Foothills News, November 16, 2022

The Voice of the Catalina Foothills

Breaking the mold at Saguaro National Park

BY KAREN SCHAFFNER Tucson Local Media

Visit Saguaro National Park and, be sides taking in the stunning beauty of the Sonoran Desert, partake in many of its programs.

Learn about tarantulas from Ranger Jordan Camp or the petroglyphs of the people who once walked this way from Raeshaun Ra mon. It’s a true diamond in the town.

UA student wins big at business game tourney

BY HOPE PETERS Tucson Local Media

In a Sims-style video game, students from UA and Pima and Cochise community col leges competed to make the most revenue for their virtual businesses.

During the tourney, students played entrepreneur and put their business skills to the test. UA freshman Oliver Stoner-German walked away with the $2,500. He grew his in-game revenue to $92.8 million. The event includ ed the UA Venture Expo show casing student businesses, prod ucts and prototypes.

Travis Gramm won the $1,000 second prize by building busi nesses worth $76 million, and Zane Aljazzazi won the $500 third place. Twelve other stu dents won part of the total $5,000 in cash giveaways and prizes.

University of Arizona FORGE partnered with Venture Valley, a fast-paced multiplayer business simulation game from the non profit Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepre neurship, for the recent tourney at Roy Place.

“We had almost a hundred com petitors,” said Erika Mitnik, man ager for University of Arizona Marketing & Communications,

FORGE. “The winner racked up about $92 million (revenue for his simulated business).”

Added Paul Valdez, FORGE Student Venture Pathways pro gram manager, in a statement, “As part of our quest to bring entrepreneurship opportunities to our students, we partnered with the Venture Valley mobile and PC game, as it encompasses what we teach on a daily basis.

“All of our students had a blast playing the game and walked away from the competition with a real sense of all of the factors and intricacies involved in being an entrepreneur.”

Not everyone feels that way, however. The relationship the park has with the Tohono O’Odham nation is complicated. The land the west side park encompasses was once theirs and was appropriated by the federal government. This is the same land where members of that nation and their ancestors once lived and hunted, once gathered the fruit of the saguaro cactus, once cared for the land and its occupants — all the occu pants, including the four-legged, feathered and rooted varieties. Members of the Tohono O’Odham Nation still have a shaky relation ship with the National Park Service.

“For me, growing up I’ve always heard how the National Park Service and Indige nous nations, there was a very complicated history because the National Park Service claimed these spots,” Raeshaun Ramon said about Saguaro National Park.

He is an enrolled member of the Tohono

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From left are Travis Gramm, second-place winner; Nick Night, Venture Valley game maker; Oliver Stoner-German, first-place winner; and Zane Aljazzazi. (UA FORGE/Submitted)

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O’Odham Nation.

“They kind of kicked us out of these areas. A lot of the national park places in the coun try are within Indigenous lands and where people harvested, gathered, hunted, even had sacred sites within national parks. Over the years, my community tends to stay away from it.”

For the Tohono O’Odham Nation, it’s about the importance of the saguaro cactus to their culture and people, and the West District of Saguaro National Park has the most saguaros in the world, according to Ramon.

“The (saguaro) provides us food with the fruit and it provides us shelter, but also med icine,” Ramon said. “It’s in our songs, in our stories, and we basically say it’s in our blood. We come from the saguaro; we are the sagua ro. We see them as our relatives.”

For years, national parks staff consid ered themselves the storytellers of the land, but these staffers were all too often American men of European descent. Nothing wrong with that, but as a nation we are more than that.

As the community engagement and out reach coordinator, Cam Juarez handles all the special events at the park.

“My primary reason for being hired was essentially to create a pathway for underrep

resented audiences to become more aware and potentially more involved with Saguaro National Park,” he said. “That is the beauty of what we do. We are constantly trying to find the connections.”

To that end, Juarez has found numerous opportunities to expand the park’s outreach. Every year staffers make more than 40 vis its to area activities such as the Tucson Book Festival, where he emphasizes engagement with the community. It only counts as en gagement if a staffer speaks with a member of the public for more than 5 minutes, he

said. Juarez plans events for underrepresent ed communities. That includes a recent natu ralization ceremony; Saguaro National Park was one of only five national parks to host the ceremony, according to Juarez.

He has erected ofrendas for Día de los Muertos at the west and east sites. Along with the Friends of Saguaro National Park, he set up and hired the members of the Next Gen eration Ranger Corps, which is how Ramon came to the park.

With the help of the Friends, the Next Gen eration Ranger Corps came to life in 2015.

Students from UA and Pima Community College come to the park to work for a half or full year to learn about the jobs at the Na tional Park Service. For people like Ramon, who strives to become a park ranger, it al lowed him to come to terms with his sense of injustice and distrust and to see things in a new way.

“A lot of families (from my culture) like to come here to either harvest (saguaro fruit), hike or whatever, and over the years there is always conflict, whether it’s being watched by the park rangers or law enforcement, (or) the permit process: How much can you col lect? Where can you collect?”

That permit process, which allows Indig enous populations to harvest the fruit that comes from the saguaro, discourages many from the Tohono O’Odham nation from visit ing the park. Community members say, ‘‘Oh, I don’t want to come here because I don’t want to be watched all the time. I don’t want to go through this specific permit process in order just to get the fruit or gather any mate rials,” Ramon said.

Once he took the job with the next gen corps, though, he started to expand his vision of what the national parks, particularly Sa

Mitnik said Stoner-German, who is study ing pre-business and is looking to go into the Eller program, told her the video game gave him the chance to test his economics studies.

“I signed up for it (after hearing about the tournament at a club fair),” Stoner-German said. “Afterward, I got more involved in the FORGE organization and I’m looking fur ther to get more involved in that.”

Nick Night, Venture Valley game maker, started the simulated business video game about four years ago through the Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entre preneurship.

“We wanted to take finance education and make it fun and engaging (for business/ entrepreneurship education),” Night said. “How do you make it not just about educa tion? Something that people want to play and

SAGUARO PARK from Page 4

guaro National Park, could be.

“I learned those stories, too, and I was afraid, but at the same time I love the land and the culture,” Ramon said. “Coming here, I just told myself, ‘Well, I have to test the wa ters and see how it is.’ The first few weeks, the first month, I realized that there needs to be a bridge between my community and the Park Service. If I am that bridge, I open the doors for my community and hopefully they can step into a position like mine and then into the green and gray uniform.”

