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).

El Dia de San Juan Celebration

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This 19th Annual  event will be held at the Mercado San Agustin,100 S. Avenida del Convento, west of the I-10, and at the SW corner of Congress St. Info: http://mercadosanagustin.com/. The Loft Cinema is a co-sponsor and will be showing free, the animated movie “Rango” at around 7:30 p.m. (as the sun sets). Bring your … Read more

LSA Neighborhood fiesta: Birthdays, beer, brew & bikes

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neighborhoodbrew

“This spring, Living Streets Alliance (LSA) turned five and we’re finally getting around to celebrating. Because parties are way more fun when they’re with our friends, we’re teaming up with Tap & Bottle and Exo Roast Co. to throw a mid-summer fiesta in celebration of birthdays, beer, brew, and bikes. On Saturday, June 25th, a whole slew of events, activities, live music and more will take place at these two lovely establishments down the street from our office. Even better: a portion of all proceeds will go to support the work of LSA!

And, because we LOVE our members, we’re throwing in some extra fun just for you. Stop by any time between Noon and 6pm and we’ll have a coupon for a complimentary beer at Tap & Bottle, plus you’ll be entered to win one of our Tucson Summer Stay-cation packages. If you come between Noon and 4pm, you can also grab a free scoop of Isabella’s Ice Cream. And feel free to join in toasts and cake at 5pm to celebrate all that we’ve accomplished together over the past five years. It’s gonna be a blast!” (from FB page)

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Happy Father’s Day 2016

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DadOver 20 years ago my beloved biological father Dr. Francis Sueo Sugiyama passed away. He had been sick for about a month, in and out of the hospital, but his death was unexpected. He was only 81, and had intended to live to 90.  Sadly, he did not, but he died of old age nonetheless, not due to any cancer or other terminal illness. He had practiced dentistry and orthodontics in our home village in North Kohala, Hawaii for over 30 years.

And Dad was also an artist of Hawaiian landscapes and  painted beautiful images on smooth rocks. Happily he was also a world traveler and had been retired for 20 years. This was success for my father, as he had grown up very poor, the youngest of 8 children to immigrant sugar plantation indentured servants/workers from Hiroshima, Japan. He told me that he and his siblings had to walk to elementary school barefoot in rural Trust Territory of Hawaii.  When my father was 12 years old, one of his teenaged older brothers (Mitsuto) was dragged and killed by a sugar plantation mule.  One of his older sisters (Helen Hayayo) later died after giving birth to her 5th child on the rural island of Molokai, but such was the life of sugar plantation families.

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