Monday January 21 is the annual MLK Day holiday. For 27 years Tucsonans marched from the UA Mall (Old Main) to Reid Park to celebrate this great civil rights leader who was struck down on April 4, 1968. I’ve walked part way a number of times with this march, and it was a long way from the University of Arizona to Reid Park, and back.

This year the March is moved to the UA campus and will begin at the MLK Student Center at 1322 E. 1st St. (2nd Street and Mountain) and march to Old Main (east side). Then there will be a celebration from 10 to 3:30 p.m. at the UA Mall.

For more information contact Donna Liggins at 520-237-7806, Dierdra Jones at 520-370-6528, or Clarence Boykins at Clarence540@aol.com.

And please join in this march & celebration to remember a great civil rights leader.

ENVISION TUCSON SUSTAINABLE FESTIVAL
A Community Event for a Bright Future

By Clinton MacKillop

Envision Tucson Sustainable announces the 2nd annual Envision
Tucson Sustainable festival. The festival will take place at Reid Park on
Sunday, October 21st, 2012, from 9am ­ 5pm. All ages are welcome.

Festival planners invite individuals and families to participate in a day of
fun while exploring Tucson’s sustainable culture. The festival will promote
the people, organizations, and companies in Tucson who provide services,
education, and resources to help us achieve a sustainable future for our
community.

The main focus of the festival this year is sustainable, secure food and
agriculture for Tucson and Southern Arizona. This event will kick off a week
of events in Tucson celebrating Food Day, a nationwide event promoting
healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Food vendors will feature locally
sourced, organic refreshments. This year the Festival will also include a
special feature: a Non-GMO Food Zone. In addition, in keeping with the
theme, the festival will include practical information on aquaponics, an
innovative, energy- and water-saving system of food production that fully
integrates raising fish and growing vegetables, herbs, or other plants.

Throughout the festival, exhibits, demonstrations, and speakers will address
many facets of a sustainable life, from energy and green business to health,
from organic gardening to the homes we live in. The festival will be solar
powered, as it was last year, and will include extensive opportunities to
learn about solar power for home or business.

A large family activity area will feature Rexie, the T-Rex Museum’s
sustainability spokes-kid. Children will be able to hunt for and keep
fossils from hundreds of millions of years ago.

The Festival is free and open to the public.

More info: http://tucsonsustainable.org/ or their Facebook page:www.facebook.com/EnvisionTucsonSustainable

Contact: Samuel Breidenbach
Phone: (520) 289-4149
Email: samsarx@mindspring.com

I attended this festival last year and got lots of information about organic food, solar options, water resources. We all need to think about what sustainability means to us in this Southwest Desert, with our limited water and rainfall.

I recently read an article in the AZ Daily Star “East side has so much to offer” by regional editor Tiffany Kjos.

So I started pondering about what I liked about central/midtown Tucson, where we have lived (two apartments, one home) for over 25 years. So here’s my informal list of 10 things I like about Midtown. Click on the blue hyperlinks if you are new to Tucson and need more information.

1. Himmel Park (south of Speedway, between Tucson Blvd. & Treat Avenue), has tennis courts recently resurfaced, an open air pool now open again for the summer, lots of grass, playing fields, an outdoor grass amphitheater for plays/concerts. A Shakespeare in the park performance of “The Taming of the Shrew” is performing there opening tonight, for three weekends at 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation, to benefit El Rio Theatre Project.

2. Himmel Park Branch Library, oldest branch library of Pima County (built in 1961), children’s storytime, teen activities, Senior Games (including mahjong), films & lectures, lots more, even books to borrow.

3. Reid Park at NE corner of E. 22nd St. and N. Country Club, much larger park with an outdoor performance center & stage, ramadas, playground equipment & stone turtles for children, a rose garden, dog run, a duck pond & gurgling streams, artistic sculptures, etc.

4. The Reid Park Zoo for the children and out of town guests: elephants, tigers, bears, (oh my!), even unusual anteaters and a capybara.

5. The Loft Theater, 3233 E. Speedway, independent and creative movie showings, plus a promised expansion and often freebies during special events

6. Casa Video, 2905 E. Speedway, terrific collection of recent and old DVDs and videos, plus free popcorn whenever you drop in (open daily 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.)

7. Yoshimatsu/Sushimatsu at 2660 N. Campbell – authentic Japanese food in two unique restaurants, plus a very cute gift shop of Japanese items, toys

8. Bookman’s on Grant (SE corner of Campbell): a used book store and much more – gift items, art paraphernalia, current magazines, musical instruments, electronic stuff, even jewelry. And a new Bookman’s is coming to E. Speedway near Camino Miramonte.

9. The University of AZ, between Speedway & E. 6th Street, between Euclid Ave. and Campbell, not only an undergraduate & graduate university, but a resource for the community with art displays, outdoor sculptures, lectures, musical & dance performances, festivals & workshops, intellectual stimulation for all ages. Starting tomorrow an 8-day Chinese Culture Festival, event schedule at www.confucius.arizona.edu.

10. Bicycle path on E. 3rd St. runs from Wilmot Road westward through midtown past lovely, small Miramonte Neighborhood Park (NW corner of Richey Blvd.), one block south of Himmel Park aforementioned (Treat Ave. and Tucson Blvd.), right through the University of Az (on University Blvd.) through to 4th Avenue and Stone Avenue, with several bicyle-friendly “hawk” crossings to help bicyclists cross the major intersections. For more info on bicycling and bike maps in Tucson, go to Tucson Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee website (click here).

These are the 10 things that make my life more enjoyable and fun in midtown Tucson. What are yours?