Tucson Weekly, April 22, 2021

SKINNY: DUCEY SUCCEEDS IN SQUASHING VAX CLINICS FOR HISPANIC NEIGHBORHOODS IN PIMA COUNTY

APRIL 22 - 28 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Earth Day Special Edition Hot Enough for Ya?

Temperatures are Rising in the Desert Southwest—and the Drought Drags On

By Jeff Gardner

Wildfire Danger Continues to Rise

By Madison Beal

ARTS: Etherton Gallery’s Big Move

CHOW: A Toast to Whiskey del Bac

TUCSON WEEDLY: Grow Your Own!

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APRIL 22, 2021

APRIL 22, 2021

APRIL 22, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 16

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The Tucson Weekly is available free of charge in Pima County, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue of the Tucson Weekly may be purchased for $1, payable at the Tucson Weekly office in advance. To find out where you can pick up a free copy of the Tucson Weekly, please visit TucsonWeekly.com

STAFF

CONTENTS CURRENTS

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Gov. Ducey blocks vaccine passports, lifts statewide mandate for masks in schools

SKINNY

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Out of political spite, Gov. Ducey blocked an opportunity to get vaccines to low-income and minority neighborhoods

FEATURE

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Sonoran plants are adapting to increased heat and drought—but only by so much

ARTS & CULTURE

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Planet in Peril

ADMINISTRATION Jason Joseph, President/Publisher jjoseph@azlocalmedia.com

EDITOR’S NOTE

Jaime Hood, General Manager, Ext. 12 jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com Casey Anderson, Ad Director/ Associate Publisher, Ext. 22 casey@tucsonlocalmedia.com Claudine Sowards, Accounting, Ext. 13 claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com

IN HONOR OF EARTH DAY, THIS WEEK we bring you two stories focusing on how climate change is transforming our little corner of the world. Associate editor Jeff Gardner looks at how drought and rising temperatures are affecting our cacti and other flora, while UA intern Madison Beal looks at how fire danger is increasing in these parts, often driven by invasive grasses like the cursed buffelgrass.

These local problems are just the tip of the (rapidly melting) icebergs that lie ahead for everyone on the planet. This last year has given us a preview of what happens when natural forces spiral beyond our control. There’s no vaccine that allows us to lower sea levels when the oceans overrun our coastal cities or reduce temperatures when it’s too miserable to think about going outside. And the deniers won’t be able to take to social media to claim the floods and the heat are a hoax (though they will undoubtedly try). If we don’t start working to reverse greenhouse gases and take better care of this pale blue dot in space, we are bequeathing a terrible future for our children and their children.

On a happier note: I’m delighted to welcome calendar editor Emily Dieckman back to our pages with a big list of pandemic-safe activities. We still have a COVID problem— cases have leveled off but they are no longer

in decline—but about 36% of Pima County residents have been vaccinated and we here at Tucson Weekly want people to have some fun. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions when you go out. Please follow mask mandates and all that jazz.

Elsewhere in the book this week: Staff reporter Christina Duran fills you in on Gov. Ducey’s continuing efforts to undermine efforts to slow the spread of COVID, as well as sharing the latest on TUSD’s long-running desegregation lawsuit; The Skinny examines how Ducey put enough petty roadblocks in the path of a FEMA vax clinic here that local officials have thrown in the towel in launching one; managing editor Austin Counts toasts a new distribution deal for our local Whiskey del Bac; arts writer Margaret Regan looks at the last show in Etherton Gallery’s current home and tours their new space in Barrio Viejo; and Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott looks at a course that teaches you how to grow your own weed. Plus, we’ve got patio of the week, Dan Savage’s sex column, Tucson’s best horoscope, puzzles, cartoons and plenty more to keep you busy with our newspaper.

See you next week!

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

Etherton shows off decades of photos in two new shows

Jim Nintzel Executive Editor

Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, Ext. 10 sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, Ext. 38 jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Austin Counts, Managing Editor, Ext. 36 austin@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 christina@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 13 Street Media 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.

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TUCSON WEEDLY

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Local grower supplier teams up with cannabis consultants for a learning experience

Cover design by Ryan Dyson

Copyright: The entire contents of Tucson Weekly are Copyright © 2019 by Thirteenth Street Media.

No portion may be reproduced in whole or part by any means without the express written permission of the Publisher, Tucson Weekly, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125, Tucson, AZ 85741.

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While TUSD desegregation began in 1951, the district faced class-action lawsuits on behalf of African-American and Latino students starting in 1974 after the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare found TUSD schools were providing unequal education to students Federal judge recommends releasing TUSD from court oversight on long-running desegregation case of color.

In the initial 1974 case, Maria Mendoza that today’s ruling represents the closure filed the class action on behalf of her

By Christina Duran of one of the most painful, complex and christina@tucsonlocalmedia.com son, who at the time was in junior high difficult chapters in the 154-year history school, under the claim that the district of our beloved ‘District one.’” was “intentionally and knowingly” disIn his ruling, Senior U.S. District Judge criminating against students due to race AFTER ALMOST HALF A CENTURY, David C. Bury rejected the plaintiffs’ arand ethnicity. a U.S. District Court judge recommended gument that TUSD could not attain uniAfter a court ruling in 1978, TUSD was granting full unitary status for Tucson tary status until it attains “predetermined ordered to follow a plan for desegregaUnified School District, district officials measures of effectiveness” like increastion and have since petitioned for unitary announced Monday, April 19. ing faculty diversity by 15% or narrowing status. After filing a petition in January As a requirement, the district must the student achievement gap between 2005, the court granted TUSD unitary complete a post-unitary status plan over- white and African-American and Latistatus. However, the 9th Circuit Court of seen by Special Master Dr. Willis Hawley no students. He stated that the district Appeals reversed the decision in 2011, to maintain their status, according to could improve equity between races and after which the court ordered Special TUSD Governing Board President Leila disagreed that the court needed to retain Master to develop Unitary Status Plan.

Counts. The ruling would mean a full jurisdiction until the goals are met.

In 2018 the U.S. District Court granted release from court supervision.

“As of now, all USP programs have TUSD “partial unitary status,” but the The district “remains committed to the been designed to meet best practices latest legal action was brought before principles and practices of the Unitary standards and to be the most effective the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by the Status Plan that have established our dis- programs for each USP provision based plaintiffs last July. trict as a national leader in culturally re- on research,” Bury wrote. “There has been In order to gain unitary status, TUSD sponsive and relevant instruction, equity full implementation of USP strategies, implemented a property tax levy for and opportunity for all students,” TUSD and the District is being operated, accord- desegregation, capped at $63 million Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo said ingly, under the USP, now and into the in a news release. future. These operations over six years “We look forward to memorializing this from 2013 through now have eliminated commitment in our Post Unitary Status vestiges of segregation to the extent pracPlan,” Trujillo said. “It is our sincere hope ticable over this period of time.”

CURRENTS

DESEG DECREE

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

annually to fund student services like dual-language and gifted programs.

The levy tax may continue as it would provide the necessary funds needed to implement programs that “eliminate the vestiges of a dual system,” said TUSD Governing Board member Adelita Grijalva.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) plaintiffs in the case who opposed the granting of unitary status in court on behalf of the class of Latino students is currently reviewing the judge’s decision, but states they “continue to believe that TUSD should remain under court supervision.”

Grijalva hopes that the district can work with MALDEF and plaintiffs on the case who continue to have concerns. She believes the court’s decision would allow the governing board more flexibility to make “decisions that we think are best is best for our community, and not having to wait to go through the courts’ oversight process and approval process is going to mean that our community gets results a lot faster.”

“I’m hoping that we can continue to work with the community to ensure that all of our students and our students of color have access to all of the great programs and education,” Grijalva said. ■

APRIL 22, 2021

CURRENTS

BETTING ON THE SPREAD Gov. Ducey blocks vaccine passports, lifts statewide mandate for masks in schools

By Christina Duran christina@tucsonlocalmedia.com GOV. DOUG DUCEY THIS WEEK banned state and local governments and some businesses from requiring vaccination status.

“The residents of our state should not be required by the government to share their private medical information,” Ducey said in an April 19 announcement. “While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state—and it never will be. Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government.”

Ducey’s new executive order would prohibit state or local governments from requiring individuals to release their vaccination status in order to enter any building or receive a service, permit, license or work authorization.

Businesses receiving public funds from the state and under a state contract cannot require documentation to provide a service.

However, the order does not limit health institutions, state or local health departments, or even child care centers, schools or universities from requiring vaccination status. Long-term care, health care institutions and other entities that collect vaccination documents can still do so under the current state law. It also does not limit an individual from requesting the release of their own

vaccination records.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said the order “represents more divisive, political grandstanding from Governor Ducey against Arizona cities and is purely symbolic in nature. The City of Tucson did not have any plans to implement any of the actions that the executive order purports to pre-empt. Had the governor asked, we would have happily shared this information with him.”

The University of Arizona has not yet mandated vaccination passports or required students to provide documentation in order to attend, but President Robert C. Robbins continued to advocate for vaccine passports on campus before and after learning of the order during the Monday briefing.

“My hope is that at the universities and public schools will be able to not only trust that people have been vaccinated but verify,” said Robbins.

DUCEY ENDS MASK ORDER IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS CITING GUIDANCE FROM THE CDC, Ducey and Arizona Health Director Cara Christ this week rescinded an executive order that required face masks in public schools, although he said K-12 traditional and charter schools could decide on their own to continue requiring the masks.

