Tucson Weekly, June 3, 2021

TUCSON SALVAGE: RAINBOWS AND DRAINBOWS

JUNE 3 - 9, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Helping the Homeless

For some, Sundays are for WORKship, not worship

By Davina Dobbins CURRENTS: What’s Safe This Summer?

ART: Women on Display

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JUNE 3, 2021

JUNE 3, 2021

JUNE 3, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 22

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STAFF

CONTENTS CURRENTS

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UA COVID researcher: ‘We’re past the worst of it in Arizona’

TUCSON SALVAGE

Meet Dar: Playing with Infinity

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ARTS & CULTURE

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This year’s Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres exhibit tackles old injustices in a virtual gallery

MUSIC

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Shelter from the Storm WITH TEMPERATURES RISING, it’s getting increasingly challenging to live without shelter in Tucson—and that’s without addressing the challenges of the novel coronavirus. This week, UA student Davina Dobbins brings us a story about how some folks, motivated by their Christian faith and a desire to help others, have embraced a Sunday WORKship session to provide food, medical aid, clothing and other aid to those on the streets. Dobbins looks at how they’ve kept up their good work despite having to make adjustments thanks to the pandemic.

Elsewhere in this issue: Associate editor Jeff Gardner talks to Dr. Joe Gerald, who spent the last year tracking the spread of COVID in Arizona, about why he won’t be doing weekly reports anymore; The Skinny looks at the pressure to cut taxes for Arizona’s wealthiest residents while cities and towns are left holding the bag; Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Smith profiles Dar Darboslavic, a woman who stands tall despite all the world hurls at her; calendar editor Emily Dieckman lets you know where

ADMINISTRATION Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher Michael Hiatt, Vice President Jaime Hood, General Manager, Ext. 12 jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com Claudine Sowards, Accounting, Ext. 13 claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, Ext. 10 sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com

to have some fun this week; cinema critic Bob Grimm returns to our pages for the first time since the pandemic closed movie theaters, making some noise about A Quiet Place II; arts writer Margaret Regan brings a female gaze to Raices Taller Gallery’s annual Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres exhibit, which can be seen online this year; Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott takes a look at concerns about the rules regarding “social equity” licenses for cannabis dispensaries; and we’ve got more stories about what health experts say is safe to do as more people get vaccinated, a new album by local musician Brian Berggoetz, Tucson’s best sex advice and horoscopes, our usual collection of comics and puzzles and all that jazz.

Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Jim Nintzel talk about what to do for fun in this burg at 9:30 Wednesday mornings during the World Famous Frank Show on KLPX, 96.1 FM.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, Ext. 38 jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Associate Editor, Ext. 43 jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Mike Truelsen, Web Editor, Ext. 35 mike@tucsonlocalmedia.com Christina Duran, Staff Reporter, Ext. 42 christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com Contributors: Rob Brezsny, Max Cannon, Rand Carlson, Tom Danehy, Emily Dieckman, Bob Grimm, Andy Mosier, Linda Ray, Margaret Regan, Will Shortz, Jen Sorensen, Clay Jones, Dan Savage PRODUCTION David Abbott, Production Manager, Ext. 18 david@tucsonlocalmedia.com Ryan Dyson, Graphic Designer, Ext. 26 ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com Emily Filener, Graphic Designer, Ext. 29 emilyf@tucsonlocalmedia.com CIRCULATION Alex Carrasco, Circulation, Ext. 17, alexc@tucsonlocalmedia.com ADVERTISING Kristin Chester, Account Executive, Ext. 25 kristin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Candace Murray, Account Executive, Ext. 24 candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com Lisa Hopper, Account Executive Ext. 39 lisa@tucsonlocalmedia.com Tyler Vondrak, Account Executive, Ext. 27 tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING VMG Advertising, (888) 278-9866 or (212) 475-2529 Tucson Weekly® is published every Thursday by Times Media Group at 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona. Address all editorial, business and production correspondence to: Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, Arizona 85741. Phone: (520) 797-4384, FAX (520) 575-8891. First Class subscriptions, mailed in an envelope, cost $112 yearly/53 issues. Sorry, no refunds on subscriptions. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN).

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Musician Brian Berggoetz gathers the good from last year on Wildflower

TUCSON WEEDLY

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Social equity licenses in the cannabis world

Cover photo by Davina Dobbins

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“I’ve been thinking about what happened in 1918 with the influenza pandemic versus 2020,” Gerald said. “A big difference is that science has come a long way.

That’s not to say science is perfect, but we were able to develop a vaccine and get it UA COVID researcher: ‘We’re past the worst of it in Arizona’ delivered within a year. The press has also been very important for information, and even critical of lawmakers they viewed projections could help gauge the extent to weren’t taking the pandemic seriously

By Jeff Gardner enough. And while we’ve made progress which public health interventions would jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com in human behavior, it’s still the weak link “flatten the epidemic curve” by delaying the peak and reducing the number of new in our pandemic preparedness plan.”

With Arizona’s current vaccine rates IT MAY BE HARD TO IMAGINE cases. and infection numbers nearing a “moda time when 20 confirmed COVID cases Of course, Arizona never saw this erate” spread of COVID, Gerald says the in the entire state was newsworthy, but extreme number of cases per day thanks greatest threat is a virus variant with vacthanks to the diligence of an associate to shutdowns and mask mandates. And cine- and immune-resistance properties professor out of the University of Arizowhile stay-at-home orders in Arizona that could reset the clock, and put us back na, the public can look back on weekly and other states helped reduce cases, reports tracking how the virus spread new infection numbers skyrocketed from at “ground zero.” Luckily, most variants, throughout Arizona. hundreds to thousands per day after Gov. such as the B1617 variant first identified in Joe Gerald, PhD, who works in the UA’s Doug Ducey declared Arizona was “clear- India and now in Arizona, have not been found to be vaccine resistant—although College of Public Health, has written ly on the other side of this pandemic” in evidence shows some are more weekly COVID reports that listed the May 2020. transmissible. number of Arizona COVID cases, foreGerald and other public health re“Even with a more transmissible virus, casted the virus’ growth, and kept up to searchers expressed concern in May when there’s not a lot of opportunity to find a date on health guidelines. But with nearly Arizona’s stay-at-home orders were lifted, new host because so many are already half the state vaccinated and cases at a increasing social interactions with the immune,” Gerald said. “So I don’t think a low plateau since March, Gerald ended potential to transmit infections. And while more transmissible virus will lead to a full his regularly scheduled reports on Friday, cases did increase following the orders May 21. being lifted, the spike wasn’t even close to resurgence. It just means we’d take longer to get from substantial spread down to “I have a pretty high degree of confiwhat the state would see in late 2020. dence that we’re past the worst of it in Ar“We were aware many of the necessary moderate, and then moderate to low.”

Along with other public health profesizona,” Gerald said. “We did a good job of shutdowns and mandates were difficult sionals, Gerald supports wearing masks predicting what the coming weeks would politically, and that after things reopened, as one of the easiest and most effective be like, but we could never accurately additional future shutdowns were almost predict the inflection points [when curves impossible,” Gerald said. “Even though change direction].” we had a realistic and pragmatic view, we Gerald is a health services researcher were angry and frustrated that the Goverwho serves as the director of UA’s Public nor didn’t step in during December. We Health Policy & Management program. thought he’d institute targeted intervenFor decades, he has studied the cost-eftions when the cases were that high.” fectiveness of respiratory illness-related As the reports continued, they took on interventions, such as tuberculosis condata like testing efficacy, infection delays, tact screening and school-based asthma medical burdens—and finally, vaccine dismanagement. tribution. His reports also indicated that The information in his reports was COVID-19 ranked as the leading cause intended to help guide response to the of death in Arizona since the pandemic outbreak, not predict exactly how the began. pandemic would evolve, by showing He noted how by February 2021, a what might occur if current conditions pressing challenge would be “holding the remained unchanged. line” on public health mitigation practices Gerald began his reports in mid-March in the face of improving conditions, and 2020, back when confirmed COVID-19 buying time for more of the population cases in Pima County could be counted to get vaccinated. And while vaccination on one hand, and no deaths had yet to rates rose with Pfizer and Moderna gradube reported. Despite this, his first report ally becoming available to more sections projected Arizona could see more than of the population, Gerald and others 60,000 new cases daily by May 2020 if no noted that vaccination rates slowed as prevention measures were taken. He acmost who wanted vaccines received them, knowledged that such “unabated growth” and many of those hesitant remained was extremely unlikely, but figured such unvaccinated.

CURRENTS

FLATTENING THE CURVE, FINALLY

methods of reducing infections. However, similar to shutdowns and mandates, he acknowledges their political difficulty.

“The CDC is in a tough spot. They’re trying to thread a needle; the medical science says masks work, but there are still many so strongly opposed,” Gerald said.

“With these polar opposites, it’s almost impossible to have a non-controversial mask mandate.”

Gerald is closing his regularly scheduled weekly reports, but has said he will return if something unforeseen develops.

In his place, there are multiple other public health professionals still modeling and writing COVID reports, including a research group out of Arizona State University.

“The ASU COVID-19 Modeling group estimates the doldrums to continue for most of the summer before materially improving. This is the result of continued normalization of behavior, more prevalent highly-transmissible variants and slowing vaccination rates,” Gerald’s final report reads. “Even though too many Arizonans are not fully vaccinated as we would like, another summer resurgence seems off the table. That doesn’t mean though we won’t experience thousands more COVID-19 cases and hundreds more COVID-19 deaths over the summer. So, please get vaccinated if you haven’t already.” ■ To read Gerald’s updates, visit publichealth.arizona.edu/newsroom

JUNE 3, 2021

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in indoor environments,” Reynolds said. “Circulating air can dilute the virus, but you need to get it out of the building. There needs to be air exchange, not just circulation.”

Though sanitizing surfaces isn’t the primary method of reducing COVID, it has proved effective against othAs long as you’re vaccinated, experts say you can resume er contagions like influenza and norovirus. In fact, the most of your old activities CDC estimates that 22,000 Americans died from the flu in the 2019-2020 season, more than 10,000 fewer than each of the previous three flu seasons.

By Jeff Gardner “There has been a cultural shift in terms of recognizjeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com ing the importance of hygiene and social distancing.

Even though we know in indoor environments social ALMOST AS FAST AS THE distancing is not that effective because of the air-cirnation entered quarantine more than a year ago, busiculation issue, avoiding large crowds in general does nesses and governments are now lifting mask mandates reduce the risk of person-to-person transmission,” and COVID restrictions. Last month, the CDC anReynolds said. “But some of those habits have adverse nounced those who are fully vaccinated no longer need effects, like social isolation, anxiety and depression. The to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, loss of human contact can really affect quality of life. So except where required by state or local rules. This new I think we’re really going to be doing a lot of reflecting guidance includes activities like shopping and eating, back on this pandemic and finding that right balance and allows for domestic flights without testing. between reducing risk of infection and the relative risk Although a full vaccination removes most mask reof social isolation.” quirements, the CDC acknowledges vaccinations don’t While removing masking requirements for fully prevent all cases, and says indoor events pose a “minivaccinated individuals is a welcome sight, the CDC still mal risk,” but not no risk at all. has directives for those unvaccinated, and plans to keep “I think it’s completely appropriate,” said Kelly Reynthose even after states fully roll back their most basic COURTESY PHOTO olds, a professor at the University of Arizona’s College COVID protocols.