A UA senior majoring in archaeology, Ra mon works in community engagement and outreach. He gives programs on saguaro fruit harvest, Signal Hill and the petroglyphs.

“I tend to use what I learned (in school), and I realized that archaeology and anthro pology and the Park Service, they go hand in hand, so I think it’s the perfect place for me to be,” he added.

Another next gen ranger is Lizbeth Perez, a student in the bio/diversity program at UA who reignited her love of the outdoors. She graduated last May with a degree in natural resources and never expected to stay here.

“Just seeing that the desert could be so full of life over here really reinvigorated that (in terest),” Perez said. “I love the desert, and I’ve been studying it for years at the university. Af terwards, with Cam’s help and inspiration, I’m here now and it’s really incredible. Everything I’ve learned the past five years at the college has been really, really helpful here.”

As a young Latina, Perez, whose specialty is bugs, feels at home right where she is at the park.

have fun but secretly learn something.”

Night said the video game simulates how to build or model your business in a fastpaced multiplayer game. Venture Valley is a free (no in-app purchases or ads) PC and mobile (iOS and Android) game.

The game has card play events, both good and bad, and real-life situations that are “a bit cartoonish,” Night added. He equated it to having a coffee shop business and then a new coffee shop moves in across the street with less expensive drinks.

“And how do you handle that,” he said. “Maybe make your coffee gourmet or you have espresso for sale, you sell more espresso.”

Night said as players build their business es, they have to figure in costs for running it—such as research and development and marketing. They have to be prepared for emergencies, too, like plumbing problems or storms that flood the building.

“I’m very thankful to be on the west side where we do see more people of color here,” she said. “Otherwise, it has been pretty iso lating. It’s kind of eye opening to be in cer tain spaces, which is still the national parks, but maybe not Tucson.”

Feeling like an outsider sometimes has helped Perez know how to help others.

“It lets me know, for sure keep this in mind for anyone else coming in,” she said. “I am a little bit thankful for that, that I can take my ex periences of panic and feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing and keep it in mind for the fu ture for anyone else who comes through, to ensure that they don’t have those experiences.”

Perez sees the next gen corps as an opportu nity to open the doors to others who may have not considered that the park is for them as well.

“I really do appreciate this program,” she added. “A lot of time it’s just (inviting) differ ent identities and different ages of people to come in here and find out what National Park Service is about,” she said. “I think it’s really valuable in that way; we don’t have old heads who are keeping everything as it is. It’s really injecting youth and new ideas and diversity. It’s building up a new generation.”

Finally, Camp came into the next gen pro gram also from the bio/diversity program at UA. He calls himself the “white male elephant in the room.” He is a now veteran of the next gen program and then the Pathways Program, which is a steppingstone to becoming a feder al employee. He proudly wears his ranger uni form, though his flat hat has seen better days.

Though Camp gives tarantula programs and is working on a game to be played at dusk in the park, he is also a man of his gen

FORGE (Finding Opportunities and Re sources to Grow Entrepreneurs) is an en trepreneurial community that combines startup acceleration alongside experiential student and community education. FORGE programs provide entrepreneurial educa tion, mentoring, coaching, exposure to the venturing process, and readiness assessment tools. FORGE maintains an entrepreneurial resource hub in Downtown Tucson (Roy Place) and several locations on the UA cam pus and throughout the state. Asked about his plans for his winnings, the 19-year-old Stoner-German will handle his prize money wisely.

“I will probably invest it into the market and grow more money and use that to fund my college education,” he said. “Put it in my portfolio, I have a stock market portfolio.” Stoner-German said he was determined to win the tournament, which ran from 2 to 9

eration — digitally savvy. He prefers to be behind the camera and mic and helps with the park’s Instagram Freddie Friday series, among other digital tasks. It’s a new way to work as a ranger.

“You think about a park ranger, you think about a scientist,” Camp said. “The idea is to be able to take my skill set of digital knowl

p.m. Students/participants were welcome to start their games any time during those hours.

“We got to do a bunch of tries at the game and we had 15 minutes for every single try … to create the business and create as much revenue as we could for said business,” he said. “I was there for about seven hours play ing. … I was there for the whole entire tour nament. … I was there to win it.

“We got to choose from three business options. We had options for floral, pizza and hovercraft. I focused basically fully on the hovercraft one because it made the most money and seemed really cool.” 

FORGE forge.arizona.edu forge.arizona.edu/royplace Venture Valley venturevalleygame.com

edge and digital interpretation and promote other faces, other people that don’t look like me. That’s the goal.”

Juarez added, “These guys are just coming in with all this ingenuity in all these differ ent ways. They’re changing the park service. We’re breaking the mold with having that perspective that young people bring.” 

WARNING!

PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY AND CHRONIC PAIN TREATMENTS NOT WORKING!!

Oro Valley, AZ – When it comes to chronic pain and/ or neuropathy, the most common doctor-prescribed treatment is drugs like Gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, and Neurontin. The problem with antidepressants or anti-seizure medications like these is that they offer purely symptomatic relief, as opposed to targeting and treating the root of the problem. Worse, these drugs often trigger an onset of uncomfortable, painful, and sometimes harmful side effects.

The only way to effectively treat chronic pain and/or peripheral neuropathy is by targeting the source, which is the result of nerve damage owing to inadequate blood flow to the nerves in the hands and feet. This often causes weakness, numbness, tingling, pain, and balance problems. A lack of nutrients causes the nerves to degenerate an insidious and often painful process.

cannot survive, and thus, slowly die. This leads to those painful and frustrating consequences we were talking about earlier, like weakness, numbness, tingling, balance issues, and perhaps even a burning sensation.

The drugs your doctor might prescribe will temporarily conceal the problems, putting a “BandAid” over a situation that will only continue to deteriorate without further action.

Thankfully, Oro Valley is the birthplace of a brandnew facility that sheds new light on this pressing problem of peripheral neuropathy and chronic pain. The company is trailblazing the medical industry by replacing outdated drugs and symptomatic reprieves with an advanced machine that targets the root of the problem at hand.

