Like Scheherezade, the Persian storyteller of “One Thousand and One Nights”, I have now, as a female voice in Tucson, related to our readers 1001 blog articles/”stories”.

It’s the 3 year anniversary of when I started blogging here for the online Tucsoncitizen.com. It was June 18, 2009 when I wrote up a blog article entitled “Is Lani’s Luau international cuisine?” (link), as I was wondering how varied the food & ethnic culture was at Lani’s, my favorite Hawaiian restaurant in Tucson. For those of you who don’t know it, Lani’s is located at the NW corner of Harrison & Golf Links, 2532 S. Harrison Rd., phone 520- 886- LUAU (5828).

As for my 1001 blog articles, it’s amazing that I’ve managed to write so many, as it is now at the stage that I don’t remember all the topics I’ve chosen to feature in my blogsite — focusing mostly on community events/issues/groups.

And which one has been my most popular post? Sadly my farewell article on the late Gabe Zimmerman, Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Gifford’s slain aide, whom I knew.

I do have a chronological listing by categories for myself, but the most useful is the “Search the Citizen” box on the Tucsoncitizen.com front page. If you want to know when I wrote about a certain person or topic, just type it in. It’s been very helpful, even for me to locate previous articles. And because the tags below each article are so powerful, you can usually find our articles via Google as well. And I do have a long listing of archives on my blogsite (left column) starting in the hot summer month of June 2009, followed by each month up to June 2012.

So after being a “My Tucson” guest columnist at the original Tucson Citizen afternoon newspaper in 2008, I can now write on my resume that I’ve blogged for 3 years at Tucsoncitizen.com. Some of my blogs have been re-printed in Oasis, the only Japanese magazine in Arizona (published in Phoenix by editor George Nakamura). And I may be free lancing articles for a new magazine to debut this summer, “Tucson Woman” edited by Linda Ray, of Tucson’s Birthday fame.

Stay tuned, keep reading, and happy blogging!

“Carolyn’s Community” aka Carolyn Classen

My photo taken at Tucsoncitizen.com Dec.2010 holiday party

Arizona Daily Star reports the hiring of former Tucson Citizen Editor and Publisher Michael Chihak to host KUAT’s weekly new show “Arizona Week”, a roundtable of Arizona journalists. For more info, click below:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_6b446022-9528-59ef-8fbe-76540e2e1c65.html

“Arizona Week” will air on Fridays on KUAT Channel 6, at 8:30 p.m. starting in January, 2011.

I worked with Michael as a 2008 “My Tucson” guest columnist and have a lot of respect for him and his “journalism smarts”. He moved back to Tucson (from California) in July with his wife Hilda Oropeza. Welcome home Michael, and good luck with your show.

Michael Chihak at the Tucson Citizen newspaper

Two years ago as a “My Tucson” guest columnist for the Tucson Citizen newspaper (in newsprint on the stands), I wrote about the “aloha spirit” we practice back home in Hawai’i and elsewhere. (“Looking for the Aloha Spirit in Tucson” (3/25/08) and “Why we could use a little aloha spirit” (1/13/09).

book cover

I also wrote 3 online blogs about “living aloha” in our everyday lives (two were entitled “Spread a Little Aloha”, 4/11/08, and “Aloha Spirit update”, 8/14/08). The third blog was reprinted in a book just released entitled “Practice Aloha – Secrets to Living Life Hawaiian style” compiled & edited by Maui resident Mark Ellman and ex-Maui resident Barbara Santos.

Hundreds of people contributed their take on the meaning of aloha, the aloha spirit, or what it means to practice aloha. The book is also described as “Stories, Recipes, Lyrics from Hawai’i's Favorite Folks”.

“We believe our stories will fill the world with aloha, at a time when we need to Practice Aloha more than ever.” (quote from the editors)

My short one-page contribution on page 156 is called “Aloha Around Town” (originally published online in the Tucson Citizen on December 11, 2008, then entitled “Practice aloha”). My simple blog shares company with inspiring, heartfelt stories from famous Hawaiian personalities such as Keola Beamer, Robert & Roland Cazimero, Sam Choy, Frank DeLima, Jake Shimabukuro, Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares, former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann, and current Gubernatorial candidate & former Congressman Neil Abercrombie, and lots and lots of others.

One of my favorite contributions in this book is by Oahu photographer Pi’ilani Schneider who says that “If you want to know aloha, please, give it yourself, but expect nothing in return.” (excerpt from her “Aloha is Love” piece on page 68)

By the way, I did not submit my blog to these authors for publication, they found me by googling online. And all because someone had put their “practice aloha” bumper sticker (shown below) on a car here in Tucson, and I noticed it for a blog subject.

All the contributors share the same love for Hawai’i (many having been born & raised there like me) and the belief in doing our part to spread a little aloha spirit, to make this world a better and friendlier place.

You can get this book (now with free shipping) at www.practicealoha.org. The publisher is Mutual Publishing in Honolulu. You can also order the “practice aloha” bumper sticker at the same website for only $2. (On the Big Island of Hawaii, the visitor’s bureau gives out “Live aloha” bumper stickers designed by local Hilo artist Sig Zane.)