Health experts say vaccination remains the key to stopping of Public Health. “We have a lot of evidence now that “The greatest barrier now is the hesitancy for getting vaccinated people are not really transmitting the virus the pandemic. the vaccine,” Reynolds said. “Early on, people were to others, and they’re protected themselves. It seems standing in lines and doing whatever they could to like an appropriate guideline to loosen those restricget the vaccine, and we’ve gotten the vaccine to those The CDC has stated that those fully vaccinated can tions. Obviously there’s challenges with knowing who people. Now we have the vaccine waiting to be delivresume the activities they did prior to the pandemic, is vaccinated and who is not, so the key point here is ered, and there’s not a big line of people waiting to but still wear a mask when required and still watch out get them. So the message really is that the vaccine has vaccination.” for symptoms of COVID-19.

Reynolds, PhD, is department chair for UA’s Departbeen the big difference in reducing the restrictions and “Vaccines are good, but not perfect,” says Joe Germent of Community, Environment and Policy. She also being able to get people back together. So we want to ald, PhD, an associate professor in the UA College serves as director of UA’s Environment, Exposure Sciget more people to trust the vaccine. The data is high of Public Health who has operated a weekly COVID ence and Risk Assessment Center, and has researched efficacy and low side-effects.” ■ report throughout the pandemic. “Through the course water quality, food safety and disease transmission for of the pandemic, we should have viewed outdoor events decades. as safer than we did. Of course, the greatest risk is in Reynolds still urges caution because of unknowns places like gyms, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and regarding the vaccine, and the large portion of people unvaccinated. According to the Arizona Department of churches. These places have drawn a large number of transmissions. But if you’re vaccinated, the outdoors are Health Services, more than 40% of Arizonans are now safe, and people need to get outdoors.” vaccinated, equaling 3 million people who have reThroughout the pandemic, there has been an emphaceived at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. Reynolds sis on sanitizing surfaces to avoid the hand-to-surfacelists the incidence of vaccine “breakthrough” cases, to-face route of infection. However, Reynolds says the the uncertain longevity of the vaccine, and how comvirus really doesn’t survive well on surfaces, and so the promised people build immunity as some of the most efforts to disinfecting surfaces should not be people’s important remaining questions. primary focus.

“One of the ways the CDC makes decisions about “There’s so much we know now that we didn’t know their recommendations is by looking at the probabila year ago. It was summertime a year ago when Arizoities in the population, not necessarily these smaller na was leading the nation in the number of cases and groups that have rarer cases that don’t follow the genhospitalizations, and that was largely because we all eral norm,” Reynolds said. “We still have a ways to go, and I think that’s where the difficulty comes in. If you’re went inside when things started heating up. Something at Green Things Nursery not vaccinated, then you still really need to adhere to a we learned that is validated by real life is how the virus lot of protections. And now even more so, because other circulates very well in indoor environments. There’s new evidence now that when you’re indoors and there’s people are not going to be masked. If you’re not vaccigood air circulation, it might not matter if you’re six nated and not wearing a mask, perhaps going with the feet apart or 60 feet apart: the virus is being spread peer group, you’re putting yourself at higher risk.”

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FLAT WRONG

Ducey’s giveaway to the rich stalls at the Arizona Legislature— for now Jim Nintzel jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com A FEW REPUBLICAN HOLDOUTS managed to stop Gov. Doug Ducey from achieving his dream of massively cutting taxes for his rich pals while simultaneously ensuring cities and towns will be hamstrung from providing government services in the future.

We refer, of course, to Ducey’s mad scheme to shove through a flat income tax with virtually no time to take a serious look at its impact.

Since Republicans hold a 16-14 advantage in the state Senate and a 31-29 advantage in the state House of Representatives, they must have all their members in support of this proposal in order to get it to Ducey’s desk. As of last week, there

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

were enough holdouts that the Legislature finally gave up and said they would just go home for a couple of weeks while they put the pressure on the lawmakers who know this is a bad idea.

Ducey was so furious that he vetoed more than 20 bills and said he wasn’t signing anything until a budget reached his desk.

Ducey and his minions have been out portraying this tax plan as a fair way to reform Arizona’s taxes. Well, let’s look at who benefits, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee: If your household earnings are between $40K and $50K, you now pay, on average, $683 in income taxes.

Under Ducey’s plan, you’ll enjoy an annual tax cut of $39, or 5.7%.

Meanwhile, if your earnings are $200,000 to $500,000, you’ll enjoy an annual tax cut of $3,202, or 32%. If you earn

$500,000 to a million a year, your taxes will decrease, on average, by more than $12,000, or nearly 40%. And for those lucky few who earn more than $1 million will see their taxes cut by about 43%.

Meanwhile, state revenues will drop by an estimated $1.9 billion a year—and since a portion of income taxes are returned to cities and towns, they will also bear the brunt of this giveaway, which will make it more difficult to provide police and fire protection, better parks, road repairs, after-school programs and other services.

Ducey and legislative leaders have hysterically suggested they will make cities and towns whole from their losses for a few years. What happens after that? Well, Ducey won’t be governor anymore, so what does he care?

This kind of tax reform, to the benefit of those who truly need it the least, is just insane—and driven entirely because Arizona voters had the temerity to support an initiative that increased income taxes on individuals earning more than $250,000 (or couples earning more than $500,000) to increase funding for education.

Polling done by Phoenix political consultants HighGround—hardly a left-wing

SORENSEN

bunch—shows that there’s little public support for Ducey’s plan, especially when voters are asked if they’d like to see the budgets of their local cities and towns slashed.

Given the choice between cutting income taxes and investing more money into education and local cities and towns, 63% said they would rather see investment, while 30% favor cutting income taxes.

The survey of 400 likely 2022 voters, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%, showed that even among Republicans voters, the proposal wasn’t all that popular: More than 48% of GOP voters opposed the proposal, while just 31% supported it. Among independent voters, 55% oppose it while just 20% support it. And it’s no surprise that among Democrats, support was at less than 12%.

In other words, giving away millions to the wealthiest Arizonans while the state still has big bills to pay to fix schools, roads and a whole bunch more just isn’t that popular. We’ll see where things go when lawmakers get back next week, but this budget proposal just stinks. Let’s hope the holdouts stick to their guns and something more reasonable lands on the table. ■

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Story & photos by Brian Smith

Meet Dar: Playing with Infinity “WHEN I WAS 12 I HAD A download,” she says, lifting her hands above her head and pulling them slowly down, “I was going to live where the big cactuses and cowboys and Indians are.”

So she hitchhiked across the U.S.A., head crammed with glossy girl dreams born of an Arizona Highways subscription she’d procured with babysitting coin. She’d split the busted-family depths of working-class New Jersey, turned 18 on the road and found the Old Pueblo at journey’s end.

Discovered fleeting homeless comfort with the Rainbow folk, street kids and bead-making gypsies, and hastily learned their survival tricks like eating out of Greasy Tony’s trash, and how to squat alongside 14 others in a single room, or other such raw-food, all-naked sustainability in a tripping hippie camp out in Thatcher, Arizona.

“But where were all the cowboys?”

Surprise!

Forget cowboys, she had the Tanque Verde Swap Meet where she learned to hock her girlhood jewelry to eat.

The houseless teen fell in love with that swap meet, the same organization from which she just leased a clapboard storefront to begin selling health supplements.

It’ll carry her into retirement. The 40-plus year Tucson circle of life (which begins on her birthday, August 1) ain’t lost on her.

Today that girl is Dar (short for Darlene) Dobroslavic, an evolved 60 in a handsome black embroidered tunic, matching loose-fitting black pants. She tours her walled-in home grounds, dubbed “the better bunkhouse,” a whole psychological leap from the surrounding cinderblock and oil-stained neighborhood of asymmetrical zoning and busted frontyard Fords.

The aesthetic pleases, its placement of objects and sense of the correct order of things calms. Smells of various spring-summer blooms and requisite Tucson dust and her slumber-happy dog Lula lumbers into various ports of yard shade. There’s a vintage (’73) Avion trailer, a comely curved metallic jolt in the hard sun, complete with

internal AC, small stereo, livable, and unoccupied (at the moment).

Dar’s hyper-acumen comes into hazy focus in the yard, fast-talking layered subjects of “infinity wellness,” tribal cultures, how to build and live in a salvaged-material house, which she did—and the horrors, joys and governmental prize fights involved in caring for her mentally disabled son, Micah, who is now 41.

There’s a colorful, telling matriarchal wall mural painted by her long-standing woman’s group and a homemade outdoor stage, where she’d throw pandemic-era shows featuring area shit-kicker Hank Topless or folkie Wally Lauder. An outdoor shower sits behind that, constructed from found street objects (“Isn’t it adorable?”), next to a bedroom-sized bungalow (rented out), whose interior she and a pal constructed from found wood.

A garden filled with rising crops reveals a deep family tie tracing to her Croatian grandfather who grew and sold such in a New Jersey farm stand, who’d place a young Dar there as a cute prop to help sales.

The scene is part commune, desert prairie home and ad hoc hostel for hikers. It reveals a duality, an outward show of the woman herself, the everyday commodities of her world requiring precise attention to detail in order to charge forth with clinched fists and a self-mocking chuckle. She’s a formable autodidact with a detail-rich intellect who’ll spend leisure-time reading, say, published medical pieces at breakfast, who spent 14 years in and out of college, but never cared about a degree.

She is the “benevolent dictator,” on her big-lot compound, which she purchased for a song in 2012. She’s had maybe 100 people come through to stay so far, mostly hikers on The Arizona Trail, which runs from Utah to the Mexico border. Dar is a designated Trail Angel, a volunteer who helps path votaries with rides, housing, showers and laundry.

Hell, the woman collects people like

Dar Dobroslavic: “I

was a little too industrious to stay homeless.”

postage stamps, her “Dar’s Stars, ex-healers and dealers.” She adds, “I get to meet people who are up to shit—new ways of thinking, new ways of being.” She often takes in strays who need help. That has always been her thing, rising from a fascination with the anthropological study of humanity and a sharp eye for their “magic,” a word she often repeats.

An amusing Salinger quote received from her late one night says much: “She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”

BACK IN HER MAIN HOUSE, Dar settles around a vintage Formica table in her living room, telling how her last year was particularly gnarly, including a COVID infection, which got her and her two children, and a van-totaling car-crash, from which Micah and Dar suffer back and shoulder pain. Rickie Lee Jones floats softly from a radio tuned to KXCI. The house calms too, walls arranged with fetching folk and found art, mandala and Native ritual imagery, many books and games, and, of course, tea spiced with powdered inositol (for her depression).

Dar listens hard, her roundish pleasant face sharp with expectation, which can exhaust. She organizes her life into tidy

mental files opened and closed in wily anecdotes and laughter, couched in this confident idea everything always works out. She references liminal space and goddesses as means to explain her own self-religion, fortified on Landmark Forums (a group seeking answers to life problems, is sometimes deemed disputatious), Buddha and Zen practices, Navajo and Hopi teachings and other studies. It really all comes down to kindness, helping others, and framing life as a gas of inexplicable happenstance. She files herself a non-worrier, but the commas of worry around her eyes and mouth maybe tell something different.