1. Finding the underlying cause

2. Determining the extent of the nerve damage (above 95% nerve loss is rarely treatable)

3. The amount of treatment required for the patient’s unique condition

Arrowhead Physical Medicine in Oro Valley, AZ uses a state-of-the-art electric cell signaling systems worth $100,000.00. Th is ground-breaking treatment is engineered to achieve the following, accompanied by advanced diagnostics and a basic skin biopsy to accurately analyze results:

1. Increases blood flow

2. Stimulates and strengthens small fiber nerves

3. Improves brain-based pain

The treatment works by delivering energy to the affected area(s) at varying wavelengths, from low- to middle-frequency signals, while also using Amplitude Modulated (AM) and Frequency Modulated (FM) signaling

It’s completely painless!

THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT THIS TREATMENT IS COVERED BY MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND MOST INSURANCES!!

The number of treatments required varies from patient to patient, and can only be determined following an in-depth neurological and vascular examination. As long as you have less than 95% nerve damage, there is hope!

Arrowhead Physical Medicine begins by analyzing the extent of the nerve damage – a

complimentary service for your friends and family. Each examcomprises a detailed sensory evaluation, extensive peripheral vascular testing, and comprehensive analysis of neuropathy findings.

Arrowhead Physical Medicine will be offering this free chronic pain and neuropathy severity evaluation will be available until October 31st 2022. Call (520) 934 0130 to make an appointment.

Due to our very busy office schedule, we are limiting this offer to the first 10 c allers Y OU DO NOT HAVE TO SUFFER ANOTHER MINUTE, CALL (520) 934 0130 NOW!! We are extremely busy,

As displayed in figure 1 above, the nerves are surrounded by diseased, withered blood vessels. A lack of sufficient nutrients means the nerves

Effective neuropathy treatment relies on the following three factors:

Depending on your coverage, your peripheral neuropathy treatment could cost almost nothing – or be absolutely free.

Philabaum Glass Gallery fetes 40th anniversary

BY SUE KERN-FLEISCHER Tucson Local Media Columnist

Southern Arizona’s only all-glass fine art gallery, Philabaum Glass Gallery, celebrated its 40th anniversary by hon oring five legendary Arizona glass art ists during a recent special reception.

The 40th anniversary exhibition, which runs through Jan. 21, features vibrant con temporary new and classic work by renowned glass artists Tom Philabaum, Dan Enwright, Michael Joplin, Carole Perry and Louis Via. “Our 40th anniversary coincides with the United Nations’ International Year of Glass, and so it was fitting that we curate a special show to honor five outstanding glass artists who have helped to elevate the glass move ment,” said Alison Harvey, co-owner of Philabaum Glass Gallery.

Harvey worked as the gallery’s manag er for more than a decade before she and her husband, Dylan, purchased the gallery when Tom Philabaum retired in 2020. The 2,000-square-foot gallery is full of color, with glass vases, paperweights, platters, stemware, contemporary sculpture, artful jewelry and other creative gifts. More than 60 diverse glass artists from all over the country are represented by Philabaum Glass Gallery, which is considered one of Tucson’s “hidden gems,” even after 40 years.

The five legendary Arizona glass artists fea tured in the 40th anniversary show include:

Tom Philabaum: Widely revered by collectors and his peers, Philabaum started Tucson’s first glass blowing studio in Tuc son in 1975 after receiving his MA in glass from the University Wisconsin, Madison, in 1973. He studied under Harvey Littleton, who is considered the father of the American Studio Glass Art Movement. Founder of the gallery, as well as the Sonoran Glass School, Philabaum has been a strong arts advocate in Tucson for over four decades. He is respon sible for many series of work throughout his career, including blown, fused, cast and painted glass. While Philabaum retired from glass blowing in 2018 and from the gallery business in 2020, he continues to create a series of fused and painted glass in the gal lery’s current location.

wright was an established stained-glass artist before he found his passion for hot glass. He worked alongside Tom Philabaum for more than 20 years. A skilled glass blower, his cur rent mixed media wall pieces incorporate his love for both glass and metal. Dynamic wall art composed of metal treasures and blown glass vases dance with light and movement.

ing before learning how to blow glass in 1972. He opened his first studio in 1978 in Prescott and eventually moved to Tucson. He has studied with Dale Chihuly, Mark Peiser, Klaus Moje, Fritz Dreisbach, Jack Schmidt and Ann Warff. In addition, he was very ac tive with the Sonoran Glass School, serving as a board member from inception in 2001 until 2017. After owning several glass studi os in Tucson, he joined his wife, Margaret, in making unique glass works using the lost wax method to create public art as well as lighting and other decorative and functional items.

ning glass tapestries, Perry works out of her desert studio in Cave Creek. She “ran after the executive brass ring for 20 years before admitting it could never hold the same spar kle as the art glass.” A strong arts advocate, Perry set aside a successful career in comput ers to pursue her passion for glass full time. She creates her glass tapestries by fusing fine glass cane before manually contorting

old-fashioned ribbon candy or actual fabric.

Louis Via: A master glass artist, Via worked alongside Tom Philabaum since the 1970s. His skill and ideas go beyond the Philabaum work, and over the years, he created his own styles, often incorporating blown, cast, fused and painted glass. His current series of sophisticated sculptures features pulled canes of glass that have been hand cut and expertly arranged and fused in a kiln. Via resides in Tucson and continues to create unique glass works. 

Philabaum Glass Gallery

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, or by appointment

WHERE: Philabaum Glass Gallery

711 S. Sixth Avenue, Tucson Five Points neighborhood COST: Free INFO: 520-884-7404 philabaumglass.com

Dan Enwright: A Tucson resident, En

Southern Arizona’s only all-glass fine art gallery, Philabaum Glass Gallery, celebrated its 40th anniversary by hon oring five legendary Arizona glass artists during a special reception on Oct. 15 at its Downtown Tucson gallery. The special exhibit runs through Jan. 21. (Philabaum Glass Gallery/Submitted)

Guitarist Joe Bonamassa keeps it fresh on new tour ENTERTAINMENT

BY ALAN SCULLEY Tucson Local Media Contributor

For the first 20 years of Joe Bonamassa’s career, one constant was always touring. Even as he maintained a schedule that saw him release 14 solo albums, even more live CDs or DVDs, as well as multi ple releases with the bands Black Country Communion and Rock Candy Funk Party and collaborations with Beth Hart, among others, Bonamassa has generally played a pair of extensive U.S. tours and taken a trip through Europe every year.

