Good things do come in small packages: Yume Japanese Gardens hosts the annual Spring Show of the Tucson Bonsai Society!
Join us Saturday and Sunday to view dozens of artfully trained miniature trees and shrubs, to see pruning demonstrations, and to receive helpful tips on plant selection and care from dedicated Bonsai enthusiasts. Learn about choosing containers and display pots, grafting and root reduction, which species are easiest to train, and the history of this 1,000-year-old Japanese tradtion.

More info: www.tucsonbonsaisociety.com, or
www.tucsonjapanesegardens.org.

The Tucson Bonsai Society states that they are Southern Arizona’s oldest bonsai society, founded in 1972.

bonsai on display at Yume Japanese gardens at grand opening in January, 2013, courtesy of Carolyn Classen

From Tucson Bonsai Society webpage:

Our club meets each month on the third Sunday with a planned program, followed by a raffle and open workshop, instructed by our certified mentors. These meetings are open free to the public, at our new location: Catalina United Methodist Church, Building H, Room 230

I grew up appreciating bonsai, as my parents were bonsai lovers in Hawaii, and attended shows and even owned a few of these trees and worked at maintaining/pruning them in their lovely ceramic pots. My father used to show me with pride his small collection whenever I visited them over the years. And I still attend these bonsai shows & exhibits whenever I can.

Drop by the Yume Japanese gardens for some tranquility, and view these lovely potted trees on display. Demonstrations on bonsai care will also be given throughout the weekend.

For more information on Japanese culture in Southern Arizona, go to our website, www.southernazjapan.org.

One day only at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway on Saturday September 8, 10 a.m.

and on Friday September 14, 7 p.m. at Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway (SW corner of Treat Ave.) in their fellowship room. Sponsored by National Resource Committee of the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, and the Catalina United Methodist Church. Movie will be followed by discussion + refreshments will be served.

Both showings of “Bag It” are free to the public.

From the Loft website:

Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes, disposable bags that they throw away without much thought. But where is “away?” Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to the environment, marine life and human health?

Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Jeb’s journey in this documentary film starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags really necessary? What are plastic bags made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded? What he learns quickly grows far beyond plastic bags.

Bag It makes it clear that it is time for a paradigm shift. Join Jeb as he meets with people who fought the American Chemistry Council lobby that spent more than a million dollars fighting the Seattle bag fee; as he interviews a man sailing the Pacific in a boat made of plastic to raise awareness about our ocean’s health; as he gets tested to determine the levels of chemicals in his own body; and as he welcomes his baby into the world, a world he hopes we can leave with a little less plastic and in a little better shape for the next generation.

I wrote an article about this movie earlier this year, and got to see it at the UA Gallagher Theater (click here for my post). It will really make you think about the single-use plastic bag and bottles we use every day.

If you (like me) missed the Loft Theater’s screening of “Bag It” back in February sponsored by the Sierra Club & Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection (click here), you have another chance to see it for free again this Friday at:

Catalina United Methodist Church, fellowship hall
7 p.m.
2700 E. Speedway (NW corner of Treat Ave.)

Join us for a FREE screening of the award winning documentary “Bag It”. If you care about the condition of our beautiful earth, if you are concerned about the health of our children, if you care about the survival of our wildlife now ingesting our throw-away plastic, you want to see this film!

http://catalinamethodist.org/event/bag-it-movie-screening/

The Students for Sustainability sponsored an earlier showing of this movie on Tuesday April 24 at UA Gallagher Theater, which I did see, along with only about 20 students. But the movie is very thought-provoking, and mostly addresses the wastefulness of single-use plastic bags, bottles, dishes, containers, etc.

The documentary movie maker Jeb Berrier also addresses the content of plastic, the danger of plastic to our environment (especially the oceans), and even to our own adult health and the health of our children. One of the students was there dressed up in the costume of 500 plastic bags which is supposedly the amount of bags a person uses in one year.

For Tucson updates go to facebook.com/bagittucson.