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vaccinated against COVID-19, with many teachers and school faculty now fully vaccinated after being some of the first in line for vaccine prioritization,” said Ducey. “Teachers, families and students have acted responsibly to mitigate the spread of the virus and protect one another, and our school leaders are ready to decide if masks should be required on their campuses. We will continue to work with public health professionals and Arizona’s schools as more students return to the classroom and our state moves forward.”

Tucson Unified School District and Amphi School District officials said they would not be lifting the mask mandate in its schools.

Ducey’s decision brought a sharp retort from Arizona Public Health Association Executive Director Will Humble, who served as Arizona health director in the Brewer administration.

Humble said Ducey and Christ were being dishonest about CDC guidelines.

“That statement is a lie and they know it,” Humble wrote. “CDC’s guidance and recommendations for schools makes it clear that they urge schools to use “universal and correct usage of masks” in the K-12 school setting.”

Humble called Ducey and Christ “a piece of work. They couldn’t even wait for the remainder of the school year to finish with the existing mask policies in place.

Instead, they rescinded with only 23 more days of school left in most districts.

They have really made some tremendously bad policy decisions over the last year. Now we can add another one to the list.”

Humble said it was “shameful” that Ducey and Christ kept Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman in the dark over the plan to rescind mask mandates.

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COURTESY PHOTO

“While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state—and it never will be.

Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government,” Ducey said.

Hoffman also blasted the decision.

“Today’s abrupt removal of the mask mandate in schools is just one example in a long time of decisions that have resulted in Arizona’s embarrassing response to a virus that has claimed over 17,000 lives and impacted thousands more,” Hoffman said in a prepared statement. “ Hoffman pointed out that children under 16 are not eligible for the vaccine and the masking requirements have helped schools reopen in recent months.

“While vaccines hold the promise of a return to normalcy, letting up on mitigation strategies now just increases risk of transmission at a time when we should be doing everything possible to keep students and their families safe,” Hoffman said. “Today’s announcement destabilizes school communities as they end what has arguably been the most challenging year for education. I encourage school leaders and board members to work with their communities to make transparent, evidence-based decision that build trust in the safety of our schools.” ■

THE SKINNY

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MISSED SHOT Out of political spite, Gov. Ducey blocked an opportunity to get vaccines to low-income and minority neighborhoods Jim Nintzel jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com

IT’S BEEN MORE THAN A MONTH since FEMA first approached Pima County about opening a clinic to vaccinate people in minority and low-income neighborhoods.

The vax clinic could have been up and running already, but Arizona Health Director Cara “Let Them Eat COVID” Christ and Doug “Drop Dead” Ducey first refused to allow it, leading the media to hammer the governor for his willingness to stand by and let people die in Pima County.

Since saying he’d reconsider it, Ducey dragged his heels and finally offered up a contract that neither Pima County nor FEMA was willing to sign because it was full of poison pills.

Pima County officials had argued that the agreement would bring more vaccine to Arizona and be set up in low-income and minority neighborhoods, reaching a segment of the population that has not fared well in Ducey’s “Hunger Games” vax strategy.

But those upsides meant nothing to Ducey, who argued that all the vaccine should flow through him because the peasants in Pima County don’t matter to the King of the North. Plus, Christ argued that that it was just too complicated to set up a vax clinic, despite the fact that Pima County has been running several large outdoor sites along with mobile clinics.

So Ducey shot-blocked Pima County’s potential clinics—and at this point,

the state has so much vaccine that hundreds of appointments are going unfilled on a regular basis at Ducey’s big UA POD. In fact, Christ said last week that interest in the max-vax sites like the UA or the stadiums in Phoenix is falling and state health officials now think they need smaller clinics in distressed neighborhoods—which is exactly what Christ and Ducey kept from happening here weeks ago. Well done, governor!

Ducey used to brag about how he would make government move at the speed of business. In this case, with lives on the line, he made government move at the speed of a desert tortoise who is indifferent to how many lizards get sick and die.

At this point, Pima County officials are giving up on opening the FEMA clinic because vaccine is no longer scarce. Instead, they are hoping for FEMA’s help with staffing clinics around town.

Christ and Ducey can stick their contracts where the sun doesn’t shine.

LOCAL WIN

AZ Supreme Court: State lawmakers are not the boss of Tucson elections THE ARIZONA SUPREME COURT said last week that state lawmakers overreached when they passed a law requiring Tucson elections to move to presidential and midterm election years if not enough voters turned out to cast ballots.

In a 5-1 decision with Justice Clint Bolick dissenting, the court held that the timing of elections in a charter city

such as Tucson was not a matter of statewide concerns, no matter the level of participation.

“Whether to align municipal elections with state and national elections or hold them in different years is purely a matter of municipal interest and not a statewide concern,” Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer wrote for the majority. “Consequently, we hold that (the statute) cannot apply to require a city to consolidate local elections with state and national elections if its charter provides otherwise.”

The 2018 law would have triggered a change in the schedule if turnout in a city election fell by 25% or more from the previous year’s gubernatorial election. The Tucson City Council asked voters to amend the charter in 2018, but the proposition was rejected and the City Council does not have the power to override charter provisions without voter approval.

Attorney general Mark Brnovich then petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to resolve the issue.

As a result of the ruling, this year’s city election will continue as scheduled,

SORENSEN

with elections in Wards 3, 5 and 6.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero cheered the decision.

“I am pleased that the Arizona Supreme Court agreed with the City of Tucson that our local elections are a matter of local concern,” Romero said.

“Phoenix state legislators have once again failed to override the will of Tucsonans in disrupting our local elections.

Tucsonans have repeatedly affirmed that our local elections belong on odd years, which allows for city-focused campaigns and robust public discourse on local issues that would otherwise be overshadowed by federal and state elections on even years. I hope that this ruling finally puts the issue to rest, and that our State Legislators can return their focus to the pressing issues facing Arizonans instead of meddling with our local elections.”

State lawmakers already forced smaller towns without protected charter rights to move their elections in sync with the presidential and midterm elections as of 2014. But the Arizona Supreme ruled that law did not apply to Tucson for similar reasons. ■

APRIL 22, 2021

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Deserting the Desert COURTESY PHOTO

Sonoran plants are adapting to climate change — but only by so much frigid winter storm that turned out to be the state’s costliest natural disaster on record. And between the two, the Sonoran Desert is grappling with its JULY 2020 BURNED INTO THE own climate struggles. record books as the hottest month in Of course, the scrubby, spiney plants Tucson history. At least, that was the case until August 2020 had the mercury surrounding us are nothing if not rise even higher. Both months highlight resilient. Cacti can go multiple years without water—but even the desert has a rise in temperatures and drought conditions that is particularly affecting its breaking point. When examining temperature and water scarcity in the the American Southwest. Though the Southwest, the Environmental Protechottest single day remains June 26, tion Agency noted that although the 1990, last summer’s average temperaearly 1900s and the 1950s experienced ture was solidified as Tucson’s hottest ever—and contributed to 2020 ranking their own considerable drought, the last as the driest year in more than a centu- decade has seen the most persistent and severe droughts on record. ry of weather records.

“The biggest long-term threat is On April 12, Scientific American published an article putting it bluntly: “We available water,” said Steve Smith, an are living in a ‘climate emergency,’ and associate professor in the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources we’re going to say so. It’s time to use a and the Environment. Smith has reterm that more than 13,000 scientists agree is needed.” Last year saw Califor- searched plant science, climate adaptation and sustainability for more than nia’s largest wildfire season ever. And four decades, specifically on how plants in February, Texas fought through a

By Jeff Gardner jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com

native to the Sonoran Desert respond to water and high-temperature stress.

“When I think long-term, I mean greater than 15 years from now. And I think we’re already seeing some mechanical and societal impacts of reduced water.”

When Smith discusses water scarcity, he includes both imported water and local rainfall. Some good news about local water: Thanks to environmentally friendly water steps, Tucson is using less water per capita now than in decades past. Despite an increase in population, water demand for the Tucson area has also lowered: 133,000 acre-feet of water in 2000, versus 110,000 in 2017.

An acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land about the size of a football field one foot deep.

In addition, in a water plan update, Tucson Water forecasted an increase in their reclaimed water from 12,500 acrefeet per year in 2010 to almost 15,000 acre-feet per year by 2030.

“We’ve done some really great things with our water use. But when I think of water concerns for the Tucson Metropolitan Area, municipal water is going to be a big issue for the next few years,” Smith said. “It’s coming from the Colorado River, and we’ve been smart and banked so much in our aquifer, but that river that so many people are depending on is the limiting factor. That’s going to require region-wide changes.”

THESE REGION-WIDE CHANGES are projected to further impact the agriculture sector. In early 2019, the Arizona legislature passed a Drought Contingency Plan aimed at conserving the water level of Lake Mead (a reservoir of the Colorado River). The water level of Lake Mead has dropped nearly 150 feet since the beginning of the current 20-year drought, exposing white streaks of previously submerged rock along the lakeshore.