So, seeing the pandemic interrupt what has been a key component in making Bon amassa arguably the world’s most popular blues-rock artist — all while self-releasing his albums rather than singing to a record label — had to turn life upside down for the talented guitarist/singer.

Bonamassa isn’t complaining too much, though.

“It was definitely the break that I needed to take that I would never have taken myself,” he said. “So, there’s that. I mean, it is what it is. There was nothing anybody could have done about it. I was just fortunate to be in a position where I didn’t have to sell my car.”

That noted, Bonamassa is happy to be getting in front of concert audiences again. He did a few shows in summer 2021 in the States, followed by a fall tour. Now he’s back on the road in the States for another run of dates.

“Some people can get their point across on Instagram,” he observed. “I need a crowd, you know what I mean, not likes and shares.”

Bonamassa, who shines as a performer, should come across just fine. He has plenty of songs to work with, including material from his 2020 album, “Royal Tea” (the pandem ic prevented him from touring behind that album), and his new effort, “Time Clocks,” which was released last October. Despite the wealth of new songs, Bonamassa said his show will cover his back catalog as well.

“We have a lot of new stuff. The whole show is new,” Bonamassa said. “So yeah, I brought back a few old songs, a couple of songs from (older) records we never played (live). I did a lot of stuff. We have a lot of alternates, too, that we haven’t gotten to. The cool thing is it keeps it fresh for us. We can change the sets every night and still hopeful

ly achieve the same result.”

Writing and recording “Time Clocks” was one way Bonamassa passed time during the pandemic. In some ways this project was similar to “Royal Tea,” and in other ways it was very different.

For “Royal Tea,” Bonamassa went to Lon don to live and write the album. Then he set up shop in the legendary Abbey Road studio, where the Beatles made their albums and Pink Floyd did “Dark Side of the Moon,” to record the album.

“Well, Abbey Road is a great studio. The thing about Abbey Road is it’s just what it is,” Bonamassa said. “It’s not just the gear is great, but Ocean Way in Nashville has got a nice Neve (mixing console), too. And the thing is, all that gear and that location won’t write the songs for you. But it did change my headspace as far as what I wanted to do and how I wanted to approach music, which was the right thing to do.

“Yeah, it was a special time,” he said. “We had such a blast before we didn’t.”

As that last comment indicates, the ses sions for “Royal Tea” were completed in

early 2020, just before the pandemic hit, dampening moods for everyone and throwing a monkey wrench into everything Bonamassa had planned for the release of the album.

For “Time Clocks,” Bon amassa settled into life in New York City, hoping just as being in London brought a British rock accent to “Royal Tea,” the atmos phere of the “Big Apple” would seep into “Time Clocks.” That goal may have been compromised a bit by the pandemic, which forced Bonamassa to adjust recording plans to meet protocols that were in place at the time.

Rather than being able to bring into the studio any number of musicians and singers, Bonamassa had to limit his resources in the studio, taking what he called a bare bones ap proach to the project.

“It was (drummer) Anton (Fig), (bassist) Steve Mackey and myself and a couple of engineers, and my assistant, who was act ing as my guitar tech, and a whole bunch of masks and just whatever,” he said. “Yeah, we only did a three-piece. It’s a small studio. Just logistically, 2019 things were easy, 2020 things were hard.”

Another person who wasn’t in the studio was Bonamassa’s longtime producer, Kevin Shirley, who was stuck in Australia at the time. Once again, they found a way to ad just, using Zoom calls so Shirley could be in touch as takes were recorded.

“Obviously, it was something that was very odd at first,” Bonamassa said. “But then we got our heads around it. It wasn’t a thing that, it was odd at first, but it was workable. But everything was odd. So what can I do?”

What Bonamassa did was make a rock album with a decidedly big and epic feel — somewhat surprising considering the rather minimal approach that needed to be taken to recording the basic tracks. “Time Clocks” features swaggering, blues-laced rock on

songs like “Notches,” “Hanging on a Loser” and “The Heart That Never Waits”; a chunky rocker in “Questions and Answers”; and sev eral multi-faceted songs, such as “Mind’s Eye,” which opens on a silky note and builds into an expansive rocker, and the Zeppelin-ish “Curtain Call,” while Bonamassa also builds plenty of dynamics into the title track, whose understated verses have a slight country tinge that explodes into an anthemic chorus.

“I mean, it wasn’t conscious when I wrote it. It just kind of scaled that way,” Bonamassa said of the album’s feel.

Writing and recording in New York City marked a homecoming of sorts for Bon amassa, who managed to scrape by as he started his career doing recording sessions around the city. By that time, he had already made waves on the blues scene, getting tu tored at age 11 by Danny Gatton and the fol lowing year opening some 20 shows for B.B. King, who was generous in his praise of the young guitarist.

He made his debut as a solo artist in 2000 with the album “A New Day Yesterday.” He’s released 13 studio albums since then, nearly all of which have topped the Billboard mag azine blues album chart. Along the way, his formidable skills as a guitarist have grown more refined and his songwriting has im proved considerably. The size venues he plays have also grown to the point where he commonly plays large theaters and arenas.

Producer Shirley, in press materials, has said he views “Time Clocks” as an album that could elevate Bonamassa from a blues artist to a superstar. Bonamassa isn’t con cerning himself with such talk. His focus is on his music.

“I really don’t know what my future holds, personally and professionally. It’s a very dif ficult landscape at this point to navigate. And only I can answer that, and only I can see the true (path),” he said. “Everybody can specu late, but I actually have to go out and do the work. It’s like you’ve got to make sure your heart’s in it still.” 

Joe Bonamassa

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19

WHERE: Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Avenue, Tucson

COST: Tickets start at $59

INFO: ticketmaster.com

Joe Bonamassa performs at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Saturday, Nov. 19. (Joe Bonamassa/Submitted)

AGING WELL Sharing a Love of Art & Creativity

AlbertEinstein said, “Creativity is con tagious. Pass it on.”

Residents at Splen dido took this quite literally, as well as figuratively, when they shared their love of art with local youth this fall.

Splendido, a Life Plan Community in Oro Valley, is home to many artists—some are accomplished experts with decades of experience and others have just recently be gun to explore their creative expression through the many programs offered at the com munity.

