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).
On Sunday, December 21, 2014 the Tucson chapter of the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) held a demonstration against violent toys and games at the Walmart at 7150 E. Speedway (SE corner of Kolb Rd.)
More info on the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom: http://www.tucsonwilpf.org/. Santa below is aka activist Stuart Thomas.
Lights! In Downtown Tucson on Dec. 20, starting at 6:30 p.m. Join Mayor Jonathan Rothschild at Armory Park for the tree lighting at 5:30 p.m. Here’s the map for the 20th Annual parade:
Aloha! Just met owner/restaurateur Sam Alboy who has now opened up his 4th Mama’s Hawaiian BBQ, at 6310 E. Tanque Verde (at the intersection of Wilmot Rd., Pima Rd. and Tanque Verde, north of Speedway Blvd.).
They all serve the same delicious (“ono” in Hawaiian) meals such as their Big Kahuna (beef teriyaki, chicken teriyaki, and kalua pork with 2 sides), and their Korean kalbi short ribs (my favorite by far). Their sides are white or brown rice, mac salad, house salad, french fries, mixed veggies, or desserts.
In Hawaii we eat till we are “tired”, and you can do that at Mama’s, as the portions are generous.
Sam Alboy and employees at Mama’s Tucson/East, courtesy of Sam
The other locations in town are the first Mama’s at 850 E. Speedway (just west of Park Ave.), in Sahuarita at 15990 S. Rancho Sahuarita, and up north in Marana at SE corner of Cortaro Farms. Rd./Thornydale. They do deliveries and catering too.
Join the Tucson Wildlife Center for Dinner and Art at Gusto Osteria! This Thursday, December 18th, meet brilliant local artists Jos Villabrille, Sharon Kay Baker, Dale Libengood, Brad Pearson and Charlie Burton for an evening of painting and delicious Italian food. A portion of dinner, takeout and happy hour sales will benefit the Tucson Wildlife … Read more