Please see this movie and start thinking about the over abundance of plastic in our lives. More grocery stores could start encouraging shoppers to bring their own cloth bags. And please recycle whatever plastic you can. The City of Tucson just announced a new system which will take all rigid plastics in our blue barrels (but sadly not those grocery plastic bags):

http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/es/customer-services-residential-recycling

Is your life too full of plastic?

Here’s tonight’s program with some of my notes of the reflections/prayers:

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon & Rabbi Jason Holtz, Temple Emanu-El – sounding of the Shofar (ram’s horn)

Davis-Monthan Color Guard (presentation of Colors)

Patricia Flores, Yoeme/Maya Nation: Ome Malintzna (Sacred Fire Woman, Mexica) – Yoeme Blessing

Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas, Catholic Bishop of Tucson – welcome

Reverend Raven Gaston, Catalina United Methodist Church – “Moses & the Shepherd”, from the writings of Rumi (13th-century mystic)

Reverend Allen Breckenridge, St. Mathew’s Episcopal Church, & Reverend Tom Dunham, Streams of the Desert Lutheran Church (choir) – “God We’ve Known Such Grief & Anger”

Huseyin Salim Sen, Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue – recitation of Qu’ran

Reverend Lee Milligan, Casas Adobes United Church of Christ – Prayer (“for all, to all, help us to remember”)

City of Tucson Councilmember Shirley Scott (ward 4) – reflection (“We are a country of kindness, strength, courage & resolve”)

Renu Phull, Tucson Sikh Sangat – Poem “One” by Dr. Cheryl Sawyer (“We are one color, one class, one generation, one gender, one faith, one language, one body, one family, one soul, one people, We are the Power of One, We are united, We are America”.)

Tucson Sikh Sangat – “Kirtan” (Sacred Music of the Sikhs), “Too Thakur Tum Peh Ardas” from Sukhmani Sahib, “The Lagoon of Peace” by Guru Arjan (16th Century)

Chair Ramon Valadez, Pima County Board of Supervisors (District 2) – reflection (“despite grief & pain, celebrate courage, compassion, humanity, caring & sharing, & faith”)

Reverend Kate Bradsen, Vicar, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church – prayer (“thanksgiving for diversity”)

Reverend Elwood McDowell, Trinity Missionary Baptist Church – reflection (“love & hope, love your enemies”)

Nicole Best, Baha’i Community – Baha’i prayer (“unity in diversity, religion is One, friendliness, fellowship”)

Supervisor Ray Carroll, Pima County Board of Supervisors (District 4) – reflection (“for those who sacrificed their lives, a call to sainthood, and also to honor those six who died on 1/8/11″.)

Pam Simon, Community Outreach Coordinator for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords – reflection (on the “similarities of 9/11/01 and 1/8/11 when the community came together, to make a better & more peaceful world”.) She was shot twice on 1/8/11 & recovered.

Streams of the Desert Lutheran Church Joy Choir – “In Memoriam” by Susan Naus Dengler and Lee Dengler

The Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas – memorial words (“think of what united us, not divided us, and the need to act now, to see where love is needed, to build peace, fight prejudice, help those in suffering.”)

“America the Beautiful” – music by Bill Kusack led by Sister Lois Paha

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon – Closing benediction & Birkat Kohanim (priestly blessing – “let us be the next responders”)

Davis-Monthan Color Guard – retiring of the Colors

The Tucson Multi-Faith Alliance is a “multi-faith group dedicated to building mutual understanding and community across the boundary lines of religion, race, creed, orientation & ability. Its members commit themselves to an ongoing dialogue, and resolve to learn, teach, pray, and act together to bring an open religious & spiritual dimension to public life in Tucson.” For more info, contact Sat Bir Kaur Khalsa at 520-490-1165.

This memorial service tonight was in memory of the 2977 people who gave their lives on 9/11/01, 248 who were passengers on the four American Airlines or United Airlines planes, the others who died at the World Trade Center or at the Pentagon. I’ve attended probably every one of these memorial services and have been pleased to see these leaders from different religions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Baha’is, etc.) and political leaders all come together in common prayer & reflection upon such a tragedy.

