DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE

The Cat’s Meow

October 21, 2013 |

The Cat’s Meow is Hermitage Cat Shelter’s annual fundraiser, but this year, the Cat’s Meow Goes international!

But wait, isn’t the shelter in Tucson? And the event typically held in Tucson? Yes! That’s right! You don’t have to travel far to enjoy some international tasty treats, cool cocktails and help fund-raise for some friendly felines.

“It’s out biggest event of the year,” said Lee Bucyk, executive assistant as Hermitage Cat Shelter.

The Hermitage Cat Shelter cares for more than 200 cats. They recently rescued about a dozen cats from the Pima Animal Care Center, which had reached capacity in their cat kennels are were forced to consider euthanizing older or sicker cats.

“We are a no kill shelter,” Bucyk said. “Even when we’re near capacity, we have foster families who will take cats until we have a spot for them.”

Bucyk is a cat lover herself, with five of her own at home.

“It’s amazing working here,” she said. “I just reached a point in my life where I wanted to do something with more meaning to it.”

The Cat’s Meow Goes International offers the same opportunity to the community – a chance for an enjoyable evening with an awesome reward.

The evening runs from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Scottish Rite Temple, 160 S. Scott Ave., and hosts silent and live auctions, entertainment and, of course, food. The dinner buffet will include everything from gazpacho, ceviche, quinoa, chicken mole and delectable deserts.

It is dinner and a show with local talent group, Cirque Roots performing as well. The circus-inspired dance troupe specializes in hoop-dancing, acrobatics, fire dancing, juggling and stilt walking.

The Hermitage Cat Shelter is a non-profit organization and runs entirely from donations. According to Bucyk, adoption rates have been going up during the past six months. This month, they’ve been running a “name you own price” adoption special.

“We screen our adoptions really well,” Bucyk said. “We do a really good job with our adoption areas.”

She explained that the shelter helps to match cat ages and personalities with the person or family who will be taking a cat home. Bucyk says that the shelter is expecting 150 to 200 guests at the Cat’s Meow Goes International event.

Ongoing events to help provide for the Hermitage Cat Shelter include Movies with the Cats. The shelter invites guests to enjoy movies, popcorn, soda and cats for a good cause.

Tickets for the Cat’s Meow Goes International are $45 for individuals, $85 for couples. Students and military personnel get in for $40. Tables for eight people can be purchased for $345. Tickets are available at the shelter, 5278 E. 21st St., by phone, (520) 571-7839, or online. For more information about upcoming events, The Cat’s Meow Goes International or the shelter, visit HermitageCatShelter.org.

Brewing Arizona

October 19, 2013 |

A Century of Beer in the Grand Canyon State
by Ed Sipos
University of Arizona Press (2013), 360 pages

Ed Sipos knows his ales from stouts, lagers from pilsners, and Belgium whites from IPAs.

Sipos is also a member of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America – an organization dedicated to the support of the hobby of collecting brewing memorabilia. Think weird beer cans or bottles. Is the brand no longer sold? The labeling cool? Chances are that Ed Sipos knows something about the beer that went into the bottle or can.

And now Ed Sipos has done something no one else has done for Arizona – he’s written the brewing history of Arizona beers. In his forthcoming book, Sipos covers the states’ beguiling historic figures and their amazing ups and downs, their responses to the rising and falling economies – tied to politics – to tell the story of Arizona brewing all the way to the current state of brewing; from the pioneer beginnings, through Prohibition, the 40s, 50s and 60s, on through to the current state of brewing in Arizona, replete with microbreweries and craft beer successes and failures. Sipos’ meticulous and entertaining volume will convince you that beer and Arizona history are deeply intertwined.

Arizona likes beer. Tucson liked beer so much that Arizona’s first commercial brewery was established in Tucson in 1864. Alexander “Boss” Levin’s Pioneer Brewery persevered through water issues (from the Rillito River, now a usually dry wash smelling of bat guano), Indian attacks, and transportation issues (warm beer delivered to mine sites by mule train), until the arrival of the railroad – which brought in bottled beers that generally shut down the pioneer era local breweries.

Levin operated breweries and sold his beer at establishments in the heart of Tucson. His first brewery was located Downtown between Church and Stone Avenues on Camp Street (now Broadway Boulevard). Later, with his wife Zenobia, Levin opened retail establishment, Park Brewery, on the western end of Pennington Street that offered everything from ice to concerts. The building had a rock walled basement, which assisted in at least chilling the beer somewhat, as 1873 Tucson was decidedly pre-refrigeration. After the train’s arrival in 1880, business went downhill as lower priced transported beer became available, and the establishment closed in 1886.

The state’s most successful operation was the Arizona Brewing Company. The Phoenix-based operation churned suds during the 30s, 40s and 50s; its signature brand A-1was distributed throughout Arizona, New Mexico, west Texas, Nevada, southern Colorado and parts of California. Advertising by supporting a woman’s softball and men’s baseball team, they also promoted their product by getting in on the new communications medium, television, including “A-1 Sports Highlights,” on Phoenix station KPHO. Eventually purchased by the Carling Brewing Company, the brewery ended its run in 1985.

But as regional breweries were swallowed by big breweries over the decades, America was hankering for beers that had flavor! Interestingly, the bland nature of the big American brewery mainstream’s light lagers may be partially traced to World War II grain rationing, which meant that barley was hard to come by. The resulting use of corn and rice in brewing produced lighter lagers and, for many decades and even to this today, has influenced taste.

