Tucson Weekly, Feb. 18, 2021 by Tucson Weekly

CURRENTS: STATE CUTS BACK PIMA COUNTY’S VACCINE DOSES, AGAIN

FEB. 18 - 24, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

SPRING

ARTS

Museums, galleries, theatre troupes and more are bouncing back from a rough year MUSIC: XIXA’s New Recording CHOW: Cook with Janos DANEHY: Some Remedial Education for Trump Fans

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FEB. 18, 2021

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FEB. 18, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 7

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STAFF

CONTENTS CURRENTS

With limited vaccine supply, minority and low-income residents of Pima County face challenges

CHOW

Legendary local chef Janos Wilder launches new website, Janos Cooks, to upgrade your recipe knowledge

MUSIC

XIXA solidify their sound on their sophomore album Genesis

SPECIAL SECTION

Creative Class

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

EDITOR’S NOTE

THIS PANDEMIC HAS BEEN difficult for many people, from restaurant

owners to schoolchildren and their parents. But one sector especially hammered is the arts, particularly the performing arts. But as we move into 2021, we are starting to see a rebound, with galleries and museums reopening their doors—typically with COVID restrictions—and theater companies trying creative ways to bring us productions. Longtime arts writer Margaret Regan looks at how artists and their allies are getting things off the ground in this week’s Spring Arts Preview, while associate editor Jeff Gardner tells you what’s up at the virtual Tucson Festival of Books and some other literary events in the coming months. Elsewhere in the book this week: Staff reporter Nicole Ludden continues her coverage of COVID with the good news that the state’s cases are in decline, but the bad news that the state has again cut Pima County’s vaccination supply and there are real challenges in getting the vaccine to minorities and low-income

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

residents; columnist Tom Danehy sets out to school some people are who struggling with Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election; managing editor Austin Counts catches up with legendary local chef Janos Wilder, who has a new website with tips to help you make a meal pop when you’re cooking at home (and I can’t wait to try Janos’ Chewy Thai Honey and Spice Spare Ribs recipe included in this issue); associate editor Jeff Gardner catches up with XIXA as they release a new album; Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott looks at how the Arizona Legislature is grappling with how to determine if someone is high while driving; and there’s plenty more in our 32 pages this week, so dig in and enjoy. Stay safe and we’ll see you next week! — Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Nintz talk about the latest on the outbreak and other news at 8:30 Wednesday mornings on The Frank Show on KLPX, 91.1 FM.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

Spring Arts 2021: What galleries, theatre troupes, and books festivals are showcasing in the coming months

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 Nicole Ludden, Staff Reporter, Ext. 42 nicolel@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. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). The Tucson Weekly® and Best of Tucson® are registered trademarks of 10/13 Communications. Back issues of the Tucson Weekly are available for $1 each plus postage for the current year. Publisher has the right to refuse any advertisement at his or her discretion.

TUCSON WEEDLY

DUI bill seeks to undermine intent of Prop 207

Cover image: “Super Moon Rising” by Alexandria Winslow is on display at Jane Hamilton Fine Art

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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FEB. 18, 2021

index (SVI) to determine which specific census tracts—or subdivisions of counties—would be most impacted by an emergency event, including a disease outbreak. The index takes into account factors such as socioeconomic status, minority status and With limited vaccine supply, minority and low-income residents of Pima County face challenges housing type. The latest SVI map, created to help communities’ most at-risk groups in times of crisis, By Nicole Ludden in terms of their age, ethnicity and low inshows Pima County has an SVI score of 0.87. come. According to Huckelberry’s memo, this nicolel@tucsonlocalmedia.com The scores range from 0 to 1, with a score of 1 includes “communities with the highest rate PIMA COUNTY’S VACCINE indicated the highest vulnerable. of COVID-19 infection and mortality, those allocation from the state has been cut once The Arizona Department of Health Serwho live in [Housing and Urban Developagain, making it even more difficult to reach vices’ most recent COVID-19 vaccination plan ment] housing, those who are disabled, and the populations who need it most. lists the populations most at risk for contractthose who live in census tracts with a high This week, the county’s vaccine supply was social vulnerability.” ing COVID-19 based on their SVI, noting they decreased to 16,300 doses of Moderna, down should be “considered for sub-prioritization To reach these populations, the county from the 17,850 doses of Moderna and Pfizer plans to run mobile vaccination clinics operat- throughout all phases.” allocated last week. These populations include racial and ethnic ed by the county, Tucson Medical Center, The state is now controlling all Pfizer minority groups, rural populations, those enPremier Medical Group and home-based allocations with little insight into how many rolled in the state Medicaid system and those vaccinators. will be distributed to vaccinators. Additionally, who don’t speak English. The county is also relying on community vaccines given to Pima County’s new stateBut the state’s current vaccine distribution health centers such as MHC Healthcare in run Point of Distribution at the University of plan is making it difficult to reach these comMarana, United Community Health Centers Arizona is coming off the top of the county’s munities in Pima County, which has a high and Desert Senita who run their own vaccitotal allocation. nations to reach residents on the periphery of SVI— a factor ADHS claims it considers when According to a Feb. 12 memo from County allocating doses. the county. Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, the UA Pima County is using mobile vaccination Tier three includes the second doses POD will receive 2,000 Moderna vaccines this needed to provide complete immunization, events and utilizing community health cenweek. ters to reach disadvantaged populations, but tier four contains first doses for those 70 and The county’s vaccination network can these efforts have been halted by this week’s older and others in the 1B priority group, tier supply 8,000 vaccines a day, but doses from reduced supply of vaccines. five includes extending vaccinations to the the state have averaged 3,600 a day, HuckelThe mobile sites are intended to reach 65+ population and tier six focuses on the berry said. “disadvantaged populations where income, state-operated site at UA. In order to carefully manage a constrained ethnicity, age, access to transportation, access Pima County’s limited vaccine supply will vaccine supply that will reach the most vulbe distributed in this order, but the amount of to computers and the internet make these disnerable populations first, the county has now available vaccine falls far behind the need for advantaged populations more vulnerable to adopted a new tiered approach as part of its severe outcomes if they contract COVID-19,” them, especially in vulnerable accelerated vaccination plan. according to Huckelberry’s memo. communities. The six tiers outline the priority order for On Feb. 6, the county piloted its first mobile vaccine recipients. Tier one includes assisted vaccination clinic at St. John’s Evangelist LIMITED VACCINE SUPPLY living facilities that weren’t enrolled in the UNDERMINES COUNTY’S EFFORTS TO Church and provided 511 vaccines to the federal program administering vaccines targeted population. According to the memo, REACH AT-RISK POPULATIONS through local pharmacies. As of Feb. 12, Huck72% of the doses went to Hispanic individuals. elberry said 21 of 83 facilities not enrolled in Ethnic minorities and members of rural LONG BEFORE THE FIRST CASE OF the federal program have had their residents communities are some of the most at-risk COVID-19 was discovered in the United vaccinated by the county. States, the CDC created a social vulnerability populations when contracting COVID-19 for Tier two represents vulnerable populations a variety of historical inequities that include a

CURRENTS

UNEQUAL ACCESS

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lack of access to healthcare. Baruch Fischhoff, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon who studies expert’s decision making, was part of the committee that wrote the “Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine,” a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. After a request from the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Academies put together the report by a committee of health experts to inform policymakers on what priorities should be considered to ensure an equitable distribution of the vaccine. “It turns out that the science shows that poor communities and underrepresented minorities, which includes not only Latinx, but rural white people —there are groups in our society that get poorer health care, and as a result are more likely to get sick,” Fischhoff said. “They work in jobs where they can’t telecommute, so they’re out and about, it means they’re more likely to get the disease and they’re more likely to transmit it to others.” In Pima County, ADHS data shows 37% of diagnosed COVID-19 cases have been in Hispanic or Latino residents. Pima County’s population is 38% Hispanic. However, reaching these at-risk communities is a plight becoming significantly hindered by a lack of vaccine supply. While the state allocates vaccines to counties based on its estimate of the population eligible to receive them, they don’t seem to take into account other socioeconomic factors that may be greater in certain counties. According to ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ, the state uses data from the U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics and “other reliable sources” to estimate the number of healthcare workers, educators and childcare providers, protective services workers and those 65 and older—which comprise the qualifying groups the majority of counties are vaccinating. CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

FEB. 18, 2021

CURRENTS

COURTESY GRAPHIC

The seven-day moving average of Arizona’s COVID-19 cases by date of test collection from March 1 to Feb. 7, 2021.

HEALTHY TREND

Arizona’s COVID cases decline for fourth straight week, but numbers remain high By Nicole Ludden nicolel@tucsonlocalmedia.com

WITH THE FOURTH WEEK IN A row of declining COVID-19 cases in Pima County, Arizona has evolved from a state of “crisis” to one of “elevated risk,” according to Dr. Joe Gerald, a University of Arizona professor who creates weekly coronavirus epidemiology reports based on Arizona Department of Health Services data. According to Gerald’s latest report, the week ending Feb. 7 saw a 35% decrease in coronavirus cases from the week prior. The amount of COVID-19 patients in the state’s general ward beds decreased by 25% the week of Feb. 12 from the week before,

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while ICU bed usage dropped 17%, according to Gerald. “With continued improvements being forecast over the next 4 weeks, hospital capacity is adequate to meet Arizona’s most critical needs,” the professor wrote in the report. “Nevertheless, it will be many months before the backlog of non-COVID care can be fully addressed.” In Pima County, the week ending Feb. 7 saw a 33% drop from the previous week, Gerald reports. Furthermore, for the first time in 2021, two of the indicators on Pima County’s COVID-19 progress report, which tracks key epidemiological factors to make recommendations to business schools, have

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improved. Adequate hospital capacity and timely case investigation metrics have moved from the “not met” to “progress” category. Timely case investigation tracks how long it takes for the county’s case investigators to reach an individual who’s tested positive for COVID-19 after they’re diagnosed. Cases over two consecutive weeks, percent positivity for the virus and the predominance of COVID-19-like illness remain in the “criteria not met” category. Although hospitals are seeing a slight reprieve, they remain under pressure, according to Pima County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen. “At the same time [hospital availability] moved to yellow, we also do note that today is the 100th day when we have had less than 10% availability in our ICU beds as well as our general medical-surgical beds, those are our adult beds,” Cullen said at a press conference on Friday. “So at the same time, while we have some movement in the right direction, we remain concerned about our hospitalization.” According to the latest Pima County data, the last four weeks have seen 7,100 COVID-19 cases the week beginning Jan. 10, 5,288 cases the week of Jan. 17, 3,777 cases the week of Jan. 24 and 2,490 cases from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6. Hospitalizations have also decreased in these four weeks, with 355 reported the week of Jan. 10, 286 the week of Jan. 17, 239 the week of Jan. 24 and 139 the week of Jan. 31. In the same four-week timeframe, the county reported 165, 170, 98 and 53 coronavirus deaths respectively. While COVID-19 statistics appear to be declining, the transmission of the virus throughout the county is consistent with its summer peak in cases, according to Gerald. The professor says resuming “lower risk” activities won’t be reasonable until COVID-19 cases fall below 100 new cases

