More news on medical marijuana, Barbara LaWall, and prohibition

Here is a sequel to my earlier story about Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall's crusade against Prop 203 which would legalize medical marijuana.

LaWall continues campaign against medical marijuana

That story and an anti-Prop 203 blog post also in yesterday's Tucson Citizen raised a number of comments about the origins of marijuana prohibition, so I posted this story today. It's amazing how many times in our history xenophobia has been used as a wedge issue to control the US population.

Alcohol and marijuana: The origins of prohibition

My new blog link on the Citizen is here: Tucson Progressive.

Arts Advocacy Day of Action: Tucson can be 'arts friendly' and 'business friendly'

With Tucson and Arizona suffering extreme budget problems, a number of worthwhile programs have been or will be cut back or eliminated.

Rather than make the tough choices necessary to fix the state's revenue structure, the Arizona Legislature ended its 2010 session last week after slashing many state-funded programs, most notably education on all levels, healthcare for children and the poor, and the state parks system.

The City of Tucson also has tough choices to make. In recent months, the City Manager has offered solutions, but many have been shot down.

In tough economic times, arts funding is an easy target. During the 2009 city council elections, local talk radio hosts and the Arizona Daily Star (formerly the Red Star but now a right-wing mouthpiece) hammered the Democratic-controlled City council for not being "business friendly". Repeatedly, they called for cuts to arts funding as a way to solve the city's budget crisis. This kind of talk makes great sound bites for the small government folks, but Tucson's arts funding is already so paltry that eliminating it only nips at the edge of our budget problems. (Often, I believe that the right-wingers are just bad at math. Arizona's and Tucson's budget problems are cause by a tax structure that relies too heavily on sales tax. When sales go down-- as they do in a recession-- revenue plummets. Ultimately, we need to make the tough choices to fix our tax system, but that ain't happen' with our current state government.)

On Tuesday, May 4, Tucson City Manager Mike Letcher will submit his recommended FY 2011 budget to the Mayor and Council.

On the local level in FY 2010, the Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC)and ACCESS Tucson have suffered budget cuts. The question now is: Will they survive?

I believe that the dichotomy of "arts friendly" vs "business friendly" is just political rhetoric. Tucson has been blessed with a vibrant and diverse arts and music scene. The Tucson city government can be both "arts friendly" and "business friendly". It is not an either/or situation as the right-wing local media would have us believe.

Supporting the arts IS business friendly. Three great examples of how cities have flourished by touting their arts and/or music scenes are: Austin, New Orleans, and Ashville, NC.

My friends and I recently returned from a trip to New Orleans to attend the 27th Annual French Quarter Festival. This is a free music festival that features only musicians from Louisiana. There were 12 stages of music and plenty of food, art, and dancing in the streets. An estimated 450,000 people attended that festival in 2009, and they expected more in 2010. We came for the music, but we spent plenty of money in restaurants, shops, and the B&B where we stayed. Local businesses kicked in funds to support and promote that free music festival because they knew they would benefit from hordes of tourists attending it. This is a prime example of the New Orleans business community working with the music and arts community for the economic and cultural betterment of the city.

Over the course of our long weekend in New Orleans, we repeatedly asked ourselves: Why doesn't Tucson do this? Tucson has many music festivals-- the Folk Festival, the Mariachi Festival, the Chamber Music Festival, the Blues Festival, the Blue Grass Festival, Club Crawl, etc. Do we bill ourselves as a music destination? Not that I know of.

Today is an Arts Day of Action organized by Tucson artists and TPAC. There will be several events around town to highlight the city's arts and music scene. Here is a list of events:

- Arts for All, Coffee Reception, 7 – 9 AM (Arts for All, 2520 N. Oracle Rd)
- The Loft Cinema, Playing PSA videos all day (The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd)
- Invisible Theatre, Draping marquee, (Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. 1st Ave)

Downtown beginning at 5:30 pm:
- Jodi Netzer, a running butoh clown (starting at Maynard's)
- Flam Chen/ Critical Stilts (between Maynards and the library)
- Jeff Grubic on sax (Pedestrian bridge between El Presidion Park and La Placita Village_
- Mitzi Dasheya Cowell and pals (Scooters in La Placita Village
- Katie Rutterer and New ARTiculations (La Placita Village Plaza)
- To-Reé-Neé (near the griffin at Scott Ave & 12th Street)
- Batucaxé and Acroyoga (near Armory Park, 6th Ave & 12th Street)
- Odaiko Sonora & Lorie Heald (on the Diamondback bridge)Denise Uyehara, Adam Cooper-- Teran and friends, video projections (Amtrak depot, after 7:30 p.m.)

Check the Arts Day of Action website or tweet @tpacartadvocacy for additional events that may be added.

By ignoring the arts-- or worse, by further cutting funding-- Tucson is missing a perfect marketing opportunity to set itself apart from other tourist destinations. This is a wake up call to not only the city government but to business community and the arts community. I urge you to drop the us vs them attitude and work together.

This article originally appeared in my Progressive Examiner column.

Headless woman bound for love

This somewhat disturbing display stopped me in my tracks at the local Walgreens yesterday. There on the end-cap as you enter the store was this decapitated, dismembered life-size woman's body, bound by undergarments.

Initially, I was intrigued. "What the heck is she wearing? And Why?" I thought as I studied the display. OK, the white bra, I understand, but I couldn't figure out the black strap under her boobs. Two bras? Isn't one bra uncomfortable enough? Why would someone were one regular bra and an additional strap? Then I read the package. The black strap pushes the boobs up and in to improve the cleave.

The tan ribcage-to-thigh ultra girdle was touted as taking off 2 dress sizes.

But can she breathe?

