Press release:

Tucson Woman, An exceptional lifestyle magazine, for extraordinary lives
Launches Nov. 9, 2012

Tucson Woman, a new glossy magazine for upscale women in metropolitan Tucson, is appearing in select mailboxes and on newsstands throughout the city.

The magazine is focused on helping women make the best possible decisions in their day-to-day lives. The premiere issue features holiday ideas from Louise Thomas, a Tucson professional party planner. The edition also includes tips for easing holiday stress, and new ways to approach year-end philanthropy. A feature story explores small steps to a greener, more-healthful lifestyle, provided by Mrs. Green’s Garage, written by Gina Murphy-Darling.

Future editions will include features on local personalities, business, health, education, social trends, finance, travel and food.

“Tucson Woman targets the women who move and shape our community,” said Jill A’Hearn, the magazine’s general manager.

Territorial Newspapers, a division of Sierra Vista-based Wick Communications, publishes the magazine.

The quarterly magazine, edited by Linda Ray, will have a press run of 10,000 and will be distributed by mail to select home addresses of women with a household income of $150,000 or more, according to A’Hearn. Additional copies will be available at AJ’s Fine Foods, select physicians’ offices, dental offices, upscale retail outlets and select spa-services locations.

“As we talked to the women within Tucson’s leadership, we found enthusiasm for an opportunity to share information,” A’Hearn said. “Women rely on a circle of friends and role models. Tucson Woman magazine is designed to be at the center of that circle.”

Tucson Woman content will be supplemented week-to-week via Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Pinterest and www.tucsonwoman.com.

For more information, contact:
Jill A’Hearn
General Manager
Tucson Woman
(520) 295-4236
jill@tucsonwoman.com

Linda Ray
Editor
Tucson Woman
(520) 295=4224
linda@tucsonwoman.com

Linda Ray works for the Tucson Weekly, and it also the former Executive Director of Tucson’s Birthday. I’m one of Tucson Woman’s freelance contributors, so please check out this new magazine today! Can’t wait to read this premiere issue.

Celebrate Tucson’s 237th birthday on August 20 at the El Presidio Grounds, 133 W. Washington (between Church Ave. and Court Ave. downtown). There will be usual flag raising, birthday cake eating, plus tamales too this year. Troubadour Ted Ramirez will be entertaining.

Funding ran out to continue the Tucson’s Birthday website & the numerous listings from prior years, so District 5 Supervisor Richard Elias’ office took over to post events via his website (click here) & use the link on the top for “Birthday”.

And if you want earlier birthday cake, here’s an event for Saturday August 18:

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum Birthday Party at The Depot
When: Sat, August 18, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, 414 North Toole Ave., Tucson, AZ.
Description: We are proud participants in the Arizona Centennial Celebration. Celebrate at the Depot with cake, the Mayor, and engine 1673. The mayor will be speaking at 11:00, and cutting the Birthday cake !

Happy Birthday Tucson!

The Loft celebrates Tucson’s birthday month with a special screening of the 1993 comedy/drama ARIZONA DREAM, starring Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway and Jerry Lewis, filmed right here in Southern Arizona (with locations in Douglas, AZ; Patagonia, AZ, etc.)! This offbeat tale of an innocent dreamer (played by Depp in his pre-Hollwood blockbuster days) trying to find his way in a small desert town near Tucson is a charming ode to the strangeness of the American West. Grab a slice of our free TUCSON BIRTHDAY CAKE (while supplies last), and enter our FREE PRIZE RAFFLE for a fabulous gift package which includes dvds of films made in Arizona, Tucson-centric books and other surprises!

This uniquely quirky comedy, the first English language movie by Bosnian-born director Emir Kusturica (When Father Was Away on Business), tells the highly entertaining tale of two highly dysfunctional families living, loving and dreaming in the vast expanses of the great American Southwest.