“No, I am not crazy. But my father was.”

Her mechanic father was a first-generation American born to Croatian immigrants, youngest of 11 children, suffered a breakdown at 38, schizoaffective disorder.

“He would make us sit there for hours and try to read his mind.” He was a greaser, “sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, and he looked like Waylon Jennings. My mother would start the party and stay to the end.” The family lived in a rental until dad beat up mom and she split for a shelter. Dar, the oldest of four, was out of high school, on her own at 16.

Dar’s mother was an orphan who grew up in Irish foster homes, whose father died CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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drunk on the Bowery. Mom landed on her feet, is alive and fine today.

And dad, well, “he got out of the mental house and lived homeless for 43 years.

Imagine living that long homeless.” There was love there. Dar set him up once with a place to live, food to eat, but it couldn’t work.

“I was a little too industrious to stay homeless,” says the woman who spent her first night in Tucson and her last $25 on acid and wound up walking all through town, a frightened tripping teen.

She tried every drug in the world for kicks. None stuck as habit, kind of remarkable considering how easy it is to self-medicate depression, a whirr in her life.

On that cross-country hitchhike she found a home in Boulder, offering floor space and food, which blew her young mind. “I’d never seen real charity in action. So, yeah, that’s my drug. It changed my life completely, the generosity of spirit and benevolence.”

Her worklife began at a deli on Sixth Avenue (“I’d get yelled out for not wearing a bra”) and by ’81 was bartending at the Backstage (the former Tumbleweeds) on Fourth Avenue, selling dope to hookers, and helping book bands. She was a barefoot hippie girl, only now with Micah to feed, whose father was in jail. Soon she was editing a college lit journal and from that rose a self-made businesswoman-activist’s ideal of eloquence, her CV would read like a person driven on the graceful side of the righteous.

Aside from Dar’s accidental foray into real estate (“people are so ugly around their money, so entitled”) and skids-avoiding house-cleaning, she found work that earned her a living aiding others.

(An upside to the real-estate work, Dar helped club-owner Greg Haver get arts-music venue Monterey Court up and running).

It’s the little things too, the sojourns into Mexico with Micah (who requires 24-7 care) to work at orphanages. Feeding the homeless, the animals. Every Friday she and Micah bring flowers to an old folks’ home. Dar has spent years aiding, advising, consoling and counseling those with severe mental and behavioral disabilities, and their parents.

The woman with no high-school diploma or college degree once worked as

a lecturer for special education teacher training, which led to work as a psychosocial vocational rehab specialist at UA. She moved to Cochise County to teach high school in Elfrida, Arizona, in a youth-transition program designed to keep kids from dropping out, while teaching kids’ parents for GEDs. There’s some irony there: “I had no degree, right? That’s nuts.

They worked some kind of magic to get me in.”

Dar didn’t want to rent when she and her daughter Britt moved down to Cochise County in ’97, so she built on a piece of desert land she’d purchased with a bad check for $500 (but made good) in ghost-town Gleeson, Arizona. Helped in part from houseless folks she’d befriended in Tucson—Dar once served on a Tucson task force on homelessness out of the mayor’s office. She didn’t know shit about building a house, so she read up on how to do it. With mad tenacity and salvaged materials, they “worked frantically on weekends, Friday sundown to Sunday at sundown.” She and Britt lived in it off the grid on dirt-floors (for the first two years) with no water ever (hauled water in buckets) or electricity (added solar panels later). Britt, at 7 years old, actually helped build the thing.

“I would get up in the morning, pull on my stockings and shoes on dirt floors and go to work.”

They lived on the range for six years.

They’d travel back and forth to Tucson to visit Micah.

MICAH SUFFERS FROM intellectual disability, bipolar disorder and mild cerebral palsy. Violent episodes made him dangerous to himself and others, so at 14, Dar placed him in a home to get needed care. She began to see the toxic-system neglect between different homes and agencies. Micah’s self-worth hit a new low ebb, and he was gobbed up with so many drugs he needed a wheelchair.

Horrified, she moved back to Tucson, pulled Micah out, fought for and won an arrangement with the state to care for her son with state aid. Darlene and like-minded colleagues saved lots of government money that otherwise would be funneled to group homes. Micah’s quality of life and health improved measurably, prescription meds and hospitalizations now at a minimum.

“We changed the system,” Dar says.

“His life was in shambles.”

Such shambles took horrific shape.

It’s not something Micah can talk easily about, not then, not now. “We couldn’t read the signs,” Dar once said in an NPR interview about the subject.

In 2002, Micah pulled a knife on a caregiver, and was placed in lockdown. Four years later, Micah revealed that same caregiver had molested and raped him.

“My darkest hours were when Micah told me,” Dar says.

Dar pursued legal angles, found herself crying for hours learning how difficult the rapes were to prove, particularly after four years, the perp long gone. “It’s one of those crimes where there is rarely justice.

The collateral damage alone …”

She worked hard, put Micah into a good public school, and he learned to read and play drums.

Buoyed on experience, Dar, in 2006, teamed with lawyer friend Val Schaffer for what they called the “Intelligent Experiment,” purchasing with loans a six-unit apartment building to launch an alternative co-op where residents with intellectual disabilities could help one another while living steady, cost-effective lives with proper oversight. The experiment hadn’t been tried in Arizona, and a story appeared in these pages (“The Intelligent Experiment,” May 10, 2007).

The project deflated mostly because, Dar says, with unjaded gusto, “people don’t want to work hard. They are all about a co-op but don’t realize it’s a share of work.”

The pair sold the apartment building last year, the proceeds lifted Dar out of debt for the first time in her life, with some coin left over.

Micah now lives in his own casita near Dar, in an “individually designed living arrangement” (IDLA). Micah’s overseen fulltime by Dar, daughter Britt and other caregivers.

Though Dar says, “he sure can raise hell.”

Lately, Micah’s been on an experimental THC, CBD and nicotine program, and the results, she writes in a letter to medical establishments, are astounding. He has “surged ahead over the last year in arts, sciences, geography, math” and his motor skills have improved and rapid mood swings have decreased. The medicinal benefits have been a boon for the family.

Right now, Dar says, “we’re reading about legends of the Pima Indians.”

DAYS LATER IN DAR’S house, Micah wears a Bowie tee and headphones, glued to a baseball game on his laptop at the small kitchen table.

Occasionally he steps in and joins the conversation. There’s a tenderness about him, and he shoots straight; he will tell you if he likes you. Like mom, he listens hard. And no, he does not want his photo taken.

Daughter Britt arrives for a hang. The 30-year-old’s face is like a healthy deer, in the most beautiful way, big brown eyes, perfect skin, blond coloring. She’s expressive, eloquent and curious like her mother, with a quiet messianic thing about her, studies environmental science and biology at UA, hates the liberal yuppies making bank gentrifying what’s left of Tucson, destroying barrio heritages. Talks glowingly of her brother, mom and her Latina girlfriend.

Both fathers vanished from their children’s lives, no financial help, nada. Britt’s dad is so far untraceable, even with the help of a professional. “My grandma always said,” Dar says, “sometimes you have to leave well-enough alone.”

Britt too wears a classic-rock tee, Led Zeppelin, like mom (Hendrix) and Micah today. They classify people into psych-magic divisions for earnest fun: they’re either “rainbows or drainbows.”

There’s a sense the scholarship-earning, 4-H fair-winning Britt looks out for Dar, appears accustomed, for better or worse, to the patterns of mom’s life, though Dar doesn’t see that at all. Britt celebrates Father’s Day and Mother’s Day with mom and she is still kind of amazed she was raised for years in a homemade house with no running water, where she learned to gild calves, rope cattle, feed horses and fix houses, the only kid on a plot of 10,000 acres.

“It’s been hard for Britt,” mom tells me later, adding their close relationship can be tumultuous at times. “She’s had a tough life because of me … but a good life.”

She continues, “That’s who I am, I just work. I was blessed with this fortitude.”

She adds, “I’m always going to remember who I wanted to be. I wanted to be successful at aging ...”

And Micah? He’s her Doodle bird, her sidekick. “He’s very broken,” she says. “He can scream and he suffers. But he’s a pretty trippy dude.” ■

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when they see something happening like paperwork. He was cited for disorderly conduct and then released at his that I think the response that we’ve seen has been that people are doubling down,” residence. said Fierros. “It’s united us and that we “I am a mother of two young kids. Creating a better place for them to grow up won’t be deterred and we won’t be was my motivation to get involved in the intimidated.”

While Fierros said Finchem’s actions first place, but this incident makes me feel Lawmaker threatens legal action against recall proponents directly affect District 11 constituents, not like I have to work even harder, motivating me to do more for my community and holding him accountable would deter democracy. all of Arizona,” said Carrillo, who has deWhile the recall was spurred by his Christina Duran “Without accountability. It breeds tweets during the Jan. 6 Insurrection and clined interviews, in a statement through christina@tucsonlocalmedia.com cynicism and cynicism diminishes deRural Arizonans. “Violence is not the an election integrity hearing he held feamocracy’” said Fierros. “And ultimately, turing Rudy Guiliani on Nov. 30, 2020, Fi- way to get things done or settle political that hurts us as a state and us as a nation. disagreements.

Having voter’s signatures STATE REP. MARK FINCHEM SENT erros said they have seen growing support What Mark Finchem is doing is not new. taken from my hand and torn up isn’t gofor his recall with Finchem’s continued a “cease and desist” order to the group ing to stop me from petitioning to remove It’s not isolated to just him.… When this interviews regarding the election audit in petitioning for his recall, threatening to kind of behavior goes unchecked, you Mark Finchem. As Arizonans, we have a Maricopa County, his announcement to sue the group for defamation. right to petition and voters have a right to see what he does next is, ‘Let me go for The Republican, who represents District campaign for Arizona Secretary of State a higher office where I will have more sign petitions and I won’t let this incident and the fight between one of Finchem’s 11, faces a recall by Rural Arizonans for power.’ Left unchecked, not held accountprevent me from doing my part.” supporters and a recall canvasser.

Accountability, a group of his district’s Toni Cani, a spokesperson for the Recall able, it becomes a bigger issue so now not “His growing absurdity and the outconstituents, for spreading voter fraud only is it LD-11 constituents who are being Finchem campaign, said the canvassers landishness of what he’s doing and then conspiracy theories and his ties to the marginalized. Now you’re talking about are trained to de-escalate and there have “Stop the Steal” rioters at the Jan. 6 Insur- for him to announce that he’s running for millions of voters in the state of Arizona been other instances where canvassers Secretary of State, who in Arizona is the rection at the U.S. Capitol. who will be dealing with Mark Finchem.” have faced someone who was upset or second line for the governorship and who Natali Fierros, co-executive Director The recall effort would need a minimum angry. They have since made changes would be controlling our election system, of Rural Arizona Action, said they were of 24,775 valid signatures from registered to how they send out their canvassers to that heightens the awareness of the everyapproached by Finchem’s constituents voters in District 11 by July 8 to succeed. maintain their safety. day person,” said Fierros. to help organize the recall. “We exist to Fierros believes they will meet that deadFierros said the incident has emboldFinchem filed to run for Secretary empower people, regular folks who are line and said they are over ened their canvassers and everyday folks. of State 25 days after Rural Arizonans involved in the democratic system and “I think people can identify a bully and halfway there. ■ launched the recall eff ort against him.

