Tidbits
Out With the Old
Make room for your new holiday goods! Clear out your closets and cupboards of swap-able items and head to your local Pima County Public Library on Saturday, Jan. 4. Seven locations are hosting the annual post-holiday Freecycle™ swap from 2 p.m.-4 p.m., including: Dusenberry-River Branch Library, 5605 E. River Rd., Eckstrom-Columbus Branch Library, 4350 E. 22nd St., Himmel Park Branch Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave., Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., Martha Cooper Branch Library, 1377 N. Catalina Ave., Quincie Douglas Library, 1585 E. 36th St., and Woods Memorial Branch Library, 3455 N. First Ave. Inquiries can be answered by calling 791-4010.
TreeCycle!
Continuing through Jan. 12, residents can recycle their Christmas trees through the City of Tucson’s TreeCycle Program. There are nine locations accepting trees, with the list available at TucsonAZ.gov/treecycle. Remember to remove all ornaments, decorations and tree stands and consider tree pooling—fewer trips means cleaner air! Be advised, the City of Tucson is not collecting Christmas trees from curbs and alleys and other green waste cannot be accepted at TreeCycle. Additionally, from Jan. 4 through Jan. 12, the City of Tucson will have wood chips from shredded Christmas trees available for pick-up at Udall Park, Randolph Golf Course, and the Los Reales Landfill. Bring your own container and take home some free wood chips for your garden. Details are on the website or by calling 791-5000.
O2 Closes, DNA Opens
After four years of offering a variety of fitness classes, O2 Modern Fitness closed shop on Dec. 30. The same location, 186 E. Broadway Blvd., will be the new Downtown locale for DNA Personal Training–which offers personal training, semi-private training, group training and nutritional consulting. DNA will honor O2 patrons’ remaining class passes through the end of February, and is aiming to open Monday, Jan. 6. An “O2 Closing, DNA Opening” potluck is on Saturday, Jan. 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Find more information at O2ModernFitness.com and DNAPersonalTraining.com.
“A Certain Slant of Light”
“A Certain Slant of Light: Emerging from the Shadows of Mental Illness”
The Coyote Task Force, whose mission is to “support individuals recovering from persistent, chronic mental illnesses; to help them regain their ability to move towards their recovery with a focus on reintegration into the community,” releases a chapbook this month comprised of works by participants in the task force’s Thursday Writing Group.
As board member of Coyote Task Force, which includes Café 54 and Our Place Clubhouse, Sheila Wilensky explains in the press release, “Misconceptions about mental illness abound. A few weeks after the Jan. 8, 2011, Tucson shooting, an Our Place Clubhouse member asked, ‘What is it with people? Why do they think that anyone with a mental illness may pull out a gun anytime and indiscriminately start shooting?’”
The question stuck with Wilensky, who is also a local writer, editor, and educator. She started the task force’s Thursday Writing Group in September 2012 to confront such erroneous notions with the intention of producing a chapbook to educate the public on biases toward those with mental illnesses.
The result, “A Certain Slant of Light: Emerging from the Shadows of Mental Illness,” features 14 co-authors ranging in ages from 20s to 60s along with suggestions for concrete action on how to change attitudes about mental illness.
The reception is on Friday, Jan. 17 from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at Our Place Clubhouse, 66 E. Pennington St. Email Wilensky at sheilawilensky@gmail.com for more information.
Category: Books, Community, DOWNTOWN / UNIVERSITY / 4TH AVE, Living