By the 70s, large breweries producing a fairly insipid product dominated the industry. The first sign of change was the home-brewing movement. Brewing ones’ own beer, left illegal after Prohibition was repealed, was made legal in October 1978 by President Jimmy Carter’s signature. Home-brewing in turn inspired micro-breweries and brew pubs in the 1980s to produce craft beers in-house.

Today, we may take Tucson’s abundantly available micro-brewed beers for granted. But the first operating Tucson microbrewery, Southwest Brewing Company, didn’t arrive until 1988 and was gone by 1990. Others have been as fleeting. Hats off to Gentle Ben’s – which has been brewing increasingly tasty products since 1991 on University Avenue, with a short stoppage to relocate the operation in the mid-nineties; and with its delightful expansion to Barrio Brewing on 16th Street in 2007. Nimbus Brewing Company has been continuously operating since 1997. Try their Dirty Guera, a delicious naughty blonde that can be found at select grocers and liquor stores.

Sipos dedicates over one hundred thirty five pages to the byzantine rise and fall of brewpubs and microbreweries all over the Arizona. What is most impressive is what motivates this creation, the continuously fermenting entrepreneurial desire to try and make a brew that tastes good and will sell.

Brewing Arizona – A Century of Beer in the Grand Canyon State releases on Oct. 17; the launch party and book signing is Nov. 2, 4 p.m.-6 p.m., at Barrio Brewing Company, 800 E. 16th St. Visit BrewingArizona.com for more details.


Glow-ga!

October 8, 2013 |

Breathe. Stretch. Breath. Relax. Breath. Glow… Glow!

Neon paints, black lights and yoga will meet for a night of visual art and music this Saturday evening, October 12, at Tucson Yoga on South 4th Avenue. The studio will be providing participants with body paints and glow stick bracelets and necklaces and will engage in a not-so-standard yoga class followed by a a music infested night of dancing.

“The glow paint on the outside with celebrate the inner light inside all of us,” yoga instructor Alyssa Kratz said.

And even though it may seem that neon colors may not make for an environment conducive to meditation and peace, Kratz says the class will still be spiritually based.

But why neon paints and black lights? Because the vibrant night doesn’t stop after the glowing yoga (glowga!) class. Anyone in the community are welcomed to join the already colorful participants from the yoga class in a night of color and music. Let the dancing commence!

The night of neon was the brainchild of Kratz who is soon embarking on a new journey of her own when she moves to Hawaii this November.

“I’m sad to leave my Tucson yoga family and my Tucson family,” Kratz said. “But excited for my new journey.”

Kratz explained that the night of yoga and dancing manifested itself as a great way to celebrate together as a community but to also say farewell, as the night is also her going away party.

“We wish her the best in her new experiences,” said Ian Williams who will be DJing the event with Just Add Music (J.A.M.) Events. “We’re sending her off in style.”

Williams explained that he has taken Alyssa’s yoga class and that she approached him with the idea to have this fun community event.

“We love having opportunities to play music for people who are receptive,” Williams said. “It’s going to be upbeat and very danceable music.”

Williams said that he and his counterparts will be experimenting with fun mixing and Nu Disco and House music. And since it’s a night of celebration and farewell, J.A.M.’s involvement and contribution is free of charge.

The collaboration of yoga, music and color is exciting for Tucson Yoga who offers fun variations and many different forms of yoga.

“I think for me, a big draw is that they have so many options of yoga classes,” said University of Arizona student and yoga enthusiast Allison Field. “Going to a place with such a variety is great. Very original.”

Field added that yoga is a great social and community thing.

“It’s great for my body and mind and a great way to make friends.” Field said. “It’s definitely a community here.”

Tucson Yoga suggests that participants arrive at 6 p.m. to get decked out in neon colors. The yoga class will begin promptly at 7 p.m. and is $6. The dance party will follow beginning at 8:30 p.m. and is free for anyone. Tucson Yoga is located at 150 S. 4th Ave. For more information visit TucsonYoga.com and check out the Facebook event here.

Recess for the Grown-Ups

October 6, 2013 |

Adults enjoy the Children’s Museum Tucson interactive exhibits during the 2012 Evening of Play fundraiser.
photo: Britta Van Vranken/courtesy Children’s Museum Tucson

There are levitating balls, a miniature train set and a sound wave machine. You want to experiment and play. It’s okay, you can admit it. This stuff is cool! But you’re an adult, and the Children’s Museum is just for kids. Right?

Wrong. At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12, the Children’s Museum opens its doors for its third-annual Evening of Play, an adults-only exclusive event that allows the “big kids” to play and interact with the museum’s exhibits.

“It’s such a unique opportunity for adults to come down and to enjoy the museum and just play,” says Michael Luria, executive director of Children’s Museum Tucson.

But the fundraising event doesn’t stop there. Live music, artistic performances and a silent auction are also included in the festivities. The best part? All of the Evening of Play’s proceeds will support the Children’s Museum in their ongoing efforts to provide interactive and innovative learning experiences for children and families.

“It’s just really a fun interactive event that really supports our exhibits and programming,” Luria adds.

And just in case the excited adults work up an appetite during all of the activities and entertainment, some of Tucson’s treasured tastes from local eateries – Geo Taco, The Hub, Cup Café, Contigo and others – will be on hand. Adult beverages, such as “Playtinis” are on the menu along with other “playfully inspired libations.”

The evening will also allow adults to take a look into the museum’s brand new “Wee World” and Art Studio exhibits, a highlight for the event. The museum is expecting about 350 to 400 guests

“Anyone is welcome to attend,” said Daniela Siqueiros, marketing and membership manager. “It’s going to be a really fun evening.”

