Saturday April 6, 2013
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
Check in 7 a.m.
Walk starts 9 a.m.

Every journey begins with that first step! As NAMIWalks celebrates our 10th Anniversary in 2012, we are proud to be the largest and most successful mental illness awareness event in America! Through NAMIWalks’ public, active display of support for people affected by mental illness, we are changing our American communities and ensuring that help and hope are available for those in need.

I proudly walked last year after hearing then-CD 8 Congressional candidate Ron Barber (who was shot twice on January 8, 2011 by a mentally ill man) speak compassionately about supporting mental health issues and programs. He said he held no hatred against the mass shooter. Odaiko Sonora taiko drumming group then helped start off the walk around the Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium area, across Ajo Road to the Sam Lena Park and the nearby detention basin ponds, and back to the stadium. About 4,000 people joined in this walk, many with team tshirts.

Go to http://www.namisa.org/, or call 520-622-5582 to register. There are two walks, a 3K and a 5K walk.

Nami programs: family education & support, peer education & support, anti-stigma & advocacy, and support groups

Being as today is April Fool’s Day, I need to emphasize that mental illness is not a joke. We in Tucson know how important mental health services are, especially after that fatal mass shooting on January 8, 2011 by Jared Lee Loughner. He needed intervention and counseling (and hospitalization), and the recent reports released by the Pima County Sheriff reveal the extent of his mental condition prior to the shooting, and what his parents Randy and Amy Loughner knew of his mental illness.

Please support this NAMI walk to raise awareness about mental illness and that help is there for those who need it.

Yes, it’s been two years since that fateful day when Jared Lee Loughner chose to go to that Safeway at the SE corner of Oracle/Ina, and attempted to assassinate CD 8 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. He ended up shooting 19 people, 6 fatally. And he wounded and injured a then-39 year old Congresswoman, who had to resign the job that she loved after a year of recovery. She now walks with a limp, uses an arm brace on her right arm, has become left handed, and is partially blind in her right eye.

Clearly, Jared Loughner was mentally ill, and pled guilty to these crimes. He is being treated in a mental hospital where he will serve the remainder of his days, as his life sentences have no possibility of parole.

What have we as a community learned from this horrendous mass shooting, right here in our midst? Almost all of us knew someone in that shooting. I was personally acquainted with Gabby, having worked on her campaigns. I knew her Outreach Director Gabe Zimmerman, who was struck down on that sidewalk. I knew aide Pam Simon, who was also shot but recovered. I know now Ron Barber who was shot twice that day, and who as her District Director stepped up to the plate and ran for Congress in CD 8 and CD 2 upon Gabby’s endorsement and request. My professor husband knew Gabby as well, and had taught Suzi Hileman who was shot and injured that day. She was the neighbor who had taken nine-year old Christina Taylor-Green to that Congress on your Corner event, and Christina died that day.

Clearly Loughner was ill, but why didn’t people notice enough? Pima Community College had expelled him due to mental problems but he didn’t get counseling help which he clearly needed. He was living with his parents, Randy and Amy Loughner, but they couldn’t or didn’t get help for him as he was over 18 years old. And where did he (an unemployed 22 year old) get the hundreds of dollars to pay for the Glock 9 gun and the two magazine clips he was captured with? I had worked as a board member for 3 years with Amy who manages Agua Caliente Park out east in Pima County. And I have also worked for a year with Gabe’s mother Emily Nottingham on the Casitas on Broadway board. Two mothers, two shattered lives.

Yes, we as a community have grieved over the past 2 years — a huge outpouring of sympathy and support at all the memorials — at Gabby’s former Swan/Pima office, at that Safeway on Oracle (where a permanent stone memorial was erected by the store), and at University Medical Center where most of the injured were taken to. Generous donations were made for the victims to help them recover, and to various foundations to help children & students in the names of the deceased.