He really recalling an elected official is a power reserved for the people of Arizona has based his platform on promises to stop voter fraud and has had several inby our state’s constitution,” said Fierros.

“If enough registered voters sign that pe- terviews with various internet news sites about the Maricopa County’s election tition and they agree that Finchem does audit, including a known QAnon channel, lack integrity, that he is dangerous and RedPill78. an ineffective legislator, then it goes to “It’s all compiled, it’s the cease and the voters in that district to get a chance desist. Secretary state filing, the audit, to vote on whether or not they should fire spending all his time in Maricopa County. him.”

He’s making a case for us, that clearly he’s On May 5, the group received a letter from Finchem’s lawyers, which according more interested in being on internet shows to the Recall Finchem website, “demands that allow them to raise money for his new pursuit of Secretary of State,” said Fierros.

Rural Arizonans for Accountability She also noted there has been greater destroy all campaign materials Finchem interest in the recall after a man later incorrectly deems ‘defamatory’ and publish retractions in local newspapers. If not, identified as Melvyn Hockett fought with a canvasser from Rural Arizonans for Finchem’s lawyers promise to sue.”

Accountability, Aimee Carrillo, and ripped Rural Arizonans’ lawyers rejected Finchem’s demand and stated they would about 17 signed petitions.

Enjoy According to the May 14 police report, seek sanctions against him should he sue.

Evenings “Threats by big money lawyers will not while sitting outside of the Oro Valley Lion the Vegetarian & Vegan Entrees • A Sanctuary in the City brary, Carrillo said Hockett began yelling scare us away from recalling a dishonest Patio!

GOVINDA’S IS OPEN FOR DINE-IN and TAKE-OUT politician that believes he is too important at her. Hockett grabbed her clipboard and 11:30am to 2:30pm for lunch Wednesday-Saturday they pulled it back and forth until Carrillo to do the job voters just hired him to do,” 5 to 8pm for dinner Tuesday-Saturday was able to regain it, although Hockett said Rural Arizonans for Accountability 11am to 2:30pm for Sunday brunch proceeded to rip the petitions. in a statement on May 13, “We hope that Tuesday is “India Night” When police spoke with Hockett at his instead of pursuing this frivolous lawsuit, ENHANCED SANITATION AND NO TOUCH SERVING home, he still appeared upset. He said Mr. Finchem comes home to District 11 Lunch is $8, dinner & brunch $10 he’d been harassed by a female. In the and does something he seems reluctant We keep our prices low & affordable for a 10-course meal report, the officer wrote that Hockett said to do, work to improve the lives of his 711 E. Blacklidge Dr. • 520-792-0630 “she kept wanting him to sign a petition constituents.”

E. of 1st Ave., 2 Blocks S. of Ft. Lowell • GovindasOfTucson.com Finchem did not responded to requests and he kept saying no.” Hockett admitted to being frustrated and ripping up her for comment from Tucson Weekly.

CURRENTS

THREADBARE SUIT

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DAVINA DOBBINS

Volunteers lined up to hand out food, water, blankets, hygiene supplies, and pet food.

The Sunday Morning WORKship aids people experiencing homelessness in the pandemic

By Davina Dobbins tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

FOR MANY, SUNDAY IS A DAY OF worship. At Z Mansion, it’s a day for WORKship.

WORKship is a non-profit organization that provides food, clothing, pet care, harm reduction equipment and medical care to individuals experiencing homelessness in Tucson. It is run by the Hill family on their property which is also a wedding venue called Z Mansion.

WORKship embodies early Christian practices. “[E]arly Christians were a communal group of people who really were not formally organized. They took care of one another and they took care of the poor,” said Rick McCallum, one of the lead volunteers.

Similar to early Christians, they do not collect monetary donations. And WORKship doesn’t provide the typical Sunday sermon.

According to McCallum, he and Tom Hill, the founder of WORKship and an

ordained minister, used to give a seven-minute sermon. The sermons were focused on tips for living as a homeless individual, how to take care of your feet in wet weather, how to get food stamps and how to navigate your healthcare.

Since last March, many things have changed at WORKship.

HOT MEALS AND TO-GO FOOD SHANE URBANIAK, THE LEAD COOK in the kitchen, said that serving food “used to be a really easy buffet style where [guests] would walk up and we would fill up their plate. And now instead, everyone has to be out with cones and be distanced and we have to go to them.”

Urbaniak said he now arrives an hour earlier than he used to, in order to start prepping food for 100 or so people. He coordinates volunteers and makes sure all the food is prepped, cooked, and ready to-go.

During the winter months, WORKship also supported a soup project. Every night, even on weekends, Urbaniak and

several volunteers prepared soup and hot chocolate.

“That was just really incredible… because especially during the winter, a lot of shelters close down and so for a lot of people, we were the only source of care,” Urbaniak said. He laughed and said, “My car still smells like soup and hot chocolate to this day.”

Not much has changed as far as the selection of food that is served. Urbaniak describes being lead cook as very similar to what one would see on the show Chopped.

“I really just go with whatever we have…. it’s always random and I never really know what I’m gonna make until the day of,” Urbaniak said.

Prior to COVID-19, WORKship used to have the guests sit down, similar to a restaurant.

“Before the pandemic there were tables in the courtyard and we would be like little waitresses kind of and just tend to all [the guests] needs while they were sitting down,” said Kendall Colell, another lead volunteer. She has been coming since the start of COVID-19 and can often be seen with her twin, Cierra.

Cierra Colell explained that as the pandemic has evolved, so have the logistics at WORKship. Initially, they set up tents for sick people and a separate area for healthy people. The tents were removed, and people had to line up 6 feet apart in the alley. When food was prepared, a volunteer with a tray of to-go containers would go to either end of the alley and hand out food, working their way back toward the mansion.

Now, three tables are set up on the left and right side of the alley, just past the back entrance to Z Mansion. Cierra Colell said that this is efficient but “we just aren’t really able to communicate with people as much as we used to.”

Now, people are no longer able to try on clothing and whatever is available is distributed at the same time as the food.

Because WORKship runs on donations only, there is always a need for clothing donations.

“Shoes, socks are extremely important. Clean underwear is very important.

Sometimes, when it’s monsoon season, the little ponchos are greatly appreciated, and especially during winter months blankets are extremely important,” Cierra Colell said.

PET FOOD AND CARE EVERY SUNDAY, VOLUNTEERS FROM an organization called “Cody’s Friends” come to WORKship to provide cat and dog kibble, wet food, potty bags and treats.

“Homeless people will frequently feed their pets before they feed themselves, in fact [they] almost invariably do that,” McCallum said.

Stacy Thomas, a veterinary student at the University of Arizona, began volunteering last summer. “I was very interested in doing community outreach work and one of the program coordinators

CLOTHING WORKSHIP ALSO PROVIDES seasonal clothing from top-to-bottom.

McCallum noted that clothing distribution was formerly just to the right of the gate and under the tree when you first walk in. It was called ‘the boutique’ and people could take whatever they wanted.

“We try not to be the people to say, ‘Only one pair of socks,’ ‘No, you can’t have three shirts.’ I mean we were just like, ‘Here it is,’ we don’t save anything back. If we got it, you can have it and we’ll just get more.” McCallum said.

DAVINA DOBBINS

A view from behind the tables of the guests lining up by cones to wait for food and supply distribution.

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COMMUNITY CERTIFIED HEALTH SPECIALISTS

CHRISTIAN CHARITY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

at the time started taking me to different outreach locations… and of course encouraged me to go to Z Mansion, and I did,” she says. She has been there most Sundays since.

Thomas said that Pima Animal Care Center (PACC) provides vaccines and medical supplies for the once-a-month wellness check for pets and Dr. O’Donnell from Northwest Pet Clinic comes to help host the clinic.

HARM REDUCTION SUPPLIES BETH WEISE FROM THE CHURCH of Safe Injection Tucson (CoSIT) provides sterile supplies for drug users on Sundays. This is often called “needle exchange” but CoSIT provides much more.

“I go every Sunday and distribute sterile syringes in either long or short needle tips, sterile cottons that are used to filter drugs, sterile cookers that are used to prepare the drugs, alcohol wipes to clean the skin before injection… and then also distribute sterile meth pipes or bubbles, oil burners,” Weise said.

The idea behind harm reduction supplies is that CoSIT’s clients are going to use the drugs no matter what, so by providing sterile supplies, there is a decreased chance the individual will get a serious infection and burden the healthcare system.

To better understand this, Weise said, “Harm reduction is part of the way of life… a seatbelt is harm reduction and adding seat belts to cars did not increase the rate of car accidents or the speed at which people drove. Giving people sunscreen when they go to the beach doesn’t make them stay longer or expose themselves to the sun in harsher ways… this is no different from what I’m doing.”

Weise described how she met individuals at Z Mansion who started out getting syringes every week. With access to clean supplies, they slowly transitioned to smoking instead of injecting, which is a huge harm reduction step. “[I]t’s harder to smoke yourself to an overdose than it is to inject yourself into an overdose, so there’s that level of protection there,” Weise said.

When COVID-19 hit, a lot of clients

DAVINA DOBBINS

Men’s and women’s shoes, organized by size so volunteers can bring appropriate size to guests.

turned back to syringes. CoSIT became essential, as many other needle exchanges in Tucson shut down.

CLINIC WORKSHIP ALSO HAS A CLINIC, where individuals can be seen for a range of issues and can receive a variety of treatments depending on the care providers volunteering that day.

Jody Kosanke is a respiratory therapist and a lead volunteer at WORKship.

She’s been volunteering there for about five years.

Kosanke said prior to the pandemic the clinic focused on preventive care, particularly for feet. “A lot of soaking of feet, really looking for athlete’s foot, because so many of them are walking literally miles and miles a day,” she said.

The clinic used to be set up inside the carriage house at Z Mansion, a large, air-conditioned room. There were five stations for care and one private station for looking at more personal injuries of “wounds, abscesses, that type of thing,” Kosanke said.

When COVID-19 arrived, the clinic

lost many highly qualified volunteers.

“We used to have a lot more physicians and physician assistants also coming, but once COVID hit, they couldn’t really risk coming to WORKship and volunteering, for fear of actually getting sick and maybe taking, you know, the virus back to the hospitals and clinics that they worked in,” Kosanke said.

Now, the clinic is set up in the outdoor courtyard area between the mansion and the carriage house. There are three stations and guests who need medical attention are provided with the highest level of care possible, depending on who is volunteering that morning.

“We provide wound care, basic vital signs,” Kosanke said.

But when you have a licensed medical professional there, like a nurse practitioner, a physician’s assistant or a physician, they are able to practice the highest level of care the provider allows.

This is taken very seriously by the volunteers.

“I am not a doctor, and I do not play one on weekends,” McCallum said.

MCCALLUM AND MANY OF THE other volunteers have a Certified Community Health Specialist (CCHS) designation. The training gives them specialized knowledge and skills for recognizing ailments and interacting with homeless underserved populations.

“There is a method to what we’re doing out there, it isn’t just wandering up and down and being friendly, although, that’s a big part of it. But we’re looking to see if somebody is limping, if they’re coughing, if they just look sick,” he said.

According to McCallum, CCHS volunteers can start to recognize signs and symptoms with a level of sophistication.