Can’t get enough Children’s Museum? The museum is also looking forward to their Bollywood inspired event called “Fame” – Family Arts and Music Experience – that will be a free admission day to children and their families on Sunday, Oct. 27 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Evening of Play begins at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 200 S. 6th Ave. Tickets are $125 per person. All proceeds will help the museum continue to provide innovative learning opportunities. To RSVP or for more information, call (520) 792-9985 or visit ChildrensMuseumTucson.org.

From the Feminine Perspective

October 6, 2013 |

“Havana Housing” by Moira Geoffrion

The fall season at Davis Dominguez Gallery opened late September with a showcase of various artistic mediums, created by women and aptly titled Focus – Five Women Artists.

Co-owners Mike Dominguez and Candice Davis explain how the all-woman exhibit came about. “Mike teaches at the Learning Curve,” Davis says, “and this year he is giving a lecture series on women artists, Beyond Georgia and Frida. That gave us the idea.” Dominguez adds that his lectures are about “how women have not gotten the spotlight like male counterparts.”

Davis Dominguez Gallery presented its first woman-only exhibit, Women’s Work, thirty five years ago, only three years after the gallery first opened. “The status of women artists has been changing since then,” says Dominguez.

The artists in this show are “all are accomplished, professional, and forceful artists,” says Dominguez. The exhibit includes pieces by sculptor Julia Andres, painter Moira Geoffrion, fiber artist Claire Park, painter Barbara Penn, and lithographer Kathryn Polk.

“We usually feature painters and sculptors,” adds Davis, “but this year we also invited Kathryn Polk. Her work is exceptional and remarkable.”

“92,955,807.273 mi” by Kathryn Polk

Polk is known for her unusual process of working from dark to light when creating her lithographs. “Most lithographers go light to dark,” she explains.

Imagery in her work is “based on the perspective of the woman looking out on the world – she’s the non-indigenous woman, the character who is the homogenized version of all the women in my family.”

Polk’s work, 92,955,807.273 mi, (“the distance from the sun,” said Polk), is also called Icarus. “I always put women in traditional men’s roles. A lot of things are from the man’s eyes. As an artist I take liberties and reinvent things through a woman’s perspective.”

A connection to her mother explains why Barbara Penn paints on pellon instead of on paper or canvas. Pellon is a heavier fabric that adds firmness to lighter-weight fabrics. “My mother taught me to sew,” says Penn. “My big paintings are a connection to my mother.” Penn is showing work related to seniors and aging. “These are my first paintings after my mother’s death.” Penn also addresses the creative process in her work for the exhibit. “If you don’t have the element of play, and if everything is analytical, you can’t get anything going. In the end, it involves a kind of letting go and giving over to the creative.”

Painter Moire Geoffrion’s first series of paintings in the exhibit is based on her recent trip to Cuba. She describes Cuba as “very stimulating for me as an artist…the paintings reflect the visual experience that I had when I was there.” The only other experience she’s had similar to Cuba, says Geoffrion, was in India. Both cultures have “layers of diverse types of people, the extremely rich and poor, an ancient culture juxtaposed with the modern.” Geoffrion’s second series involves “the idea of the desert community. Everything is drawn from what I see in the desert near where I live.” Like the Cuba paintings, Geoffrion says she is expressing “the juxtaposition of layerings of culture in communities.”

Fiber artist Claire Campbell Park is showing her Reflections series. “The intent of this series is to support our awareness of the holiness of life – to be an acclamation of peace, hope and faith in a world where these are easily lost; without dismissing the realities and severity of our struggles. I deeply believe in beauty. Beauty needn’t be easy.” Her golden weavings, including Joy are “inspired by reflections on a ‘Book of Hours,’ and a fresco by Fra Angelico which express quiet joy and unwavering faith.”

Beauty is also a theme for sculptor Julia Andres. She creates patina on bronze sculptures of fruits and vegetables, cacti, agave hearts, and other edibles. “I think fruits and vegetables are so beautiful, especially their colors. I’m a cook, and my grandfather was a Kansas farmer. The food of all cultures is so important.” Andres also incorporates haiku from Jack Kerouac in other pieces, as well as honoring the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

“Ode to Arizona Citrus” by Julia Andres

The works exhibit through Nov. 2 at 154 E. 6th St. For information, visit DavisDominguez.com or call 629-9759.

Ephemera and Eccentricities

October 6, 2013 |

Tradition and a 40th Anniversary Spice Up Tucson Meet Yourself, October 11-13

Celebrations of Tucson’s ethnic cultures are the reason for Tucson Meet Yourself!
photo: Steven Meckler/courtesy Tucson Meet Yourself

Tuck in your sari; swallow that mouthful of paella and hang on to your delicate Ukrainian egg. Somewhere between the first spring roll and listening to the bagpipes – you’ll be swept away by an annual phenomenon that lies dormant in Tucson until the second weekend of October. But then, ethnic pride blooms into quite a feast, a meeting of yourself Downtown, a delicious celebration that mixes up shared cultures in the desert.

Authenticity is serious business at Tucson Meet Yourself (TMY), celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. So is the eating and learning about what is both exciting and everyday in a most remarkable cultural stew.

The giant of a man behind all this is hard to miss! Although now leaning on a walker or riding his scooter, Dr. Jim Griffith, practicing urban anthropologist, still looms large at the annual festival. Plucking his banjo, admiring a Mexican lady’s flowers, listening to and talking with Tohono O’odham and Turks and everyone else in between, this man of everyday people has made sharing the multi-cultures of the Arizona-Sonora region his life’s work, resulting in books, the past directorship of the Southwest Folklore Center at the University of Arizona, as well as the nation’s highest honor for folklorists from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Veterans of Big Jim will not be disappointed this year when his showcase of ourselves again covers every corner of the Presidio, Jácome Plaza and environs – a site selected 40 years ago as “neutral ground” for the city’s cultural collaboration. Like an old-fashioned, massive quilting circle, TMY activates Downtown as its own utopian community, a funky melting pot along the lines of what Big Jim and Loma Griffith, the founders of TMY, call “the fruitcake model” – full of textures and colors that stand on their own within a nutty cake.