Splendido celebrates ag ing as a time of great creative potential, whether through music, poetry, storytelling, dance and movement, or even gardening—the sky is truly the limit. This philosophy is reflected in an ever-changing variety of opportunities for residents to master new forms of self-expression in a com munity setting. “We simply provide additional opportu nities to support each individ ual’s creative journey through innovative, in-depth pro gramming that’s tapping into their expertise and passions,” says Caroline Edasis, Director of Community Engagement.

A Carload of Creativity

Knowing the positive im pact creative expression can have, Splendido residents re cently donated a carload of art supplies to Youth On Their Own (YOTO), a nonprofit that provides support services for 6th- through 12th-grade Tucson-area children who are homeless.

Resident Sandra Procida heard of YOTO’s need of art supplies through her involve ment with the Southern Ari zona Art Guild. An artist her self, she connected with other Splendido residents who share her passion, including Ellie Cannan. Together, they put out a call for new or gently used art supplies to the en tire Splendido community, and the response was over whelming. The group ended up filling more than a dozen large boxes with quality art supplies, including canvas es, acrylic paints, watercolor paints, art pencils, palettes, different types of paper, and more, all of which were deliv ered to YOTO in September.

YOTO helps middle and high school students stay in school and, in many cases, continue on to college; to date they have supported more

than 20,000 local youth in their journeys toward high school graduation.

“We hoped our Splendido art group could donate qual ity supplies to this important group of youths, so that they

can also experience the joy and insight art brings into our lives,” said Sandra, whose husband Phil had previously worked with YOTO to pro vide bicycle repair and dona tions for the group.

“We all appreciate the ac tive art environment at Splen dido and the magical ideas Caroline and her staff pro vide,” says Ellie. “Residents ap preciated the chance to share their passion with these young

people.”

Interested in learning more about Splendido? For floor plans, photos, and informa tion on upcoming events, visit splendidotucson.com.

Splendido residents Ellie Cannan (left) and Sandra Procida organized the community’s sizeable donation of art supplies to Youth On Their Own.

HoliDaze 2022

The Voice of the Catalina Foothills

www.tucsonlocalmedia.com

Holidaze … on the stage, with family

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Tucson Local Media

Tucson arts patrons can celebrate the holidays with traditional events like “The Nutcracker” or celebratory twists on traditional happenings. Want something low-key? Visit Oro Valley or Marana for their tree-lighting ceremo nies.

Celebrate Centennial Hall 1020 E. University Boulevard

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, and Wednesday, Nov. 23

A Magical Cirque Christmas Magical hostess Lucy Darling leads guests through dazzling performances and breathtaking cirque artists, accompanied by holiday music. Get into the spirit with this family-friendly show.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6

Mannheim Steamroller

Mannheim Steamroller has become a holiday staple as the show is one of the top performances of the season. Enjoy Mann heim Steamroller Christmas classics in a multimedia setting.

8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9

Harry Connick Jr.

Harry Connick Jr. celebrates the holi day with his take on Christmas classics, as well as his originals and fan favorites like “(It Must’ve Been Ol’) Santa Claus” and “When My Heart Finds Christmas.”

4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10

TDA: Spirit of Christmas

Tucson Dance Academy’s “The Spirit of Christmas” embraces “New York City Broadway Holiday magic” (including San ta, Frosty, Rudolph and the Grinch) and the spiritual dimension behind Christmas.

The Century Room

311 E. Congress Street hotelcongress.com/family/century-room

7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23

“Nossa Bossa Nova: Jazz Christmas Ital iano”

Celebrate the holiday season with Nossa Bossa Nova as it performs songs from its 2020 album, “Jazz Christmas Italiano.”

Featuring Brice Winston, Richard Katz and Alejandro Canelos with Theresa and Mike Levy, the evening will blend tradi

tional holiday standards, sung in Italian with acoustic jazz quartet.

7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 24 Britney Chauntae: “A New Orleans Christmas”

New Orleans vocalist Britney Chauntae travels to Tucson celebrate Christmas with jazz music. In 2009, she competed, won, and toured with (BET) 106 & Park “Wild Out Wednesday Competition.” After that win, Chauntae wrote and performed music while living in California. She then signed on to write music in Australia with the likes of world-renowned aboriginal actor David Gulpilil.

Chauntae first visited New Orleans in early 2012, when she volunteered with the Boys & Girls Club and also sung on Bour

bon Street at night. She made it her perma nent home in 2014 — the same year she au ditioned for season 14 of “American Idol.” She made it to Hollywood Week.

Fox Tucson Theatre 17 W. Congress foxtucson.com

7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27

Jake Shimabukuro

Jolly ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro will celebrate the holidays with his “Christ mas in Hawai’i” show.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1

A Carpenters Christmas featuring Lisa Rock

Singer/playwright Lisa Rock and her sixpiece backing band are keeping the Carpen ters’ holiday traditions alive with their stage show.

Based on the music of the Carpenters’ two holiday albums and Christmas variety shows, “A Carpenters Christmas” features “Merry Christmas Darling” and the jazzy “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.”

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Holiday 2022

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy turns holiday songs into their own with jazzy versions of “Jingle Bells,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Winter Wonderland.”

Expect “Rudolph the Red Nosed Rein deer” with an Andrews Sisters-meets-theblues spin, and a take on Heat Miser’s song from the classic “A Year Without a Santa Claus.”

Mariachi Sol De Mexico with Jose Hernandez’s Merry-Achi Christmas has become an annual tradition. (Submitted)

The band rips through Chuck Berry’s “Run, Run Rudolph” and Lou Rawls’ “Merry Christmas Baby” and slows things down for Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas.” There’s a New Orleans-flavored “Frosty the Snowman” and a calypso “A Party for Santa.”

2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4 “Elf”

The heartwarming “Elf” makes its way to the Fox Tucson Theater.

For the few who have missed “Elf,” the 2003 film stars Will Ferrell as the title char acter — a human raised by Santa’s elves — who learns about his origins and heads to NYC to meet his biological father. The Fox’s Mighty Wurlitzer plays a medley of holiday tunes 30 minutes before the movie starts.

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9

“In the Christmas Mood: A Holiday Music Spectacular”

Produced by Khris Dodge Entertain ment, “In the Christmas Mood” showcases holiday tunes such as “Sleigh Ride,” “Hap py Holidays,” “Jingle Bells” and “The Christmas Song.”