“We have spotted people with diabetes before, by the way they walk,” he said.

Tom Hill teaches a highly recommended course at the University of Arizona training undergraduate students in these skills.

“You get to explore street medicine, and you are able to distinguish different diagnoses based off of [an individual’s] nails, hair, their gait, all of that… I think it’s really beneficial especially for people who want to pursue… a career in healthcare,” Cierra Colell said.

The CCHS program also teaches individuals how to de-escalate tense, potentially dangerous situations and

DAVINA DOBBINS

Cierra Colell petting one of the dogs who joins their owner for Sunday visits to WORKship.

JUNE 3, 2021

praise God for the food I’ve gotten and the blessings I’ve gotten.”

It’s not just the food and necessities that the guests look forward to. Steve T. enjoys seeing the kids who volunteer, but especially Cierra Colell, who has made a big difference in his life.

Living with homelessness is challenging and Steve T. tries to stay positive and process his situation a little at a time.

“I’m trying to eat an elephant out here,” he said. “All I can do is how you eat an elephant… one bite at a time… mentally, I can not handle all of it at one time, so what I do is I’m just taking one little bite at a time. That way, as I nibble away on it, it disappears.”

ADDRESSING MISCONCEPTIONS

DAVINA DOBBINS

COVID-19 clinic set-up outdoors on the patio area and under the shade.

how to respond to individuals experiencing mental and behavioral health crises.

Each level of CCHS certification is associated with a specific curriculum and number of hours, for example after Tom Hill’s class and 100 hours working with the target populations, an individual is considered a level one CCHS.

need a blanket, they give me a blanket…

And how does that affect my day? Are you kiddin’? I’m able to eat, I’m able to

THE GUEST PERSPECTIVE ON SUNDAY MORNING WORKSHIP serves 60-100 guests, and never turns anyone or any request away. A gentleman who prefers to be identified by the name “Steve T.” shared his thoughts.

“I go there because first things first is, Tom does an amazing job. And in my position of not having a job and home and no finances, I have to have somewhere where I can get the things and items I need,” Steve T. said.

He explained that most of his days are boring. He picks up trash, reads, and will chat with people who go into the office building he sits by. But Sundays are a little different.

“Sunday mornings are fantastic,” Steve T. said. “I get everything I need. I need clothes, they have clothes. They’ve definitely got water. I need food, they’ve got food. They give me anything. If I

MANY PEOPLE HAVE PRECONCEIVED notions of what it means to be homeless and what people experiencing homelessness are like.

“There are a lot of stereotypes, that once you actually get involved, you become not only more acquainted, but you can become friends with these people that are maybe not [at] the best time in their life,” said Thomas. “You find more commonalities than differences.”

She says these stereotypes need to be broken. As a volunteer since last June, Thomas said she can see beyond what the guests are experiencing.

“The pandemic has shown us very clearly, that given the absolutely unwarranted financial burden that these restrictions on working families and businesses, you might be housed one day, and you might not be able to afford your rent the very next,” Thomas said.

To experience homelessness is not necessarily a choice people make.

“I mean, it ain’t like people think,” McCallum said. “Sometimes people talk about ‘But if you teach them to fish, then they can go out there.” Yeah, right, sure— if you buy a refrigerator and a kitchen and a fishing license and a fishing pole.”

McCallum said if you want to find out about homelessness or how to help people, come with open eyes and open ears and just observe what WORKship does.

POST-COVID-19 HOPES

DAVINA DOBBINS

Fourth year medical student, Siddhant Talwar, examining a guest’s foot.

COVID-19 HAS CREATED HURDLES for the homeless community in Tucson and organizations like WORKship that serve them.

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If you’d like to volunteer or learn more, visiting in person is highly recommended (PPE provided for volunteers). You can visit the website to learn more: workship.org

“I think these imposed restrictions of distancing—restrictions that are really rigid to the amount of interaction that they have—I really hope to see that change, I hope we can go back to being a bit more compassionate and inclusive,” Thomas said.

Many of those interviewed for this article expressed the desire to return to the way things were prior to the pandemic.

“I am hopefully optimistic that we will get back to a place of being able to gather inside the patio area at Z Mansion, to have everyone be able to come together and sit and eat like they did before COVID, as a family, as a community,” said Weise.

She explained that Tom Hill and his wife used to arrange for special treats like musicians coming to play live music.

“And that’s just really powerful stuff.

I think specifically for this population, that type of care and inclusion is so valuable,” she said.

McCallum said that the way things used to work created an opportunity for “homeless people to have a bit of normalcy… a place where they can sit down in beautiful surroundings, where everybody loves them and eat a meal.” ■ Davina Dobbins is a volunteer at WORKship on Sundays and a dual-degree master of business administration/ master of public health student at the University of Arizona. She is also working on graduate certificates in science communication and college teaching and originally wrote this story as part of an independent study journalism class through the certificate program. Davina will begin medical school this summer and wants to increase awareness and importance of working with underserved populations.

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by Emily Dieckman Kingfisher Road Trip. Oh, this is a true rite of summer, and we are so glad it’s back this year at the Kingfisher! This six-week virtual tour features cuisines from six distinct regions of the U.S., so you can feel like you’re traveling across the country even if you won’t be going on any trips this summer. Stick with it throughout the summer, because if you purchase five Dinner Road Trip entrees, the sixth is free! At the very end of the season in September, they’ll do a “best of” compilation with guests’ favorites from throughout the summer. First up is the Southwest! Featuring chile verde soup, grilled pork medallions with mole, tres leches cake and plenty more. Now underway and served through June 12 at Kingfisher, 2465 E. Grant Road.

Free Concerts at Little Anthony’s Diner. Sitting down for meal at the most charming diner in Tucson is one way to hearken back to simpler times. Doing it to the soothing sounds of a totally free concert is truly a cherry on top. The name of his week’s band, the Cadillacs, is especially fitting for that oldies vibe. I mean, really, the URL for this three-piece Tucson band’s Facebook page is facebook.com/50sClassicRock. So they’re the real deal. 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 3. Head on down to Little Anthony’s at 7010 E. Broadway, or call 296-0456 to make reservations.

-bound Bar. Sounds like the type of exercise worth considering. 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 3 (and Thursdays throughout the summer). MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento.

New Art for Your Life. A new month means a new exhibit at the Wilde Meyer Gallery, something we always look forward to ’round these parts. This group show features a variety of the gallery’s painters and sculptors, including Jody Choate, Ka Fisher and Sarah Webber.

Plus, some new arrivals by folks like Wayne Salge, Ryan Hale and Peggy McGivern. Come treat yourself to some art (whether you’re in the market to buy or just to look) at this exhibit, up throughout June at the Wilde Meyer Gallery, 2890 E. Skyline Drive. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Thirsty Thursday Fun Run. It’s just about that time to start making mid-year resolutions, in case your New Years’ resolutions fell by the wayside months ago.

The good thing about starting a fitness routine during the summer is that if you can survive working out during these months, the rest of the year will feel much easier. Anyway, to make things even easier, head over to the MSA Annex for a casual run or walk anywhere between 1 and 5 miles. When you’re done, hang around for some food at Beaut Burger and Kukai and drinks at West-

Tuesday Night Live: An Evening With Greg Morton and Jim Stanley.

If you haven’t been lucky enough to swing by Club Congress recently, make a point of it! They’re hosting all sorts of music series on their back patio, preparing us to shimmy into summer. This Tuesday, you’ve got Greg Morton, a bluegrass guitarist who’s spent most of his life on a stage, and Jim Stanley, an upright bassist who has been a part of several bands on musical endeavors throughout Tucson. Seating is limited and COVID-19 protocols are strictly enforced. Get your tickets at the door or online at hotelcongress. com. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 8. $10.

Summer Safari Nights: Bird is the Word. Need we say more? Birds are cool, and if you disagree, you should consider the possibility that you might just be jealous, because you

can’t fly. Then again, neither can ostriches, and they’re still cool. Come celebrate those birds and more this Saturday at the Reid Park Zoo. As usual, the night will also feature live music from local bands games and wildlife activities and carousel rides!

Plus food and drink specials (including craft beer, prickly pear margaritas, wine and White Claws for the adults). 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 5. Reid Park Zoo, 3400 Zoo Court. $10.50 adults, $8.50 seniors, $6.50 kids 2 to 14. Be sure to reserve your tickets in advance!

Tucson Saguaros vs. Santa Fe Pueblos. Happy Baseball season!

This weekend, our beloved Tucson Saguaros are facing off with another team that’s used to the heat! If you’re not familiar, both teams are members of the Pecos League, an independent baseball league operating throughout California, New Mexico, Southern Arizona, Kansas, West Texas and Colorado. The Saguaros are the only team representing Arizona, which means we’ve got to cheer for them extra loud. Cheers to live summertime sports! 7 p.m. Sunday, June 6. Amphi High School, 95 W. Prince Road.

JUNE 3, 2021

By Bob Grimm tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

CINEMA

SOUND AND FURY

Let’s make some noise: A Quiet Place II is worth a return to the theater A QUIET PLACE PART II HITS THEATERS AFTER

a 14-month pandemic delay, and three years since theatergoers had their initial, oddly silent experience in a theater watching the scrappy Abbott family deal with malicious alien monsters that attack based on sound.

Writer-director John Krasinski made a fun feature helming debut, albeit one filled with all sorts of holes and implausible plot gimmicks. His film was such a blast, it was easy to forgive how ridiculous it was at times.

The same goes for the sequel, a film that depends on its central characters doing stupid, moronic things to keep the action and its main “don’t make a sound” plot device moving forward. At some point, this gimmick is going to play out, but not quite yet.

The film starts with a flashback that prominently involves Krasinski’s Lee Abbott, casually strolling through a general store and picking up snacks for a Little League game where his son Marcus (Noah Jupe) is having an anxiety-ridden experience at the plate. His at-bat is interrupted by a streak of fire in the sky which, as most movie watchers know, signifies an alien attack, but the townspeople figure it’s a meteor or something like that. They disperse, rather calmly, to their parked cars, and Marcus is relieved of his batting duties.

That’s when the creatures first appear and start shredding and spearing people. Let it be said that this is the pre-credits sequence, and it’s is the best thing in both movies. There’s pure cinematic joy in being able to watch something like this on the big screen, the only problem being that the movie that follows this scene isn’t as good. It’s decent, but not magnificent.

Krasinski (who gets sole screenwriting credit and returns to direct) soldiers on with a story about the loss of the patriarchal figure in a family, the moments leading to the coming-of-age for its children, and a mom finding new ways

CITY WEEK Purple Mountain Majesty. I think there’s a shade of Crayola crayon with that name. I didn’t always get it as a kid, because, you know what? Mountains aren’t purple. But, you know what, again? When that sunset light hits them just right, or when the clouds pass overhead in just the right way, they kind of are purple. And “majestic” is the perfect word to describe it. In this exhibit at the Madaras Gallery, see a collections of paintings by Diana Madaras in which her violet hues, with their special way of bringing the desert to life on canvas, are front and center. On display through June 30 at the Madaras Gallery, 3035 N. Swan Road. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

to protect her family while carrying a baby wearing a cute little oxygen mask inside a box.