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sampling, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide has never been above CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 300 parts per million for the last one million years. But since 1950, it has The DCP includes three tiers of waskyrocketed from around 300 to more ter scarcity as indicated by the declin- than 400 parts per million. ing surface of Lake Mead, each lower Though a 2-degree average increase tier indicating stricter water cuts. may not seem like a lot, by comparison, The cuts to agricultural water are in the the last ice age was only 5 to 9 degrees higher tiers, bearing the brunt before colder on average than today. And the municipalities must cut back.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate However, the plan also distributes Change forecasts a temperature subsidies to places like Pinal Counincrease in the next century anywhere ty (one of Arizona’s top agricultural from 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. areas), with UA professor of Law and “A big question is ‘Is Tucson or PhoePublic Policy Robert Glennon explain- nix going to be livable, regardless of ing it as farmers “being paid to not use water availability, because of summer water.” heat in 20 years?’” Smith said. “We’re “When I came here in 1984, my job not that far away from having summer was to work on alfalfa. And after about weather that’s like Saudi Arabia, where 15 years, I realized I couldn’t keep you basically can’t function outside doing it. It didn’t make sense in this from May to September.” state,” Smith said. “Agriculture in AriSmith anticipates the Sonoran Deszona and Southern California will rad- ert will see less short-lived plants like ically change in the next decade and a wildflowers in the future. However, he half. It’s changed quite a bit in the last does not foresee die-offs of hallmark 15 years, but will change a whole lot plants like cacti or palo verde within more in the next 15 years. Less water the decade. will be used, and probably less agricul“Warmth for the most part isn’t a ture will be done in general.” limiting factor here, it’s moisture,” said Smith estimates in that same 15-year Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA period, water will be appropriately val- National Phenology Network (phenolued for “what it’s actually worth” in the ogy being the study of seasonal events American Southwest, and more so than in plants and animals). “So our plants subsidies from the federal government have a lot of adaptations that make can account for. them well-suited for harsh conditions like high heat. By and large, our vegetaBUT WATER SCARCITY IS ONLY ONE tion has adapted to tolerate those kinds element of climate change: Earth’s av- of conditions. But there’s an underlyerage temperature has increased about ing trend where we’re experiencing 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900, due in increasingly warm temperatures and large part to greenhouse gas emissions. even greater variability of moisture.”

NASA indicated that based on ice core Crimmins explains that plants have

DESERTING THE DESERT

two primary responses to unfavorable conditions: changing the timing of their life cycles, and shifting the locations of their species.

Life cycle change has been documented in Sonoran plants by Dave Bertelsen, a naturalist who has consistently hiked the strenuous Finger Rock Trail up through the Catalina Mountain canyons for decades. In his hikes, Bertelsen logs which plants are blooming, and their responses to recent weather.

In an interview with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bertelsen explained that although the canyon accounts for only 1% of the area of the Catalina Mountains, it hosts more than 40% of the plant diversity found in the entire mountain range.

He has hiked more than 10,000 miles altogether along the Finger Rock trail, and made some crucial discoveries along his way.

“Every time he’s made that hike, he’s kept track of every single species he’s seen in-flower. And his unbelievably rich record has allowed scientists to explore how things have changed,” Crimmins said. “What’s been documented pretty clearly is that species are advancing their flowering times.

However, the responses aren’t consistent across the elevation gradient. And that’s resulting in a different temporal window for when flowers are available for the pollinators that depend on them.”

Bertelsen has also observed plants blooming earlier at low elevations and delaying their blooms at higher elevations over time. These changes can result in less food for pollinators like Enjoy Evenings on the Patio!

butterflies and birds, who may not be able to keep in line with the changing patterns. And as a result, less food for pollinators means less pollination for the plants.

Crimmins herself participated in a study examining plant species’ movement along local mountains in response to changing climate. Over time she observed how a quarter of the plant species evaluated either expanded their range by moving uphill, or contracted their range uphill.

“It makes a lot of sense. Plants are adapted to a specific range of conditions beyond which they really can’t tolerate. So if it’s getting hotter and drier, uphill is the better place to be,” Crimmins said.

Those familiar with the half-hour drive up Mount Lemmon know the continual passage through biomes in elevation: desert to scrubland to oaks to conifers. With increased heat and drought, and migrating plant species, the desert could gradually creep up the slopes up the Catalinas in search of more hospitable terrain.

“We’re not going to see saguaros in Summerhaven any time soon; it’s not like entire communities are shifting up slope. It’s more that there are certain plants more able to make that shift than others,” Crimmins said. “So we’re likely to see a blending among communities of plants that weren’t historically together. And that can change the structure of the community, with competitive dynamics among plants that could lead to certain plants becoming dominant that weren’t in the past.”

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APRIL 22, 2021

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SUMMER INVADERS

Increased fire risk threatens all inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert from NAU and Conservation Science Partners, a nonprofit research organization that seeks to develop solutions to large-scale environmental problems, mapped social and ecological resilTHE SONORAN DESERT IS NOT ience across the Sonoran Desert sepwhat it used to be. Over the past arately and later combined the maps century, invasive grasses have spread across the region and transformed the to determine overall resilience—the ability of an area to return to its normal landscape from the familiar diverse desert to more of an arid grassland that state after a disturbance.

The researchers mapped ecological is highly susceptible to fires. resilience by determining the severity Invasive grasses — from buffelgrass of the fi re risk in the area, how quickto red brome to love grass — have ly an area can bounce back without dramatically altered how fire can move through the desert. Places that used to human interference after a fire, and burn once every 200 years may now be what that area will look like when life blooms again. If enough change occurs burning every 20 years because these grasses serve as a fuel source than can within an area after a fire, the system can reach a “tipping point” and traneasily spread wildfires. They sprout sition into a new state—like when a up in places that would normally be barren, connecting otherwise separate desert transitions into a grassland after a high intensity fire results in the death patches of desert plants. of native plants.

“You could make a case for saying To map social resilience across the the Sonoran Desert, as most people landscape, the researchers interviewed knew it, is extinct,” said Mary Lata, a different land managers about how U.S. Forest Service fire ecologist. “We likely they feel they can continue to just can’t keep pretending to manage meet their management objectives in the desert as if it’s the same system light of the projected fire risk in their that it was 80 years ago.”

In a study published in February, re- jurisdiction over the next 40 years.

“If you’re a rancher, your objective searchers attempted to map social and ecological resilience to fires across the is to raise cattle,” Aslan said. “If you’re Sonoran Desert over the next 40 years a National Park Service unit, your to determine where land managers will objective is to provide recreation and conservation for a particular area. Obneed to intervene in order to protect jectives are relatively fixed. The activithe desert and human infrastructure. ties you choose to meet that objective, The study found that certain areas of those could change.” the Sonoran Desert will have a harder The researchers argued that high time bouncing back after fire events. social resilience is defined by a manLand managers will likely need to rethink how to achieve desired manage- ager’s ability to continue to meet their objectives, even if that means they ment outcomes in these areas.

“It’s really critical that we start to bet- have to use new strategies to get there.

“A completely different set of objecter understand the dynamics that drive tives would indicate a really different recovery, as we have limited resources social condition on that landscape—like and more and more areas that desyou really can no longer ranch at all, so perately need our attention,” said Dr. you’re going to have to pick recreation.

Clare Aslan, an associate professor at There might be some very different use Northern Arizona University and lead for the land,” Aslan said. author of the study.

After mapping the combined social Aslan and a team of researchers

By Madison Beal tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

PHOTO BY MADISON BEAL

A sign displays the perceived fire risk near Sierra Vista, Ariz. As invasive grasses have spread across Arizona’s landscapes in recent years, the risk of fire has increased dramatically.

and ecological resilience, the researchers found that certain geographic areas in the region are likely to exhibit lower combined resilience, while other areas are likely to exhibit higher resilience.

In some cases, this is driven by the social factors, like access to resources and flexibility within a given agency.

In other cases, it’s driven by ecological factors, such as the abundance of fuels in a given area.

For example, in the northeastern and eastern portions of the Sonoran Desert where elevation is slightly higher, there is an increasing abundance of fuels. On top of that, people frequently use these areas for recreation, so there is a higher likelihood someone will ignite a fire.

The researchers determined these areas exhibit low resilience. Conversely, there are areas in the western portion of the desert where there is relatively low human density and a small number of fuels. In these areas, the land is more resilient.

Ultimately, more than half of the

land mangers interviewed for the study reported they will likely need to come up with new strategies to manage their land in order to meet their objectives due to the increased fire risk across the desert.

Land managers with more resources, like the military and other federal stakeholders, feel more confident about their abilities to meet their objectives in the future. On the other hand, land mangers that seek to achieve objectives associated with conservation and the protection of cultural resources, like tribal stakeholders, acknowledged they will have a hard time achieving their objectives in the future.

While there is variability among land managers’ abilities to respond to fires, there is a consensus among managers that both preventative and post-fire management activities will be necessary to protect the land moving forward.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

APRIL 22, 2021

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APRIL 22, 2021

SUMMER INVADERS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

“I think over the next 20 to 40 years, most people will continue to adapt and find ways to deal,” Aslan said. “But I do think that once you start to get further out than that, it’s going to get harder and harder.”

Some of the Arizona hot spots that Aslan and her team identified as high risk in their modeling actually went up in flames after the models were produced, such as an area near Lake Roosevelt, roughly 11 miles north of Globe. In August of 2020, a lightning strike ignited a wildfire that burned almost 21,000 acres of Sonoran Desert grass and brush.

In recent years, the state of Arizona has experienced some of the largest fires in the state’s recorded history. In fact, Arizona’s 2020 fire season is considered one of the worst the state has ever seen with almost one million acres of federal, state and tribal lands burned.

LATA, WHO HAS WORKED AS A fire ecologist for almost 20 years, explained that we are seeing such extreme changes to the Sonoran Desert’s fire regime largely due to the spread of invasive grasses.