Doing the 40th
Even if you’re not a fruitcake fan you’ll still enjoy this party of the people. The 2013 event has some new elements, including:

photo: Steven Meckler/courtesy TMY

The 40th Anniversary Cultural Kitchen foodway includes 25 food demonstrations from local cooking gurus, ranging from Ethiopian red lentil stew, to chiltepin chocolate ice cream and Swedish spritz cookies. Also expect prickly pear cheese cake, cholla bud/nopalito salad, Congolese lenga lenga (amaranth stew) and Russian beet vinaigrette salad. The kitchen runs until 7pm Saturday and all day Sunday, and of course the 50+ food booths are open until festival lights out.

The Lowrider Show and Shine returns to its original TMY location (Tucson Museum of Art), while nearby at La Cocina Old Town Artisans – there’ll be a satellite storytelling stage hosted by Pima County Library Foundation.

A new visual and educational exhibit on the Chinese in Tucson will be sponsored by the Chinese Cultural Center in a tent outside the main library at Jácome Plaza, while the Western History Association (conducting its annual meeting up in the Foothills) will host a panel discussion on one TMY stage, bringing scholars who study the history of the west Downtown to join the festival fusion.

Expect the 25th Annual AIDSWalk Tucson to traverse through the festival, kicking off Sunday’s program, beginning at 9am.

Tall Tales
While for many TMY is all about the food, others are interested in the peculiar folklore that has grown up around the festival over four decades. If you haven’t heard the storytelling, here are a few tales:

  • Setting for miracles: The worst tropical storm in Arizona’s history occurred in 1983, with this 100-year flood reporting the highest crests in the Rillito and the Santa Cruz. Campbell Avenue was a river and Grant Road a lake, and distraught festival planners worked out contingency plans with the city and Pima County, so that the cultural clubs who relied on TMY food sales wouldn’t be devastated by the downpours. As it turned out, that year the rains abruptly ceased the Friday of the festival, opening a circle of blue sky over TMY Friday through Sunday – whereupon the rains began again all over Tucson. Or so the folklore goes.

  • The Name Game: The first “Tucson, Meet Yourself” (an intentional comma provided a grammatically correct invitation) was a two-day affair, kicked off by a Friday night “Fandango” (animated dance party) at a newly built La Placita Village. In 1975, the name changed to “TMY and Friends,” to allow all the ethnic you’d ever want from other parts of the country to join in the Tucson party. That year, TMY hosted national recording artist and first lady of Tejano Lydia Mendoza, among other national artists. The name returned to “Tucson Meet Yourself”(without the comma) in 1976, and that name stuck (except for a 1995-2000 hiatus, when the festival was called “THE Tucson Heritage Experience,” and not run by Jim and Loma).

  • Experimentation: Although the mission remained the same over 40 years, Jim often looked for ways to keep the festival fresh. Some ideas, like the Liar’s Contest, which had as its top prize a bronzed cow pie on a plaque, came in 1979 and stayed for a few years. Others, like the corrido contest, begun in 1982, remain an important part of the festival.

  • Supper breaks: In the early years, TMY employed a very-extended supper break on Saturdays to allow tradition bearers to eat and refresh before the evening program. Back in 1974, the festival needed a way to let folks know the festival was starting up again after the supper break. Someone suggested that the pipers process from their courtyard practice area to the city hall stage, bellowing away to herald the program restart. The tradition stuck (even after supper breaks ended in the mid-1990s).

  • Paseo: In the 1980s, when one group wanted to do a fashion show onstage, Jim and team responded by asking all groups to participate in a traditional Show and Tell called the Paseo. For many years, promenades of ethnic costumes were the de rigueur of the Saturday programs. Women and men wearing traditional and contemporary styles of dress proudly displayed their outfits while an emcee explained the intricacies as well as the meaning of the colors and the ornamentation.  The Paseo continued off and on but in a minimal way after the formal supper breaks ended.

  • Gang of Five: What started as a gathering put together by Jim and Loma’s close friends evolved even in the early years as a complex undertaking requiring hundreds of volunteers. The beginning core volunteer group was called the Gang of Five (a nod to the Mao Zedong era and his revolutionary political group known as the Gang of Four). The Tucson gang that planned and ran the festival from the late 1970s until 1995 actually never numbered five. Started after strong urgings from Loma, the group always numbered somewhere between four and 15. Mike and Frieda Stafford, who met doing garbage detail at the festival, and celebrated their honeymoon hauling a white garbage cart through the park with “Just Married” written on it, were part of the early Gang of Five. They’re still married and still attend TMY.

Inevitably, as you lick the last remnants of fry bread from your fingers, someone asks a question about the origins of the treat, or how to spell how to spell chivichanga. And that leads to an exchange at the heart of Jim and Loma’s festival vision: The more we appreciate, the more we’ll respect, increasing the chances of understanding and working together.

The generosity of simple people allowing strangers into their cultures for 40 years is something to remember as we eat or dance or touch that priceless traditional artwork. After the TMY blitz of culture overload that hits the sweet spot this month, ordinary life will seem that much more extraordinary to you.