Much of the action focusses on deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and her decision to go on a solo journey to find and rescue other survivors. Her decision is one of those head-scratcher silly things aforementioned in this review that keeps the plot moving forward. She’s joined on the journey by Emmett, played by ever-reliable Cillian Murphy, no stranger to the apocalypse (28 Days Later, Sunshine). He provides a decent father figure after Krasinski retreats behind the camera for most of the film’s running time.

Mama Abbott (the always amazing Emily Blunt) is left behind in some sort of mill featuring a vault-like furnace that is perfect for alien avoidance except for its alarming lack of oxygen. She’s looking after the baby and an injured Marcus, who, quite inconveniently, stepped in a bear trap before entering said mill.

Not sure if there has been a more unsettling moment at the movies in the last decade than Noah Jupe stepping into a bear trap. Seeing the extremely likeable Jupe screaming his face off (admirably…that boy can yell!) is harsh enough.

Knowing that his screams will attract Krasinski’s flesh shredding creepy crawly aliens definitely heightens the tension.

The two separate plot lines often play out in interwoven editing and lead up to a finale that is as abrupt as finales get. It’s an ending that screams “Stay tuned for the next chapter!,” and, thus, a continuing franchise has been born.

That’s something all but assured after the film’s opening weekend success. It’s official…Jim from The Office has temporarily saved the American movie theater’s box office!

No official word on how or when that next film might happen. It was announced last year that the great Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) might be directing some sort of movie for the franchise. Is it a direct sequel? A prequel?

A spin-off? If that project is actually in production, it’s tentatively due for release next year. If it’s a direct sequel or prequel involving the Abbots, make it fast. Noah Jupe is experiencing some significant growth spurts.

While the sequel isn’t better than the original, it’s worthy of your time. The opening scene plays great in a theater with people screaming next to you, even if many of those screams are muffled by those darned masks. ■

The Desert Museum at Night. The Desert Museum is probably one of the coolest parts about living in Tucson, but the blazing heat of the desert itself is not necessarily one of the coolest things about living in Tucson. This June, the Desert Museum will be open until 9 p.m. so you can explore when it’s not so dang hot! It’s also an awesome chance to see some of the nocturnal animals, like bats, otters and scorpions, start to wake up. Treat yourself to an evening at the Desert Museum, watching the sunset and then the stars come out. And don’t forget your flashlight so you can explore!

If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can add a beer or wine tasting to your evening by going to desertmuseum.org/ visit. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road. GA is $23.95, with discounts for seniors, youth, military and residents. Reserve your ticket online! ■

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ARTS & CULTURE

FEMALE GAZE

This year’s Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres exhibit tackles old injustices in a virtual gallery

By Margaret Regan tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

FOR CENTURIES, THE AKIMEL O’odham—the River People—lived on the banks of the Gila River.

The bountiful river attracted birds of all kinds, and its waters irrigated the Akimel’s crops—corn, beans and squash and, eventually, white winter wheat. The river provided them with food to eat and wares to sell; by the 19th century they were the most dominant venders of white wheat in Territorial Arizona, as anthropologist Tom Sheridan writes in the book Paths of Light.

But by the 1860s, white settlers arrived in droves and began cultivating their own crops along the Gila, diverting the water to their fields east of the Akimels’ land. The laws of the day failed to protect the Akimel, and by 1887 a major canal dug outside Florence permanently displaced the waters of the River People. Without water, they could no longer grow their own food and they were left parched and in dire poverty.

Tucson artist Rachel Espinoza descended from these Akimel O’odham (she’s also part Chicana). Her work in Raices Taller’s lively Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres show is mostly about the murders of Native women in today’s America. But it also honors her river ancestors.

A doll representing Native women is at the center of her “River Magic Matryoshka,” an acrylic painting on fiberboard. Espinoza has painted the O’Odham traditional water pattern—a chain of white waves—in a circle around the woman. A snake inside the waves honors desert nature; floating red roses represent the women who are dead or missing or both.

Statistics on the murders and disappearances are scarce, but the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center says that Native women suffer from the highest rates of violent crime in the country.

Non-Indians commit the majority of these felonies, NIWRC points out, yet federal law limits the ability of tribal police to stop and question possible perpetrators on the reservation if they are non-Indians.

The water laws threatened the lives and livelihoods of the Akimel; more than a century later, under the crime laws of today,

the murderers of Native women can too easily flee.

In Espinoza’s art, the ancestors watch over the women who have suffered. Her fierce doll figure is “acting as a guardian,” she writes, “…though some sisters have been stolen from us here, they are comforted by our ancestors, and no longer confined to the pain of this world.”

Espinoza’s rich and layered piece is just one of 51 artworks by women in Raices Taller’s annual Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres exhibition. (“Mujeres” is Spanish for “women.”) For the first time, the show has gone totally virtual.

“We have hosted the show for 16 years,” says John Salgado, who runs the cooperative gallery with Ceci Garcia. “This year would have been the 17th year, but last year’s was canceled due to COVID 19.”

The gallery has been closed since March 2020 but as the pandemic summer wore on, Salgado began making online exhibitions. Since then, he’s developed first-rate virtual shows that have attracted artists from around the world.

“The Mujeres exhibition includes artists not only from United States and Puerto Rico,” he says, “We also have artists from India, the Netherlands, Mexico, Canada, and Croatia.”

Artist Ana Sneeringer, for example, is a Slovenian who now lives and works in India, after trying out Jordan, France, Russia, the Dominican Republic and the Netherlands. The bold colors of India have found their way into her paintings of women. Her three arresting portraits in the show are painted in brilliant blues, oranges, greens and violets. Interestingly, though Sneeringer has not yet added Arizona to her itinerary, the painted women are surrounded by cacti.

Her artwork did not travel to the U.S. either. In a digital show, a high-res photo is all the gallery needs. But a fan has now purchased “Red Bow”—a work that features a saguaro cradling a woman’s head—so Sneeringer is sending it sending it winging to a new land.

Cristina Cardenas, a talented local painter who has lived in the U.S. for years, looks back to her native Mexico in a series of deft ceramic pieces. Colored images of people cover each of the plates: one has two young

River Magic Matryoshka” by Rachel Espinoza, acrylic on fiberboard

adult sisters; another is a woman wearing an agave crown; and still another is a man in a classic Mexican outfit, including a big sombrero. The affectionate works, she says, arise from her dual life along the borderlands.

Painter Jennifer Smith of Minnesota made a delightful painting of a St. Paul landmark. The “Keg & Case Beer Trailer” sits out front of the old Schmidt Brewery, once the largest brewery in the state.

Smith’s painting has a crystal blue northern sky, a deep green pine tree and the glistening trailer reflecting all the colors and shapes around it.

At a time when masks have been saving lives, Tucsonan Lauren Raine has been making striking ceramic mosaics of women’s heads. Part painting, part sculpture, her timeless figures honor midwives, a goddess and a figure she calls “The Memory Keeper.” Beautifully colored in gold, rust and green, the majestic mask-like faces push out from the ceramic and into the air.

Glory Tacheenie-Compoy, a Tucson artist of Navajo heritage, brings the circle back to Native women. Her lovely piece, Botánica, is a collage of plant materials, flowers, corn husks and handmade paper. It honors the work of the Navajo women who make extraordinary blankets, artworks they create from the gifts of their own land. ■

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EXTRA: Mujeres que Escriben, a Latina writers’ group, follows the annual tradition of giving poetry readings during the Mujeres exhibition. This time, the readings will be videotaped and placed on the website beginning June 5. This year’s poets are poet Mariel Masque, Valerina Quintana, Maria Elena Wakamatsu and Silviana Wood.

Mujeres, Mujeres, Mujeres Raices Taller’s annual exhibition of art by women Through June 12 Staged virtually this year; to access click on raicestaller222.com Also see Facebook.com/RaicesTaller for artist statements and images Free Gallery is temporarily closed 881-5335; raicestaller222.com

JUNE 3, 2021

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MUSIC

A DREAM AT ARM’S LENGTH Musician Brian Berggoetz gathers the good from last year on ‘Wildflower’

muse of sorts, and another gift to him from 2020.

“What really got it going was meeting Karen at the first of last year. It really BRIAN BERGGOETZ CAN LAY inspired me to start writing a bunch of claim to something few can: He had a songs, and I found my groove as a songgood 2020. Though the past year gave writer. All of the sudden I had all these the Tucson songwriter his fair share of great songs that were not for the rock difficulty, it also provided ample time for band we have, so I tried to do something music and the inspiration to write his completely different and go the opposite first official solo album. direction,” Berggoetz said. “It came out Berggoetz fronts the Brian Berggoetz so much better than I thought it might.”

Band, which plays a blend of rock and The record’s title and theme have two blues, but this past year resulted in a meanings, referring to the individual but series of romantic and uplifting ballads also the concept. This is exemplified on that are better suited for a solo project, the back artwork, a woman’s silhouette “Wildflower.” fading into the sunset above a field of “I’ve got to say, this past year has flowers. actually been an amazing year for me, “The wildflower is that sweet wild child outside of losing the best job I ever had that inspires a yearning for ultimate love, just after the virus hit,” Berggoetz said. but always seems to be at arm’s length,” “But after that, I found that a prostate Berggoetz said. “Like the song ‘Just A cancer I’ve had for a couple years started Dream’ is in the same vein. It reaches growing and we had to take it out. So deep inside each one of us at some point it gave me time to heal up, and I was in life. We all know people who have that writing these songs with all this time personality. It’s kind of unattainable, but I’d never had before. We got rid of the we all reach for it.” cancer all together, and it triggered me to The album’s pleasance is due in large not screw around anymore, to do what I part to guest musicians Michelle Conneeded to do.” stanza Miner on vocals and flute, and The opening title track, featuring a Shanti Foster on violin. Fellow Monterey flute layered atop acoustic strumming, Court regular Craig Green also appears sets the stage for the warm folk present on the album, co-writing the bluesy “I throughout the album. Berggoetz sings Will Go,” rife with imagery of life on the of a woman dancing in the wind as a road and self-sacrifice, plus a powerful violin adds on to the central melodies. violin passage from Foster.

Though the second track picks up where “We figured out there’d be four songs the first left off, a heavier string presence that Michelle, the vocalist and flute playand electric guitar stops the songs from er, would be on. Then the violin came in sounding one-note. behind her, because Shanti is so good at “Just A Dream” goes further, with playing around the flute,” Berggoetz said. vocal harmonies and some subtly “But as far as the lead parts on different psychedelic guitar over surreal lyrics songs, they kind of figured themselves of reaching out to touch a woman who out. One song would sound better with a continually floats away, these words lead violin, others have a lead guitar. We given buoyancy by quiet flute notes. But looked at each song by itself to see what even with this lyrical change, the song it would need and kind of figured it out maintains the soft optimism inherent to on the fly.”

“Wildflower.”

Berggoetz’s lush country style even If these sound like love songs, it’s reinvents Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” because they are. Berggoetz wrote and with steady acoustic picking in place of recorded the album for his girlfriend, a the original acid-washed guitar. The quaBy Jeff Gardner Jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com

COURTESY PHOTO

si-cover stems from Berggoetz enjoying taking the lyrics from classic rock tracks and making entirely different songs out of them. He does similar work on Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” with his band.