To make matters worse, climate change is exacerbating the spread of non-native grasses. Steadily increasing temperatures coupled with increasingly sporadic rainfall create the perfect storm in the desert where fine fuels and fires can thrive.

On April 5, the Pima County Board of Supervisors issued an update on their Invasive Species Management Process, stating that buffelgrass is a key threat in the Sonoran Desert.

“In addition to the ecological devastation that it poses, buffelgrass also has the potential to negatively impact the almost $I billion tourism industry in our region as well as public health and safety issues associated with increased fires,” the update stated. “For this reason, Pima County’s Office of Emergency Management highlighted the threat posed by buffelgrass in the County’s multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan… The current status of the buffelgrass problem in our region

COURTESY PHOTO

A firing operation on Oracle Ridge during last summer’s fire season.

is largely unknown given the lack of data for some areas and because of the ever-changing extent of infestations in many areas. However, it is likely that buffelgrass is now present in every section (640 acres) of land in Pima County below approximately 4,000 feet elevation.”

If the fire regime of the Sonoran Desert continues on its current trajectory, many of the desert’s endemic species, including the iconic saguaro cactus, will struggle to survive. This is because Sonoran Desert plants are generally not well adapted to fire disturbances.

They evolved in an environment where fires were not common, so they do not have the defenses to survive high intensity fires. Invasive grasses, however, usually regenerate quickly after fire events.

Scientists and land managers generally agree that the fire disturbance cycle in the Sonoran Desert is out of whack, but there is a lack of consensus on how to address this problem moving forward. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge on how changes to the fire regime are going impact our social and ecological systems over the next century.

“To say there’s a problem is putting it mildly,” Lata said. “Fires are spreading faster and bigger than they ever would have, and more frequently. Those grasses aren’t going back in the box, and we don’t know how to get rid of them.” ■

DESERTING THE DESERT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

OF COURSE, THESE PLANTS CAN’T

rise forever—eventually there may be no more suitable terrain atop our sky islands. But this is far in the future.

As Smith explains, despite increasing heat and drought, desert plants are resilient and should only change incrementally over the years.

“These plants are incredibly persistent. So it’s going to be a very slow decline. But in 100 years, it will definitely look different,” Smith said.

“We’re not going to see complete losses, but decline in the health of populations over human lifetime. Over the next 40 years, we can expect to see considerably fewer young saguaros.

Push that forward another 40 years, and we might see places that used to have saguaros that don’t have them anymore.”

Though slow, there is already evidence of climate change impact on saguaros. The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and Natural Resources Defense Council released a report listing Saguaro National Park among the most imperiled national parks, due to increased heat and drought.

Saguaro National Park biologist Don Swann co-wrote a report in 2018 explaining how the establishment of new saguaros at the park has been relatively low since the early 1990s, a period when temperatures in the Sonoran

Desert began rising dramatically and the area entered a long-term drought.

Swann writes that although the population of saguaros in the park is quite healthy, establishment of young saguaros has nearly ceased since the early 1990s in nearly all habitats. Of the nearly 10,000 saguaros surveyed in the report, only 70 were less than 0.1 meter in height, or less than 11–15 years old.

The heat is harming people, too.

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, nearly 3,000 people visit Arizona emergency rooms because of heat-related illnesses each year. Over the last decade, the state has seen more than 2,000 deaths from exposure to “excessive natural heat.”

And these cases are only becoming more prevalent. In 2009, ADHS saw 154 heat-related deaths. In 2019, that number increased to 283. In fact, the number first breached the 200-mark in 2016 and has not dipped beneath during any year since.

“One of the things that helps me not get anxious is knowing how evolution has done some really slick things, and maybe it will work out,” Smith said.

“Those saguaros may be out there laughing at us, because they’re so uniquely adapted. We may be surprised that they’re able to evolve quick enough and don’t have to rely on migration. They may be able to change themselves to an extent as the climate changes.” ■

APRIL 22, 2021

a “sense of place” and a better understanding of the distillers’ dedication to their craft. While in Tucson, the duo tasted more than 15 different whiskeys, aged in small 15 gallon casks, before choosing the top three to be added to Independent bottling company showcases Whiskey Del Bac in spring 2021 release their five-bottle spring line up (New York Distilling Company and Balcones Distilling from Waco, Texas are also featured in this seasonal offering).

“This is a unique opportunity to presBy Austin Counts distiller due to their unique process of ent a comparison of the casks coming out using mesquite smoke in production of Austin@tucsonlocalmedia.com of Whiskey Del Bac,” Ganley-Roper said. their spirits.

“We think you can learn a lot about a “When I worked for Whiskey Advocate, distillery by trying several single barrels AN EAST COAST BOUTIQUE I got to know Whiskey Del Bac through bottling company focused on releasing side-by-side.” unique American whiskeys produced by covering a lot of American whiskeys that When Lost Lantern chooses a whiskey were starting to rise up. I thought this independent distillers has chosen three to bottle, the spirit is transferred from the [Whiskey Del Bac] was one of the most single malt spirits from Tucson’s Whisbarrel it was aged in to a stainless steel key Del Bac to be a part of the company’s interesting whiskeys I’ve encountered cask so the whiskey will not continue to because it was doing something totally offerings this spring. mature. What Lost Lantern customers get new,” Polonski said. “Whereas a lot of Staying true to the 200-year-old is the exact whiskey varieties Polonski and craft distilleries were doing things like Scottish bottling tradition, Lost Lantern Ganley-Roper tasted when they visited making bourbon in places bourbon has searches the country for one-of-a-kind the distillery in 2019. Each of the three regional whiskeys to bottle and distribute never been made, they [Whiskey Del offerings is limited to 66 bottles of very through certain retailers and their online Bac] were making whiskey with smokey rare whiskey that can’t be reproduced due mesquite, which has never been done shop, LostLanternWhiskey.com. to the reactions that take place inside the anywhere.”

Co-founders Nora Ganley-Roper and wooden cask while maturing.

Polonski said he and Ganley-Roper whiskey journalist Adam Polonski said “We knew we wanted to choose a few visit every facility they work with to get they added the Old Pueblo whiskey selections from Whiskey Del Bac be-

CHOW

BOTTLE SERVICE

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 13

cause their cask format is smaller in size and we wanted to make sure there would be enough bottles to go around with the cask,” Ganley-Roper said. “We realized we had a pretty cool opportunity with selecting three different casks, in that we could specifically speak to the different aspects of Whiskey Del Bac.” Each of the three single whiskey casks from the distiller was made with 100% malted barley, with 60% of the barley smoked with mesquite wood, and they have different flavor characteristics.

All three of Lost Lantern’s offerings from Whiskey Del Bac are unique and differ from one another. Single Cask #5 is 129.2 proof and features a very savory and smokey flavor with herbal notes that balance the spirit. Single Cask #6 (130.6 proof) has more fruity notes with a slightly spicy but rich smokey flavor Whiskey Del Bac is known for. Single Cask #7 (122.2 proof) is a departure from the previous two whiskeys due to its bold oak flavor that incorporates spicy and herbal notes.

Single Cask #5 and Single Cask #6 both were aged in a second-fill American oak cask for 18 to 22 months and Single CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

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APRIL 22, 2021

town midweek. AC Hotel Tucson Downtown hosts the ‘Wine and Dine’ series on Wednesdays and Thursdays starting at 3 p.m. and will set up back $50. The hotel is located at 151 E. Broadway Blvd.

Need more info? Check out marriott.com.

Barrio Brewing Co. joins TIA’s food court

If you’re like thousands of Americans who are flying to the friendly skies after receiving your second vaccination, make sure to grab a pint at Oro Valley’s Restaurant Boom Barrio Brewing’s new location inside the Tucson International Airport. Much of the brewery’s menu Over the past year, numerous Tucson restaurants offerings will be available for jet setters who need have decided to expand into Oro Valley, and for to grab a bite—or a Barrio Blonde—before catching good reason—the town is hungry for culinary options

By Austin Counts that flight to Las Vegas. Barrio Brewing joins other and the Pusch Ridge area is downright gorgeous. austin@tucsonlocalmedia.com local eateries inside TIA like Empire Pizza, Beyond The two most recent announcements come from Bread and El Charro. To find out more or see the Noodleholics and Seis Kitchen. Noodleholics’ brewery’s complete airport menu, check out AC Hotel Tucson Downtown’s weekly original location in midtown is a staple for those barriobrewing.com. who crave various types of Asian-style noodles and ‘Wine and Dine’ event delicious dumplings. Any ramen and pho fan in Oro Valley should be excited.

As many of us are starting to come out of our This will be Seis Kitchen’s third location—the COVID caves and rejoin the world, downtown’s AC Hotel Tucson Downtown has a new ‘Wine and Dine’ other two are located in the Mercado San Agustin and Joesler Village—and features some of the most series where guests get to sample three regional wines—Provisioner Arizona Rose, Arizona Stronghold savory Al Pastor tacos you’re going to find in the Old Pueblo. The northside never had it so good. For White Tazi, and Provisioner Arizona Red—paired with a fantastic charcuterie board. After the tasting, more information about Noodleholics’ new location, check out noodleholics.com. To find out when Seis guests then chose which bottle they would like to enjoy, either at the hotel or they can take it home. Kitchen plans on opening their Oro Valley spot, visit seiskitchen.com This is a perfect date night option or something to do if you and a friend are hanging out in down-

PATIO OF THE WEEK

By Austin Counts austin@tucsonlocalmedia.com ATTENTION FANS OF PEOPLE watching, steak and fresh seafood: the patio at Charro Steak and Del Rey is where you need to be. This spring, the restaurant’s menu is loaded with exquisite ranchero steak options like Tucson’s T-Bone—one pound of grass-fed beef—or fresh seafood like Mezquite Lobster Tail that’s grilled to perfection. In addition to only using grass-fed cattle, Charro Steak and Del Rey’s menu also features cagefree poultry, sustainable seafood and uses local produce.

