The Tucson Festival of books is in its 5th year.

See www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org for complete list of authors, exhibitors, etc. for this wildly popular book festival held every March on the University of Arizona mall. Free event, free parking around the UA Campus. Two years ago our Tucsoncitizen.com news source had a booth there.

March 9 and 10, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days.

New this year, my husband UA University Distinguished Professor (and 2012 Arizona Professor of the Year) Albrecht Classen will be signing his 2012 Southwestern book, “The Letters of the Swiss Jesuit Missionary Philipp Segesser (1689-1762)” on both days of the festival. Swiss missionary Segesser followed in the footsteps of early Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Kino into the Sonoran region of Arizona.

The Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) in Tempe, Arizona published this book last year (click here for previous post). The ACMRS festival booth will be #141 just south of the University of Arizona Bookstore booth, directly south of the west end of the UA Memorial Student Union.

Also published in 2012 by Lexington Books is “Early History of the Southwest through the Eyes of German-Speaking Jesuit Missionaries” (about Father Kino, Father Segesser, and others) by my husband.

At 10 a.m. on Saturday March 9, Professor Classen will join Professor Donald Weinstein in a talk in the UA Student Union Ventana Room upstairs (level 4):

“Savonarola and Segesser: They Changed History, for Heaven’s Sake”

When: Saturday 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Where: Student Union – Ventana Room
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Authors:
Albrecht Classen
Donald Weinstein

Weinstein is the author of the biography, “Savonarola: The Rise and Fall of a Renaissance Prophet.” It presents an original interpretation of the 15th century friar’s prophetic career. Donald Weinstein is a Professor Emeritus in the UA Dept. of History, where he was formerly Department Head.

Moderator: Hester Oberman (daughter of the late Dr. Heiko Oberman, renowned UA Regents Professor of History). She is an Adjunct Professor in the Religious Studies Dept.at the University of AZ.

Join these three UA Professors in a fascinating discussion about early modern clerics, their religious passion, and impact on their societies.

And enjoy all the many exhibitors, authors, performances at this wonderful book festival. I’ve been attending every year and it’s always a fun-filled, intellectually stimulating, and popular event for all. It’s also very children friendly with lots of entertainment and activities for the kids.

Dog lover/Blogger Karyn Zoldan first reported about this new challenge on March 15 (click here).

Temperatures supposed to be high of 78 degrees tomorrow (not exactly Alaskan Iditarod weather, but just about right for Tucson). I’m just re-announcing it for those of you who missed it the first time (with some updates):

The Great Tucson Iditarod Race:
April 1, 2012

You are invited to enter a shopping cart race in which teams of from 2 to 5 people tie themselves to a dressed up shopping cart, and manage their outrageously costumed-selves down the sidewalks of downtown Tucson.

Description
This is an urban adventure, with a shopping cart tied to your waist or being hand pulled. Mushers and “dawgs” must have a theme, and be in costume to support that theme. The races are fun competitions, but are not based on speed, or who gets to the finish line first. Racers wear costumes of the absurd such as Spanish bullfighters, javelina astronauts, favorite vegetables or fruit, puppies, or human pinatas.

Teams can be used to advertise their charity, their business, their school, their class, their program, their singing group, their church, their golf team, their class, their neighborhood, their office, their yoga group, their family, their brand, their politics, their dance class, etc.

There must be a musher riding in, or on, the cart at all times. Team members can switch at their discretion. The event will be video documented and photographed along the way. At the end of the race, 5 teams will be chosen and awarded $100 each in prize money. All ages welcome to participate.

Iditarod: (pronounced: Eye-DIT-uh-rod)

History:
The most famous Sled Dog Race in the world was the Iditarod which ran 1160 miles through the roughest and most beautiful Alaskan terrain. Mushers and dogs raced through fierce mountains, frozen rivers, thick forests, and desolate tundras.

The Present:
The Great Tucson Iditarod is tougher still. Mushers have to brave the U of A Mall, University Avenue, 4th Avenue and it’s perilous underpass, Congress Street, and Sixth Ave, only to end up at the center of the world: The Tucson Food Truck Roundup, if they survive their frostbitten journey.

The Race:
The race occurs on April 1, 2012, April Fools Day. There is no exact start time. Each team starts between Noon and 3pm, but at a time of their choosing. Check in at Bentley’s House of Coffee and Tea, 1730 E. Speedway.

Smart Mushers Register Beforehand:
Not necessary, but it will help all of us.
Entry fee: $30. Payable on Paypal (pay dinnerwareartspace@gmail.com), or check, or cash, day of the race. Get last minute updates before you set out on your journey. The race ends at the Tucson Food Truck Roundup at 5pm. Five, $100 cash prizes will be awarded at 5:30pm.

Along the way, you have to check in at certain stops. Each stop will give the team something to take with them on their journey. Those items must be presented at the end of the race. Some items may be small. Some may be large….

Start at Bentley’s, 1730 E. Speedway, then mush through the UA Mall to
-Time Market, then
-Skybar, then
-Xoom Juice on Congress, then head to the finish line at the Tucson Food Truck Roundup, 76 E. Sixth Street.

Awards: Clever theme selection, amazing costuming, animal decoration, artistic and crazy, award because the judges just loved them.

Preparing for the race:
Get a shopping cart. Where? Use your imagination, but a lot of times rejected shopping carts reside behind super markets. Just sayin. Shopping carts can be ‘adjusted’ to fit your needs including chopping them up. But keep the wheels on. Get your friends together, create some fun costuming, and you’re good to go. As always, be safe and be legal.

Iditarod stops are subject to change.
Guidelines subject to enhancement.
Award categories may be added or adjusted.

For updates:
http://www.tucsonfoodtruckroundup.com/Tucson_Iditarod.html

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Great-Tucson-Iditarod-Race-April-1-2012/348140168539406

Created by
David Aguirre
Dinnerware Artspace
520-869-3166

Yow — this sounds grueling, to push or pull a shopping cart (without dogs) in the hot Southwest desert sun at high noon on Sunday April Fool’s Day! The route goes from Bentley’s at Nob Hill near Campbell, through the UA Mall along University Blvd., then down 4th Avenue through the underpass to downtown Congress Street, up 6th Avenue, and finally to Benjamin Plumbing (N. 7th Ave & E. 6th St.) Maybe only fools need apply?

I think I’ll just meander along this concrete pathway on a bicycle, sans the shopping cart. And don’t forget that the fun Food Truck Roundup starts at 4 p.m. (where the race ends), and goes to 8 p.m. I wonder if you can hitch your husky dog to a shopping car for good luck (and help pulling?)

At the end of the race, 5 teams will be chosen and awarded $100 each in prize money.
Be there to see who wins!

4/1/12 update: photos of 1st Iditarod race on April Fool’s Day 2012 (click here).

Ted Prezelski, blogger at Rum, Romanism & Rebellion is reporting that injured Congresswoman “Gabby” Giffords will be attending the candlelight vigil at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday 1/8/12 at the UA Mall, with her husband Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Retired). Here’s the link of his article with more information about that event:

http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/2012/01/04/january-8th-anniversary/

Ron Barber, her District Director will be the emcee at that vigil, with speeches by newly- elected Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Dr. Peter Rhee, Chief, Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, The University of Arizona Medical Center. Barber himself was shot twice on January 8, 2011 and is still recovering from the wound to his leg. Captain Mark Kelly is also listed as one of the speakers at the vigil.

For more information on the events of that day “Remembering January 8th”, the one year anniversary of the mass shooting on 1/8/11, click here.