“Wildflower” was recorded with Duncan Stitt at A Writer’s Room studio here in Tucson. Recorded during the pandemic, Berggoetz says the musicians never even rehearsed together. Everybody came into the separate rooms of Stitt’s studio and recorded their parts when it was their turn. Berggoetz says he appreciates Stitt as an engineer due to his help guiding musicians, rather than directly changing elements of the songs.

“He’s kind of a filter, telling us what works or to try things over again,” Berggoetz said. “I remember one time, Frank [Filipo], the guitar player, was playing ‘Purple Haze,’ and he was at the solo section. He played it three or four times but couldn’t really find it. Then Duncan said to start it with the same notes that the melody does, and as soon as he did, Frank ripped out the solo in one take. It was awesome.”

Though many of the songs on “Wildflower” have a warm and grounded style, they still manage to be soothing, opting for an evening in the Sonoran Desert as opposed to the powerful midday of other dusty folk music out of Tucson. The landscape has a place in the album deeper than the front cover. According to Berggoetz, there’s a lot of allegory with the

Brian Berggoetz Monterey Court Studio Galleries & Cafe 505 W Miracle Mile 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 22 7 p.m. Friday, June 25 $5

terrain of Tucson. Although the plants are often spiky and dangerous, they contain a unique beauty. And although it’s difficult for plants to survive here, they still do, and do it amazingly.

“I couldn’t have done it without all the players and Duncan. They’re all amazing musicians,” Berggoetz said. “I was blown away by what everybody did. When Michelle started singing for the first time, I got tingly. And with Shanti’s violin playing, my heart melts as soon as she hits that first note.”

The productive streak stemming from 2020 continues. Berggoetz says he is still writing, and is already planning to record a second album in the same style of “bright songs.”

“There’s so much good in this world, and I think a lot of times it gets lost,” Berggoetz said. “I like to see the other side.” ■ Wildflower is available on Spotify, Apple Music and more. For more information, visit brianberggoetz.com

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RULED OUT

Draft of Social Equity Rules Hits Sour Note With Pot Activists

By David Abbott david@tucsonlocalmedia.com A HANDFUL OF CANNABIS activists led by Julie Gunnigle, Arizona NORML’s director for politics and civic engagement, showed up at the Capitol last week to protest proposed rules governing the distribution of 26 social equity licenses, one of the key selling points of Prop 207 that legalized marijuana in Arizona.

At issue is a perceived lack of public input for the process as the Arizona Department of Health Services crafted the rules the first time around, and a second draft released on May 19 has not resonated well

with supporters of the program.

“It’s a program that’s designed to fail,” Gunnigle said of the rules laid out by DHS. “In terms of bringing other folks in, one of the things that we’ve been so concerned about was the fact that there haven’t been any live or in-person opportunities for feedback. There haven’t been any Zoom calls and when we ask the department how these rules are going to be interpreted, it’s all about what’s on paper with no opportunity for feedback with the real stakeholders, which should be these communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.”

According to Prop 207, the social equity program must promote the ownership and operation of marijuana testing facilities and marijuana establishments by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of marijuana laws prior to legalization.

The initial rules released on May 6 allowed individuals to qualify for the social equity program if their 2019 household income was at or below 200% of the federal poverty level or if they were eligible to have their records expunged, another popular piece to Prop 207.

The revised draft reworked the definition of “communities disproportionately impacted” by the war on drugs to take geographic areas into account and allow individuals who were arrested in other states, or whose family members have been arrested for marijuana offenses, to qualify. Additionally, the revised draft requires applicants to develop, document and implement policies for giving back to disproportionately impacted communities, according to a press release from NORML dated May 21.

The proposed rules also allow licensees to immediately sell their business, which would give non-qualified businesses the opportunity to recruit qualified licensees that would be able to cash out with a license that, on paper, is worth about as much as $10 million in a multi-billion-dollar industry, according to Gunnigle.

“We’re already hearing about folks [preparing to apply] for social equity license, who have zero desire to use them to operate a dispensary, or a manufacturing or culti-

vation plant,” she said. “The rules allow for free transfer to non-social equity applicants, and NORML has voiced some concerns with this.”

While some in the industry argue that a business owner should be able to do whatever she/he wants with their license, NORML contends that is not the intent of Prop 207 and the program should be structured to avoid that eventuality.

“It’s 26 lottery tickets,” Gunnigle said.

“And when you think about it, that’s exactly what folks will be incentivized to do because the way to the rules are currently written, there’s no access to capital provided from the ADHS, so unless a social equity applicant is independently wealthy, or has that access, they’re going to have to rely on investors.”

The proposed rules have reduced the fees for social equity licenses from $25,000 to $5,000 and potential licensees do not have to have $500,000 in liquid assets or have a location secured prior to applying for the license, which makes it even easier to game the system if there is not more oversight.

While the new rules may not be ideal, at least ADHS has taken some public feedback into account.

In February 2021, a coalition of stakeholders from disproportionately impacted

JUNE 3, 2021

Weekly’s print deadline), so cannabis-watchers throughout the state will just have to wait and see. ■

NEWS NUGGETS GOV. DOUG DUCEY’S VETO OF several bills last week had mixed results for the marijuana community, with the following bills seeing an early demise: SB 1121: Imposed new requirements for the security, packaging and labeling of marijuana; SB 1408: Mandated research on the correlation between marijuana use and mental illness; HB 2303: Mandated ADHS to conduct proficiency testing of independent laboratories that test marijuana, and HB 2414: Authorized ADHS to inspect any medical marijuana dispensary during normal business hours.

While most of the bills were fairly benign and would likely not have materially affected the average pot consumer in their daily lives, SB 1408, proposed by House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R-LD25), would have continued to perpetuate the demonization of cannabis by only looking at links to mental illness in pot users.

“We are disappointed to see that these three bills were vetoed by Gov. Ducey in a tantrum over lack of movement on the budget,” Southern Arizona NORML Director Mike Robinette said. “While we did not support SB 1408, we hate to see that it was also part of this blanket veto of 22 bills. It is apparent that these four marijuana bills were not vetoed over their merit and purpose but were instead shuttled due to a disgruntled governor’s power play. Vetoing bills to make a political statement is certainly not indicative of a functioning and robust democratic process and we are saddened that four marijuana bills fell victim to this unsavory practice.”

Another bill the Weedly has been tracking is HB 2809, co-sponsored by Rep. Randall Freise (D-Tucson), that would have placed severe limits on advertising and financial support of local events, died in the Senate last week by a vote of 18-12.

The bill would have needed a threefourths majority to pass, given its relationship to Prop 207 as a citizen initiative.

The bill would have only needed eight votes to kill it, and it died a suitable death, but it was way too close for comfort for those advocating for the normalization of cannabis in the wake of decades of pot prohibition. ■

MJ

OIL

OIL

communities sent a letter to ADHS Director Cara Christ stating opposition to the first draft of the rules and outlining possible alternatives to create a more equitable program.

The group asserted that the first draft of the rules failed to appropriately define “communities disproportionately impacted” because it did not focus on geographic areas where disproportionate arrests occurred; did not create a sustainable program to reinvest in communities; forced all applicants to attend DHS-provided training, and declined to create any mechanism for evaluating the program’s success.

While some of those concerns were addressed, there are still a lot of holes in the rules that will probably not get plugged before the final program is rolled out.

Gunnigle says there are ways to make the program better, but said she is not optimistic there will be further changes in the future.

“There’s a range of things that can be done to make it better,” she said. “You could restrict [license] transfer for a number of years; you could restrict transfer to other social equity applicants; you could require the applicant to place the dispensary in communities that have been disproportionately impacted to create wealth and jobs, and you could require dispensaries getting a social equity licenses to hire those from communities that have been disproportionately impacted. There’s a range of creative solutions that make it so that these licenses would actually benefit the folks they’re supposed to benefit. And the department has not been receptive to any of that.”

Ultimately though, it’s about ADHS not following the will of the voters as they craft policy behind closed doors for a mammoth industry that will generate billions of dollars annually in the state of Arizona.

“I was one of those voters that voted for 207, knowing that there were flaws in it, but [it used] selling points such as expungement as a way to repair the harm that’s been caused by prohibition,” she said. “I just don’t see either of them going the way they’re supposed to go.”

Should this version be the final rules put in place, there could be lawsuits challenging AZDHS’s interpretation of Prop 207 or there could be a request to change the rules through the Administrative Procedures Act, but Gunnigle doubts the courts would be amenable to such actions.

“Honestly, this was the chance to get it right,” she said.

The final rendition of the rules may come out as early as Tuesday, June 1 (after the

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

By Rob Brezsny. Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY HOROSCOPE 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 $1.99 per minute. 18 and over. Touchtone phone required.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “There is ecstasy in paying attention,” writes Aries author Anne Lamott.

That’s always true for everyone, but it’s extra true for you Aries people. And it will be extra ultra especially true for you during the next 20 days. I hope you will dedicate yourself to celebrating and upgrading your perceptual abilities. I hope you will resolve to see and register everything just as it is in the present moment, fresh and unprecedented, not as it was in the past or will be in the future. For best results, banish all preconceptions that might interfere with your ability to notice what’s raw and real. If you practice these high arts with exhilarating diligence, you will be rewarded with influxes of ecstasy.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your guiding wisdom comes from Taurus author Annie Dillard. She writes, “I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you.” I suspect that Dillard’s approach will enable you to maintain a righteous rhythm and make all the right moves during the coming weeks.

If you agree with me, your crucial first step will be to identify the nature of your “one necessity.” Not two necessities. Just the single most important.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “All I want to be is normally insane,” said actor Marlon Brando. Yikes! I have a different perspective. I would never want to be normally insane because that state often tends to be sullen and desperate and miserable.

My preferred goal is to be quite abnormally insane: exuberantly, robustly, creatively free of the toxic adjustments that our society tells us are necessary.

I want to be cheerfully insane in the sense of not being tyrannized by conventional wisdom. I want to be proactively insane in the sense of obeying my souls’ impulses rather than conforming to people’s expectations. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because I believe the coming weeks will

be a fruitful time for you to be my kind of insane.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “It’s one thing to make a mistake, it’s another to become wedded to it,” advised author Irena Karafilly. Let’s make that one of your key truths in the coming weeks. Now is a good time to offer yourself forgiveness and to move on from any wrong turns you’ve made.

Here’s a second key truth, courtesy of composer Igor Stravinsky: “I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.” Third key truth, from Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan: “Don’t be concerned about being disloyal to your pain by being joyous.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the number of perfect moments you will experience during the next two weeks could break all your previous records. And what do I mean by “perfect moments”? 1. Times when life brings you interesting events or feelings or thoughts that are novel and unique. 2. Pivotal points when you sense yourself undergoing a fundamental shift in attitude or a new way of understanding the world. 3. Leaping out of your own mind and into the mind of an animal or other person so as to have a pure vision of what their experience is like. 4. An absolute appreciation for yourself just the way you are right now.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “There is strong shadow where there is much light,” wrote Virgo author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). That’s a good metaphor for you these days. Since I suspect you are currently shining as brightly as you possibly can, I will urge you to become acutely aware of the shadows you cast. In other words, try to catch glimpses of the unripe and unformed parts of your nature, which may be more easily seen than usual.

Now, while you’re relatively strong and vibrant,

SAVAGE LOVE QUICKIES

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net I had a stroke a year ago. The woman I was dating at the time stepped away.