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10

The Mavericks’ “Very Merry Christmas Tour” with special guest JD McPherson

Grammy winners the Mavericks will play selections from their 2018 holiday album “Hey! Merry Christmas!” along with hits from their 30-year career. JD McPherson guests.

8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15

Doo Wop Project: “A Doo Wop Christmas”

Hear holiday hits with a doo-wop twist.

The show features Christmas tracks as well as “doo-wopified” versions of hits by Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5 and Sam Smith.

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16

Merry-Achi Christmas

Mariachi Sol De Mexico with Jose Her nandez’s Merry-Achi Christmas has be come an annual tradition.

While his family tree is rooted in five generations of Mariachi musicians who hail from La Sierra del Tigre region of Jalisco, Hernandez grew mariachi music in new lands, in new musical genres and in the hearts of new audiences.

2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17

“The Polar Express”

The computer-animated 2004 film “The Polar Express” stars Tom Hanks, with Dar yl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett and Eddie Deezen.

The Fox’s Mighty Wurlitzer will play a medley of holiday tunes 30 minutes before the film begins.

7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18

“All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of

Reveille Men’s Chorus promotes acceptance of LGBTQI individuals through music. (Submitted)

1914”

A German soldier sings “Stille Nacht.” Thus begins an extraordinary night of ca maraderie, music and peace. A true story, told in the words and songs of the men who lived it.

2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23

“It’s a Wonderful Life”

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a 1946 Ameri can Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra.

Based on the short story and booklet “The Greatest Gift,” “It’s a Wonderful Life” stars

James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams to help others in his community. His suicidal thoughts on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). The Fox’s Mighty Wurlitzer will play a medley of holiday tunes 30 minutes before the movie starts.

Leo Rich Theater

260 S. Church Avenue, Tucson leorichtheater.com

Various times Friday, Dec. 2, to Sunday, Dec. 4

Reveille Men’s Chorus’ “The Gift”

With a mission of promoting acceptance of LGBTQI individuals through music, Reveille Men’s Chorus will present its 28th season holiday show.

Family Linda Ronstadt Music Hall

260 S. Church Avenue tucsonmusichall.org

2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11

Tucson Regional Ballet’s “A Southwest Nutcracker”

tucsonregionalballet.org

Tucson Regional Ballet’s “A Southwest Nutcracker” transports Tchaikovsky’s tra ditional Nutcracker to 1880s Tucson, giv ing the characters and events a Sonoran Desert twist.

Since 2003, Tucson Regional Ballet has collaborated with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for live accompaniment.

Various times Saturday, Dec. 17, and Sunday, Dec. 18

Tucson Symphony Orchestra: “Happy Holidays ¡Feliz Navidad!”

Join Maestro José Luis Gomez, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Tucson Girls Chorus, the Tucson Boys Chorus and other special guest artists to celebrate the holidays with a multicultural Tucson flavor.

Various times Thursday, Dec. 22, to Saturday, Dec. 24

“The Nutcracker”

The Tucson Symphony Orchestra teams with Ballet Tucson for “the Nutcracker.”

Tucson Convention Center 260 S. Church Avenue tucsonconventioncenter.com

Various times Sunday, Nov. 20, to Sunday, Jan. 8

Tucson Holiday Ice

The Tucson Holiday Ice Rink, hosted by the city of Tucson, will be located on Church Avenue, south of Broadway, in front of the Tucson Convention Center.

Skates begin at size 8 for children and run as large as size 15 for adult men. Socks are required, and gloves are highly recom mended. Tickets are for 90-minute sessions; adults $20, $14 for children younger than 12. Skate assists are $5. Private use is $700 per 90-minute session during off hours.

Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Marana

11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana maranaaz.gov

3 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3

Marana Holiday Festival & Christmas Tree Lighting

The Marana Holiday Festival & Christmas Tree Lighting features artisan and craft ven dors; more than 30 food trucks and vendors;

Harry Connick Jr. will celebrate the holidays with his takes on Christmas classics. (Submitted)

Layton returns to Mannheim Steamroller for year 27

BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT Tucson Local Media Contributor

Roxanne Layton doesn’t know exactly how many shows she’s played in the 27 years she’s been with Mannheim Steamroller.

But the recorder player knows she’ll be adding about 40 more to that total this year as the orchestra, which plays the classical rock Christmas music of Chip Davis, makes its annual two-month holiday tour. Mann heim Steamroller comes to Centennial Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6.

“I was trying to add it up,” Layton said. “Here’s an average of at least 40 shows a year. The first 10 years we didn’t have 40 shows. We were playing arenas to 10,000 people a night. So, let’s say 500 shows at least.”

And even though the Mannheim Steam roller program only changes slightly from year to year, Layton never gets tired of per forming it, on her recorder and percussion.

“There is such a joy to doing this,” she said. “This music is timeless. It was the first Christmas album that so many people remember getting introduced to Mannheim

Steamroller, even though we know there was much more before that.”

Layton, in fact, came to Mannheim

Steamroller before it became an American Christmas tradition. After graduating from the New England

Conservatory of Music, Layton was work

Roxanne Layton will appear with Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis when it comes to Centennial Hall. (Mannheim Steamroller/Submitted)

“I won tickets from a radio station,” she said. “I was making recorders at the time, and someone had given me ‘Fresh Aire III.’ I thought, ‘This is so cool. It’s classical rock and roll.’ They had a (touring) orchestra back then, and the trumpet player came into the shop. He asked if I wanted to come to rehearsal. I went from my shop with my in struments for the show, met Chip later and ended up talking with him until 2 a.m.”

Layton had left a tape with Davis, the Omaha-based composer who created the neoclassical new age group in 1974, who, apparently, listened immediately after.

The next morning, Davis called Layton. “He asked, ‘Would you like to be on my next album?” That all happened in 24 hours,” Layton said.

So, why did Mannheim need a recorder player?

“Back in the Renaissance, the recorder was like the trumpet and the saxophone. It was the instrument that led all the dances,” Layton said.

“Chip is a big Renaissance fan. He was a bassoonist, but he was also a great recorder player and drummer, which is a double you

don’t see out there.”

Adding Layton to the group gave Davis, who, for years, played with Mannheim on tour, additional flexibility in his role onstage.

“What it did was allow him to play the re corder while I played the drums or I could play the recorder while he plays drums,” she said of Davis, who no longer tours but still appears at special Mannheim Steamroll er events.