The free festivities take place at the main library plaza, El Presidio Park, and surrounding streets from 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Oct 11-12 and 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Oct 13. Schedule and parking information is available at TucsonMeetYourself.org.

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TMY Time Capsule
If you want a head start (or a follow up) to the festival, be sure to visit Special Collections, UA Main Library, where a rich repository of TMY folklore is on display, in an exhibit that crisscrosses culture with historical documents and enough visual ephemera to call up festival fun.

“Big Jim” Griffith with his banjo, likely sharing a story before playing a song.
photo courtesy TMY/date unknown

This time capsule of posters, t-shirts, music, leaflets, tickets, albums and all sorts of Big Jim memorabilia was assembled by UA associate librarian Bob Diaz (who also is Library coordinator of exhibits and events and curator of the Library’s Performing Arts collection).

The exhibit is organized by eras and themes, which unfold into unique TMY snapshots, past and present. Each display case, panel or kiosk feels like its own treasure chest, worthy of pleasurable browsing. Adding to the complexity and fun is a music kiosk, containing audio from the festival’s early years. Another large monitor gives great pictorial punch and, sometimes, emotion, to the exhibit via a photographic faces of the festival display.

The overall history itself comes alive through material that tells a different side of the well-known story: for example, there are Jim’s 1974 handwritten and typed notes that show ideas and budget for the 1974 event. In another case, the first corrido contest is brought to life by its printed ephemera. Dog eared old photos provide a connection with the past in ways that today’s digital images cannot – illuminating TMY history to new generations.

An hour before what turned out to be a packed opening-night reception in mid-September, Big Jim and Loma were seen surveying the cases with apparent delight. All told, the exhibition presents hundreds of items from a collection Jim donated to the archives several years ago. Fascinating and even a little weird (the bronzed Liar’s Contest cow pie plaque is on display), this Big Jim exhibition is worth a trip.

“40 Years of Tucson Meet Yourself” is on view at Special Collections, UA Main Library, 1510 E. University Blvd., through January 12, 2014. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry is free, as is use of the vast and interesting Special Collections archives, where anyone is allowed to research priceless documents and memorabilia on subjects as varied as mining, Gabrielle Giffords or Stewart Udall archives, and an oddly wonderful vaudeville collection. All that is required is to complete some paperwork. A professional band of archivists and librarians are always available to help you discover something interesting about the Southwest. Learn more at: SpecColl.Library.Arizona.edu.

 

Angles on Achieving Happiness

October 5, 2013 |

In a Downtown lecture series, five University of Arizona faculty members share how to utilize scientific research and ancient philosophies as tools for improving life.

Photos courtesy UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

In unscientific Facebook and verbal polls conducted by this writer, the question “What is your definition of happiness?” elicited responses ranging from one-word certainties (acceptance, self-respect, good friends, love) to a list of experiences that bring pleasure (a breeze, music, silence, the scent of desert rain); to smart-aleck (a warm gun) to grumpy and demeaning (your “research” is quixotic).

Certainly, individual definitions of happiness are subjective (not everyone finds happiness in solitude and camping), but, as a species – can we define what it is to be happy on some baseline level? Basic provisions for survival probably need to initially be met: water, food, clothing, shelter. Beyond that, what else is universal? Perhaps music, art and homage to a greater being or purpose; such themes have been a running thread in the cultural artifacts of us Homo sapiens.

The question has been rooted in philosophical thought for centuries, but recent scientific inquiries are quantifying elements of happiness in ways that, viscerally, most of us already know. Taking care of our physicality translates to well-being; exercising kicks in brain chemistry that influences our moods via our neurotransmitters. Conversely, it is difficult to be happy when you are sick. Why? Because you feel like crap, you are in pain, et cetera. We get satisfaction out of a job well done – and when people appreciate our work and say thank you, that unexpected benefit elevates our self-esteem. The scientific explanations can be complex, but the principles are simple and sometimes we need reminders on how to achieve a higher state of existence.

The questions, answers and implications are huge. The more satisfied, content or fulfilled a person is can directly affect their families, friends and neighbors. Our interactions with each other have a ripple effect – how many times have you been the brunt of displaced anger and subsequently snarled at the next person who crossed your path? What about the times when a random smile inspired you to randomly smile at someone else? We can create better communities and a better world by thinking about and acting on the concepts that will be shared at the Fox Theatre weekly on Wednesdays from Oct. 16 through Nov. 13, hosted and organized by the UA’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

While each UA faculty member has a different lens through which they will present their topics, the common thread and definition of happiness they share is the idea of creating a life of well-being and meaning.

Celestino Fernandez, Ph.D.

As the UA’s School of Sociology Undergraduate Studies Director Celestino Fernandez, Ph.D., describes: “People most consistently say that the following three things make them happy, and these are certainly sociological: family and friends, doing good for others, being engaged in meaningful activities. No one on their deathbed wishes they had more time to live so they could acquire more stuff! They wish they had more time to spend with family and friends.

“Yes, subjectivity is involved in the definition of happiness but there is a great deal of research that demonstrates that when we measure happiness, the nuances of the variations in the definitions do not matter.”

Fernandez’s lecture, “Pursuing and Finding Happiness,” on Oct. 16 opens the series with the major focus covering the fluctuations of an individual’s happiness based on age, income, education and other variables. It will also include “a substantive overview of the research on happiness from various social science fields” with the goal that the audience will have “a better understanding of why social scientists study happiness and some of the major findings on happiness, as well as some practical things they can apply in their daily lives to enhance their happiness.”