I have no hard feelings but I long for intimacy again. I am profoundly grateful that I don’t have any major outward injuries from the stroke, but my stamina is still very low and might always be. That makes me self-conscious and insecure about sex. Would it be “over-sharing” if I told someone about my stroke before we go to bed for the first time? It seems like it will kill the mood and almost certainly make things less fun. Am I obligated to

share this information?

—Outwardly OK Privately Struggling

You’re not obligated to share this kind of health information before going to bed with someone for the first time, OOPS, but you might wanna share it.

At the root of your worries about poststroke stamina is a fear of falling short of a new partner’s expectations—expectations shaped by assumptions a new partner might about your stamina based on your overall appearance of good

investigate what aspects of your inner world might need improvement, care, and healing.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to physicists, it’s impossible for a human being to suck water up through a straw that’s more than 34 feet long.

So please don’t even try to do that, either now or ever. If, however, you have a good reason to attempt to suck water up a 33-foot straw, now would be an excellent time to do so. Your physical strength should be at a peak, as is your capacity for succeeding at amazing, herculean tasks. How else might you direct your splendid abilities? What other ambitious feats could you pull off?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Ezra Pound had character flaws that bother me. But he also had a quality I admire: generosity in helping his friends and colleagues. Among the writers whose work he championed and promoted with gusto were 20th-century literary icons James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, Hilda Doolittle, William Butler Yeats, Ernest Hemingway, William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost. Pound edited their work, arranged to get them published in periodicals and anthologies, connected them with patrons and editors, and even gave them money and clothes. In accordance with astrological omens, I encourage you to be like Ezra Pound in the coming weeks.

Make an extra effort to support and boost your allies. Assist them in doing what they do well. To do so will be in your own best interest!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Poet Tess Gallagher praises those times “when desire has strengthened our bodies.” I want you to have an abundance of those moments during the coming weeks. And I expect that cultivating them will be an excellent healing strategy. So here’s my advice: Do whatever’s necessary to summon and celebrate the strong longings that will strengthen your body. Tease them into bountiful presence. Treasure them and pay reverence to them and wield them with gleeful passion.

health. Resetting your partner’s expectations will take the pressure off—indeed, if you tell a new partner you recently had a stroke, OOPS, you’ll most likely exceed her (reset) expectations. And that could give your sexual self-confidence a welcome boost.

I’m a recently separated 42-year-old straight male. I’m internet dating for the first time, and I met an awesome girl who makes me laugh, makes me playlists on Spotify, and is just generally amazing.

Of course there’s a glitch: I’m not attracted to her. I tried but I think the romantic relationship needs to end. She has mentioned several times in the last couple of months that I treat her better than anybody she’s ever dated. (That blows my mind—appar-

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else,” observed poet Emil Dickinson. That’s the truth! Given how demanding it is to adjust to the nonstop challenges, distractions, and opportunities of the daily rhythm, I’m impressed that any of us ever get any work done. According to my astrological analysis, you Capricorns are now experiencing a big outbreak of this phenomenon. It’s probably even harder than usual to get work done, simply because life keeps bringing you interesting surprises that require your ingenuity and resourcefulness. The good news is that these surges of ingenuity and resourcefulness will serve you very well when the hubbub settles down a bit and you get back to doing more work.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarius-born August Strindberg (1849–1912) was a masterful and influential playwright. He also liked to dabble in painting and photography. His approach in those two fields was different from the polish he cultivated in his writing. “I am an amateur and I intend to stay that way,” he testified about his approach in the visual arts. “I reject all forms of professional cleverness or virtuosity.” Just for now, Aquarius, I recommend you experiment with the latter attitude in your own field. Your skill and earnestness will benefit from doses of playful innocence, even calculated naiveté.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Which of the astrological signs feels the deepest feelings? I say it’s you Pisceans. You’re connoisseurs of deep feelings, as well as specialists in mysterious, multi-splendored, brushes-with-infinity feelings. And right now, you’re in the Deepest Feelings Phase of your personal cycle. I won’t be surprised if you feel a bit overwhelmed with the richness of it all. But that’s mostly a good thing that you should be grateful for—a privilege and a superpower! Now here’s advice from deep-feeling author Pearl Buck: “You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.” ■ Homework. Testify about how you redeemed the dark side. Newsletter@freewillastrology.com

ently cooking dinner, occasional flowers, and returning texts puts me head and shoulders above everyone else?) My question: How do you break that kind of news to someone without looking like an asshole?

—Anxiously Hesitating Over Looming End Speaking of expectations…

You’re a newly separated man and you’ve only been seeing this woman for a couple of months. If her expectations were reasonable and she kept them in check, AHOLE, then she knows the odds were stacked against something long-term.

She’ll still be sad about the relationship ending and she might think you’re an asshole for ending it—she might actually need to think you’re an asshole to cauterize the emotional

JUNE 3, 2021

wound (so don’t argue with her if she calls you an asshole)—but if you didn’t make any premature declarations of undying love, AHOLE, then she’s unlikely to think you’re an asshole forever. And looking on the bright side: she may be less likely to put up with guys who don’t cook, don’t come through with flowers, and don’t respond to her texts in a reasonable amount of time after being with you.

My friend’s grandmother was walking through a park when she was accosted by a man asking for sex. (Yes, my friend’s grandmother.) The man wasn’t violent. It was more of a plea for physical affection but definitely one that was made in a rapey way. He had something in his hand but it wasn’t a weapon: it was a negative COVID-19 test. He showed it to her as if to say, “It’s OK! I’m not a real threat!” Is this what we’ve come to as a society? Is the isolation people have suffered over the last year going to result in the rate of sexual assault going up?

—Pandemic’s Awful Reality Keeps Scaring The combination of our politics and this pandemic seems to have broken some people, PARKS, and brought out the barely suppressed absolute worst in others. I fear things are going to get a lot shittier before they get any better—in our parks, in our politics, and just generally on our planet. Here’s hoping humanity manages to exceed my expectations.

I’m dating someone 13 years younger than me. He’s a monogamous man and I am not a monogamous woman.

We’ve been monogamous due to the pandemic but with the explicit understanding that we won’t work out in the long term due to our different opinions on monogamy. I will be vaccinated soon but I don’t want to break up with him after I get the hots for someone else. That seems like a dick move. My lizard brain tells me that if he would explore non-monogamy he’d come to the conclusion that it’s a good approach. Should I put on my big girl pants and break it off?

—Rip Off The Bandage Albeit Nicely You don’t have to end it after finding someone else you wanna fuck—or before—but you will need to give this guy a heads up before you fuck someone else. And who knows? He may be willing to give non-monogamy a try once the pandemic ends (perhaps one-sided non-monogamy, e.g. you’re free to sleep with other people and he’s free to remain monogamous to you), ROTBAN, just as you were willing to give monogamy a try while the pandemic raged. He’s significantly younger but I assume he’s an adult (he is an adult, right?) and, as an adult, he’s free to make his own choices. Your only obligation is to ensure he has all the information he needs to make a fully informed choice.

Bi-girl, early thirties, in an open relationship with a man. A question of ethics. Say I’m on the apps looking to hook-up with women. I’m upfront that I’m in an open relationship and looking for casual fun. I have no intention of trying to leverage these dates into threesomes

with me and my boyfriend. But it turns my boyfriend on to hear about fun I have with other people. Would it be wrong to let my boyfriend come sit, anonymously, in a bar where I’m meeting a date? I’ll ignore him, he won’t stare or approach me and my date, he’ll just get a thrill out of being there. On the one hand, I assume most women wouldn’t be into this scenario. So that’s a reason not to do it. But on the other hand, they wouldn’t know. I realize this depends on actually executing the plan with discretion but that seems doable. Thoughts?

—Seeking Perspectives In Ethical Dating This passes my Permissible Secret Perving test (which I unpack at length in an upcoming book)—it passes PSP test so long as the other woman doesn’t know your boyfriend is there and never finds out your boyfriend was there—but it fails the Golden Rule test. Meaning, this probably isn’t something you would want others doing unto you and therefore isn’t something you should do unto others. So Jesus thinks you shouldn’t do this, SPIED, and I think… well, I don’t think you should. That’s too strong a word. But I definitely think you could.

Do you know what’s in commercial sex lubes? Chemicals. And chemicals are bad and unnatural. Seriously.

Comics

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I prefer olive oil or something else from the kitchen. But whenever I use cooking oils, I find that a tiny layer of dead cells sloughs off my cock. That isn’t a problem, but the cells seem to gather together and it feels like grains of sand. I’m assuming certain oils loosen dead skin cells and it causes this. Are there some oils that don’t do that?

—Stroking Not Sanding We use commercial a sex lube at our place, SNS, and our cocks aren’t shedding dead skin cells at noticeable/ clumpable rates or making our asses feel like they’re packed with sand. And we do know what’s in our lube: our preferred brand, Spunk, is made from avocado and coconuts oils and these ingredients, according to Spunk’s website, “are organic and chemical-free.” Now if you Google, say, “chemical composition of avocado oil,” you learn that it, like everything else—including your precious olive oil—is composed of various chemicals. Natural, not man-made, but chemicals still. That said, SNS, if the oils you’re using as lube are causing your dick to disintegrate then you might wanna give Spunk a chance. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. savagelovecast.com

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JUNE 3, 2021

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O B S C E N E

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1 Response to a knock at the door, perhaps 5 Vancouver Canucks’ mascot Fin, for one 9 Pet peeves?

14 Chuck 15 Totally improvise 16 Deplete 17 First line of a three-line poem 20 What Yellowstone’s Old Faithful does about 17 times a day 21 Deal (with) 22 Erector Set piece 23 “Heart of Darkness” character who cries “The horror! The horror!”

24 In 2020, they outsold CDs for the first time since 1986 25 Globe 26 1st to 228th, in Manhattan: Abbr.

27 ___ Solis, Obama-era secretary of labor 30 With 36- and 43-Across, second line of the poem 31 Pepper between jalapeño and cayenne on the Scoville heat scale 34 John ___, husband of Pocahontas 36 See 30-Across 38 Less forward 40 Sticky stuff that drips down the side of a cone?

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British version of “The Office” 46 Apple or orange seed 48 ___ Victory, world’s oldest naval ship still in commission 49 ___ Paulo 50 Less naïve 52 Suggestion, colloquially 53 Sacha Baron Cohen character 55 Wet weather wear 56 Final line of the poem 59 Year-end reward 60 Real first name of singer Lorde 61 Writer ___ Stanley Gardner 62 “Yesssss!”

63 “Nooooo!”

64 Harmonica piece

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1 Removes quickly, with “away” 2 Yields 3 “… not to mention everything else that could go wrong!”

4 Scoff at 5 Real head-turners 6 Free from, with “of” 7 “Fast Money” channel 8 Like hallowed traditions 9 Certain ways to work 10 Wood in Louisville Sluggers 11 Remove quickly, as a Band-Aid

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earning TikTok personality 35 Mined matter 37 The 1, in 1-0 38 “Be reasonable, will you!”

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over-the-top display of wealth 41 Fig. on a college application 42 Big stupid mouth 43 Beats 45 Shook up 47 Extended the duration of 49 Speak, as thou might 50 Hardship 51 Bury 54 Big do 55 Strategy 57 Not just accept a wrong, say 58 Racial justice movement since 2013, for short

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