We suggest enjoying their seasonal Tower Del Rey—a steeple of fresh seafood favorites like oysters, crab legs, shrimp, lobster sampler and two mini Modelos—on the patio. While it may not be the largest in the downtown area, this patio still has plenty of space to enjoy yourself while social distancing. Located on the corner of Broadway Boulevard and Fifth Avenue, Charro Steak and Del Rey’s patio is a must for those who are looking for coastal, springtime vibes.

Whew! It’s good to be back. Aside from a brief stint where we tried to revive City Week in the fall, then nervously pulled the plug as we watched COVID-19 cases climb, it’s been about a year since I put together an event roundup for the Tucson Weekly. It’s been so heartening to find that I’m having no trouble gathering events and activities to try out.

Because, as ever, Tucson is full of passionate people who make music, art and magic every day. We hope you get the chance to start safely experiencing it soon.

Art Emergence. The new exhibit at Untitled Gallery is a celebration of a very special time of year, and in history. After all, not only are the Palo Verdes emerging into a brilliant sea of yellow and the air conditioning emerging from its winter slumber, but it looks like we’re starting to emerge from this pandemic. The gallery received 85 entries with more than 250 works of art in response to a call for submissions, and selected 43 to display at the gallery. They’re on display from noon to 5 p.m. every Saturday until June 5 (as well as online 24/7). Come see, or even buy, some art from this truly unforgettable time. Untitled Gallery. 101 Sixth St., suite 121. Free.

Paperworks: Forming the Effect, Affecting the Form. In all of the chaos, confusion and downright misery that 2020 brought us, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of one of the things that would have been more noticeable any other year: We hardly got any rain. Seriously, 2020 was the Sonoran Desert’s driest year on record. This exhibit, on display at Tohono Chul, features pieces from local artists that reflect on drought and deluge, while ultimately celebrating the resilience of Mother Nature. And it’s not just a neat concept – the art really is gorgeous and varied, too. Tohono Chul,7366Paseo del Norte. Galleries are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. $15 GA. Art in Bloom. Spring has sprung, and the Madaras Gallery is celebrating with this exhibit of Diana Madaras’ floral paintings. Sometimes springtime in Tucson, lovely as it is, gets overshadowed by the dread of how hot the summer months are about to get. This exhibit serves as a good reminder to appreciate just how vibrant and beautiful this time of year is. (I mean, have you seen those Desert Mariposas???) Exhibit runs through April 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.

Performances & Shows Ballet Tucson Pop-Up Performance. There’s something about watching a dance performance that just leaves you feeling better. Maybe it’s watching the lines blur between sound and movement. Maybe it’s seeing some of the incredible feats the human body can accomplish with loads of conditioning. Maybe it’s the magic of watching a story unfold. In any case, we’re so excited that we have the opportunity with an outdoor, critically acclaimed performance.

See five new choreographic works by Associate

Art Happenings and Sculpture Event. This art showcase at the Wilde Meyer Gallery is both indoors and outdoors, but, in honor of springtime, it has a special emphasis on outdoor sculpture. If that’s not your scene, there will be plenty of paintings, jewelry and mixed media work for you to enjoy. Be sure to check out the artist meet and greets and artist demonstrations as well. The exhibit will be on display from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. But this celebration and event is 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 24 and 11 a.m.to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 25. Wilde Meyer Gallery, 2890 E. Skyline Drive, Suite 170.

Tucson Museum of Art Spring Artisan Market. It sure does feel good to see events like this one up and running again. This TMA market is a special one, featuring a mix of crafts, pottery, glass, jewelry, textiles and original artwork. It’s the perfect place to pick up a gift for Mothers’ Day, or a piece of artwork to get your house ready for springtime. As usual, the TMA Docent Council will also be doing a book sale, featuring 150 boxes of books about art and culture. (And books are 50% off on Sundays!) Museum capacity is currently limited to allow for social distancing, so if you want to check out the galleries while you’re there, it’s best to get tickets in advance. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 23, to Sunday, April 25. Tucson Museum of Art, 200 W. Alameda St.

by Emily Dieckman Aesop’s Fables. We are so glad that our local award-winning professional puppet compa-

ny is still up and running! Seriously, owner and artistic director Lisa Sturz has worked with Jim Henson Productions, Walt Disney Imagineering, Lucasfilm and more. In this show, see the puppets put on classic tales like “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Crow and the Pitcher,” and “The Lion and the Mouse.”

These puppets are gorgeous, and put on truly unique shows. Plus, we could all do with some reminders about the importance of things like compassion and persistence these days, right? Shows at 2 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 24, and Saturday, May 1. Red Herring Puppet Studio in the Tucson Mall, between Macy’s and Forever 21. 4500 N. Oracle Road, suite 421. $8. Reservations required.

APRIL 22, 2021 TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 15 Director Chieko Imada and Ballet Master Daniel Precup, including a comical relationship duet, a contemporary jazz piece and a beautiful prima ballerina solo by Jenna Johnson. 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24. Rillito Regional Park, 4570 N. First Ave. Free.

29th Arizona International Film Festival. This iconic local festival is doing a mix of outdoor and online screenings this year. It’s been going on since mid April, and you’ve still got a chance to catch some of the fun this weekend! In addition to a lineup of feature films, you can see a panel about the behind-the-scenes of filmmaking; a Best of the Fest roundup; and groupings of animated, comedic or experimental shorts.

Over the years, this festival has shown nearly 3,000 films from 100 countries to 162,000 patrons in Southern Arizona. See filmfestivalarizona.com for details about times, dates and pricing of specific events.

Buccaneers of the Caribbean (or “Don’t Touch Me Booty!”). You can always count on the Gaslight Theatre for a good night out and a big belly laugh. In this outdoor show, follow the crew of the Esmerelda on their journey to find a hidden treasure. Of course, along the way, they battle, brawl and get into all sorts of antics. You can order pizza, popcorn and drinks when you buy your tickets, or once you’re on site (and you can also order extra goodies when you’re on site). Enjoy the show from your car, or check out the new festival seating, with sanitized chairs and tables in the first three rows. Showing at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays through June 6. The Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway.

Miscellaneous Free Time: Building Community for Incarcerated Writers. Are you interested in mentorship, writing or the criminal justice system? This unique program pairs artists from Tucson and surrounding areas with incarcerated writers looking for guidance, mentorship and collaboration through regular correspondence.

At this Saturday workshop, Joe Watson will offer advice to mentors on how to best encourage and offer compassionate criticism to their incarcerated friends. He’ll also suggest notable works written by incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people and share developments on criminal justice reform and prison abolition movements.

11. a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24. Free.

Email heyjoewatson@arizona.edu prior to your first workshop to get instructions on how to join the Zoom meeting.

Tucson Street Rod Association Car Show. The Annual Rodders Days Car Show is going to be the first major in-person event at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus in over a year. And how could you miss something as monumental as that? Come for the hand-built street rods, custom and classic cars, antique engines and mining equipment, and food vendors.

And stay for the chance to tour the brand new Automotive Technology and Innovation Center.

Masks are required. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 24. Pima Community College Downtown Campus,1255 N. Stone Ave. Free. ■

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APRIL 22, 2021

ARTS & CULTURE

For the Record: Documentary Photographs from the Etherton Gallery Archive

MOVING PICTURES

and Danny Lyon: Thirty Photographs, 1962-1980

Etherton shows off decades of photos in two new shows

Etherton Gallery Through May 22 at current gallery, 135 S. Sixth Ave. Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday

By Margaret Regan tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

From June 1 and to early September at new gallery location, 341 S. Convent Ave. in Barrio Viejo. By appointment.

Free

FOR 33 YEARS, ART LOVERS HAVE been climbing the daunting staircase up to Etherton Gallery, perched high on the second floor of downtown’s historic Oddfellow Hall.

It’s always been worth it.

Right now, for example, if you trek up the 27 steps, you’ll see not one but two stunning exhibitions of 20th century documentary photography.

“Danny Lyon: Thirty Photographs” is a tribute to the best photos of Lyon’s extraordary career. The other show, “For the Record: Documentary Photographs from the Etherton Gallery Archive,” shows off 85 black-andwhite images shot by a throng of renowned photographers: Robert Frank, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Flor Garduño, and Garry Winogrand.

These two gems will be the last Etherton exhibitions in the handsome Sixth Ave. gallery, and the first exhibition in a new space. Proprietor Terry Etherton is ending his 33 years downtown and moving to a one-story building at 341 S. Convent St. in Barrio Viejo.

“The building was sold,” Etherton says of the current place. “It was time to move on. It’s a cool space. This is our 40th anniversary year. It’s a good time to make a move.”

Etherton opened his first gallery in a retail space on Sixth Street near Fourth Avenue; he stayed there

624-7370; Ethertongallery.com Masks and social distancing required

COURTESY PHOTO

“Arnold Popkin,” 1985, by Allen Dutton (1922-2017). ©2021 Allen A. Dutton, courtesy Etherton Gallery.

for seven years before setting down roots in the Odd Fellows building.