Dr. Charles Raison

Dr. Charles Raison, with the UA Department of Psychiatry and Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, observes that “the issue with happiness is – there’s this real risk in our world – that happiness becomes this commodified thing that you’ve got to pursue and if you don’t have it you are a loser, and that it is something you can almost purchase at a store, that it is a concrete thing. We know some very interesting things about happiness that argue against that. Part of what makes people really happy is unexpected benefit. So, some of the happiest times in people’s lives occur in paradoxical situations and it seems confusing unless you understand that the things that make humans happy are basic things like feeling like you have a meaning or purpose, feeling like the narrative arc of your life is telling a story that makes sense.”

Raison, who researches depression and ways to alleviate it, shares that “most people, especially in the modern world, when they really, really get unhappy for protracted periods and begin to have depression, they become more selfish, more self-centered, less able.”

Clearly, selfishness isn’t great for a community and his studies on Cognitively-Based Compassion Training – developed by Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Ph.D. – have preliminarily shown that (according to Psychiatry.arizona.edu/raison/cbct) “compassion training actually changes people’s daily behavior in ways likely to enhance emotional well-being, relationships, and improve physical health.”

On Oct. 23, Raison presents his findings in the lecture “Compassion Training as a Path to Genuine Happiness,” and explains that such training helps people to challenge their assumptions and perceptions of the world. “Basically, we are always looking at the world through this lens that falsifies it and does this damage and if you can see the world more as it is, it opens up opportunities and especially opportunities for happiness.”

Dr. Esther Sternberg

While our attitudes can be helped through mental exercises, our well-being is most certainly influenced by our surroundings. Dr. Esther Sternberg, who joined the UA in 2012 as a Professor of Medicine and the Research Director at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine with joint appointments in the UA Institute of the Environment and the UA College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, has done extensive research on mind-body interactions in illness and healing and the inter-relationships of mind-body-stress-wellness and environment.

Sternberg says her lecture on Oct. 30, “How Our Surroundings Influence Happiness and Health,” will “focus on well-being in its larger sense and specifically: What are the elements of the external world, the environment, the world we live in, the natural environment, the built environment, that can contribute to that sense of well-being? And, thereby, help us maintain health and optimize health – both emotional and physical?

“Is it what you see, is it what you hear, is it what you smell, is it what you touch, is it what you do in a space that can help you heal and help you find this sense of well-being? The answer is, all of the above, of course. The exciting thing we are doing here at the University of Arizona as I create the Institute on Place and Well-Being is part of that. The research that we’re going to be doing is going to address all of those questions.

“It’s very exciting to try to tease apart these different elements of place and how they affect the brain – and in turn emotions, and in turn the immune system, and in turn health. And by doing that, by understanding how each of these elements alone and then together can help people shift from the stress mode to a relaxation mode, from a negative mood mode to a happiness mode, how they can help shift the immune system from a diseased mode to a health mode, then people can help themselves. You can structure your environment in such a way that you can find your own place of peace, your own place of happiness, and your own place of healing.”

David Raichlen, Ph.D.

To understand our biological systems, it is imperative to understand how our physiology evolved and how that ties into well-being. Knowing that our brains and bodies communicate with each other, it is important to delve into the “why” of our physical make-up. As hunters and gatherers, Homo sapiens had to be structured to endure the demands of survival. Our current fast food nation, office work and inactive lifestyle don’t gel with our evolution. David Raichlen, Ph.D., researcher and associate professor at the UA School of Anthropology, is looking at how and why our present sedentary ways impact our physical and mental health.

Raichlen explains that his lecture on Nov. 6, “The Evolutionary Links between Exercise and Happiness,” is going to cover, “broadly, how we know exercise improves people’s mood and psychological state and discuss the bigger research projects that have shown that. Then, spend the majority of the time discussing our work in the lab here, linking that change in mood to our evolutionary history, placing the links between exercise and happiness into that evolutionary framework and perspective. Why does exercise make us happy? I’m hoping this speaks to a broader question about how any behavior can have an effect on our mood. What we’ve done in this study is provide at least one sort of way of thinking about why behaviors affect the way you feel. It’s not the only way it happens, but it is one way that it can happen. So, it gives you the opportunity to think about any particular behavior that makes you feel good. There may be an evolutionary perspective that can help explain why those behaviors are enjoyable and can change your mood and make you feel happy.”

Capping off the series on Nov. 13 is Daniel C. Russell’s presentation, “Happiness – A Feeling or a Future?” Russell, Ph.D. philosophy professor at UA’s Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, brings an ancient philosophical approach to the quest of achieving happiness.

Daniel C. Russell, Ph.D.

“By ‘happiness’ we often mean a present state – how I’m feeling right now, or maybe how I’m feeling these days. Those states are very real and very important. But I’m looking at something else, because ‘happiness’ can also be the name of a whole life of involvement in things I find meaningful and fulfilling.

“So, it’s worth taking a moment to think about happiness not just as how you want to feel but as what you ultimately want your life to be. That sort of happiness means finding things to live for. One way to know when you’ve found things to live for, though, is when you have something to lose. That’s the catch for us. As important as feeling good is, we actually risk a lot of sorrow, frustration, and disappointment for the sake of happiness; we realize that no-risk happiness isn’t really happiness. Unfortunately, a lot of what people hear about happiness focuses just on feeling good, as if that were the whole story. I think we can do a lot better.

“Simply put, we think about happiness because we care about what, in the end, we do with our lives. That, I think, is exactly the right perspective, and that is why I have found it worthwhile to keep exploring this ancient Greek perspective on happiness.”