Together we remember 9/11.

LWV logo

Speaking in favor of Prop. 100 will be Peter Hershberger, former Tucson state house legislator in LD 26, and Ann-Eve Pederson, a Tucson Unified School district parent and with Arizona Education Network. See website: www.yeson100.com.

Speaking against Prop. 100 will be Paul Marsh, a former District 4 Pima County Supervisor and John Kromko, President of the Pima Association of Taxpayers and a former Tucson state legislator in LD 27. See website: www.axthetaxaz.com.

From the Yes on 100 website:

A “yes” vote shall have the effect of temporarily adding one cent to the transaction privilege (sales) and use tax that begins on July 1, 2010 and ends May 31, 2013 for the purpose of funding primary and secondary education, health and human services and public safety. A “no” vote shall have the effect of keeping the state transaction privilege (sales) and use taxes at their current levels.

The Ax the Tax website states: “With our economy in trouble and families struggling, we all know that this is the worst time for a tax increase.”

The League of Women Voters as a “nonpartisan political organization encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.”

CONTACT: Media/Community Relations Director of the LWV Maxine Goodman,
at maxinegoodman17@yahoo.com or (520) 622-0905.

Catalina United Methodist Church is at the SW corner of E. Speedway and Treat Ave., on the south side of Speedway.

Be informed, as this proposed sales tax increase is coming up for vote on the special election ballot of May 18, 2010. Early voting starts April 22. For information about registering to vote, go online to the Pima County Recorder’s Office, www.recorder.pima.gov, or call 520-740-4330.

Alvina later single handedly homesteaded with her 4 daughters after she was divorced in 1927. In 1934 or 1935 Mrs. Himmel Edmondson sold part of her large homestead to the City of Tucson (for $3500), with the proviso that the land become a park named for her father Adolph Himmel and mother Harriette Himmel. Her father was a well-known silversmith in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This was an amazing pioneer woman and was obviously one of the first residents of what later became Sam Hughes Neighborhood.

At that time her closest neighbors were 2 miles away, and in a May 21, 1942 article (found in the Tucson Citizen archives), she relayed to the reporter that “coyotes, rattlesnakes and Indians caused her great uneasiness.” A photo of Alvina and her original redwood home accompanied the article. (I was unable to locate the original photo itself in the Tucson Citizen or Arizona Daily Star archives, or at the Arizona Historical Society (AHS). I made copies of the article/photo which are now in files at both Himmel library and the AHS.)

The neighborhood grew in that central area after the building of the elementary school (built in 1927 by famous local architect Roy Place), which was named for Sam Hughes, a businessman and politician. Hughes came to Tucson in 1858 and later married a local Mexican woman Atanacia Santa Cruz, and had 15 children (5 died in infancy) here in Tucson. Sam Hughes died in 1917 after Arizona became the 48th state in 1912. The Sam Hughes Elementary School is at 700 N. Wilson Avenue.

Alvina Himmel Edmondson died at age 78 on January 11, 1948, exactly 62 years ago, in the original redwood home (located at 2625 E. 1st Street — no longer there in Sam Hughes Neighborhood) on the land she had homesteaded on. Her daughter Catherine Edmondson continued to live in that house till the early 1970′s. From the address, that original homesite is now a parking lot of Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway Blvd.

That’s the origin of Himmel Park, which was later expanded with more land purchases in 1944, and then the Himmel Park branch library was built in the northeast area of the park in 1961. The library is almost a historic building being nearly 50 years old, but the entire Sam Hughes neighborhood is already designated a National Historic District. This neighborhood’s boundaries are Speedway to Country Club to Broadway to Campbell Avenue, east of the University of Arizona.

Himmel Park branch library

For more information about Himmel Park branch library, log into their website, and for the Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association, see their website at www.samhughes.org.