“I was looking around over the years at other spaces,” he says, especially ones that could accommodate wheelchairs. The Convent space handily fits that bill with an accessible ramp; it also provides ample parking.

Etherton has never been able to show big sculptures in his current space—they’re too heavy to be hauled up the epic staircase—but he’ll be able to display 3D work with ease in the large patio out back of the Convent gallery. First up in the garden gallery will be big granite and glass works by Otto Rigan.

Inside, “We’ll have a grand opening in the fall, with a big Joel-Peter Witkin show, just him,” Etherton says. Works by the renowned photographer, a gallery favorite, will likely take up much of the gallery’s 3,400 square feet.

Etherton is thrilled that the new space was specifically built for art: it held the massive art collection of the late Bill Small. A newspaperman who owned the Tucson Citizen and, briefly, the Arizona Daily Star, Small had a passion for contemporary art; he became a patron to many Tucson artists, buying their works but insisting they never let on that he did.

“I knew Bill Small and I love that the legacy is being passed on,” Etherton says.

Small’s architect son William designed his father’s lair in 1987, creating soaring skylights and concrete floors that somehow fit right in with the neighbor-

hood’s 19th-century Sonoran adobes. The space has had various tenants over the years, housing an art gallery and then an architectural practice.

The owners, siblings Don and Betsy Rollings, are the children of the late Kelly Rollings, once the king of barrio real estate. Kelly also ran an art gallery in the neighborhood and he and Etherton were friends.

“We got along,” he says, and Kelly’s kids invited him to consider the Convent space for his gallery.

“They want me there,” Terry says with a smile.

“They’ve been great.”

The buyer of the Odd Fellows is the controversial developer Ross Rulney, who bought the Benedictine Monastery on Country Club and more recently acquired the Rincon Market building on Sixth St. He’s lined up Delta, a new restaurant created by the owners of The Parish eatery, to take over the first floor in the space occupied for 10 years by Janos Wilder’s DOWNTOWN Kitchen + Cocktails. It closed last fall but survives as a to-go business, operated at The Carriage House near Odd Fellows.

Etherton’s two current photo shows will be a bridge between the two galleries, wrapping up in the old place on May 22 and doing a soft opening in Barrio Viejo, by appointment only, on June first.

Either way, the exhibitions are a must for photography fans.

In For the Record, you’ll see Bernice Abbott’s famous “Flatiron Building,” New York’s beloved triangular tower, caught by Abbott in 1938, when the Depression was beginning to wane. W. Eugene Smith, who lived for a short time in Tucson, is represented by a piece from his heartbreaking Minamata series. A chemical company dumped mercury into a waterway, poisoning the fish regularly eaten in a Japanese town; thousands were stricken by disease.

Smith documented the catastrophe. In a 1972, a mother gently holds her daughter, profoundly disabled by the disaster.

Graciela Iturbide’s 1979 “Mujer ángel” pictures an indigenous Mexican woman gazing down at the Sonoran Desert. Seen in hindsight in 2021, the angel seems to be awaiting the thousands of desperate migrants who would die in that desert in the years to come.

APRIL 22, 2021

But these pictures also chronicle human comedy and joy. Documenting the many retirees arriving in Arizona some 40 years ago, David Hurn mischiefly captured Sun City residents doing yoga in sync in the great outdoors; Allen Dutton memorialized newcomers standing proudly in front of their new desert homes. Across the Atlantic, in 1980, Elliott Erwitt shot a classic Parisian image: a man with an umbrella leaping across a puddle. The backdrop? The Eiffel Tower, of course.

The accompanying Danny Lyon exhibition celebrates Lyon’s 30 “greatest hits,” as Etherton has it. Now 79 years old and still working, Lyon began his extraordinary career when he was a college student.

The collection begins with a photo of a truck on a desolate road near Yuma, a haunting picture that got the attention of a Chicago gallery when Lyon was just 20 years old. Next are extraordinary photos of the civil rights movement in the Deep South. His 1963 pictures include young Black men raising their arms at the March on Washington; a young Bob Dylan dropping by to play music to activists in Mississippi; and an Atlanta cop squeezing a protestor’s neck from behind, a tactic that uneasily calls up the death of George Floyd.

Other Lyon series focus on a Chicago

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 17

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COURTESY PHOTO

“The Cotton Pickers, Ferguson Unit, Texas Department of Corrections, 1968 from Thirty Photographs, 1962-1980,” by Danny Lyon. ©Danny Lyon/Magnum Photo.

motorcycle gang; the leveling of historic buildings in New York; migrant farmworkers in Arizona. Best of all are the stunning images of Black inmates in a hell-hole Texas prison, circa 1968. With white guards keeping watch from horses, and Black men bending to pick cotton in the prison fields, you can’t help but think of slavery and the ways that some things—evil things—never really change. ■

Cask #7 was aged in a new oak cask for only a year before being bottled, according to Stephen Paul, president of the board of directors for Hamilton Distillers, the makers of Whiskey Del Bac. “Whiskey #7 is darker in color because it’s new oak and has a bigger, bolder taste compared to the other two,” Paul said. “It’s more different than the other two, than the other two are different from each other.”

Ganley-Roper said they view Single Cask #7 as an entry for Bourbon and rye drinkers to enjoy what Whiskey Del Bac produces.

“It has more of those oak tones, caramel and spice that Bourbon and rye drinkers find in the whiskeys they love,” Ganley-Roper said. “It’s super fun to taste these next to each other, but it also allows people who like different styles of single malt to find something that speaks to them within the Whiskey Del Bac portfolio.” ■ For more information or to purchase a bottle (or all five of this season’s offerings), check out lostlanternwhiskey.com.

COURTESY PHOTO

“We knew we wanted to choose a few selections from Whiskey Del Bac because their cask format is smaller in size and we wanted to make sure there would be enough bottles to go around with the cask,” said co-founder Nora Ganley-Roper.

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APRIL 22, 2021

GREEN THUMBS UP

Local grower supplier teams up with cannabis consultants for a learning experience

By David Abbott david@tucsonlocalmedia.com GROWING POT IS NOW LEGAL IN the state of Arizona, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a challenge to start that little victory garden.

Adults over the age of 21 can legally grow up to six plants (or up to 12 in a residence housing two or more adults over 21). But many potential rookie growers don’t know the best schedule for planting, the best soil to use or even where to get seeds.

If you want in-person instruction rather than watching a YouTube video and hoping for the best, the local cultivation experts at Growershouse have

expanded their retail outlet near downtown Tucson and have begun offering classes on growing weed.

The facility rolled out its initial offering on April 17 with “Growing Legally 101,” featuring Jimmy Graham and Bruce Laird from Seed2Sail. Graham and Laird have 15 years growing experience and offer a wide range of services, from planning home grows to acting as “cannascapers,” tending crops for snowbirds going home for the summer.

Laird is a combat veteran who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and has used cannabis to help treat PTSD, which has yet to be recognized as a qualifying condition in the state of Arizona.

“Cannabis helped me during a suicid-

al state in my life,” Laird said. “I dropped all the medications given me by the VA and with God and my faith, cannabis has been my medicine.”

Laird grew up in northern Arkansas, where he started growing his own with the knowledge that it was a felonious act that could have ruined his life had he been caught.

Graham has been growing pot for a long time and has learned a lot from the staff at Growershouse.

“When I first started, I had to learn how to grow ‘tomatoes,’” he said, using a common euphemism among growers (Tomatoes thrive under similar circumstances as cannabis.) “There was no internet back then so you had to order books from High Times and hope they actually make it to your house.”

The class gave participants a bird’seye view of the growing process from seed to harvest, which generally takes about 80 days and can be a lot of work, depending on scale.

“Getting started is the tough part, but once you’re growing it gets easier,” Graham said. “Sometimes, you lose everything the first time and it takes a lot of trial and error.”

Home growers also face a wide range

of decisions on whether to grow indoors or outdoors, types of medium to grow in and how much time and money they want to devote to their gardens.

According to Scott Rogers, Growershouse director of e-commerce and digital marketing, a basic one-pot starter kit is around $77, but to really dive in expect to spend $200-$300 minimum.

“As you expand, there are costs for expanded tents, lights, nutrients and other equipment,” Rogers said. “We’re in on the ground floor though, and have experts that can really help.”

Prop 207 states that home cultivation must take place out of sight from the public, in a “closet, room, greenhouse or other enclosed area on the grounds of the residence equipped with a lock or other security device that prevents access by minors.”

For outside grows, gardens must be “in an area where the marijuana plants are not visible from public view without using binoculars, aircraft or other optical aids.”

It is legal for a home-grower to give away the fruits of their labor as long as they don’t get paid for it in cash or trade and it is not “advertised or promoted to the public.” Growers are allowed to give away seeds and starters with the same

APRIL 22, 2021

DAVID ABBOTT

Seed2Sail Growers, featuring Jimmy Graham (left) and Bruce Laird, is a one-stop cannabis grow consultation company.

caveats.

While legal home cultivation is still in its infancy—many of the final rules will come down from the Arizona Department of Health Services once they are finally written—Graham and Laird hope it is the beginning of an explosion that will bring access to everyone who wants to legally consume cannabis and also for the development of new strains of weed.

“A year from now, my hope is we’ll all be growing and sharing our genetics,” Graham said. “Now that the taboo is lifted, it’s time to blow the lid off.”

Growershouse has become one of the largest cannabis-focused e-commerce hydroponics and indoor gardening suppliers in the U.S., according to a press release announcing expansion.