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per 100,000 of the population. Arizona is seeing about 250 new cases per 100,000 residents a week. Arizona holds the 14th highest rate for transmission in the country, according to the CDC. Gerald says the state is the 6th hardest hit in terms of identified cases. The professor reports the week of Jan. 17 remains Arizona’s deadliest at 995 reported COVID-19 deaths, and deaths will remain high for the next four to six weeks. According to ADHS, three cases of the COVID-19 variant first discovered in the UK have been discovered in the state. While none of the more contagious mutations have been found in Pima County, Cullen said the county is sending 50 to 75 test samples a week to the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) lab, which is partnering with the state to identify the variants. “We are helping the state collect samples from other laboratories in the county to make sure that we can have early eyes on any variants. I will tell you that as of now, we have not had any variation reported to us,” Cullen said. “TGen did just get a large sample this week and we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything about that.” Approximately 4% of Arizonans have received the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine needed to be considered fully immunized. However, Pima County’s vaccine supply has been significantly limited. While Gerald said another influx of coronavirus cases is possible this spring, those most at-risk for severe outcomes will have been vaccinated. “While I believe this current outbreak will be Arizona’s largest, a smaller wave is possible this spring. However, the spring wave will pose a lesser threat as most at risk of hospitalization and death will have been vaccinated,” Gerald said. “Of course, major viral mutations remain a concern as well as the duration of immunity. However, the short-term outlook remains favorable.” ■

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DANEHY SOME REMEDIAL MATH, CIVICS AND BIOLOGY LESSONS FOR THE TRUMP CROWD By Tom Danehy, tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com THINGS ARE GETTING CRAZY around here; we need to calm everything down a bit. One thing I think people on both sides of the Greatest-Ever Divide will agree on is the need for quality education. MATH: We’ll start with the basics: 81 million is more than 74 million. Now, to be sure, 74 million is a big number, but it’s LESS THAN 81 million. In fact, it’s a full seven million less than 81 million. On top of that (and this goes for everybody on KNST radio, from early in the morning ’til late at night), 74 million is NOT 75 million. It’s 74 million. You don’t get to round up. You don’t get to pretend that there were phantom votes. And you damn sure don’t want to piss off those Dominion or Smartmatic voting machine folks because they’ll sue you and make you backtrack in a most humiliating manner. (Just ask Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, and the entire Newsmax network.) What really bothers me about this is that Rush Limbaugh engages in the nonsense even though he has two good reasons not to. First off, before he became the world’s most-successful radio liar, he was working in the world of sports. Anybody involved in sports has to learn how to lose. It’s part

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

of the game. Nobody likes to lose, but you can’t be a sore loser. If your team didn’t make it to the Super Bowl this year, there’s another one next year. And if your party didn’t win the election last year, there’s another election next year. There’s no way Limbaugh believes that the election was stolen, but some (most?) of his dumbass listeners believe it when he says it was. He should be using the loss as incentive to work harder to win next year’s elections. Limbaugh is ill. If I’m staring Death in the face, I don’t think I would be throwing out a steady stream of lies, especially little, silly ones. It’s not like you can get to the Pearly Gates and slip St. Peter 20 bucks and get in to see the Backstreet Boys in their heavenly reunion. But Limbaugh, on numerous occasions, has said, “(In the 2020 election), we had 75, 80, maybe more million people vote for Donald Trump…” No, you didn’t. It was not 75 or 80 or maybe more. It was 74. • ENGLISH: For those who like making death threats against President Obama online, remember a human being is “hanged.” “Hung” is what you did with your picture of Hitler on the wall.

• SOCIAL STUDIES: In this class, we’ll learn that while Communism is crap and doomed to failure, there are lots and lots of democratic socialist countries where the people are free and happy with their government and their lives. Then, in the second semester, we’ll learn that (gasp!) some of the most popular programs in the United States (Medicare, Social Security) are actually of a socialist nature. • CIVICS: There should be some kind of requirement that if somebody is going to storm the Capitol of the United States or show up outside the place where votes are being counted, armed to the teeth and screaming about the Constitution, they should be able to pass a third-grade-level test on the document. Seriously, you see these crazed Clampetts on TV, screaming about the Constitution and you just know that they couldn’t pick that document out of a lineup of one. And it’s not just them; it’s almost all Americans. About a decade ago, I attended a Tea Party rally at the Kino baseball complex. In retrospect, it seems almost quaint: A bunch of unarmed people who peacefully gathered to protest a government program that offered expanded health-care opportunities to people who previously couldn’t afford it. I walked around that day and asked people how many amendments there are to the Constitution. I probably asked 50 people and not one person got it right (although several people’s guesses were

close). One woman said 12, which would mean that Black people are still slaves. A guy was certain that there are 55. Probably not even 5% of Americans know that there are 27 Amendments. I’m guessing that the percentage is even lower among people who stormed the Capitol. • BUSINESS/ECONOMICS: If local TV station Channel 11 doesn’t want to air reruns of My Mother, The Car, that’s not censorship. It’s a business decision guided by the economic principle of not wanting to go broke. Likewise, it’s not censorship when a private company (say, Twitter, for example) doesn’t want its business platform being used by knuckleheads who want to spread seditious lies in hopes of starting deadly riots. Freedom of speech (which does have legal limits) is a huge part of what makes America the greatest country of all time. When government attempts to go beyond those limits in an effort to curtail free speech, that’s censorship. When a business decides not to pass along obvious lies and inflammatory speech designed to incite violence, that’s not censorship. That’s commerce. • BIOLOGY: Much to the chagrin of some people in this country, science has proven once and for all that black people are the same as white people. And, for the record, so are Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders. In fact, it’s hard for some people to tell them all apart, because they all just sorta look like Americans. ■

FEB. 18, 2021

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

When given its federal allocation, the state first deducts the first and second doses needed for the federal pharmacy program supplying vaccines to long-term care facilities. The state then determines how many second doses each county needs to match the number of first doses they’ve administered. For Pfizer, they match first doses given three weeks ago, and for Moderna, the state matches doses given four weeks ago, according to Christ. The number of first doses each county receives depends on its population of eligible recipients determined by the state. But as the state has acknowledged itself, certain populations are at an increased risk for contracting COVID-19. The latest ADHS vaccination plan includes a map with the areas of the highest SVI scores based on four related areas: socioeconomics, housing composition and disability, racial and ethnic minority groups, and housing and transportation. “County health departments will utilize this map layer to identify communities that may have groups of socially vulnerable populations and need additional outreach and services,” the state vaccination plan says. While the state health department puts some of the onus on counties to ensure vulnerable communities receive access to the vaccine, counties with higher populations of the socially vulnerable lack the vaccine to reach them. “If the counties were otherwise equal in terms of the risk factors, then allocating according to the population would be ethically appropriate and efficient. But what if they’re not? What if a county is particularly wealthy?” Fischhoff from the National Academies report said. “If the counties are different, then allocating according to population, per se, would violate these ethical principles.” U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ03) said he’s advocating for national agencies to make other considerations besides population when allocating vaccine. “I am making the case to [Health and Human Services] and the COVID-19 taskforce that considerations besides population should be considered in state allocations,” he said. “Arizona has been devastated by the pandemic and frequently ranked as one of the worst outbreaks in the country, if not the world. Things like infection rate, hospitalizations and disproportionate impacts on minority communities should get an enhanced response.” After hearing of this week’s reduced

had lower rates of high connectivity than households with a White or Asian householder,” but Black and Hispanic households had a higher rate of households with only smartphones available for internet access. “It’s always been critical to reach minority populations, and I believe that Pima County understands that. We are seeing what decades of disparate health access creates. In order to have an equitable response to COVID in this nation, we must have an enhanced response to address the disparities,” Grijalva said. “Not only do we need to logistically get more vaccines into these areas, but we have to build confidence in the communities around the process itself— to assure it’s safe, effective and that they won’t suffer some form of retribution for receiving a vaccine. If we fail parts of our community, we will suffer as a whole. There is no place of politics in this response.” STATE-RUN PODS COULD FURTHER HINDER COUNTY’S REACH TO AT-RISK POPULATIONS BOTH CULLEN AND HUCKELBERRY have expressed concerns that the addition of a state-run site at UA that’s set to operate Thursday could widen the vaccine disparity gap. The existing state-run locations in Maricopa county—one at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale that opened on Jan. 11 and a second at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium

SORENSEN

UNEQUAL ACCESS

supply, the county canceled its second mobile vaccination event that would have been held Feb. 13 at a location “designed to serve the African American community,” according to Huckelberry’s memo. The county administrator said the county hopes to operate two mobile vaccination sites a week to reach disadvantaged communities, but it’s unclear if this will be possible with the current vaccine supply. According to County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen, the next mobile vaccination site may launch on Feb. 20. “The second approach to [the tiered plan] is really this vulnerable and disadvantaged population….We’ve been working on that for about the past month with the recognition that while shots in arms is what matters, what really matters at the end of this is that we make sure we try to address and improve the inequities that have historically existed not only in our communities but throughout the nation,” Cullen said. “What we do envision is making another clinic scheduled for a week from this Saturday, (Feb. 20), and continuing to work with this population to make sure we get vaccine delivered at the point of care.” The county’s mobile vaccination efforts targeted a large population of those without computer access, who have a lack of transportation or who speak a different language than English. Now that the county is having to cut back its mobile vaccine events, the disadvantaged populations who rely on them could experience even more difficulties in their attempts to receive a vaccine. “A prime example is that right now, the online state registration for the vaccine is not available in Spanish. Another issue is internet access. We know those without access tend to be low-income and minority,” Grijalva said. “Those who got the initial doses of the vaccine were the more affluent populations that could watch for spots to open and register online. Without addressing these issues, we are adding a layer of discrimination to a health system already riddled with disparities.” The state rolled out a Spanish-version of its vaccine registration site Monday night and the county’s vaccine registration call line is available for Spanish speakers. However, without the mobile vaccination centers that bring vaccines directly to vulnerable populations, internet access remains a key issue. According to the latest census data, 84% of Arizonans have a broadband internet subscription. However, a 2016 study from American Community Surveys reported, “households with a Black and Hispanic householder