Cactus garden by Wright Elem. School students at memorial outside of Congresswoman Giffords’ former district office at Pima/Swan, taken by Carolyn Classen

Now there are Beyond Tucson annual events to commemorate, heal, and move beyond the pain & horror of that day. Now people ring bells at 10:10 a.m.on January 8th when the shooting occurred, and now the politicians talk about gun control especially for firearms with a capacity to be used for mass killing. Also now there are multi-faith services in Tucson bringing together people of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Baha’i faiths.

Since then there have been attempts at more civility in public discourse, and two foundations created expressly for that purpose. We all remember January 8, 2011 and hopefully we will remember to watch out for danger signals in isolated, depressed young men, to lobby for better mental health services, and more effective gun control to prevent criminals and mentally sick from obtaining firearms.

Hopefully we have become better people after this mass shooting of January 8, 2011. And if you have any creative ideas about what type of permanent memorial should be erected, click here for my previous post about the January 8th Memorial Foundation.

Most of us were glued to our TV sets, radios, computers or other electronic devices due to the horrific news on the last 2nd Saturdays Downtown on January 8. Most of the street events were canceled, due to the shock and grief over the 6 innocent dead victims and 13 others wounded (including CD 8 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords) shot by suspect Jared Lee Loughner. And many families & friends were at the various hospitals that were treating the wounded, especially University Medical Center.

So, coming up Feb. 12, TNT (AC/DC Tribute) will now be re-scheduled at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., 7 to 9 p.m.

Listed below is the event schedule from 2nd Saturdays Downtown website, with a message of sympathy:

We are regrouping for Feb 12th to celebrate Tucson’s community,
to honor those who were lost on Jan 8th and to offer healing to those recovering. Mucho amor a Tucson!

Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress
7pm: Tucson’s Christian Youth Theater presents Roald Dahl’s timeless story of the world-famous candy man “Willy Wonka.” ($10 to $15)

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Scott Avenue Stage (between Congress and Broadway):
5:45pm-7:00pm: Tammy West & The Culprits (Soulful Americana)
7:15pm-8:30pm: Five Way Street (Classic Rock)
8:45pm-10:00pm: Kevin Pakulis Band (On the rock side of Americana)

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Congress Street @ 4th Avenue
6pm-9pm: Les Avenge (beat boy acrobatics)

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Along Congress Street

4:45pm-5:15pm: 7 Pipers Band
5:30pm-7:30pm: Odyssey Story Arts Cart
6pm-10pm: Living Statues by Parasol Project

Live mural paintings by Joe Pagac, SW corner of Congress & 5th Ave.

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Scott Avenue @ Congress Street

6pm-9pm: Odaiko Sonora (Taiko Drumming, demos & hands-on workshops)

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Along 6th Ave.

5pm-10pm: Cristales Car Club

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Ronstadt Transit Center @ 6th Ave. & Congress St.

*7pm-9pm: Magician John Coppin performs a non-stop show*

5pm-6pm: The Wonderfools (family variety show)

Wonderfools taken by Shanda Romans, courtesy of 2nd Saturdays Downtown

6pm-7pm: Avatara (ethno psychedelic fusion)
7pm-7:30pm: Batucaxe (Brazilian drum & dance)
7:30-8pm:The Wonderfools (family variety show)
8pm-9pm: Lykiska (tribal fusion bellydance)
9pm-10pm: Mik Garrison (eclectic one-man band)

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Indian Village Lot – Kid’s Corner! Between Stone & Scott on Congress St.

West Wall: Cinema La Placita – 6pm – Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971, with Gene Wilder)
7:45pm – City High Short Films Festival: “As We See It – Digital Narratives” on the topic of Unconditional Love

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Old Pueblo Garage, 27 E. Congress St.

5pm-7pm: Jacob Garcia

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NW Corner Congress St./Stone Ave.

5pm-7pm: Mik Garrison (eclectic one-man band)

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Chicago Store, 130 E. Congress St.

6pm-9pm: Deceptively Innocent (Rock/Pop/Alternative)

Log onto 2nd Saturdays Downtown website (click here) for more info on the entertainment schedule (plus more photos). If you haven’t been downtown for this 2nd Saturdays monthly event yet, you’re in for a real urban treat, just prior to Valentine’s Day!