The enduring career of Mannheim Steam roller began in 1975 — not with a Christmas album, but with the first “Fresh Aire” album. Combining classical music and pop, and using orchestral instruments and synthesiz ers and other synthetic tones, “Fresh Aire” helped usher in the new age music genre.

Davis created Mannheim Steamroller during the period when he was writing mu sic with friend Bill Fries, who adopted the stage name and the CB radio toting character of C.W. McCall and became a country mu sic star in 1976 with their hit song “Convoy” (which inspired the 1978 movie of the same name, starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali MacGraw).

Davis, though, was soon focusing on Mannheim Steamroller and what grew to a series of eight “Fresh Aire” albums, which enjoyed major popularity considering they

were marketed in a niche genre.

But today Davis and Mannheim Steam roller are best known for Christmas music. Davis entered the holiday fray with the 1984 album “Mannheim Steamroller Christmas,” at a time when such seasonal albums were largely seen as something artists released when they were on the downside of their careers.

Instead, that first Christmas album be came a huge hit, selling 5 million copies, and Mannheim Steamroller has gone on to become the bestselling Christmas act of all time.

The way Davis schedules the holiday tours has helped keep fans — especially families — coming out to see Mannheim Steamroll er’s Christmas shows year after year.

“We go to the markets every other or every third year,” Davis said in a 2017 interview. “So, then that gives them time to (think about), ‘Oh, you know, the kids are a little older. We should take them this year.’ I think that has a lot to do with the longevity.”

Like every other music group and artist, Mannheim Steamroller was unable to tour in 2020. But it was back for the Christmas tour last year. Once again, this year, two compa nies of the group will go on tour — one East Coast and one West Coast.

That music will be performed by an or chestra that is made up of a core group of Steamroller players, like Layton, and musicians brought in from each communi ty or area where the group performs, who rehearse in the afternoons before the evening show.

That combination works well, Layton said, as the local musicians come in well prepared and the rehearsal tightens up the music before the performances.

“We do the same program every night,” she said. “For me, I just try to do it better every night. For me, it’s a gift to get to enjoy this music. I still cry at a point in ‘Oh Holy Night’… I try not to cry during the shows, but sometimes it happens.” 

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6 WHERE: Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Boulevard, Tucson Cost: Tickets start at $40 Info: centhall.org, ticketmaster.com

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED

ON THE WAY TO THE Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City.

By: Halley Feiffer

Directed by: Mark Klugheit

free rides on the holiday train; free bouncy castles/inflatables experiences; a photo booth with Desert Photo Booth; holiday laser pro jections in Santa’s Courtyard/Christmas Tree Lighting (6 p.m.); free photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus; letters to Santa station; community performances and a creation station with Lucky Cat Social Art.

Oro Valley Oro Valley Marketplace, 12155 N. Oracle Road, Oro Valley orovalleymarketplace.com

Various times Saturday, Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 4

Oro Valley Festival of the Arts and Holiday Tree Lighting

Oro Valley Marketplace hosts the Oro Valley Festival of the Arts and Holiday Tree Lighting. Known as one of the largest fine art and craft festivals in the region, the event is programmed for all age groups.

Hosted by Mayor Joe Winfield and Santa, the Oro Valley Tree Lighting Celebration is 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, preceded by cookie decorating and free photos with

Santa and the Golder Ranch Fire Truck (3:30 to 5:30 p.m.). Arts Action Station will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 3 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 4.

Tucson

Children’s Museum Tucson 200 S. Sixth Avenue, Tucson childrensmuseumtucson.org

10:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 4

Gingerbread Workshop

For $50, up for four guests can design a preconstructed house with tons of icing and candy. Reservations required.

Southern Arizona

Transportation

Museum

414 N. Toole Avenue, Tucson tucsonhistoricdepot.com

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17

17th Annual Holiday Express

Features visits with Santa in front of “Oklahoma’s” Locomotive 1673, bilingual exhibits, a reading of “The Polar Express,” singing of holiday music, and an arts and crafts show. 

If we only had a defense … EXTRA POINT WITH TOM DANEHY SPORTS &RECREATION

My sainted Italian mother spoke Italian and English in our house when I was growing up. When my friends came over, she spoke only Italian. One day, a bunch of guys stopped by to pick me up so we could go play some ball. They all said hi to her and then she said something in Italian.

I laughed (because it was funny), and they all asked me what she had said. I said, “She just said that she hopes you all choke to death on mashed potatoes.”

They all went up to her and asked whether that was what she had said. In broken En glish, she said, “Oh, no, Tom, he no under stand Italian.”

That was exactly what she had said.

She was great with words in both lan guages. She once told me that the biggest word in the English language was “if.”

Just as “some” covers everything from one to all, “if” covers an infinite number of possibilities.

For example:

 If the University of Arizona foot ball defense were the Hoover Dam, the Colorado River would have poured on through and dried up sometime around the mid-1950s.

 As a matter of fact, if the UA offense played the UA defense in a keep-the-score scrimmage, athletic director Dave Heeke would have to find a couple million bucks to buy a new scoreboard. The Wildcat offense is like the guy who painted all those water lilies. It’s Monet!

 If Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray were a lawyer, he would be daz zling in the courtroom. He would make interesting points, ask pertinent questions, and shout “Objection!” in a manner like no other.

And then, after his client has lost the case, he would demand to get paid a lot of money to take the appeal, where he would again be can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him great… and then lose again.

 If, as happened this year over last, the Arizona Diamondbacks can improve their

win total by 22 games next year, they would still finish 15 games out of first place. That’s ridiculous.

 If the United States men’s soccer team can beat Wales and Iran in their upcoming World Cup matches and get into the champi onship round, the average American would still rather watch the Jacksonville Jaguars play against the Carolina Panthers.

 If Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving went with some of his like-minded friends to a $5-a-carload drive-in theater, at least two of them would try to hide in the trunk

 If the Pima College men’s soccer team makes it into the national tournament, they would have a chance to play for the national title right here in Tucson. That would be a soccer game worth attending.

 If Marana High School graduate Tren ton Bourget is starting at quarterback for Arizona State when they travel to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats on Nov. 25, is it OK to root just a little bit for the Sun Devils?