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that opened Feb. 1—had distributed 260,195 doses as of Tuesday. Data released by ADHS shows 62% percent of vaccines at the PODs were given to white residents, while 4% were given to Hispanic or Latino residents. Maricopa County’s population is 31% Hispanic, while the entire state is 32% Hispanic, according to the latest census data. However, 29% of vaccine recipients’ ethnicities were marked as “unknown” at the state-run PODs. While Pima County has distributed vaccines to community health centers and held pop-up vaccination events to reach less privileged populations, these groups could become more isolated if the UA POD follows the same trends as the ones in Maricopa. “The concerning news is that I know that our large PODs, the state PODs, can contribute to that inequity. It behooves us and really requires us to figure out how to ensure that we are getting vaccine at the point of care to the population that is most at risk,” Cullen said. “Some of this is related to the time that PODs are open, some of it’s related to the fact that it’s a drive-thru, there’s not a bus, you can’t take Sun Tran and go through one of the PODs. So we, in a sense, automatically have created difficulties for certain subpopulations that we know are most at risk for morbidity and mortality...I worry about any large POD contributing to equity as opposed to ameliorating it.” ■

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FEB. 18, 2021

you use his trick of the trade. “Ribs are kind of big and bulky, right? If you’re going to get them fully marinated, you’ve got to have a lot more marinade than you actually need,” Wilder said. “There’s a tip in here about putting them in a gallon-sized ziplock bag with the marinade and flipping the bag every so often. The ribs will stay fully immersed without having to overmake the marinade.” Wilder’s recipe for Thai Honey + Spice Spare Ribs is perfect for the oven as well as the grill, said the chef. ■

CHOW

To find out more or sign up for classes, check out janoscooks.com CHEWY THAI HONEY + SPICE SPARE RIBS Yield: 4 large portions Ingredients: TIM FULLER

TASTY THAI

Legendary local chef Janos Wilder launches new website, Janos Cooks, to provide kitchen tips By Austin Counts austin@tucsonlocalmedia.com

1 Cup honey 1/4 Cup Thai thin soy sauce 1/4 Cup White wine 2 TBSP Ginger, finely grated 1 TBSP Sesame oil 2 tsp Pepper 1 TBSP Cinnamon 1 tsp Grated nutmeg 3 pounds Baby Back Ribs

the kitchen. Wilder said his classes are much more than learning how to properly read and prepare a recipe, it’s Procedure: about showing why certain ingredients • Whisk the honey with all the soy, work together. wine, ginger, sesame oil, pepper, BY THIS POINT IN THE PANDEMIC, “The goal is that you’ll learn not only cinnamon and nutmeg to thoroughly it’s safe to say most of us are probably a series of recipes but why those recitired of tasting our home cooking and pes work,” Wilder said. “I want people eating out of to-go containers. to think like a chef.” Tucson’s Godfather of the farm-toThe Tucson City of Gastronomy table movement, Janos Wilder, said he president said he created the recipe for developed his new online video series his chewy Thai spare ribs after studyto help household chefs learn restauing the cuisine of another UNESCO rant secrets to enhance their everyday designated sister city of gastronomy, meals and cocktails. Phuket, Thailand. “Everybody has been sitting at home “I just did a deep dive into it involvfor about a year now and have used ing a lot of testing and tasting. We up all the recipes they’re familiar with developed this recipe out of doing a lot months and months ago,” Wilder said. of studying,” Wilder said. “We connect“I thought, ‘Well, let’s just create a ed with representatives from our sister whole repertoire of not too difficult rec- city of gastronomy to get their input on ipes for the home cook that will spice how we were doing it.” up their mealtime, teach a few new This recipe is pretty straightforward, skills and have some fun doing it.’” but using pork spare ribs instead of Each of the 11 recipes on Janos beef yields better results and could reCooks comes complete with knife quire making a considerable amount of skills instructions and the finer points marinade to fully coat the ribs—unless of setting yourself up for success in

combine. • Place the ribs in ziplock bags and cover with the marinade. Marinade 4 hours or up to overnight. Turn bag occasionally to distribute the marinade evenly. • Save the marinade after removing the ribs from the bag to baste the ribs every 15 minutes or so while they cool. TO COOK RIBS IN THE OVEN: • Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees • Line a sheet pan with foil and spray the foil with spray release. • Space the rib racks on the foiled sheet pan and bake 1 ½ hours, turning the racks over and rotating the sheet pan once or twice so they cook evenly • After 2 hours, increase the temperature to 300 degrees. Brush ribs with the honey mixture, until the ribs have a lacquered, mahogany surface and the meat is tender with some chewiness, but not falling off the bone. This will take an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour. • Remove ribs, cool and portion, ½ # per portion TO COOK RIBS ON THE GRILL: • Heat ribs on the cooler side of grill, turning once. • When the ribs are hot, remove them from the grill, cut into individual riblets, pile on a plate, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve. If you do not have a grill, serve the ribs hot out of the oven.

JACKIE TRAN FOR TUCSON FOODIE

FEB. 18, 2021

MUSIC

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SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS XIXA solidify their sound on their sophomore album Genesis By Jeff Gardner jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com

TUCSON’S XIXA HAVE AN EXPERT grasp on the disorienting borderlands they call home. The psychedelic sextet maps the “New Southwest” with their unique fusion of cumbia, desert rock, tejano and gothic aesthetics. And while their debut album Bloodline captured the physical elements of the borderlands, their new album Genesis captures the metaphysical. This is clear from the album artwork. Whereas 2016’s Bloodline features a dusky desert landscape, Genesis removes the physicality, instead opting for a dark mandala of alchemy symbols, occult references, UFOs and mysticism. The place Sonoran outlaws once roamed now houses ghosts and portals. But this is not to say Genesis is intangible, in fact, it’s the most complete XIXA has ever sounded. “The main difference between Bloodline and Genesis is that we were so much more comfortable as a band. We knew how to work with each other,” says vocal-

ist and guitarist Gabriel Sullivan. “Those first sessions were just a month of writing and sketching. By the end of it, there were 25 tracks we had sketched out. From there, Brian [Lopez] and I went in and honed each song, restructured them, put the icing on the cake… To me, this is the finest representation we’ve come up with so far for what our band is and what we represent. It’s the most focused we’ve all been in creating a record.” XIXA began recording the album in 2018 at their own Dust & Stone Recording Studio here in Tucson. Sullivan says those sessions would sometimes see the band recording eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, detailing the minutiae of every track. Guitarist and vocalist Brian Lopez says the band was still trying to solidify their sound on their first album—at that time only recently forming XIXA from the cover band Chicha Dust. However, that early “stumbling around” and “pushing and pulling each other’s musical tastes” was ironed out over years of touring, including an invitation to SXSW. Going into Genesis, their style was honed.

“Those sessions, there were times when all of us were in the room, or just two or three,” Lopez said. “Sometimes it would start with an idea Gabe or myself brought in, and we’d work on it. Or, we’d just pull it out of thin air if we were inspired. Luckily, we found out that was a good flow for us.” Lopez and Sullivan were joined by Jason Urman on the keyboard, Winston Watson on the drums, Efrén Cruz Chávez on timbales and additional percussion, and Hikit Corbel on bass. The album’s lead single, “Genesis of Gaea,” features a dark yet surfy guitar line fit inside their signature Latin American rhythms. For how driving it is, the track has a real sense of space. Sullivan’s smoky voice only adds to that expanse as he cryptically sings, “Sweet little child, there’s no place for you here / They’re onto you now, yes the walls are closing in / You curse the design, and her devious sleight of hand / Like water from wine, placed back in the land.” One of the largest differences on Genesis is the greater role of electronic instruments, a fusion hinted at on their 2019 EP The Code, written during the same sessions. Tracks like “Soma”—a clear standout on the album—begin as a noisy rock track before turning inside out into a march of shimmering phasers, busy effects and soaring vocal harmonies not unlike the Flaming Lips. In many ways, the increased electronics reflect the album’s aesthetic, moving away from the grounded desert styles in favor of ethereal layering. “In my mind, when we’re in the production mode, the acoustic and woodwind instruments definitely represent earth and sand and a grounded style. And by adding these electronic elements, it takes the music to where it becomes otherworldly and goes beyond that traditional songwriting mindset,” Sullivan said. “We really honed that in on Genesis.” Frontmen Lopez and Sullivan each have deep solo catalogs (Sullivan having released the great Black Crow in 2019), and say their personal music influences and inspires XIXA as well. However, rather than sticking to the solo singer/ songwriter template, XIXA instead performs like a “jam band getting high on Diá de Los Muertos.” “Brian and I, in our solo songs, we might be leaning more toward direct lyrical content and story-based songs. But writing together, we quickly realized

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

that with XIXA we were making these more open-ended songs with a certain aesthetic and imagery,” Sullivan said. Genesis also features a variety of guest performers, including Greenland’s Uummannaq Children’s Choir and the African quintet Imarhan (also featured on Bloodline), who transform the track “Eve of Agnes” into frantic, tribal groove jumping between hushed vocals and hypnotic chants. “Having our own studio, we have so much at our disposal,” Lopez said. “We know how to get so many different sounds it’s actually important for us to put a cap on the spectrum of sounds we want to go for, otherwise it gets too overwhelming. Gabe is like a sponge. He’ll come in and know how to do something after looking at a tutorial for a few seconds and run with it. And I’ve found my job is to let Gabe go, until it goes too far, and then we find that sweet spot.” Due to COVID, the album’s release was postponed twice. However, this allowed them to reflect on the album as a whole, and they wound up reordering some of the tracklist. According to Sullivan, the album was “100% structured as a vinyl” and the band used that physical format as their “north star” when deciding the track listing. As such, the A side ends with the warping “Soma,” and immediately picks up the energy with “Eve of Agnes” opening the B side. Lopez says in the Genesis sessions, the band wanted to push what their songwriting was, and looking back, even what the Americana style can be. Needless to say, they succeeded. If Americana is a group of musicians sitting in a circle and sharing songs on the acoustic guitar, XIXA turn those instruments into a bonfire and dance around the flames while howling at the night sky. ■

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

FEB. 18, 2021

SPRING ARTS 

Tucson Local Media STAFF ADMINISTRATION Jason Joseph, President/Publisher jjoseph@ azlocalmedia.com 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 Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, Ext. 10 sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, Ext. 38 jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Austin Counts, Managing Editor, Ext. 37, austin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Associate Editor Ext. 43, jeff@ tucsonlocalmedia.com Nicole Ludden Staff Reporter, Ext. 42, nicolel@tucsonlocalmedia.com Margaret Regan Contributing Writer PRODUCTION David Abbott, Production Manager, Ext. 18 david@tucsonlocalmedia.com Ryan Dyson, Graphic Designer, Ext. 28 ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com Emily Filener, Graphic Designer, Ext. 28, emilyf@tucsonlocalmedia.com

