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).

In search of the Great Arizona Novel

by

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:

Read more

5th Annual Tucson Bird & Wildlife Festival on August 12-16

by

Tucson Bird & Wildlife Festival (from Tucson Audubon Society website): EXPERIENCE SOUTHEAST ARIZONA BIRDING AT ITS BEST Riverpark Inn, 350 S. Freeway (west of the I-10 at Cushing Street) Tucson, Arizona August 12-16, 2015 Online registration NOW OPEN! We invite you to explore and enjoy the beautiful and fascinating Sonoran Desert and Sky Islands. Join the … Read more

Remembering Elvis

by

starring Robert Shaw and the Lonely Street Band at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St. 2 p.m. on Sunday August 9. Every August, Elvis fans all over the world gather to honor the memory of their favorite legend on the anniversary of his passing, and Robert Shaw and the Lonely Street Band are … Read more

August Schedule for Cinema La Placita

by
The August 2015 schedule is as follows (from Erika O’Dowd, founder of Cinema La Placita).  Don’t miss the August 20 movie –  “A Kiss Before Dying”, filmed in Tucson, starring Robert Wagner.
Kiss Before dying
August 6 The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (1947) NR Starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple
August 13 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) NR Starring Gregory Peck, Mary Badham and Robert Duvall.
August 20 A Kiss Before Dying (1956) NR Starring Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward and Virginia Leith.
August 27 Best in Show (2000) PG-13 Starring Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest, Catherine O’Hara, Michael McKean. DIrected by Christopher Guest.
The August 20 screening of “A Kiss Before Dying” is shown in conjunction with the Downtown Tucson Partnership and Do Happy Tucson as part of celebrating Tucson’s birthday this year!  (it’s actually Do Happy Today – see comment below).

Read more