The free lectures start at 6:30 p.m. each Wednesday, from Oct. 16 to Nov. 13. Tickets, four maximum per person, can be picked up from the Fox Theatre box office, 17 W. Congress St., starting at 11 a.m. on the day of the lecture. More information is at DowntownLectures.arizona.edu.

“The Room”: A Portal to the Other Side?

October 1, 2013 |

Brothers Macabre (aka Kenny Stewart and Nate Anderson) along with Dr. Jonathan Arcane (aka Dr. J. Kirkland Redmon). Photo by Andrew Brown

“Have you ever walked in a room, and for whatever reason, it doesn’t even have to be a spooky feeling or anything, but you just get a feeling?” asks John Redmon, also known as Dr. Jonathon Arcane.

“In this world, people emit energy, emit impressions and they can have a residual effect. It doesn’t have to be a manifestation, it can be a feeling or an echo of something that has occurred,” Redmon explains. “When you start considering what makes life… are electrical impulses in the human body. Electricity can’t be destroyed. It has to change form or be posited in another dimension or space for it to exist.”

Sitting around the Hotel Congress’ lobby coffee table – a coffee table that’s face ironically features an oversized Ouija board – The Brothers Macabre and Dr. Jonathon Arcane explain how they will attempt to communicate with manifestations and energies that may still exist at the iconic Hotel Congress, specifically those on the hotel’s infamous third floor. It is the lone third floor room that survived the historic January 22, 1934 fire, which led to the subsequent capture of John Dillinger and his gang, one of America’s most notorious posses at the time and to date.

According to legend, the last occupant of “The Room” was none other than Public Enemy Number One, John Dillinger. Since then, the floor has been repaired, but “The Room” has remained unoccupied and closed to the public… until now.

Walking up the stairs to the third floor of Hotel Congress, there is a definite feeling. The stairs creak with each step – their moaning seems to convey a testament to all they’ve witnessed and endured. The atmosphere begins to feel heavier along the final flight to the third floor, as if it’s pushing or warning you to turn back. And when finally inside the fated Room 328, well, it’s easy to imagine that there could in fact be someone or something left behind, because Room 328 itself is really a ghost of what it once was. Original armchairs and electrical boxes are left as a reminder that energy and people once circulated in it. Maybe some of that energy was left behind.

“The idea is this: is it possible to open a portal between what we experience in this dimension and what some people refer to as the other side?” Redmon postulates. “So the show is about experiencing the influence of The Room, experiencing the manifestations that allegedly occurred there. Are we saying it’s paranormal? No. We’re just trying to keep an open mind.”

Brothers Macabre (aka Kenny Stewart and Nate Anderson) along with Dr. Jonathan Arcane (aka Dr. J. Kirkland Redmon). Photo by Andrew Brown

Maybe “it” is paranormal. According to Todd Hanley, general manager of Hotel Congress, the hotel is recognized as being haunted. In the past 80 years, the hotel has documented that two guests, in separate incidents, have lost their lives there. Stories have circulated about encounters with the hotel’s ghosts. And “The Room” seems to “creep out” even some of the hotel staff.

“There’s an element of spookiness,” Hanley said. “The maintenance staff has always felt that room can be a little eerie.”

Every Thursday evening in October, “The Room” will be opened for two shows, at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Groups of 25 to 30 guests will experience a show unlike any other, and may decide for themselves that they have indeed felt some bizarre energies.

“They say the veil between the living and dead is thinnest in October. We hope we can get a connection. We’re doing things we can’t really explain,” said Kenny Stewart of The Brothers Macabre. “No two shows are going to be the same.”

Accompanied by a complimentary glass of champagne, guests will embark on a journey of the mind and attempt to become more “intuitive.”

“An intuitive is someone who uses their senses and hones what could be called ‘uber senses’ to work with any possible manifestations in ‘The Room’,” explains Nate Anderson, of The Brothers Macabre. “It doesn’t even have to be manifestations. It could be occurrences that have happened in ‘The Room’ in the past.”

Anderson and Stewart discuss how some people have stronger reactions to energies left behind by persons or events – kind of like how some people have more intense seasonal allergies than others.

“Generally, you (can) get impressions from things that have happened. You’re mind will go wild thinking of all of the things that possibly could have occurred in ‘The Room’,” Anderson says of those who are willing to experience what “The Room” has in store.

“The Room” will be opened for two shows -7 p.m. and 10 p.m. – every Thursday in October, starting Oct. 3, at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door and can be purchased through TicketFly.com/venue/503 and at HotelCongress.com. For more information, ring (520) 622-8848.

Ephemeral Tucson Topography

September 30, 2013 |

A detail of the “Untitled (Basin and Range)” model.
The full scale installation is Alois Kronschlaeger’s largest piece to date.
photo courtesy MOCA

 

The sun is bright and angled just barely past overhead at 2:30 p.m. on a mid-September afternoon. Rolling up to the Museum of Contemporary Art, I park facing a work truck and next to the red moca letters at the museum’s plaza edge.

The soundscape is cut intermittently by the whirrrrrrr zzzzzzzzzzz of an electric saw, the scent of wood dust dances sweetly on a languid breeze. I move slowly, a little beat up from physical therapy, but also to take in the visuals. Not knowing what to expect from an installation that will only allow 10 people in at a time to experience it – in a huge space that once housed fire trucks – has piqued the curiosity.

Five men and a woman are working with 12-foot long two by twos. Thousands of these wood strips are already assembled together in MOCA’s Great Hall, hundreds more lie in mostly tidy groupings. A few of the guys look up out of curiosity, fleetingly – there is a deadline to meet.