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e’ve

missed so much of Tucson’s rich and vibrant arts community over the last year, from opening receptions at small galleries to big parties on the Tucson Museum of Art patio, from productions at the Temple of Music and Art to raucous concerts at the Rialto, Fox or Club Congress. While COVID has taken its toll since it started shutting down our town last March, we are seeing green shoots pop up as our artists and performers find a way to bring us new work. In our Spring Arts Preview, longtime arts writer Margaret Regan tells us about how local galleries, museums and theaters have adapted to the pandemic, while associate editor Jeff Gardner gives us a heads up on what’s happening on the literary front. (While we’ll miss the in-person Festival of Books, there’s a virtual one coming up in a few weeks!) After spending the last year cooped up, there’s a lot on the horizon that we’re looking forward to in the next few months. As Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” These days, who isn’t feeling pretty dusty? Jim Nintzel Executive Editor

VISUAL ARTS AND GALLERIES THEATRE SPRING ARTS FESTIVALS BOOKS

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Spring Arts 2021

STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD Tucson’s galleries and museums offer art, if not parties, this spring By Margaret Regan Special to Tucson Local Media

ast year around this time I was cheerfully writing about the great upcoming art exhibitions, dance concerts and plays scheduled for the spring: paintings at the UA’s Joseph Gross gallery by a talented young Liberian refugee; a modern dance in Reid Park by the up-andcoming Hawkinsdance troupe; and an Irish play by acclaimed playwright Martin McDonagh at the Rogue Theatre. I didn’t see any of them. They were all shut down by the coronavirus pandemic. Things are getting better now, we hope. The vaccine has arrived and this miracle drug just may bring us back to life—eventually. Meantime, the arts in Tucson are staging a sort-of come back. It’s been tough, but galleries, curators, theater directors, musicians and dancers are using their creativity to keep the arts going. Most of the active theaters are putting their plays and other events online, though some have ventured into doing in-person plays, with the numbers of audience members limited. Some museums and galleries have gone totally online, staging exhibitions you can check out safely on your computer at home. The venues that have opened have moved carefully, with eyes on safety and strict pandemic protocols. If you want to go a gallery or museum, here’s what you have to do: wear a mask, practice social distancing by staying away from others,

and plaster your hands with the sanitizer that is supplied. The Tucson Museum of Art and some others also require ticketed timed entry to keep the number of visitors lower than usual. And you may find the ticket taker who greets you is behind a plexiglass shield. A final tip before you set out to look at art or buy a theater ticket: call ahead, because COVID. After all, as John Lennon said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. VISUAL ART VENUES THAT ARE OPEN Terry Etherton, proprietor of the 40-yearold Etherton Gallery downtown, is surprisingly cheerful in a tough time. “I’m doing well,” he says by phone. “I’ve been able to stay in the game.” Etherton, whose gallery is the best outlet in the city for modern and contemporary art, has had good success selling work online during the pandemic. And he has just been awarded his second Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government, a program to keep small business afloat during the crisis. The program got hefty criticism when multi-million dollar companies pocketed piles of money, but it’s been a boon to arts enterprises and other small businesses. Etherton got $48,000 that is to be used strictly for rent, utilities and payroll. If he sticks to those rules, the loan is forgiven. “That covers everything for two months,” he says. “That’s huge.”

That’s not the only good thing happening at Etherton. It’s been open since the summer and mounted several quality exhibitions. The gallery just finished up an exhibition of Tom Kiefer’s work: exquisite photos of migrant belongings that were stolen by Border Patrol. And he’s opening a new photos show this week. Photography is the gallery’s specialty, and For the Record: Documentary Photographs from the Etherton Gallery Archive will be pulled from their own holdings. The photos are by giants the field, the likes of Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Bernice Abbott, Lee Friedlander. A new Danny Lyon portfolio will also be on view. Etherton is renowned for its opening receptions, packed with crowds and thick with conversations. Not this year, not this time. There will be no party. Every day, new show or not, no more than 10 visitors are allowed in the gallery at one time. Open regular hours, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. 135 S. Sixth Ave.; 624-7370; ethertongallery.com. Free. Nearby, MOCA-Tucson is this art city’s museum for cutting-edge work. It re-opened months ago with a show that is apt for the times: Working from Home: New Commissions from Tucson. It’s still up through March 28. Five artists have work in the Great Hall, a giant room that handily deals with social distancing. One of the artists, Miguel Fernández de Castro, made

Alexandria Winslow ”Super Moon Rising” is on display at Jane Hamilton Fine Art an exact replica of a gate that allows free entry between the Tohono O’odham Nation on the U.S. side of the border and Sonora, Mexico, on the other. Raquel Gutiérrez uses texts and images to meditate on El Tiradito, the beloved downtown shrine. A sixth artist, Tucson native Nicole Miller now based in LA, has a piece responding to racial and cultural upheavals. Her laser and sound installation can only be seen from outside, through the museum window. Miller, a Black artist whose career is soaring, made a memorable installation at MOCA several years ago: it chronicled the last day of school in a red brick Tucson school. A new MOCA exhibition, April 10 to Sept. 19, will be the first solo show in the southwest for the renowned Mexican artist Pia

Camil. She will construct a large-scale installation filled with colorful second-hand T-shirts, in a piece that highlights commerce and poverty. MOCA is operating under limited hours, noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, noon to 4 Sunday. 265 S. Church Ave., 624-5019; moca-tucson.org. Free during the pandemic. The Tucson Museum of Art right now is about all things Wyeth. The main galleries are filled with works by the famous family of artists: N.C., Andrew, Jamie and Henriette Wyeth. The thick, colorful paintings by the lesser-known N.C. Wyeth are a delight; as an early 20th century illustrator, he made marvelous oils of pirates and fishermen and Minute Men. The Wyeths’ works are on view until May 28. The museum is also still

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celebrating its new permanent Kasser Family Wing of Latin American Art, featuring everything from pre-Columbian ceramic figures to today’s hard-hitting political artworks. The museum has plenty of space to keep you away from fellow visitors. I’ve found that late in the day you can almost have the place to yourself. Be sure to sign up on the website your timed entry ticket. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday to Sunday. $7 to $12. 140 N. Main Ave. 624-2333; tucsonmuseumofart.org The Tucson Desert Art Museum on the far east side is awash in history these days. Three separate shows document three different western stories. The Dirty Thirties: New Deal Photography Frames the Migrant’s Stories CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Bowl refugees. Buffalo SolTUCSON GALLERIES diers: The 10th Cavalry exCONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 hibits David Laughlin’s condisplays the photos of masters temporary paintings of Black like Dorothea Lange that re- soldiers in the post-Civil War veal the desperation of Dust West. All the Single Ladies:

Spring Arts 2021

Women Pioneers of the American West dismantles misconceptions of the strong unmarried women who went West. The New Deal and the Buffalos Soldiers end June 30. All

the Single Ladies will be up through December. Limited hours 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. $4 to $10. 7000 E. Tanque Verde Road.; 202-3888; tucsondart.org. The Tohono Chul exhibition hall is in an historic house set in a lovely desert garden on the north side. The galleries have been open since the fall; ticketing reduces the numbers of people inside. But if it feels too crowded, you have the luxury to go outside to stroll among the cacti—or get lunch outdoors at the Bistro—and go back to the gallery when it’s emptier. And it you’re staying home these days, you can use your own computer to see a virtual show of the current exhibition, Encompassing Arizona. Courtesy Photo It’s a “rotating, revolving Berenice Abbott, 5th Avenue at 8th Street, Manhattan, March 20, 1936, gelatin silver print © The Estate of Berenice and evolving invitational exhi-

Abbott, on display in For the Record: Documentary Photographs from the Etherton Gallery Archive.

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“Eight Bells” by N.C. Wyeth is on display at the Tucson Museum of Art bition,” curator James Schaub writes. Tohono Chul is known for championing Arizona artists, and Encompassing shows off plenty of them. Schaub has been keeping the ongoing exhibition interesting by changing the pieces in and out. The current version is filled with brightly colored works that cheer the spirit—a nice choice

during a pandemic. John Birmingham has an array of joyful abstractions in acrylic on paper: they’re playful, dance-y paintings in orange, yellow, lavender and red. Nicholas Bernard makes pungently colored earthenware ovals that beg to be held in your hands. (Don’t do it!) They remind me of the late

Rose Cabat’s lauded “feelies.” The Entry Gallery opens PaperWorks: Forming the Effect, Affecting the Form this month. Nine paper artists, including Jo Anderson and C.J. Shane, have created works that reflect on the Sonoran Desert’s extreme drought. Native art and jewelry is on view at the Welcome Gallery. Open seven days a week: gardens open at 8 a.m., the galleries at 9 a.m.; both close at 5 p.m. Admission $6 to $15. 7366 N. Paseo del Norte. 742-6455; tohonochul.org. Arte de la Vida in midtown is busily selling Mexican vintage masks and religious retablos that are beautiful, says co-proprietor James Goodreau. The store has also had a splash with a local artist who paints Frieda Kahlo wearing a mask—with hooks hanging below where you can stash your own masks. But Arte is not staging its usual

Spring Arts 2021

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N. C. Wyeth, Untitled landscape, 1923, oil on linen. Bank of America Collection, on display at the Tucson Museum of Art. art openings for artists for fear of attracting too many people. The partners are seeing 12 to 15 customers a day, and so far have only had to turn away two people who refused to wear a mask. “Last year in February we had our best month ever. In

March it died,” Goodreau says. “But we’re still here.” Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday. 37 N. Tucson Blvd. 398-6720; artedelavidatucson.com. Pop Cycle on Fourth Ave. reopened at end of January. This local, women-run

gift shop and gallery is a delightful potpourri of local art by local artists, many made from recycled materials. Homemade shirts, stuffed toy saguaros, vintage photos are just a few of its treasures. If you prefer not to go inside, Pop Cycle offers curbside pickup and home delivery. Order on popcycleshop.com. Now open noon to 5 p.m. Friday to Monday. 422 N. Fourth Ave., 622-3297; popcycle.com. Philabaum Glass Gallery is alive and kicking the same name under new owners, Alison Harvey, the gallery’s longtime manager, and her husband, Dylan. Master glass artist Tom Philabaum and his wife, Dabney Philabaum, sold the gallery after a 35 year run in the Five Points neighborhood. Keeping with the Philabaum tradition, the Harveys deal CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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Francisco Franklin’s“Butterfly Angel” is on display at Jane Hamilton Fine Art

