Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Sugiyama Classen, a life long Democrat, was born & raised in the State of Hawaii, was a Legislative Aide for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye on Capitol Hill, and practiced law for a while. In Tucson she worked as a tribal staff attorney for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and later was the Interim Executive Director of the now defunct Domestic Violence Commission. In 2008 she became a “My Tucson” guest columnist for the Tucson Citizen newspaper, then continued blogging for Tucsoncitizen.com for over four and a half years. Her blogsite was entitled “Carolyn’s Community” about community events and some political news, until Gannett Publishing shut down the site on January 31, 2014. She started with Blog for Arizona on Feb. 11, 2014. Part time she sat as a Hearing Officer in Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts Small Claims Division since April, 2005 for 15 years. She is married to University of Arizona Distinguished Professor Albrecht Classen, a native of Germany. They have one son, who lives in Seattle, WA with his wife and daughter. She is also the Editor of the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition website, www.southernazjapan.org (since Jan. 2013).

Last month at TDART for WWII Japanese American internment camp exhibits

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Since November, 2016 there have been three art exhibits ongoing at the Tucson Desert Art Museum (TDART) on the WWII Japanese American internment camps, two which were here in Arizona (at Poston and at Gila River).  I posted at the opening:  https://blogforarizona.net/3-exhibitions-at-tucson-desert-art-museum-on-japanese-american-internment-during-wwii/

All exhibits are closing on April 30, 2017.  TDART is open Wed. to Sundays 10 to 4 p.m., 7000 E. Tanque Verde Rd. (west of Sabino Canyon Rd.)

Particularly moving are lovely, solemn watercolors painted by Tokutaro “Kakunen” Tsuruoka (on loan from AZ Historical Society).  Here’s one of Poston Relocation Center with the guard tower and barbed wire fence:

Poston Relocation Center painting by Tokutaro Tsuruoka, photo taken by Carolyn Classen

Also as part of this exhibit,

Art of Circumstance: Art and Artifacts Created by Japanese Americans Incarcerated During WWII

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Expanded route for Spring Cyclovia Tucson in downtown

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Sunday, Apr. 2, 2017 10am – 3pm Downtown to South Tucson Time to get our your bikes, trikes, scooters, wagons, skates and walking shoes and enjoy the streets of Tucson sans motor vehicles. Enjoy Springtime outdoors. https://www.cycloviatucson.org/ Also NEW this year (besides the expanded route) — an online interactive map (click on it to view … Read more

Murals galore in Tucson

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On the International Day of Happiness (March 20) recently, I stumbled upon the large, new “Greetings from TUCSON” mural in the back of the Miller Surplus store, 406 N. 6th Avenue. It’s on the east wall,  in the alley along E. 7th St., painted by visiting graffiti artist Ving An on a Greetingstour of America.  Photo below (even illuminated at night).  He captured the iconic images of Tucson quite well.  All photos courtesy of yours truly.

Another favorite mural of mine is on the south wall of the  now closed La Pilita Cultural Center, 420 S. Main Ave. (south of Cushing Street).  It is a more historical rendition of Tucson culture & Mexican history of this area, painted in the 1980’s by artist Martin Moreno and restored in 2011.  Photo below.

And lastly I wanted to highlight one of the new downtown murals, painted by To-Ree-Nee Wolf Keiser, at 213 E. Broadway, NE corner of 5th Avenue.  Hers is so brightly colored and depicts lots of Native American designs and motifs, entitled “Creation Story, Chaos Theory and Quantum Memory”, on the west facing wall.

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Free showing of “1984” film at Loft Cinema

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Free Screening! 1984 Join us for a special free screening of the classic film version of George Orwell’s chillingly prophetic novel, 1984, on April 4th, the day Orwell’s protagonist Winston Smith begins rebelling against his oppressive government by keeping a forbidden diary. TUESDAY, APRIL 4 AT 7:30PM | FREE ADMISSION at Loft Cinema, 3233 E. … Read more

Shooting Columbus

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SHOOTING COLUMBUS “How would your life be different if Christopher Columbus had been assassinated?” “Shooting Columbus is an immersive site-specific performance set at La Pilita Cultural Center, in which the audience walks through the space and encounters theater, performance and video installations. The work examines the consequences of time travel and the current resistance of … Read more