An orphan named Axel Blackmar (Johnny Depp, in one of his earliest starring roles), who works for the New York Department of Fish and Game (and who is obsessed with the dream life of fish), is asked to serve as best man at the wedding of his uncle (legendary comedian Jerry Lewis), a larger-than-life Arizona Cadillac dealer who’s marrying a Polish woman (model/actress Paulina Porizkova) less than half his age. Axel’s cousin (Vincent Gallo, Brown Bunny) is an aspiring actor given to obsessively performing lines and gestures in sync with such movies as Raging Bull, The Godfather and North by Northwest. Relocating to the small desert town that his family calls home, a lonely and confused Axel starts an affair with a widow nearly twice his age (Oscar-winner Faye Dunaway) who lives with her neurotic and disgruntled stepdaughter (Lili Taylor, I Shot Andy Warhol). As the lives of these oddball characters begin to intersect, it becomes clear they are all living in various stages of a dream: Axel dreams of moving to Alaska, his uncle dreams of climbing to the moon on a stack of Cadillacs, the widow dreams of flying via a homemade pair of wings and her stepdaughter dreams of being reincarnated as a turtle.
Gorgeously shot, endlessly fascinating and full of lyrical and surreal images, ARIZONA DREAM is a wildly audacious black comedy about the dreamer in all of us.

I’ve seen this 1993 movie and it is an odd & original story filmed here in Southern Arizona. Early in the movie the Johnny Depp character Axel says that “he doesn’t want to go to Arizona.” But he changes his mind (find out how by viewing this film). The movie is just perfect for you Johnny Depp fans. Dream on.

And Happy Early Birthday to Tucson (coming up on August 20). For more Tucson Birthdays events go to District 5 Supervisor Richard Elias’ webpage & click on Birthday on the top.

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

Tucson Chinese Cultural Center Celebrates Tucson’s Birthday

Thursday Aug 25, 2011

Time: 11:30-13:30 (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)
Admission: Non-members $5; members free
Contact Name: Patsy Lee/Robin Blackwood
Email: pleecoach@yahoo.com/larobinb@aol.com
Location: Tucson Chinese Cultural Center
Address: 1288 W. River Road Tucson, AZ 85704 (east of La Canada)
Phone: 520-292-6900
website: www.tucsonchinese.org

Tucson Chinese Cultural Center will celebrate Tucson’s birthday at its senior program lunch with a meal prepared from Tucson Chinese grocery store family heritage recipes. A birthday cake will be served. Public is invited to participate.

I’m a member and I’m not even Chinese.The Tucson Chinese Cultural Center is welcoming to all people to celebrate Tucson’s 236th birthday. Happy Birthday Tucson (again)!

For lots more photos of yesterday’s birthday activities click here. There’s Flickr photos of most of the past events as well.

And it’s not over yet. For more events for Tucson’s Birthday month of August, log onto www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

News Release: Tucson’s Birthday Ambassadors Orientation set for July 23

Contact: Linda Ray
info@tucsonsbirthday.org
520-327-7544

TUCSON’S BIRTHDAY AMBASSADORS SPREAD THE FUN
July 23 Orientation Set for Tucson’s Birthday Volunteers

Tucsonans who love their town and want to spread the
word about its month-long August birthday celebration are invited to
attend an orientation from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, July 23 for
Tucson’s Birthday Ambassadors.

The meeting, to be held at the Martha Cooper Branch Library, 1377
North Catalina Ave., will feature a 20-minute capsule history of
Tucson by historian Ken Scoville, donuts from the 75-year-old LeCave’s
Bakery and coffee from Ike’s.

Birthday Ambassadors attend their choice Tucson’s Birthday events to
help promote all the other events in the Birthday month. They’re
encouraged to text, Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Yelp, photograph,
videotape and blog about events they attend. They also serve as a
street team to promote events to their friends and neighbors, and to
encourage people to visit tucsonsbirthday.org for more information.
In 2010, more than 40 Ambassadors participated, some attending more
than 20 events.

Besides enthusiasm for learning more about our city’s history,
cultural diversity and natural wonders, Ambassadors require a cell
phone, an e-mail address, a computer and a comfortable relationship
with their technology. An additional training session is available on
blogging.