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Zulia Gotay de Anderson “Spring Dance”is on display at Jane Hamilton Fine Art with some 50 artists around the country. And of course they will continue to sell Philabaum’s own works. Right now Kenny Pieper of North Carolina is exhibiting his blown glass pieces, using traditional Italian techniques with contemporary twists. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. 884-7404; philabaumglass.com. Free. Up in the Foothills, most

of the art galleries have been open for months. The long-running Jane Hamilton Fine Art venue in Plaza Colonial specializes in southwest, western and contemporary art. Proprietor Hamilton follows all the usual COVID rules, and with the benefit of an outside space adjacent to the gallery she can extend art openings into the outdoors. “People love going outside, especially at this time of year,” she says. Sculptor Peter Eisner had an in-andout opening a few weeks ago; his boldly colored sculptures that blend steel with fused glass are still on view. Despite the pandemic, the gallery is doing so well that Hamilton recently rented additional space, complete with a patio, across the street. She’s enlisted artists to paint in plein-air 11 to 5 every weekend, Dawn Sutherlund

on Fridays, and Alexandria Winslow and Zulia Gotay de Anderson alternating on Saturdays. The next art opening will be in the Annex, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 6, honoring the 50-year career of gallery regular Fancisco Franklin. A painter and sculptor in the Mexican tradition, he’s calling his show Mariachis & Angels & Other Such Things. And on March 19 and 20, Hamilton celebrates the gallery’s 29th anniversary; the party goes from 4 to 7 on Friday night and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, in the main building. 2890 E. S. Skyline janehamiltonfineart.com. Settlers West Fine American Art represents dozens of artists who make fine realist and romantic paintings and sculptures of the old and new west. When you walk in the door, you’ll find the gallery filled with works picturing cowboys, native people,

MISS OUT ON ADVERTISING IN OUR SPRING ARTS PREVIEW? To book your ad for the Fall Arts Preview coming in September, call 520-797-4384 today!

landscapes, and animals. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. 6420 N. Campbell Ave. 2992607; settlerswest.com. Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery features “cowboy and western imagery by historical and contemporary artists.” Interestingly, Sublette has created a museum within the gallery housing a treasure trove of work by the late, great Maynard Dixon (1875-1946). Inside the museum, you can see 150 pieces of his art and ephemera. 6872 E. Sunrise Drive. 7227798; medicinemngallery.com. Call for hours. Madaras Gallery is showing work by 26 guest artists and by Diana Madaras, the gallery owner, an artist known for her desert paintings. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. 3035 N. Swan Road; madaras.com.

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Peter Eisner “Kaleidoscope” Fused Glass & Steel is on display at Jane Hamilton Fine Art

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Spring Arts 2021

Local theatre troupes get creative Margaret Regan

Special to Tucson Local Media

n March 13 last year, Arizona Theatre Company debuted The Legend of Georgia McBride at the Temple of Music and Art. Right after that opening night performance, the play closed down. The company has mounted no more in-person plays in Tucson or in Phoenix ever since. Like so many other arts groups, ATC was stopped in its tracks by COVID. But only temporarily. After a failed effort to open up in January 2021, a month when the virus surged, the company is now feeling confident

that it can stage a full season starting in September. “We will be back!” artistic director Sean Daniels exclaims. He believes theatre fans will come roaring back once the country gets safer. “Patrons are stir-crazy. And Tucson is so supportive.” In the meantime, Daniels and colleagues have been busy. “We’ve been doing digital from the beginning,” he says, creating all kinds of activities. Paid actors have been recruited to do play readings from home, just for example, and Daniels hosts a weekly podcast. And when March rolls around in a few weeks, ATC will launch a month’s-long

virtual celebration of Tucson playwright Elaine Romero. A prolific writer whose works have been performed internationally, Romero is also a theatre professor at the UA and, for some 20 years, the playwright in residence at ATC. Her online event has been dubbed RomeroFest. “We hope to shine a light on a great playwright,” Daniels says. Among with panels and other sessions, ATC will stage virtual readings of two of her plays, read by respected actors from their homes nationwide. Halsted, a new autobiographical play, examines the aftereffects of a stroke that Romero’s husband suffered.

Tucson playwright Elaine Romero “It’s about love and partnering,” Daniels says. “It’s the best thing she’s written.” The second play, Ponzi, is a comedy of manners. Twelve other companies around the country are also

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taking part in RomeroFest, staging a range of her plays. Local fans can watch all of the proceedings right here at home under various platforms. See arizonatheatre. org. for dates and instruc-

tions or call 622-2823. Romero will also be lauded at The Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre, a company that has spent the last year creatively performing radio plays, online streamed plays and in-person plays staged outdoors. Romero’s Title 1X, a play from her border trilogy, will stream online from March 20 to April 11. Right now, through Feb. 27, a reading of Fly Jamerson’s Frozen Fluid is available via streaming online or in-person with social distancing. In the spring, the kids’ play From the Fishball will be streamed April 1-8. 738 N. Fifth Ave. at the Historic Y. 448-3300; scoundrelandscamp.org Gloria Steinem, the great feminist activist and journalist, is celebrated at Invisible Theatre in Gloria: A Life. The play, featuring Cynthia CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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Jeffery as Steinem, debuted in 2018, but playwright Emily Mann has retooled it to incorporate the election of Kamala Harris as the first female Vice President. The ensemble of six Tucson women actors, including To-Ree-Nee Wolf and Alida Holguín Gunn, enact the real-life activists who strove to make life better for women. Feb. 17-28. Invisible Theatre has followed all pandemic protocols, including drastically limited numbers of seats and some of the performances are already sold out. 1400 N. First Ave. at Drachman Street; 882-9721; invisibletheatre.com The Rogue Theatre has tried hard to outfox the pandemic this season. To keep the infectious COVID

droplets at bay, Cynthia Meier and Joseph McGrath have their actors record their lines and then perform masked, moving like dancers to the sounds of their own recorded voices. And they hired a filmmaker to videotape every show, for people who preferred to watch at home—and for every ticket holder to watch if a surging in coronavirus shut the theatre down. When COVID blew back in this winter, the in-person performance of The Oresteia was canceled and the audience watched the film from home. The Weir, a spooky Irish play by Conor McPherson, is coming right up Feb. 25 to March 14, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Meier and McGrath will be checking the COVID numbers to determine whether the show can unroll on stage, or only

Spring Arts 2021

on video. Either way, the play, enhanced by Irish music, is a seasonal treat set in a rural Irish pub on a dark night, where a visitor from Dublin upends the locals’ stories of ghosts and fairies. The final play of the season is William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, a comedy featuring one of the Bard’s best characters, the marvelously clever Rosalind, who dresses as a man who pretends to be a woman. April 22 to May 9. A video-only Playreading Series presents Pretty Fire by Charlayne Woodward, a three-generation tale of a Black family, is available one day only on March 21. Everybody by Brenden Jacobs-Jenkins, a “riff on the ancient morality play Everyman,” is available only on May 23. 300 E University Blvd #150; theroguetheatre.org

Winding Road Theatre Ensemble moved all shows onto their YouTube channel this season. In sync with the pandemic, the next play, The Time Is Out of Joint: A Shakespeare Project, is “inspired by the Bard’s plays written during the plague times.” The piece was designed and adapted for the company by director Molly Lyons. The actors explore the similarities between the old-time plagues and the contemporary ravages of COVID-19. On YouTube from February 26 to March 14. 402-3626; windingroadtheatre.org. Live Theatre Workshop moved pre-pandemic to a midtown space with a big parking lot—just in the nick of time. The company has as outdoor stage and drive-in shows for the whole family. Next up is Waiting for Doggo, about two cats who are not pleased that a dog will soon join the family, March

12 to 28. A funny musical version of The Tortoise and the Hare runs May 7 to 23. LTW hopes to return to its indoor mainstage for adults in the summer, beginning with A Life in the Theatre by the acclaimed David Mamet, June 10 to July 10. 3322 E. Fort Lowell Road. 327-4242; livetheatreworkshop.org. Broadway in Tucson has had a rough year, scheduling and rescheduling the traveling Broadway musicals they bring to the UA’s Centennial Hall each season. Local musical lovers have been worried about the fate of the mega-hit Hamilton, which was to have come to Tucson last fall. Fear not, fans. On the latest schedule, Hamilton is set for mid-November-early December 2021, exactly one year later than originally planned. The currently planned season begins this May with Tootsie. We all know

by now that schedules can change so keep an eye on broadwayintucson.com. For help with your subscriptions, call at 1-866-8212929 or 520-903-2929. Here’s the current musical rundown for Broadway In Tucson: Tootsie May 4-9, 2021 Pretty Woman May 25-30, 2021 The Band’s Visit June 1-6, 2021 Come from Away June 22-27, 2021 Hamilton Nov. 17 to Dec. 5, 2021 Hadestown April 14-17, 2022

SAACA ANNOUNCES SPRING ARTISAN MARKET SEASON Jeff Gardner Tucson Local Media

he Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance has announced three outdoor art and artisan markets to take place throughout March and April, with social distancing guidelines in place for each. First, the Sahuarita Creative Arts Market takes place Saturday, March 13, and Sunday, March 14, at the Sahuarita Municipal Complex. The Sahuarita Creative Arts Market features up to 45 artists and exhibitors in all mediums, including sculpture, painting, jewelry and art that can’t be classified so easily. In addition, two food trucks will be onsite throughout the weekend. The market is located at the Town of Sahuar-

ita Municipal Hall Complex, about 30 minutes south of Tucson at 375 W. Sahuarita Center Way. The Oro Valley Spring Artisan Market is next, running from Saturday, March 27, to Sunday, March 28. This outdoor artisan market features some of the Southwest’s finest artists in fashion, food, home furnishings, painting and visual arts. This Oro Valley market will also feature pop up music performances and food trucks. All vendors and shoppers are required to wear a mask at the market and to observe CDC guidelines. Attendance capacity will be monitored throughout the duration of the market hours. Hand sanitizer will be available at multiple locations throughout the

event. This will take place at the Oro Valley Marketplace, 12155 N. Oracle Road. And they saved one of the grandest for last, with La Encantada Fine Art Market taking place Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11. Within the galleries of La Encantada shopping mall, this market features metalwork, sculptures, clothing, fashion and paintings from a variety of local and national artists. According to SAACA, this festival provides an opportunity for local artisans to exhibit and showcase their art to a broader community, while drawing business to the La Encantada Shopping Center, 2905 E. Skyline Drive. For more information, visit saaca.org

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Spring Arts 2021

LIT UP

If words are your thing, you can look forward to the virtual Festival of Books, deconstruction at the Poetry Center and Pima County Public Library’s new writer in residence Jeff Gardner Tucson Local Media

lthough this year’s Tucson Festival of Books will be virtual, there are still plenty of events taking place and dozens of authors hosting digital exhibits on their work. In addition to dozens of new writers, four “festival favorites” are returning this year: Mexican-American poet and novelist Luis Alberto