The company, founded in 2011 by father-and-son team Paul and Nate Lipton, recently moved from a 1,000-square-foot location in a strip mall on Valencia Road to a 40,000-square-foot warehouse with a 2,700-square-foot retail store. Growershouse specializes in providing supplies online for both home and professional growers worldwide.

The new retail space features grow tents, hydroponic kits, irrigation systems, LED lights, nutrients, soil and an extensive selection of equipment and supplies. The experts at Growershouse can offer advice and supplies for growers on any scale, price range or ability.

After a 47% sales increase in 2020, the company has spent the past three months preparing and moving into the new space, according to Growershouse

CEO Angela Kapp.

In a recent email, Kapp said her team “did a terrific job transforming the space from a warehouse outlet to something that fits Growershouse at this [point] of our company and brand.”

The company plans to get feedback from the inaugural class and then decide where the program will go from there, with an expectation of at least one class a month.

The company’s website refers to “hydroponics,” which has traditionally meant growing indoors in a liquid medium, but over time the meaning of the word has changed.

“The term ‘hydroponics’ has become synonymous with the association of ‘equipment to grow cannabis,’” Kapp said “Retailers needed a term to separate themselves from nurseries and garden stores, but since it’s still federally illegal they couldn’t say ‘marijuana cultivation equipment store.’”

The staff at Growershouse is “truly just focused on the sale of equipment to grow what we like to call ‘high value crops,’” she added. “This includes growing in hydroponics, coco coir and soil. It also includes growing in environments such as indoor, greenhouse and outdoors.”

GrowersHouse is located at 3635 E. 34th St. For additional information visit growershouse.com.

Seed2Sail offers a variety of services and can arrange for soil and water testing. Contact information can be found on their Faceook page at facebook.com/ seed2sail. ■

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 19

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APRIL 22, 2021

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): Blogger Emma Elsworthy wrote her “Self-Care List.” I’ll tell you a few of her 57 action items, in hopes of inspiring you to create your own list. The coming weeks will be a perfect phase to upgrade your focus on doing what makes you feel healthy and holy. Here are Elsworthy’s ideas: Get in the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. Organize your room.

Clean your mirror and laptop. Lie in the sunshine.

Become the person you would ideally fall in love with. Walk with a straight posture. Stretch your body. Challenge yourself to not judge or ridicule anyone for a whole day. Have a luxurious shower with your favorite music playing. Remember your dreams. Fantasize about the life you would lead if failure didn’t exist.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Some traditional Buddhist monks sit on city streets in Asia with a “begging bowl” in front of them. It’s a clay or iron container they use to solicit money and food from passers-by who want to support them.

Contemporary American poet Mariannne Boruch regards the begging bowl as a metaphor that helps her generate new poems. She adopts the attitude of the empty vessel, awaiting life’s instructions and inspiration to guide her creative inquiry. This enables her to “avoid too much self-obsession and navel-gazing” and be receptive—“with no agenda besides the usual wonder and puzzlement.” I recommend the begging bowl approach to you as you launch the next phase of your journey, Taurus.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini-born Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) is today regarded as an innovative and influential painter. But his early years provided few hints that he would ultimately become renowned. As a teenager, he attended naval preparatory school, and later he joined the French navy. At age 23, he became a stockbroker.

Although he also began dabbling as a painter at that time, it wasn’t until the stock market crashed 11 years later that he made the decision to be a

full-time painter. Is there a Gauguin-like turning point in your future, Gemini? If so, its early signs might show itself soon. It won’t be as dramatic or stressful as Gauguin’s, but I bet it will be quite galvinizing.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A research team found that some people pray for things they are reasonably sure God wouldn’t approve of. In a sense, they’re trying to trick the Creator into giving them goodies they’re not supposed to get. Do you ever do that? Try to bamboozle life into offering you blessings you’re not sure you deserve? The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to dare such ploys. I’m not guaranteeing you’ll succeed, but the chances are much better than usual that you will. The universe is pretty relaxed and generous toward you right now.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 2013, the New Zealand government decided to rectify the fact that its two main islands had never been assigned formal names. At that time, it gave both an English and Māori-language moniker for each: North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island, or Te Waipounamu. In the spirit of correcting for oversights and neglect, and in accordance with current astrological omens, is there any action you’d like to take to make yourself more official or professional or established? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to do so.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Author Grant Morrison observes that our heads are “big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. Big enough to hold the weight of oceans and the turning stars.

Whole universes fit in there!” That’s why it’s so unfortunate, he says, if we fill up our “magical cabinet” with “little broken things, sad trinkets that we play with over and over.” In accordance with astrological potentials, Virgo, I exhort you to dispose of as many of those sad trinkets and little broken things as you can. Make lots of room to

SAVAGE LOVE NUMB AND NUMBERED

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

I’m a cis bi guy in my 40s who doesn’t have a lot of experience with other men.

I’m happily married to a wonderful woman who knows I’m bi, and while we’re presently monogamous, we’ve talked about opening things up in the future. If that happens, I’d like to casually hook up with a guy once in a while, but I’m a little anxious about gay hookup culture.

1. Will a lot of guys dismiss me for being bi or married? I assume biphobia is more of an issue when looking for a relationship, rather than a hookup, but I dunno.

2. If I meet a guy and we’re going to fuck, is it weird to bring up condoms? I know:

I shouldn’t be afraid to ask to use a condom, and if someone can’t respect that, I shouldn’t fuck him. I’m not and I won’t.

But will most guys be a little surprised, especially with PrEP these days?

3. On that note, should I ask my doctor about PrEP when all I want is a very occasional fuck (maybe a few times a year) with someone I’ve vetted and trust about their HIV-negative or undetectable status? I want to be safe, but I don’t want to put superfluous meds in my body.

4. Is the “top shortage” I’ve read about a few times a real thing? Are a lot of guys strictly tops or bottoms?

hold expansive visions and marvelous dreams and wondrous possibilities. It’s time to think bigger and feel wilder.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran author bell hooks (who doesn’t capitalize her name) has a nuanced perspective on the nature of our pain. She writes, Contrary to what we may have been taught, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us, but need not scar us for life.” She acknowledges that unnecessary and unchosen suffering does indeed “mark us.” But we have the power to reshape and transform how it marks us. I think her wisdom will be useful for you to wield in the coming weeks.

You now have extra power to reshape and transform the marks of your old pain. You probably won’t make it disappear entirely, but you can find new ways to make it serve you, teach you, and ennoble you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I love people who inspire me to surprise myself. I’m appreciative when an ally provides me with a friendly shock that moves me to question my habitual ways of thinking or doing things. I feel lucky when a person I like offers a compassionate critique that nudges me out of a rut I’ve been in. Here’s a secret: I don’t always wait around passively hoping events like these will happen. Now and then I actively seek them out. I encourage them. I ask for them. In the coming weeks, Scorpio, I invite you to be like me in this regard.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Where did last year’s lessons go?” asks Gillian Welch in her song “I Dream a Highway.” Now I’m posing the same question to you—just in time for the Remember Last Year’s Lessons Phase of your cycle. In my astrological opinion, it’s crucial for you to recollect and ruminate deeply on the breakdowns and breakthroughs you experienced in 2020; on every spiritual emergency and spiritual emergence you weathered; on all the scary trials you endured and all the sacred trails you trod.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn painter Henri Matisse had a revolutionary influence on 20th-century art, in part because of his raucous

5. And is there anything else I should know before hopping on the apps?

—Wondering About Navigating New Arenas Before Indulging 1. There are lots of biphobic gay men out there, WANNABI, but I gotta say… there are more biphobes in the straight community. Yes, straight biphobia is less gallingly hypocritical, I will grant you, but it does more harm; research has shown that having a biphobic straight spouse is the single biggest risk factor for poor mental health outcomes among bisexuals. So I’m happy to hear that your spouse accepts your bisexuality, WANNABI, and I’m going to apologize in advance for the biphobia you’ll encounter from some dumb gay men. But

use of color. Early in his career he belonged to the movement known as Fauvism, derived from the French term for “wild beasts.” During his final years, he invented a new genre very different from his previous work: large collages of brightly colored cut-out paper. The subject matter, according to critic Jed Perl, included “jungles, goddesses, oceans, and the heavens,” and “ravishing signs and symbols” extracted from the depths of “Matisse’s luminosity.” I offer him as a role model for you, Capricorn, because I think it’s a perfect time to be, as Perl describes Matisse, both “a hardnosed problem-solver and a feverish dreamer.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, ‘Seek simplicity, but distrust it.’” Aquarian philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote that, and now I’m proposing that you use it as your motto in the coming weeks, even if you’re not a natural philosopher. Why? Because I suspect you’ll thrive by uncomplicating your life. You’ll enhance your well-being if you put greater trust in your instinctual nature and avoid getting lost in convoluted thoughts. On the other hand, it’s important not to plunge so deeply into minimalism that you become shallow, careless, or unimaginative.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In ancient Greek comic theater, there was a stock character known as the eiron. He was a crafty underdog who outwitted and triumphed over boastful egotists by pretending to be naive. Might I interest you in borrowing from that technique in the coming weeks? I think you’re most likely to be successful if you approach victory indirectly or sideways— and don’t get bogged down trying to forcefully coax skeptics and resisters. Be cagey, understated, and strategic, Pisces. Let everyone think they’re smart and strong if it helps ensure that your vision of how things should be will win out in the end. ■ Homework. I’m in the mood for you to give me predictions and past life readings.