The answer is absolutely not, even if you’re a member of his immediate family. I mean, he’ll be going against the Giant Sieve that is the Wildcat defense, so he’s proba bly going to throw for eight or nine hundred yards, but we still want the Devils to suffer a most-ignominious defeat.

 If Bourget’s alma mater wins out and finishes 9-1 in the regular season, will the Marana Tigers have a home game in the first round of state?

The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Power Point system is so arcane (and its algorithm is so incredibly wrong) that the Tigers could finish 9-1 and not make the state playoffs.

At press time, the Tigers held a 7-1 record and a No. 8 spot in the rankings. The thing is, the teams that are ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are also 7-1. And Marana sits behind two teams that are 6-2 and two others that are 5-3! They have to hold onto that No. 8 spot. If they sink any lower, they will have to play the first round of State on the road.

 If the Arizona Wildcats were only the

10th-worst defense in the Pac-12 instead of the absolute worst, they would be 5-3 now, only one win away from a bowl game with at least a couple very-winnable games left on their schedule. This is definitely a whatcoulda-been season.

 If USC and UCLA go through with their greedy (and stupid) move to the Big 10 Conference, should Arizona ever play them again in any sport? Well, yes… if:  Pigs learn to fly.  American politics suddenly become civil.  The LA schools come to the realization that regular season games at Purdue and Nebraska and Rutgers aren’t worth the extra money they’re getting and come crawling back, begging to be let back in the Pac-12. Even then, only maybe. 

Tom Danehy said Kyler Murray would be dazzling in a courtroom. (Arizona Cardinals/Submitted)

Athlete of the Week: Kevin Quintero

BY TOM DANEHY Tucson Local Media Columnist

very time Kevin Quintero walks into Amphi’s cavernous Big Gym, he sees those banners. State runner-up, divi sion champion, over and over again. Then there’s the big poster of that state championship team, the joy of being the best frozen on their faces forever.

With each passing year, the glorious fouryear run that Amphi had a little more than a decade ago fades just a bit, but it remains fresh in the minds of current Panther play ers. (Amphi had a magical, yet bittersweet, run from 2008-12. Four straight trips to the state championship game that included two losses to cross-town rival Santa Rita, a title in 2011, and then, with a chance to repeat as champions, a crushing two-point loss to Peoria in the final game of the run.)

“Yeah, we see those banners and posters,” Quintero said. “How great that must have been. But we want to start our own run.”

Those earlier teams were coached by Ben Hurley, who stepped down after last season to spend more time with his family. After the legendary run, Amphi’s basketball fortunes declined, matching the school’s decline in enrollment. The Panthers had four straight losing seasons in the mid-2010s, but then in 2018-19, they won 20 games and the region championship and got back to state. During the pandemic year of 2020-21, the Panthers did the near impossible. They won the region title but somehow didn’t advance to the state tournament. (The Arizona Interscholastic

Association, citing health concerns, severely limited the number of teams advancing to postseason play.)

Last year, they fell back to 5-13 but missed having a winning season by a total of 11 points. “We lost a bunch of close games last year,” Quintero recalled. “I remember we lost our Senior Night game to Walden Grove by one point and that’s how our season ended. I don’t want that for my Senior Night.”

The new coach is Ronald Lise, the head of the math department who hails from the Bronx. Quintero liked the generally laid-back Hurley, but also like the more-an imated Lise.

“(Coach Lise) really pushes us on the court and off.”

The entire team can be found sitting in Lise’s classroom an hour before the start of school, completing homework and writing assignments. The team works to ensure no one is academically ineligible. They some times practice for a couple hours before school so the players can get home early and finish their schoolwork.

Quintero plays point guard, which many consider to be the most important position on any basketball team. He is responsible for running the show and had plenty of oppor tunities to work on his game in the past few months. Amphi hosted a summer league and then played Saturday games at the Sporting Chance Center. But that was all prelude. Now comes the real stuff.

“We’re happy to get going,” Quintero said with a purpose. “We want to return Amphi to greatness in Tucson and the state.” 

36

Martial artist Bruce

Artfully evasive

Vicinity

King or Donkey follower

*With 39-Across, flower named for its distinctive shape

39 *See

40 Cake:

47

48

50

Slowly enter, as a crowd might

*Considerable amount of money, in an idiom

55 Vietnamese dish containing 46-Down 56 Brewery barrel 57 Tolkien creature 58 Chucked forcefully, in modern lingo 60 Foolish 62 Kara Zor-El’s identity in DC Comics ... or a punny hint to the answers to the starred clues 65 Matt of “The Martian” 66 “Really, though?”

Edited by Will Shortz

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You're eager to "Ram" headfirst into that new project. But before you do, find out why some of your colleagues might not appear to be as gung-ho about it as you are.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) All that dedicated hard work you've been putting in pays off better than you expected. So go ahead, reward yourself with something befitting a beauty-loving Bovine.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) It's a good time to take on that new challenge. And if your self-confi dence is lacking, instead of telling yourself why you can't do it, list all the reasons why you can.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) This is one time when you might want to put some distance between you and the job at hand. It will give you a better perspective on what you've done and what you still need to do.

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22) Resist that occasional lapse into Leonine laziness that sometimes over takes the Big Cat. Don't cut corners. Do the job right at this time, or you might have to redo it later.

son work through their particular grievance.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) Trust your keen Sagittarian insight to help you see through an offer that might not be all it claims to be. A closer look could reveal disturbing elements.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) With the Goat exhibiting a more dominant aspect these days, you could find it easier to make your case in front of even the most skeptical audience.

13

rectangular mold

A ways away

VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) You know how you like to do things. And that's fine. But watch that you don't impose your methods on others. A current fi nancial crunch soon eases.

LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Someone might try to take advantage of your generosity. But before your sensitivity toward others overwhelms your good sense, check their story out carefully.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) Take things nice and easy as you continue to build up your energy reserves for a big upcoming change. You'll need your strength for what lies ahead.

PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20) Recent news from someone you trust could help you make an impor tant decision. Also, be prepared to confront an up coming change in a personal situation.

Sandwich named for its ingredients

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) Your strong Scorpian sense of fairness lets you see all sides of a dispute. Continue to remain impartial as you help each per

BORN THIS WEEK: You can be firm in your own views, but also flexible enough to welcome the views of others. 

Output from an eruption

Sender of unsolicited emails

French loaf baked in a