Urrea, crime writer T. Jefferson Parker, mystery writer Thomas Perry, and Tucson’s own crime writer J.A. Jance. “For planning purposes and the continued safety of our festival patrons and community, it makes the most sense to plan our 2021 festival as an online event,” said festival executive director Melanie Morgan last year. “This event allows us to pivot and provide wonderful online content in our current environment,

while looking to the future and bringing the full festival back and better than ever to the University of Arizona campus—as soon as it is safe.” Virtual events for the festival include Jance discussing “the nature of murder and crime-solving both in detective stories and real life” on Saturday, March 6, and strong female protagonists in Sunday, March 7. Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of At-

mospheric Science at Penn State, will discuss how speculative fiction can raise public awareness about climate change on Saturday, March 6. Young adult writer Daniel José Older will talk about his process for creating fantasy adventures on Saturday, March 6. Nogales-born writer Alberto Álvaro Ríos will discuss “the power of place and community along the border” on Sunday, March 7. Tucson Weekly Executive Editor Jim Nintzel will talk with Washington Post Bureau Chief Susan Page about The Matriarch, her biography of Barbara Bush. This year’s Tucson Festival of

Books takes place Saturday and Sunday, March 6 and 7. For a full list of events, visit tucsonfestivalofbooks.org In other local literary news, the Pima County Public Library is hosting multiple events in the coming weeks. To begin, PCPL recently selected a new Writer In Residence, which is a local writer who teaches writing workshops and holds office hours for the community. For the spring semester, PCPL has selected Gregory McNamee, a local writer, photographer and journalist who has released multiple books on the culture and history of Arizona. McNamee’s selection

marks the 11th writer in residence since PCPL started the program in 2016. The residence is open to authors of any genre, and previous writers in residence include Alice Hatcher, J.M. Hayes, Janni Lee Simner, Susan Cummins Miller and Tucson Weekly’s Margaret Regan. Due to COVID, the writer in residence office hours will be conducted over Zoom in 30-minute blocks. McNamee will offer these one-on-one consultations every Tuesday from 9 to 11 a.m. and Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. During his tenure, McNamee will also host two more virtual workshops:

SPRING ARTS 

“The Nature of Fact” on Saturday, March 13 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and “Writing Nonfiction” on Saturday, April 10 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The University of Arizona’s Poetry Center is also hosting a variety of online events and seminars. Upcoming events include “Writing the Poem No One Wants to Read (and You Definitely Don’t Want to Write)” hosted by writer Patricia Smith on Sunday, Feb. 21 and 28 from 3 to 5 p.m. “Staging the Poem” hosted by poetry critic for NPR’s All Things Considered Tess Taylor will go over how drama and con-

text can help to concretely draft poems on Sunday, March 7 from 3 to 6 p.m. “Meaningful Machines: Introduction to Digital Poetry” is hosted by poet Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, and covers “computational poetry” and poetry generators, on Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21. Prices vary. poetry.arizona. edu/calendar Starting on Tuesday, April 6, the UA Poetry Center will also be hosting a free, online exhibition that pushes the boundary of what a book is: a deck of cards, a silk scarf? The Poetry Center argues these are books, and asks you to

rethink your own definition. Running from April 6 through Saturday, June 26. For those who’d rather read on their own, PCPL also recently announced their five most rented ebooks and audiobooks in 2020. Their most popular ebooks were Becoming by Michelle Obama, The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson, A Promised Land by Barack Obama, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. Their most popular audiobooks were Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, Becoming by Michelle Obama, Educated

by Tara Westover, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Redemption by David Baldacci. PCPL also announced their 44th annual Southwest Books of the Year list, which covers the best and most noteworthy titles published during the calendar year that are about Southwest subjects, or are set in the Southwest. Last year’s books include A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson’s Culinary Heritage by Carolyn Niethammer, In the Shadows of the Freeway: Growing up Brown & Queer by Lydia Otero, and On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl.

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Best-selling Arizona author J. A. Jance will deliver a talk at this year’s virtual Festival of Books about the nature of murder and crimesolving, both in detective stories and real life on Saturday, March 6. NO CITY SALES TAX

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to discuss the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which includes $15 billion in grants to shuttered venues, to be administered by the Small Business Administration. The program can provide eligible applicants 45% of their gross earned revenue. In addition, Romero also announced that the City of Tucson is joining the Re-open Every Venue Safely initiative, which is a national collaboration of cities “sharing strategies and resources to best position their community for the reopening of live music.” “The arts are important not just because they make us so unique and add COURTESY GASLIGHT love to our life, but also because they The Gaslight Theatre and Music Hall are continuing their outdoor shows with music, comedy and food. are a very important part of our economy,” Romero said. “With the new REVS initiative, Tucson will be working alongside other cities and local stakeholders to share best practices and position While concert halls remain closed, you can find some outdoor music around town ourselves to successfully re-open our local venues—who have been some of the venues like the Rialto Theatre and 191 By Jeff Gardner hardest hit by the pandemic—as soon as Toole have remained closed for in-person jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com concerts for nearly a year now. Luckily for it is safe.” This initiative is the latest in many some performers, safer outdoor events are THOUGH FEW BUSINESSES HAVE efforts to bolster the music and performbecoming more common, and the push to made it through COVID completely ing arts industry, such as the Save Our support venues in need is strong as ever. unscathed, music and performing arts On Friday, Feb. 5, Tucson Mayor Regina Stages act, which was passed as part of continually rank among the industries a COVID-19 relief bill in December to Romero hosted a virtual town hall meetmost affected by the pandemic. Music ing, gathering local artists and musicians provide additional emergency relief to

MUSIC

OPEN AIR AFFAIR

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 11

independent venues and promoters. “The devastation of 2020 has been comprehensive on so many levels, particularly as it impacts the arts and culture sector,” said Michael Bracy from the Music Policy Forum. “At the same time there are things we are very enthusiastic and excited about, particularly the Save Our Stages campaign, which is by far and away the most successful advocacy effort I’ve seen around music and policy.” While we’re waiting for the indoor concerts to return, a few locations around town are hosting outdoor and socially distanced concerts. The Gaslight Theatre on the east side is keeping busy and safe with a variety of outdoor shows in their parking lot. If you’ve never been to a Gaslight show, here’s what to expect: engaging music, corny jokes, some ridiculous stage banter, and plenty of food and drinks. On Monday, March 8, the Gaslight is celebrating a night of traditional Latin music by two local mariachi groups. On Saturday, March 13, they’re hosting a “Return to Woodstock,” which is a two-hour show of hits from bands like Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. 7010 E. Broadway Blvd. thegaslighttheatre.com CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

FEB. 18, 2021

COLD SPELLS

of Al Gore in the early 2000s describing global climate change and its effects on the glaciers. Gore described how polar bears are left with fewer pieces of ice to survive on due Monterey Court Studio Galleries and Cafe is continuto a warming atmosphere. That image of a drowning polar Glacier.WAV’s debut blends anxiety and nostalgia ing their outdoor concert series, where you can enjoy bear has stuck with Soto ever since, and worked particularly local music and grab a bite at the same time. They host well when Anzaldua shared the music for the track that By Jeff Gardner shows almost every day of the week, and will be hosting would become “Glacier.” a showcase of singer-songwriter music (Thursday, Feb. jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com “The song and album snowballed after having these 18) and Little House of Funk (Saturday, Feb. 20). 505 W. thoughts and memories,” Soto said. “I had landed on a perMiracle Mile. montereycourtaz.com. THE DEBUT RELEASE FROM TUCSON ELECTRONIC spective that made me feel powerful but anxious. I’m still Hotel Congress has also been presenting live music duo Glacier.WAV is equally paradoxical and practical. trying to figure how to make better choices for the environon its spacious patio. Teaming up with the Southern Written in the desert, but featuring icy imagery and cool ment but failing at it. This oscillation between power and Arizona Blues Heritage Foundation, the hotel is hosting synths, the self-titled album fuses environmental concepts terror is where the theme of the album stems for me, even Congress Cookouts on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. The and personal anxiety: climate change, government failure, on the relationship songs.” Bad News Blues Band takes the stage on Sunday, Feb. pandemic isolation and romantic deficiency. It’s a singular Although Glacier.WAV features some apocalyptic imag21, while Connie Brannock’s Little House of Blues will album, looking both forward and back, but capturing that ery, this is not to say it’s overly sombre. In fact, it’s surprisplay on Sunday, Feb. 28. 311 E. Congress St. Hotelcondizziness of the modern era. Even ingly catchy and entertaining for all gress.com. the natural imagery is formed from its influence. The album even plays Another way to support local venues is by buying synthetic tones. with the concept of temperatures merchandise from the new “I <3 AZ’s Independent Composed by Frank Anz(global warming, glacial imagery) in Venues” initiative, a collaboration between 16 Arizona aldua and sung by Jaime J. Soto, the timbres of various synth notes music venues. Sales of the group’s t-shirts, jackets, tank- the album combines pop hooks throughout its runtime. tops and koozies directly benefit venues like 191 Toole, and electronic atmospheres, but “When listening to the music Club Congress, the Fox Theatre and The Rialto Theatre. stretches far beyond the central Frank produced, I had a lot of atmoiheartaz.net ■ style of synthwave — a genre of spheric visions of earth and space. It electronic music taking influence was an important challenge for me to from the keyboards and aesthetics capture the images and feelings the of the ’80s, which also combines music brought up in me,” Soto said. Jaime J. Soto elements of synthpop, disco “The higher pitched synths on ‘Glaand ambient. The whole style is cier’ made me think of alarms and well-represented in the album’s cover art, an isolated figure urgency. The lower toned synths and my medium-low vocal standing on a cool blue backdrop beneath the moon, all made me feel warmth. I hope these elements are also felt warped by an analog tape haze. by the listener. Growing up a desert kid, night-time Tucson “The first song we did for this project which set the stage skies are always an inspiration to my writing.” for the album was ‘Glacier’,” Anzaldua said. “The song was The Tucson skies are a character themselves in the about the increasingly dangerous situation of the climate music video for “I Want to Feel the Sun,” produced by Dan and the apathy, resignance, and nostalgia our culture uses to and Gabe Singleton. The video details a chase through the ignore the problem. Here we used the nostalgia of synthwave Sonoran landscape with plenty of sci-fi effects thrown in for to work as an analogy for the way we approach global issues.” good measure. These themes continue with the instrumental track A warning of sorts, Glacier.WAV never feels reprimand“Colony Collapse,” a vast electronic track reminiscent of ing. As the album continues, it even grows from tracks like the Blade Runner soundtrack, mixing melancholy and “Never Gonna Make It” to “Vine,” where Soto sings “I could psychedelia over one of the most powerful guitar solos on never cut the vine stretching from your heart to mine. I the album. The entire song builds over a repetitive syntheknow I’ll grow. I’ll grow in time.” sizer melody adding layers of instruments and noise until “We revive the ballads of the ’80s from greats like Prince the entire thing struggles under its own weight — hinted at to also revive the love we have and need within ourselves by the title, a phenomenon of the Earth’s disappearing bee and for our loved ones, even when it is increasingly difficult population. to accomplish in an age of anxiety,” Anzaldua said. “This is, Soto says the album was also influenced by a memory has been, and always will be our way out.” ■

OPEN AIR AFFAIR

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

This oscillation between power and terror is where the theme of the album stems for me, even on the relationship songs.