Send your psychic insights about my destiny.

Truthrooster@gmail.com.

if all you’re after for is some casual sex, WANNABI, you don’t need to disclose your bisexuality to the men you meet on the apps. You also shouldn’t assume the men you meet on “gay” hookup apps are gay; some will be bisexual, just like you. And while biphobic gay men get all the press, WANNABI, there are lots of biphilic gay men out there—that is, gay men who are really into married “straight” men. If you don’t wanna hide the wife and don’t wanna wind up with a FWB who wants you to leave the wife for him, finding guys who are actually turned on by the fact that you have a wife at home is not a bad strategy.

2. Even at the height of the AIDS Crisis—even at a time when contracting HIV was almost invariably fatal—condoms

APRIL 22, 2021

weren’t used 100% of the time by 100% of gay and bi men. Now with PrEP (a daily pill that prevents HIV infection) and treatments for HIV+ men that make it impossible for them to spread the virus (HIV+ men with undetectable viral loads can’t transmit the virus), fewer gay and bi men are using condoms these days. If you wanna use a condom because you’re not on PrEP and/ or you wanna protect yourself and your wife from all the sexually-transmitted infections PrEP won’t protect you from—and that would be all the other sexually-transmitted infections out there—insist on condoms and pass on guys who argue with you about it.

3. If you wanna be able to have spontaneous and/or anonymous sex with other men, taking PrEP daily is smart. But you can use PrEP without taking it daily if you’re having sex with other men once or twice a year and you’re making those sex dates at least a few days in advance. Intermittent or “on-demand” use of PrEP is highly effective; take two pills 24 hours before you have sex and one pill a day for two days afterwards.

4. Not all gay and bi men are into anal sex or into anal sex with casual partners, WANNABI, and while most of the men I’ve encountered—most of the men encountered the shit out of—were functionally versatile, there do seem to be more bottoms out there than tops. Not that “bottom” and “top” are static identities; a guy who’ll bottom for you might be more comfortable topping for someone else, a guy who enjoys bottoming when he’s younger might enjoy topping more later in life and vice-versa, etc.

5. Not every photo is recent, WANNABI, and not every guy is decent. Some guys will lie to get in your pants or in your ass or on your dick or on your face.

Trust your gut, WANNABI, and be choosy about the guys you invite to rearrange yours.

I’m a gay male in his mid-40s living in a rainy city. I met and fell for a recently divorced guy with a few teen kids. We progressed quickly, moved to the burbs, made a home, and even had one of his kids come live with us. It was out of character for me to move that fast, but we clicked. I thought he knew what it took to make a longterm relationship work and his post-divorce finances put him in a spot where it really helped him for us to live together. Fast forward five years to me coming home one day with him declaring he was moving to a notat-all-rainy state with his new boyfriend. New BF had been a mutual friend who I had suspicions about, but I was told repeatedly it was all in my head. Of course the friend made a show of being “really hurt” because he felt I didn’t like him anymore for something he claimed to be innocent of but was actually quite guilty of. So yeah, textbook gaslighting by both of them.

Since then what I want from a relationship has changed.

I miss and want the emotional connection, the day-today stuff, the sleeping in the same bed with someone, the incidental physical affection. Sex, that’s a different story. As soon as I have sex with someone once, maybe twice if it’s really good, I don’t want to continue seeing them. I still want and do have sex, just not with a person I might want a relationship with. My questions:

1. How do I get this? We all know LOTS of relationships where the partners don’t have sex with each other anymore, but they all did in the beginning. No one wants this from the start.

2. The close friends I’ve told this to think I’m broken and or nuts. I think I’m fine. I can’t explain why this is what I want but I know it feels right. Am I nuts? Am I broken?

—Down To Fuck Or Marry But Not Both

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 21

2. I don’t think you’re broken or nuts, DTFOMBNB, but something has definitely changed. What you want now, post-traumatic breakup, isn’t what you wanted before. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing… I guess… so long as you can find what you want or aren’t driven crazy by your inability to find what you want. Because it’s definitely gonna be more difficult for you to find a partner; asexual gays and cuckold gays are out there and they’re great, for sure, but they represent tiny minorities of an already tiny minority. So I’m thinking you 1. You ask for it. That’s no guarantee you’ll find it, of course, but it ups your chances considerably. And while might wanna unpack this shit with a shrink. At the very it’s true most loving-but-sexless relationships were sex- least you need to acknowledge that what you want has ual at the start, DTFOMBNB, not all of them were. So if changed and that it could change again. Do what and who feels right for you now but don’t lock yourself into loving-but-always-sexless is what you want, well, then you should lead with that. Put it out there. There are gay anything—don’t sign any leases, don’t make any longasexual guys who want partners and day-to-day intima- term romantic commitments, sexless or otherwise, don’t cy and someone to sleep with every night but who don’t weld yourself to any self-fulfilling prophecies—at a time when you may still be numb or still be reeling from a want sex—not at the start, not ever. There are also gay cuckolds out there, DTFOMBNB, and while most wanna traumatic breakup. have sex with their “cheating” partners, some wanna be mail@savagelove.net denied sex by a partner who constantly fucks around on Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. them with other guys. savagelovecast.com

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Dean Fay Moran,75, of Essex Junction, Vermont, and Tucson, Arizona, died on April 7, 2021, at the UVM Respite House, following a long illness. He was born in Burlington, VT, September 6, 1945 the son of Earle and Erma (Nichols) Moran. He was a graduate of Burlington High School in Burlington, VT, and received his Associate’s Degree from Champlain College after serving in the Naval Reserve. In 1976 he married Linda (Lemke) at Grace United Methodist Church in Essex Junction.

For nearly 45 years they traveled much of the US on school and work vacations, finding humor in so many events along the way (hot water in water fountains in Arizona, for example...).

Dean defied stereotypes of the 1950s male in becoming a textile artist in his last thirty years. Disabled by diabetes, he taught himself the art of fabric marbling and sold his fabric internationally. He is considered an early cornerstone marbler in using the ancient paper art to create fabrics. The art pieces he created with his wife hang in galleries and private collections around the United States, as well in several published art books. Dean was a Renaissance man, trying many career paths in banking, credit management, retail, and wholesale. A lot of people in Vermont sit on caned antique chairs that Dean refurbished. Until his vision turned for the worse, he was an avid reader. He particularly enjoyed just getting in his car and driving - near or far, it didn’t really matter. Except for Alaska and most of the southern states, he made friends along the way and took many pictures.

Dean is survived by his wife, Linda (Lemke), brother Gary and wife Cheryl (Wilson), niece Carie (Moran) and Gabriel Maxwell, and niece Jamie (Moran) and Andrew Savage. He has eight great-nieces and great-nephews: Gracie-Mae, Gabriella, Gavin, Gannon, Jacob, Benjamin, Amos, and Jonah. He also has been lucky to have a “second family” of extremely close friends: Scott Whipple of Pittsburgh, PA and the large Hupp clan of Tucson, AZ. He was predeceased by his parents, Earle and Erma Moran, his uncle Harold (Woody) Woodruff and aunt Myrle (Nichols) Woodruff. He is proud of his ancestry through his mother’s line of the Brown family of Jericho, VT. In lieu of flowers, Vermont donations can be made in his name to the UVM Respite House in Colchester, VT; the Essex Art League in Essex Junction, VT; or the Milton Artists’ Guild in Milton, VT. Tucson donations can be made to Live Theater Workshop (3222 East Fort Lowell Road, Tucson, 85716) or the Tucson Botanical Gardens (2150 North Alvernon Way, Tucson, 85712).

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18

19

20

21

23

24 26

50 Brain-enhancing device

used by Professor X 53 ___-weekly 55 Tear 58 Suffix with cyclo59 ___ Love, Utah’s first Black congressperson 60 Steely Dan, e.g.

61 Close relative, briefly 62 ___ and leaves 63 Was brought back out for airing 64 Notoriously difficult chem class 65 Wheel track 66 “The little woman who wrote the book that started this great war,” as Lincoln supposedly said 67 Structure put together by a crane 68 Car trip pastime

3

14

48 Certain still-life figures

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42 Kind of wrench

2

28 34

35

43

46

40 44

30

31

32

41

48

50 56

29

45

47

55

13

36

39

42

12

25

27

38

11

22

33 37

10

51

57

49

52

53

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

The spinners?

What the Avengers do 4 “His Master’s Voice” co.

5 Popular hot sauce 6 Up to now 7 Reddish-brown 8 Blvds.

9 Bagel topping 10 Ice cream container 11 Father of, in Arabic 12 Feeling in the room 13 Prefix with tourist 21 Derek Walcott’s “Omeros,” for one 22 1950s prez 25 Opportunity for a service break 27 Renaissance artist Albrecht 29 Steak ___ 30 Eleven plus two and twelve plus one, e.g.

31 It’s south of Leb. 2

3

54

What one is known for, informally 34 Daisy Mae’s man, in old comics 35 Scrappy-___ (cartoon dog) 37 Some toy batteries 38 Cousin of a club 40 Dance featuring jerky arm movements 43 “Well played!”

45 Exultant cry 47 “Life of Pi” director 49 Goof 51 French 101 verb 52 Naval jails 54 Delectable 55 Type of animal fat 56 In favor of 57 Bone-chilling 60 Salk and Pepper, in brief 61 Sixth U.S. president vis-àvis the second, e.g.

62 Illusionist Geller 32

Worship Guide

24

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