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).

UA Confluencenter Showcase on April 21

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UA Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry Research Showcase Tuesday, April 21: 2-5:30 p.m. Memorial Student Union South Ballroom, 1303 E. University Blvd. in Tucson.

Download an app to learn Nahuatl on your smartphone; watch scenes from a new documentary to learn how “play” shapes the lives of social mammals like gorillas, dogs and dolphins; find out why some songs get stuck in your head, and more, at Confluencenter’s first Research Showcase.

During an afternoon of presentations, exhibits and a reception, the public can interact with several interdisciplinary projects that the center has funded since its inception in 2011. The UA faculty and graduate funding recipients – from the Colleges of Fine Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Humanities – will be available to discuss their work.

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Why I ride the Sun Tran bus

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Recently at a Sustainable Tucson meeting someone asked how many of us ride the bus in Tucson, and out of about 30 people, only 2 raised their hands (including me). So here’s my thoughts on riding Sun Tran:

  1. No worries about driving in town: it’s actually fairly relaxing to just sit on a bus and let the bus driver worry about the changing lights, pedestrians, motorcycles, traffic signs, construction, etc.
  2. No worries about parking the car/truck: looking and finding parking downtown, plus worrying about having enough $ for the meter or time expiring on the meter are eliminated with bus riding
  3. Environmentally friendly: to ride public transport with lots of other people; supposed to save gas emissions for each car/truck not in use.
  4. Sightseeing: enjoy the sights along the bus route without being distracted by driving
  5. Exercise: walking. It’s easy to leave your house & just get in the car parked in the garage/carport, but it’s definitely better exercise to walk to the bus stop, and walk again to your destination when you get to the end of your bus trip. I definitely walk a lot more when I ride the bus to downtown.
  6. Inexpensive: only $1.50 each way, with a 2 hour transfer. And you can use the Sun Link modern streetcar as well, if you can transfer to that 4 mile route (or vice versa).

For more info on Sun Tran, call 520-792-9222, or go online at www. Suntran.com.

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Spring Cyclovia on April 19

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It’s that time again to head downtown for Cyclovia’s downtown route to South Tucson. See latest  map above. So leave that car or truck behind, and get on your bike, trike, scooter, skates, skateboard, unicycle or just walk/hike/push or pull your wheeled wagon or stroller through the Cyclovia route.

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Another grand Fiesta Grande

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FIESTA GRANDE will take place on the weekend of APRIL 18th & 19th on Grande Avenue, between Speedway Blvd. & St. Mary’s Road in Barrio Hollywood. Come and enjoy the live music, delicious food, beer garden, carnival rides and much more! FUN and FREE for the ENTIRE FAMILY! See you at the Fiesta!! Hours: 9 … Read more