FEB. 18, 2021

IMPAIRED LAWMAKING

DUI bill seeks to undermine intent of Prop 207 by David Abbott david@tucsonlocalmedia.com IN THE WAKE OF THE PASSAGE of Prop 207 legalizing adult-use recreational cannabis, lawmakers are struggling to define what constitutes driving under the influence of the drug. One recent bill, HB 2084 introduced by John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), seeks to set a blood level limit of 2 nanograms per milliliter to prove impairment, but the arbitrary setting of THC blood-level limits is not an accurate measure of intoxication,

according to cannabis experts. There is also a dearth of field tests that would give law enforcement officers an effective way of measuring those limits. “Per se” limits are also antithetical to the language and intent of Prop 207. “We suspect that the bill is going to die,” said Southern Arizona NORML director Mike Robinette. “We want to make it clear that at NORML we do not support impaired driving, but we do support a fair application of the law to the cannabis community.” A nanogram is a very small unit of measure, a billionth of a gram, so it is astronomically tiny. A grain of salt weighs approximately 58,500 nanograms, a poppy seed weighs approximately 300,000 nanograms and a grain of sugar weighs approximately 625,000 nanograms. If one were to take something that weighs a gram—a raisin, or a thumbtack

or a dollar bill perhaps—cut it into 1,000 equal pieces and then took one of those pieces and cut it into 1,000 pieces and then took one of those pieces and cut it into 1,000 pieces, it would be approximately 1 nanogram. Yet even if the limit were 100 nanogram per milliliter in the blood, that would not be an indicator of impairment, as traces of THC can remain in the bloodstream for weeks after use with no effects on cognitive ability. There are currently no effective means of testing, outside of field sobriety tests, that can determine the level of THC intoxication in a driver that compare to Breathalyzer tests for alcohol. Cannabis affects every user differently depending on experience, metabolism and other random factors that are barely understood. “There’s a lot of issues with these metabolites,” said Jonathan Udell, communications director Southern Arizona NORML, who also participated in the organization’s lobbying efforts. Udell cited an article published last year in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence finding that in five of eight studies on the subject participants were found to have more than 2 nanograms of THC per milliliter in their blood after

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 13

five days of abstinence. “So you can have a cancer patient who’s been medicating trying to get through chemotherapy and get some food down,” he said. “Five days later they go out to go to the grocery store, they get pulled over and there’s a blood draw for some reason and now they’re looking at a DUI charge. … We’re obviously very concerned about that and what it can do to cannabis consumers.” Aside from the discrepancies between blood/THC content and intoxication level, Prop 207 distinctly disallows the use of a blood test as an indicator for DUI. “Prop 207 is clear that a blood draw is not sufficient: you must be proved impaired to the slightest degree, which we read as field sobriety tests, and observation by law enforcement,” Robinette said. While this bill is likely going to die a quiet death in the very near future, cannabis advocates worry about the assault on Prop 207. “There’s two really big concerns with this bill,” Udell said. “The first is the direct assault on Prop 207 that requires prosecutors to show someone is actually impaired to the slightest degree before they’re CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

FEB. 18, 2021

IMPAIRED LAWMAKING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

found guilty under DUI. The second is that Prop 207 specifically says that legislators can establish a per se limit, but only when there is scientific consensus on the issue, and the limit has been recommended by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” Robinette adds that HB 2084 also violates the voter protections in Prop 207 that lay out what legislators can do to “further the intent of the law.” “We have great concerns about the Constitutionality of this bill, that it is why we call it a direct assault on 207,” Udell said. “It would threaten the imprisonment of sick and law-abiding citizens across Arizona.” The Pima County Sheriff’s Office has not specifically set up procedures for dealing with cannabis impairment, but intends to put effort into educating the public about the dangers of impaired driving. “[PCSO] deputies, like police officers around the world, utilize standardized and scientifically validated tools and tests to determine impairment caused by alcohol and/or any drug,” Sergeant Brett Bernstein, the department’s DUI Unit supervi-

sor, wrote in a recent email. “The marijuana legalization law does not change our approach in determining impairment for arrest.” While it is yet to be determined how adult-use legalization will affect law enforcement, Bernstein expects there to be an increase in impaired driving incidents due to legal access. “We intend to put a lot of effort into educating the public about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana through the media, schools and our newly forming partnerships with marijuana vendors,” he said. ■

NEWS NUGGETS ON SALE NOW: After a flurry of dispensaries became dual-licensees and began selling adult-use cannabis three weeks ago, the pace has slowed a bit, but on Feb. 10 Hana Meds in Green Valley began selling recreational weed. Touting shorter lines, online ordering

to reduce wait times and separate lines for medical patients, Hana Meds jumped into the fray. “We have already heard a lot of feedback from customers who were relieved they now have legal access to purchase cannabis products for their health and wellness. We also were happy to see that the 16% excise tax on the sales included in the proposition will fund community colleges, infrastructure, public safety and public health programs,” said Matt Pinchera, CEO of Hana Meds, in a press release earlier this week. Hana Meds, with a second dispensary in Kingman, was established in 2015 and is the parent company to two cultivation sites, two dispensaries and cannabis brands, Revival Infused Edibles and Dutchie. The Green Valley location is located at 1732 W. Duval Commerce Point Place in Green Valley. For more information go to HanaMeds.com. Hana Meds joins Earth’s Healing North, Desert Bloom Re-Leaf Center, Bloom and Harvest as Southern Arizona’s dual-license cannabis dispensaries, with more to come in the weeks ahead. MORE FEDERAL ACTION: Marijuana

Moment reports that Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chairs Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) will ask President Joe Biden to grant mass clemency to people with federal cannabis convictions. “At the end of last year, the House of Representatives passed legislation, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act, to ensure that these programs work as intended and that the revenue generated can be reinvested into the communities most harmed under criminalization,” the lawmakers said in a press release. “Until the day that Congress sends President Biden a marijuana reform bill to sign, he has the unique ability to lead on criminal justice reform and provide immediate relief to thousands of Americans.” The MORE Act, House Resolution 3884, would “decriminalize and deschedule cannabis, to provide for reinvestment in certain persons adversely impacted by the War on Drugs [and] provide for expungement of certain cannabis offenses.” MORE was introduced in September 2019 by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and has passed through the House twice only to be killed by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans.

FEB. 18, 2021

Two weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) met with a group of marijuana advocates, business interests and human rights organizations to consider cannabis reform legislation. The group discussed the regulatory structure of legalized pot, federal tax policy and social equity. They hope to roll out a new legalization proposal sometime this year. Policy watchers believe the new administration will prioritize marijuana law reform so the actions by members of the Biden Administration are a refreshing step forward and hopefully, the issue won’t

become another empty campaign promise that’s left by the wayside in 2021. MEA CULPA: Last week’s Weedly column, “Smoke Screening” (Feb. 11) identified Moe Asnani as a board member of the Arizona Dispensary Association. Asnani, owner of Downtown and D2 dispensaries in Tucson, left his position on the board last November. Additionally, ADA CEO Sam Richard said the organization does not support Senate Bill 1646. To clarify these points, the column was reposted online as “In Wake of Recreational Sales Kickoff, Lab Association Seeks To Hold Off Testing Legislation That Could Damage Industry.” ■

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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): Atheists like to confront religious people with accusations like this: “If God is so good, why does he allow suffering in the world?” Their simplistic, childish idea of God as some sort of Moral Policeman is ignorant of the lush range of ruminations about the Divine as offered down through the ages by poets, novelists, philosophers, and theologians. For example, poet Stéphane Mallarmé wrote, “Spirit cares for nothing except universal musicality.” He suggested that the Supreme Intelligence is an artist making music and telling stories. And as you know, music and stories include all human adventures, not just the happy stuff. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Aries, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to honor and celebrate the marvelously rich stories of your own life—and to feel gratitude for the full range of experience with which they have blessed you. PS: Now is also a favorable phase to rethink and reconfigure your answers to the Big Questions. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Blogger Rachel C. Lewis confides, “I love being horribly straightforward. I love sending reckless text messages and telling people I love them and telling people they are absolutely magical humans and I cannot believe they really exist. I love saying, ‘Kiss me harder,’ and ‘You’re a good person,’ and, ‘You brighten my day.’” What would your unique version of Lewis’ forthrightness be like, Taurus? What brazen praise would you offer? What declarations of affection and care would you unleash? What naked confessions might you reveal? The coming days will be a favorable time to explore these possibilities. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): It’s a good time to become more of who you are by engaging with more of what you are not. Get in the mood for this heroic exercise by studying the following rant by Gemini poet Adam Zagajewski (who

writes in Polish), translated by Gemini poet Clare Cavanaugh: “Read for yourselves, read for the sake of your inspiration, for the sweet turmoil in your lovely head. But also read against yourselves, read for questioning and impotence, for despair and erudition, read the dry, sardonic remarks of cynical philosophers. Read those whose darkness or malice or madness or greatness you can’t yet understand, because only in this way will you grow, outlive yourself, and become what you are.” CANCER (June 21-July 22): You’re on the verge of breakthroughs. You’re ready to explore frontiers, at least in your imagination. You’re brave enough to go further and try harder than you’ve been able to before. With that in mind, here’s a highly apropos idea from Cancerian novelist Tom Robbins. He writes, “If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill, take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond where it has ever been before, push it to the wildest edge of edges, then you force it into the realm of magic.” (I might use the word “coax” or “nudge” instead of “force” in Robbins’ statement.) LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In her story “Homelanding,” Margaret Atwood writes, “Take me to your trees. Take me to your breakfasts, your sunsets, your bad dreams, your shoes. Take me to your fingers.” I’d love you to express requests like that. It’s a favorable time for you to delve deeper into the mysteries of people you care about. You will generate healing and blessings by cultivating reverent curiosity and smart empathy and crafty intimacy. Find out more about your best allies! VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You’re about to reach the end of your phase of correction and adjustment. To mark this momentous transition, and to honor your ever-increasing ability to negotiate with your demons, I offer you the following inspirational proclamation by poet Jeannette Napolitano: “I

