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).

Happy 240th Birthday, Tucson

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It’s Tucson’s 240th Birthday, tomorrow August 20, 2015. Here’s a list of the day’s celebrations in chronological order.

tucsonsolarbirthday

Start off at 9:30 a.m. (get there a bit earlier) to see the solar alignment of the bell art on the canopy above onto the description of this Discovery Day on the floor of the bridge below. Photo above courtesy of Charity Bidegain.  More info at their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/luisggutierrezbridge?fref=ts

Then get free cake at Cafe 54 Bistro, at 54 E. Pennington St. between the 11 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. (yes, twenty minutes only! so don’t be late)

Celebrate Tucson’s birthday and participate in twenty minutes of happiness by visiting Cafe 54 on August 20 between 11:00–11:20 am. Say, “Happy birthday, Tucson!” to our cashier and receive a free slice of cake. It’s that simple!

Check out http://dohappytoday.com/ for more information about this and other events in the Tucson community.

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Justice of the Peace applicants sought in Precinct 2 – updated

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From Pima County Clerk of the Board:

Pima County seeking Justice of the Peace applicants

 PIMA COUNTY – Pima County Justice of the Peace José Luis Castillo is retiring effective Aug. 30 and as a result, the county is seeking a replacement for Precinct Two.

Applicants for the position need to meet the following requirements:

  • 18 years of age or older at the time of the appointment
  • Registered to vote in the precinct
  • Resident of the precinct
  • Same political party at the person vacating the office (Democrat)

Interested parties should file the following with the Clerk of the Board:

  • Letter of Interest
  • Resume
  • Financial disclosure statement

The submission deadline is 5 p.m., Aug. 28.

The League of Women Voters will be conducting a public forum to introduce and interview the candidates on Thursday, Sept. 10 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Eckstrom-Columbus Library, 4350 E. 22nd St..

The Board of Supervisors will make the appointment at their meeting on Sept. 15.

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The Wild & Scenic Film Festival

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PRESENTED BY THE COALITION FOR SONORAN DESERT PROTECTION THE WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway, Tucson WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19 AT 6:30PM | ADVANCE TICKETS: $8 • DAY OF: $10 The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection is proud to once again be hosting The Wild and Scenic Film Festival! This … Read more

Comedy in Action (live from Las Vegas) at the Fox

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JUGGLING! MAGIC! FACE PAINTING!! Jeff Civillico performs his juggling act with so much zany energy that he has been compared to Jim Carey! A family friendly, all ages, magic, comedy, and juggling show, benefiting Dancing Dancing in the Streets AZ which teaches at risk youth ballet.Magic by John and Mari Shryock, where you will witness the impossible … Read more

In search of the Great Arizona Novel

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Recently Chapman University  professor and author Tom Zoellner (formerly of Arizona) wrote an article “Why is there no great Arizona novel?” which appeared on August 3, 2015 in the Phoenix New Times.  Here’s the link to the article:  http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/why-is-there-no-great-arizona-novel-7530944

Tom Zoellner
Tom Zoellner

Many of us remember Tom Zoellner for writing that gripping nonfiction Tucson book “A Safeway in Tucson” about the Tucson Tragedy mass shooting and assassination attempt on then-CD 8 Congresswoman Gabby Giffords,  and the killing of 6 and wounding of 13 others. Many of us knew Gabby (as did Zoellner on her campaign trails), and I even recently played mah jong with one of the victims.

In his article Zoellner raised the provocative question about there being no great Arizona novel.  I pondered this myself during the Arizona Centennial in 2012, when the UA published this list “Arizona 100: Essential Books of the Centennial”: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/online-exhibits-dynamic/az100/docs/brochure.pdf.  At that time I thought that Edward Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang” which is #1 on that list was probably the best of the fiction included.  Zoellner does list Abbey’s book as one of his 15 suggestions on the bottom of his article. Here’s Zoellner’s list:

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