Reservations are required via e-mail to tucsonsbirthday@gmail.com.
Anyone interested in attending is urged to first familiarize
themselves with the information available on the Tucson’s Birthday
website at http://www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

Tucson’s month-long birthday celebration was conceived in 2006 by Cele
Peterson. The month celebrates the contributions of many cultures and
interests, as well as the environmental features and institutions that
have made Tucson a unique community. Tucson’s Birthday Planners is a
501(c)3 corporation, registered in the State of Arizona. Its Board
members are President and Executive Director Linda Ray, Chairman Hon.
Richard Elías, Secretary Dave Fisher and at-large members Hon. Regina
Romero, Ray Davies, Lance Laber, Tom Prezelski, Art Pesqueira and Pete
Hershberger.

Tucson’s birthday is coming up on August 20, but events are held throughout Tucson during the entire month of August. Log onto that website to find out what’s happening every day. I attended several fun events last summer and blogged about them as well.

Halau Hula O Ualani, The Maguire Academy of Irish Dance, Ballet Folklorico Tapatio, Los Changuitos Feos performed. And St. Augustine birthday cakes were enjoyed by all at the end of the fiesta.

St. Augustine cathedral & fiesta banner

people enjoying the fiesta

hula dancer performing on stage from Halau Hula O Ualani

more hula dancers performing

Maguire Irish dancers performing

lovely dancer from Maguire Academy of Irish Dance

Ballet Folklorico Tapatio performers

Ballet Folklorico Tapatio on the new beautiful flower stage

Bishop Gerald Kicanas at the Mass inside the Cathedral

St. Augustine's statue

Los Changuitos Feos leading the procession after Mass

Los Changuitos Feos in the Cathedral

Happy Birthday St. Augustine cake

Feliz Cumpleanos San Agustin cake

More photos online at Tucson’s Birthday website, www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

La Fiesta de San Agustin
Time: 4pm – 9:30pm
Admission: Free To The Public
Location: St. Augustine Cathedral – Placita
Address: 192 S. Stone (downtown, south of Broadway)
Phone: 623-6351 (work)
Contact Name: John @ 404-9974 and Leilana @ 294-9812
Email: johnj4698@gmail.com

“Arts and crafts, food booths, native American dancers, Las Donas de Los Descendientes– Diverse cultural entertainment, including the Menehune Hawaiian Dancers (Halau Hula O Ualani), the Maguire Academy of Irish Dance, Los Chanquitos Feos, and Ballet Folklorico Tapatio.

As is tradition, the fiesta will also have a mass at 5:30 p.m. with Bishop Gerald Kicanas and a procession with a statue of St. Augustine. The bishop and representatives of a variety of cultures will walk to the music played by Los Changuitos Feos.

The procession will go around the block and end in the placita adjacent to the cathedral, where the bishop and a Yaqui medicine man will give a blessing before the rest of the party goes underway.”

Where else can you a hula show, mariachi performers, Mexican folklorico dancers, Irish dancers and a Yaqui medicine man all at the same event? Enjoy Tucson’s diverse cultures and celebrate Tucson’s 235th Birthday.

St. Augustine cathedral

UPDATE: Photos by Jon Scanlon of this fiesta, click here.

“Arizona,” the 1940 movie showing

movie poster

Aug 28, 2010

Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Location: Arizona Historical Society (AHS)
Donation: $5 suggested
Address: 949 E 2nd Street (west of Park Avenue) in Tucson
Phone: 520-628-5774

Contact Name: Anne Felker or Sarah Tunnell
Email: sam.felker@cox.net or stunnell2@cox.net

Website: www.arizonahistoricalsociety.org (link is Tucson Birthday Events)

Actor Jim Easterbrook will introduce the movie “Arizona” with a short talk about Arizona cowboys, as well as his “experiences in western movies and on the set at Tucson’s film studio.” You can also view AHS collections as related to this movie.

The movie set at Old Tucson was built in 1939 for the filming of the movie “Arizona”, which stars William Holden, Jean Arthur, and the stagecoach now on display at the Arizona Historical Society.

Popcorn and refreshments will be available for purchase (no outside food or drink will be allowed).

Contact Name: Anne Felker or Sarah Tunnell
Email: sam.felker@cox.net or stunnell2@cox.net

For the remaining Tucson Birthday events for this birthday month of August, log onto www.tucsonsbirthday.org.