and see what the new City Manager and his staff recommend from the results from these dialogues. At the very least, there appears to be more community input into the budget process than before. When I asked Mr. Letcher about budget priorities from these 8 dialogues, he responded that they would look for “common threads and themes” and then make suggestions to the Mayor and Council for early 2010.

Not an extra-martial one, but the Southwest Flair A-Fair, at Plaza Palomino (SE Corner of Ft. Lowell and Swan in Tucson) on October 30 to November 1. The A-Fair benefits Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Tucson, and will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Street address is 2900-2990 N. Swan. Just in time for holiday shopping, plus complimentary gift wrapping for all purchases!

“170 artists will be displaying and selling their hand made creations. 15% of all sales go directly to the Big Brothers Big Sisters agency here in Tucson.”

“Big Brothers Big Sisters has been the nation’s preeminent youth-service organization for nearly a century. Locally, we have provided high quality mentoring services since 1963! We have a proven success in creating lifelong impact through mentoring relationships between adults and children.”

Woodturner Lynne Yamaguchi’s work, featured in Artistic Tucson’s blog earlier this week, will be there for sale at the newly opened Flux Gallery.

2009 postcard, Southwest Flair A-Fair

In case you missed the October 24 photo shoot of the Tucson 350.org event, part of the worldwide International Day of Climate Action, here’s one of the photos taken by Green Party activist Dave Croteau. The Tucson 350 event was held at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center on River Road.

Log onto 350.org for lots of amazing photos from all over the world, including one taken on Mauna Kea (White Mountain), on the Big Island of Hawaii, where I was born and raised.

“On 24 October, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.”

350 Tucson taken by Dave Croteau

We all support public safety. But are you still debating over whether to support the so-called “public safety first initiative” or not?

If you missed the League of Women Voters’ forum on October 19 about the ballot propositions, here’s another chance to learn more about Proposition 200, the “Public Safety First Initiative”.

Go to Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. in the Tucson Convention Center downtown on Monday October 26, from 6 to 7 p.m. for an Arizona Public Media sponsored town hall.

Bill Buckmaster, host of “Arizona Illustrated” on KUAT Channel 6, Ann Brown, editorial page editor for the Arizona Daily Star, and Jim Nintzel, political reporter/commentator of the Tucson Weekly will be posing questions to the pro and con reps of Prop. 200.

Or, if you just want to educate yourself about the initiative online, here’s the links: Vote Yes, or Vote No. I’ve been watching those websites, and the list against 200 is growing. You can also watch a live stream of the town hall that evening at www.azpm.org.

Moreover, in the “Sample Ballot/Publicity Pamphlet and Instructions to Voters” sent for the City of Tucson Elections is the full text of Proposition 200, and arguments for and against on pages 13 to 21. It’s very illustrative to see who’s supporting this proposition and who’s not.

This Proposition has taken clear partisan lines with those running for City Council seats in Ward 3, 5, and 6: the Republicans say vote yes, and the Democrats and Green candidate say vote no.

The decision is yours — vote on or before November 3rd.