MOCA’s Executive Director Anne-Marie Russell enthusiastically discusses the exhibit, Untitled (Basin and Range) by NYC, Austria-born, installation artist Alois Kronschlaeger. “Alois conceived the concept while here last year as a resident artist.” Russell smiles, adding that many of the artists who come through MOCA are inspired by the landscape. “These aren’t landscape artists, but the desert landscape becomes incorporated in their work.”

Russell says, “Let’s go meet the guys,” and we make our way across the plaza where Kronschlaeger and Henry Kerr are diligently concentrating on the project. Kerr is also an artist and the Basin and Range construction crew leader. En route, Russell introduces me to Florencia Minniti, Alois’ wife and a smiling beauty who looks very Tucson in her t-shirt, skirt and straw hat.

I’m awestruck by the scale of this work and not sure where to begin with the questions, so we start with the numbers. “There’s 1500 two by twos,” Kerr details. “This is recycled wood from three different, previous (MOCA) exhibits.”

Alois Kronschlaeger and Henry Kerr discuss the strategy for construction,
using the scale model as a reference.
photo from AloisKronschlaeger.wordpress.com

The installation depicts mountain ranges, comprised of 65 sections. Kronschlaeger, grinning and glistening with sweat, recounts the history. “I was here for nine days, in January 2012. I saw the (Great Hall) space, and went back to New York to build a model.”

Building the model alone took two months, six weeks of that was spent focusing on how to divide up the space. By the time the exhibit opens on Oct. 4, it will have taken about seven weeks of working 13 to 14 hour days, seven days a week, to construct it within the Great Hall.

“There are five ranges here,” Kronschlaeger continues, sweeping his arm back towards the Great Hall, which is filled to capacity with these wooden grids, still skeletal and awaiting definition. “Each has its own characteristics and attitude.

“What fascinated me was the topography, the basin and range of the landscape. I do site-specific work, so doing Tucson – it is the basin and range of the area.”

This is experiential art that navigates each individual through, under and around the ranges. It fires the imagination. What would it be like if we could actually move this way through mountain ranges? It is exciting and breathtaking.

Kronschlaeger asks if we should go through the ranges, I of course say yes, not realizing the ducking and dodging involved during this construction phase. Once the exhibit is completed, there will be free movement through the designated paths.

We take a break on the south end of the hall, and Kronschlaeger fleshes out the vision by explaining that the wood lattices – the ranges – will be draped with wire mesh that has a pouring of translucent paint on top.

“There are 10 rolls of mesh, each are six feet wide and 100 feet long,” Kronschlaeger explicates. “It’s a water-based acrylic paint, acting like an optic lens that mirrors the shifting of the light and the ambiance of the space.”

Each angle, every space, each moment, every perspective will be unique to each visitor based on the time of day. Since light shifts constantly as the Earth and Sun move in our solar system and universe, it is ephemeral defined.

Kronschlaeger’s blue eyes dance when he says, “It will take 75 gallons of paint,” as if to somewhat apologize for the quantity. Shrugging, he states with simple conviction, “Everything is in perfect alignment.”

Due to the limited viewing capacity, 10 people in the exhibit at a time, the Oct. 4 opening of Untitled (Basin and Range) is reserved for MOCA members. The general public can enjoy it starting on Oct. 5. MOCA is located at 265 S. Church Ave. Further details are available at MOCA-Tucson.org and (520) 624-5019. Also visit AloisKronschlaeger.wordpress.com to learn about the process of design and installation.

Fashionably Yours, Cardboard

September 24, 2013 |

Tammy Allen, next to Mykl Well’s “Chimera built in 2008” sculpture, at the 2012 Cardboard Ball.
photo: A.T. Willett

Wearing used clothes is one thing, but wearing used cardboard?

Yes. Yes, indeed!

At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, participants and guests at the Cardboard Ball are doing just that. Artist and community members will showcase fun fashions and artistic creations at this one of a kind party – and, you guessed it – everything will be made from cardboard.

The annual Cardboard Ball is a fundraiser to help put on All Souls Procession Workshops, which are free opportunities for the community to create fun art projects to prepare for and bring to the All Souls Procession. The workshops run for the five weeks leading up to the procession on Nov. 2 and 3.

“To me, a big part of what I do as an artist is try to create an environment where creativity, imagination and playfulness and be experienced and I think a lot of those things get pushed aside when we become adults,” said Mykl Wells, local artist and director of the All Souls Workshops. “But when you allow people the space to do those things, really remarkable things happen. Really beautiful, remarkable things.”

Wells explained that workshop participants create great works of art from mundane objects that then appear in the All Souls Procession. Some people make lanterns and masks, while others make floats for the parade. And none of it could be possible without the Cardboard Ball.

“It goes right into the workshops. It pays for the paint, it pays for the newspaper. Whatever we can get our hands on to make stuff with, we use it.” Wells said. “We need all the help we can get. I’m a really strong believer that if you want your community to support you, you have to support your community.”

Half the tickets to the event have already been sold, with an expected grand total of 300 guests. Cardboard Ball attendees are encouraged to wear cardboard outfits but anything made from recycled materials is acceptable.

“If you showed up in a dress made out of Doritos bags, I would be cool with that,” Wells joked.

The Cardboard Ball will feature great music and refreshments too. Four different DJs are spinning the tunes for lots of dancing, Borderlands Brewery making a special beer, and there’s also a raffle and a photo booth for more fun.

The Cardboard Ball is at Steinfeld Warehouse, 101 W. 6th St. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Yikes Toy Store, Pop Cycle and Borderlands Brewery. For more information about the Cardboard Ball or the All Souls Procession workshops, email Mykl Wells at info@myklwells.com or MyklWells.com.

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