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s not a good time for you to be obsessed with vague abstractions, fear-based fantasies, and imaginary possibilities. But it is a favorable phase to rise up in behalf of intimate, practical changes. At least for now, I also want to advise you not to be angry and militant about big, complicated issues that you have little power to affect. On the other hand, I encourage you to get inspired and aggressive about injustices you can truly help fix and erroneous approaches you can correct and close-at-hand dilemmas for which you can summon constructive solutions. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes,” declared author André Gide. As a writer myself, I will testify to the truth of that formulation. But what about those of you who aren’t poets and novelists and essayists? Here’s how I would alter Gide’s statement to fit you: “The most beautiful things are those that rapture prompts and reason refines.” Or maybe this: “The most beautiful things are those that experimentation finds and reason uses.” Or how about this one: “The most beautiful things are those that wildness generates and reason enhances.” Any and all of those dynamics will be treasures for you in the coming weeks. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The poet Nayyirah Waheed has some advice I want you to hear. She writes, “Be easy. Take your time. You are coming home to yourself.” I will add that from my astrological perspective, the coming weeks will indeed be a time for you to relax more deeply into yourself—to welcome yourself fully into your unique destiny; to forgive yourself for what you imagine are your flaws; to not wish you were someone else pursuing a different path; to be at peace and in harmony with the exact life you have.

of both myself and him, and I think that he might benefit from having sex with some guys where there isn’t an emotional investment. Of course, right now that isn’t an option. I want to be there for him and we otherwise have a solid relationship, but this issue has been making me feel hurt. I’ve encouraged him to masturbate without me but I do wish he could include me more in his sexual life. Do you have any other thoughts or advice? —Thanks For Reading As much as I hate to give you an unsatisfactory answer—you aren’t satisfied with what you’re getting at home and

My dad is dying. He had a stroke two days ago and is in a coma with no brain function. My aunt (his sister) is trying

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “The chief object of education is not to learn things but to unlearn things,” wrote author G. K. Chesterton. He was exaggerating for dramatic effect when he said that, as he often did. The more nuanced truth is that one of the central aims of education is to learn things, and another very worthy aim is to unlearn things. I believe you are currently in a phase when you should put an emphasis on unlearning things that are irrelevant and meaningless and obstructive. This will be excellent preparation for your next phase, which will be learning a lot of useful and vitalizing new things. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) ultimately became one of the 20th century’s most renowned composers. But his career had a rough start. Symphony No. 1, his first major work, was panned by critics, sending him into a four-year depression. Eventually he recovered. His next major composition, Piano Concerto No. 2, was well-received. I don’t anticipate that your rookie offerings or new work will get the kind of terrible reviews that Rachmaninoff’s did. But at least initially, there may be no great reviews, and possibly even indifference. Keep the faith, my dear. Don’t falter in carrying out your vision of the future. The rewards will come in due time. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Ancient Greek playwright Euripides was popular and influential—and remains so to this day, 2,400 years later. But there’s a curiously boring aspect in five of his plays, Andromache, Alcestis, Helen, Medea, and The Bacchae. They all have the same exact ending: six lines, spoken by a chorus, that basically say the gods are unpredictable. Was Euripides lazy? Trying too hard to drive home the point? Or were the endings added later by an editor? Scholars disagree. The main reason I’m bringing this to your attention is to encourage you to avoid similar behavior. I think it’s very important that the stories you’re living right now have different endings than all the stories of your past.■ Homework: Listen to and download my music for free. https://soundcloud.com/sacreduproar

you’re not going to be satisfied with what you get from me either—the only way to find out whether his loss of libido is entirely pandemic-related, TFR, is to wait out of the pandemic and see if your sexual connection doesn’t rebound and/ or if opening up the relationship is the right move for you guys as a couple. But if you suspect the collapse of your boyfriend’s libido has more to do with what he’s witnessed and endured as a frontline worker than it has to do with you or your relationship, TFR, therapy will do him more good than sleeping with other guys or masturbating without you. Urge him to do that instead.

SAVAGE LOVE PANDEMIC PRESSURES

I’m a gay guy living in New York in his late twenties. My boyfriend has really been emotionally impacted by the pandemic having been a frontline worker. I think he is suffering from some mild depression or at the very least some intense anxiety so I just want to preface this by saying I completely sympathize with what he’s going through. Before the pandemic we had a really good sex life, but lately he hasn’t been interested in sex at all besides a few assisted masturbation sessions. While I know that these aren’t usual times, I can’t help feeling rejected. Normally, I would suggest opening up the relationship, for the sake

don’t want to look back in five years’ time and think, ‘We could have been magnificent, but I was afraid.’ In five years, I want to tell of how fear tried to cheat me out of the best thing in life, and I didn’t let it.”

to make me feel guilty for not traveling to see him. Even though I’m pregnant and high risk. I would have to take an airplane across the country and multiple public buses to see him. I would have to risk my baby’s life to say goodbye to a man I love with all my heart. She insists that if I don’t, I didn’t love my dad. I’m heartbroken. I keep calling his hospice and they set the phone next to his head so I can talk at him. He was so excited about my pregnancy and I know he would not want me to risk it. But now not only am I grieving my father, I feel guilty and selfish. Am I right to be angry? My aunt’s brother is dying. She’s sad. Everyone is sad. But this is not the first time she has used guilt to try and control others in moments of trauma. —Crying On My Abdomen

FEB. 18, 2021

There has to be someone in your life who would be willing to step in and tell your aunt to go fuck herself. If there isn’t, COMA, send me your aunt’s phone and I’ll do it. P.S. I’m so sorry about your dad—who is already gone—and I’m sorry your kid won’t get to meet their grandfather. And you have every right to be furious with your aunt for giving you grief when you have all the grief you can handle right now. Don’t get on that plane. And if your aunt never speaks to you again, COMA, just think of all the guilt trips she won’t be able to drag along on in the future. I am a 26-year-old heterosexual girl. After four years with my boyfriend (and with the pandemic on top of it), we started to experience sex issues. It is mainly from my side, I (almost) never get satisfaction out of sex. I’m always enthusiastic about having sex but I don’t feel “involved” and I could literally be solving math problems in my head while we have sex. As the situation is frustrating, I talked to him and suggested that more foreplay could help me stay engaged and enjoy the sex. He was puzzled by my “need for foreplay” to reach orgasm but committed to trying. However, after minimal initial effort, he stopped trying and the limited foreplay ceased. He probably got frustrated by the amount of time I require to “warm up” and his efforts dried up and he began rebuffing me whenever I attempted to initiate sex. Recently after he turned my sexual advances down yet again, I decided to masturbate. The result was him being upset and taking offense at my “unpleasant behavior.” Should I feel guilty about masturbating when he turns me down? I am hurt and I very frustrated by this situation. —Masturbation Alone Turns Harsh Allow me to decipher the message your pussy is desperately trying to send you, MATH, as you lay there doing math problems while your boyfriend treats your body like it’s a Fleshlight: “Wouldn’t you rather masturbate alone and in peace than ever have to fuck this asshole again?” Everyone requires a little foreplay, women require more than men do, it takes women longer to get off than it takes men (five minutes on average for men, 13 minutes on average for women), and very few women can climax from vaginal intercourse alone. Any straight guy who isn’t willing to do the work—provide the necessary foreplay and come through with the nonPIV stimulation or concurrent-with-PIV stimulation required to get a woman off—doesn’t deserve to have a girlfriend. DTMFA. I’m a 53-year-old gay man and I’ve never been hornier in my life. I really need to guzzle about a quart of jizz right now. I haven’t been dating anyone and the COVID isolation has intensified my loneliness but it’s the lack of D that’s driving me to distraction. The last time I sucked a dick was the afternoon Los Angeles began its first shutdown. Here’s the thing. I just had the first dose of the vaccine and the second is scheduled in a couple weeks. Is it safe to suck someone’s dick who has also had the vaccine? Everything I found on google only talks

about how the vaccine may affect pregnant women. What about us cum whores? —Got the Fever for the Flavor Where have you been? I predicted at the beginning of the pandemic—based on what we little we knew about transmission at the time—that we were entering a new golden age of glory holes. Two months later, the New York City Health department was recommending “barriers, like walls, that allow sexual contact while preventing close face-to-face contact,” aka glory holes—and that was the harm-reduction advice given by health professionals long before vaccines became available. Seeing as you’re vaccinated, your risks are going to be lower. But to play it safe: build your own glory hole, invite a guy over, tell him to keep his mask on, and avoid close face-to-face by staying on your knees on the other side of that barrier. I wanted to second something you wrote about kinks last week. You said—I’m paraphrasing here—that kinks are hard-wired but some people do manage to acquire them. My husband is into rope bondage. I gave it a try a

Comics

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 17

couple of times at the very start of our relationship and for whatever reason being tied up didn’t work for me. We had great vanilla sex and he had a small stable of bondage boys on the side. A few months after the lockdowns began he started to worry about getting rusty. I offered to let him practice on me. I don’t know what changed, Dan, but when he tied me up for the first time in a decade, I was so turned on! At first I thought it was the pot edible but we’ve done it a bunch of times since, times when I wasn’t high, and I’ve enjoyed it just as much or more. Now I’m the one pestering him to go get the ropes. I somehow acquired his kink and he couldn’t be happier! —Restrictions Of Pandemic Enables Development P.S. I would’ve called in to share our “pandemic sex success story” for your podcast but my mom and both sisters all listen to the show and they really don’t need to know. Thanks for sharing, ROPED! mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. savagelovecast.com

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

FEB. 18, 2021

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This position is based at Tucson office of Center for Biological Diversity. This position will analyze, synthesize and communicate science essential to the Center’s mission, and conduct research, writing and outreach as appropriate. This position will work with other Center scientists and staff to evaluate and promote research and information to improve policies, educate the public and activate supporters. The position will work to design, create, and modify online applications and content to better promote the organization’s science-based research and work. The primary products are data visualizations, videos, maps, interactive maps, infographics, reports and other visuals that are shared via websites (www.BiologicalDiversity.org, www.therevelator.org), social media and print publications. Duties include:

• Conducts research and analytical studies on a variety of conservation topics. • Establishes, develops, maintains, updates and improves sciencebased data and research. • Ability to map data using GIS software. • Identifies, conceptualizes and produces science-based, compelling communication materials.

• Acts as project manager for special projects. • Works independently and within a team on special non-recurring and ongoing projects to translate and sharpen complex data into products for public consumption. • Creates memos, charts, tables, graphics, and other visual presentations

This position requires a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management, Science or Conservation as well as knowledge of and data modeling experience in core environmental science subjects such as air and water pollution, environmental health, ecology, and climate change. Expertise in working with large data sets, including ability to verify and cross-check information, and maintain scientific integrity. Expertise/proficiency in crucial mapping software, including ArcGIS, QGIS and CARTO. A simultaneously analytic and creative approach to visualizing complex concepts using Adobe Creative Suite, Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaSript.

Application process:

Please apply online at www.biologicaldiversity.org by submitting a cover letter, resume, references, and a writing sample as a single document.

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