Wonder woman impersonator, courtesy of Community Cinema

Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines traces the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, Wonder Women! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation.

This is a movie part of Community Cinema, which is “a national civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Every month in 100+ cities, community members come together to learn, discuss, and get involved in key social issues of our time”.

Being as March is Women’s “Herstory” Month, this is a timely film by Kristy Guevara- Flanagan. I grew up like most American girls worshiping the strength of Wonder Woman, as well as Super Girl.

If you miss this Himmel Library showing, here’s the schedule for other libraries in March:

Friday March 15, 2 to 4 p.m., Oro Valley branch library, 1305 W. Naranja Dr., Oro Valley

Monday, March 25, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Mission branch library, 3770 S. Mission Road, Tucson

Wednesday, March 27, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Valencia branch library, 202 W. Valencia Rd., Tucson

And the UA Women’s Resource Center is also showing this film (free as well) on Wednesday April 17, 6:30 p.m. They are located on the 4th level of the Student Union Memorial Center, 1303 E. University Blvd., west side of the building.

Here’s 3 more fun things to do, learn about, experience — all part of Tucson’s Birthday celebration in August, from www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

–Tucson’s Birthday Prayer Walk

Aug 27, 2011

Time: 7:00 am to 9:00 am
Contact Name: Linda Leatherman
Email: Linda.Leatherman@pima.gov
Location: Reid Park
Address: Off Randolph Way between Country Club Rd and Alvernon Way north of 22nd St. 85719

Tucson’s Birthday Prayer Walk has been moved from “A” Mountain to Reid Park. It will begin at Ramada 31 (adjacent to the baseball stadium). Vision for the Prayer Walk is: to unite people of different faiths to pray for their community and to thank God for His blessings in Tucson; to encourage the community of faith to pray for those who are oppressed, mired in crime and addiction, struggling with poverty of resources and of spirit; to strengthen the community of faith in its mission to help those in need.

–Discover The Horse That Discovered America

Aug 27, 2011

Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Admission: $5.00
Contact Name: Maureen Kirk-Detberner
Email: mkrik@fastwinn.com
Location: Amerind Museum
Address: 2100 North Amerind Road Dragoon, AZ 85609
Phone: 520-586-3666

The Amerind will host a Spanish Barb Horse Association event. Join us in a celebration, and meet the horse that Governor Jan Brewer declared as Arizona’s State Heritage Horse. The event will include presentations on the Colonial Spanish horse as well as demonstrations. Apache historian, Dale Curtis Miles, will discuss the role the Barb had in Native American cultures. A book signing by Silke Schneider, the author of Arizona’s Spanish Barb, a presentation by a representative from the Father Kino Society, and a slide show of the horses and their history, along with activities for children are on the schedule as well. A Native American food vendor will be on site, and local artisans have been invited to show and sell their work.

–Describe Your Own Tucson Memories Writing Workshop

Aug 27, 2011

Time: 2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Admission: Free
Contact Name: Suzanne Parker
Email: suzanne.parker@pima.gov
Location: Himmel Park Library
Address: 1035 North Treat Avenue Tucson, Arizona 85716
Phone: 520-594-5305, Ext. 3

Join writer Molly McKasson as she shows you how to creatively record your very own Tucson memories! (Blogger note: Molly is the former 2 term City Councilmember from Ward 6).

What an eclectic group of activities on one day, but they show what makes Tucson (and America) great — freedom of religion, appreciation of our Native American cultures, preservation of cherished memories. Enjoy the day, as we wind down Tucson’s Birthday month of August.

For previous blog about Tucson Birthday events on August 20, click here (photos). And for more events on August 27 as well as the remainder of the month of August, go to the website www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

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.