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TheMesaTribune.com |
THE MESA TRIBUNE | FEBRUARY 27, 2022
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Blood drive is special for Mesa boy’s 4th birthday TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF
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ot many kids see blood drives held in their honor on their birthday, but the one coming up in Mesa this Tuesday is especially meaningful for little Mack “Macky” Porter and his parents and three older siblings. Macky might not have been turning 4 on March 1 had it not been for the generosity of previous blood donors. So as the Mesa family celebrates Macky’s birthday, they also are encouraging people to keep him in mind and sign up for the blood drive from noon-6 p.m., March 1 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Boulder Creek Stake, 3025 S. Hawes Road, Mesa. To make an appointment, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or go to redcrossblood.org and use sponsor code Mackystrong. Macky’s story of survival dates back to
December 2020, when “he started having strange symptoms,” according to his mom, Danielle Porter. “We thought COVID or pneumonia,” she recalled. “He was having difficulty breathing. We went to many doctor appointments, and there was nothing screaming cancer. Blood work was fine. Macky had days where he felt terrific, and then he would have days where he felt terrible. He had random fevers but not every day. It was hard to pinpoint what was going on.” Things got more serious Jan. 20, 2021, when she saw Macky waking up from his nap, struggling to breathe. “We gave him a breathing treatment, and it didn’t seem to be helping,” Danielle said. “I took him to the ER, and while we were there, he had gotten a little better. He wasn’t breathing quite as strained anymore. They did a breathing treatment and agreed it was probably
asthma. We had an upcoming allergist appointment.” But as they were getting ready to leave, the physician assistant decided to do an X-ray. “This sweet lady is doing the X-ray, and she’s kind of singing to him, and all of a sudden she gasped and said, ‘Oh no’ and ran out of the room,” said Danielle. “The ER doctor came in but didn’t come up to me first. He went straight up to Macky, put his hand on his cheek, and said, ‘I’m so sorry you have to do this, buddy.’ “He was genuinely emotional. He looked at me and said, ‘Can you get your husband on FaceTime?’ At that point, I’m bawling. We got on FaceTime, and he told us there was an enormous mass Little Mack “Macky” Porter of Mesa might not have in the middle of Macky’s chest and a tiny been turning 4 this Tuesday had it not been for the chance it was something else, but it was generosity of blood donors. Now, he’s hoping people will think of him on his birthday by giving blood see MACKY page 19 at a Mesa blood drive. (Special to the Tribune)
Mesa artist celebrates culture with mask festival BY JOSH ORTEGA Tribune Staff Writer
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arco Guerrero made a career out of masks long before COVID-19. Guerrero grew up in Mesa but has spent more than 20 years traveling the world – including Mexico, Japan and Indonesia – studying how various cultures use ornate masks. On Sunday, March 6, he will bring his love for masks back to Pioneer Park for the fifth annual Mask Alive! Festival of Masks. The event, organized by Guerrero’s wife Carmen, will feature his son – singer and composer QVLN (Q-Violin) Quetzal Guerrero. “All cultures in the world have used mask at one time for one thing or another,” Zarco said. He explained that many cultures have used masks for primal purposes in combination with wearing animal hides to stealthily hunt because masks were believed to give hunters powers.
Now, he’s looking to help people rediscover these traditions that span the globe. “I found out as a mask maker that a lot of these traditions still exist in our community,” he said. “We want to bring them to the forefront and celebrate the cultures that Mesa Artist Zarco Guerrero makes a mask for the upcoming festival practice them.” next weekend at Pioneer Park. (Josh Ortega/Tribune Staff) He said the festi“The masking process gave them an ex- val helps to present these diverse traditra power,” he said. “Like a supernatural tions in a unique, multicultural celebrapower because the human disappears, tion unlike any event he knows of in the country. and the animal appears.” He said societies have also used masks Mexican masks initially influenced his for dance ceremonies, carnival celebrations art primarily due to his Chicano roots but and spiritual practices, but they’ve slowly most of his masks don’t have one specific disappeared from history. culture that inspired them.
Instead he has taken inspiration from his travels across the world, especially his time in Kyoto, Japan, which he has visited more than a dozen times. For more than 20 years, Guerrero performed with the Japanese Matsuri Festival in Phoenix and he said Japanese Taiko Drummers will perform at the March 6 festival. He’s had a passion for percussion music for more than 30 years and will showcase his talents when he plays on his handcarved drums at the festival on traditional Aztec drums called huehuetls – upright tubular drums made of wood that stand on three legs cut from the base and open at the bottom. His wife said what appeals to her the most, though, is “his ability to make the masks come alive and dance in public events.” Carmen serves as the executive director of the Cultural Coalition, a nonprofit formed in 2000 to promote local artists. Zarco
see MASKS page 19