Move your money, pay cash and buy local

Frustrated Americans are bankrolling bank bailouts and funding bonus checks for CEOs with poor performance appraisals, but what can we do about it? How can we voice our anger and frustration? The federal government thinks these banks are "too big to fail."

Arianna Huffington and her cohorts have given us a way to demonstrate our frustrations. If these non-performing banks are "too big to fail," make them smaller by moving our money out. The Move Your Money campaign began in December 2009 and has taken off through social media and the Internet. At least two Examiners have encouraged their audiences in Newark and LA to move their money.

For Tucson, I'd encourage people to not only move their money to sound local banks or credit unions but also to buy local and pay cash. These three simple strategies can help us invest in our community and our local businesses.

More money stays in your community if you bank locally and buy locally. The Local First movement has been progressing across the country, with chapters in many state and cities. Yes, Tucson has Starbucks, Target, Safeway, and national chain retail stores, but we also has Epic Cafe, Yikes Toys, several farmers' markets, and Bohemia. Shopping and dining locally makes economic sense. The Local First Tucson website lists locally owned businesses in every service category. Forty-five cents of every dollar you spend stays in Arizona, when you buy from Arizona businesses.

Pay cash is my third piece of advice. Why pay cash? Because it costs you and the retailer money when you pay with a debit or credit card. Retailers pay 2-5% of the purchase price to the card company when you use a VISA, MasterCard, American Express or other debit or credit card. Two percent of a $10 purchase is only 20 cents. Multiply 2% by millions of transactions each day across the world, and you realize that card companies are making truckloads of money-- even before they start charging you interest, annual fees, late fees, or ATM fees for the convenience of using cards. Check out the New York Times video that opened my eyes the insane amounts of money that are being made by cards companies-- particularly VISA, the industry leader. Cards are much more convenient than checks or cash, but we are paying dearly for that convenience.

How do we survive in tough economic times and still foster growth locally? Pull money out of those free-loading banks that are "too big to fail", cancel the credit cards with those mega-banks, and open up an account with a local community bank or credit union. Buy local, pay cash, and live within your means.

This article originally appeared in my Progressive Examiner column.

New Year's Resolution: Do More with Less

A few years ago, I was walking through Macy's in San Francisco and checking out the latest fashions. This was about 5 years ago when the '60s and '70s looks first started coming back in style. The upscale downtown store was filled with fringed suede purses, lace-up leather boots, beaded necklaces, and crocheted vests from the hippie era and weirdly psychodelic mini-dresses, big sunglasses, and platform shoes from the early disco era. (Who knew that platform shoes would come back?)

The blue jean mini-skirts struck me in particular because they were authentically ragged, although quite pricey. The handmade look was reminiscent of the original blue jean skirts that we old hippies made in the early 1970s.

I sewed my first blue jean skirt from pair of cutoff shorts when I was a freshman in college. Since the dorm sewing machines were possessed by mechanical demons, we sewed these skirts by hand, which gave them a particularly crude look.

My mother was appalled by the rugged workmanship of my creation. In the fall of 1969, she sent me to college wearing wool sweaters with matching wool skirts, purses, and tasteful heels. When I came home in the spring, I was wearing a home-made love bead necklace that I strung; an orange hand-crocheted vest; my hand-sewn, blue jean mini-skirt; and Water Buffalo sandals. Except for the sandals, I had created my outfit with a handful of raw materials, a bit of ingenuity, and some skills I learned in junior high home economics class.

Fast forward 40 years to 2010, where is that personal ingenuity today? In the current economic climate, I believe we should look back to the '60s and '70s for direction. Gardening, composting, eating healthy meals, making your own clothes, living simply and naturally, and living in harmony with nature and other people were all in style.

How can you emulate this lifestyle today? Here are a few tips on living more simply:

- Evaluate your household. Does your house or apartment suit your family's size? Is if convenient to your work or do you have a long commute. You may consider downsizing or moving closer to your work to save money and energy costs.

- Do you know how to knit, sew, or crochet? These are useful skills. Consider taking a community class or asking a friend to give you a few lessons. If you know these crafts, teach your children. (They'll thank you someday.)

- Check out your closet. Are their clothes that could be updated or restyled into other fashions? Recycled fashion is in style-- particularly in Tucson. Maybe you could make pillow covers or other decorative household items from these clothes.

- Harvest rainwater and grow a garden.

- Plant trees to shade your property.

- Start a compost.

- Buy and eat locally.

- Reuse and recycle.

- Engage your family-- particularly your children-- in these activities.

I challenge you to more with less this year. You may find that this enriches your life.

This article originally appeared in my Baby Boomer Examiner column. To see a slide show of recycled art, check out this link.

Gloves and hankies: Lessons from the 1918 flu pandemic

If it hadn’t been for the flu pandemic of 1918, I wouldn’t be here.

You see both of my grandparents lost their first spouses to the flu or complications from the flu. Grandma had two sons, and Grandpa had one. After they married in the early 1920s, they had two daughters, my aunt and my Mom. They built an early yours-mine-and-ours family and a 50+ year marriage on the tragedies of the largest pandemic in US history.

According to my Mom, Grandma was relieved that her first husband Charlie didn't have to go to World War I but was devastated when he died from the flu just a few years later. Lessons from the flu stayed with my Grandma her entire life.

For months now we have been hearing scare stories about the coming of the H1N1 flu, also known as the swine flu, and now it’s here. Will 2009 be a repeat of 1918 with an estimated 50 million deaths worldwide?

Wash your hands thoroughly and often appears to be the primary message from the US government, but are there other things you can do?

I believe my Grandma would have some suggestions. Grandma never left home without the gloves on her hands, a hat or scarf on her head, and an embroidered hankie tucked into the waistband of her dress. I always thought this was just her personal style, but when you think about her experiences with the 1918 flu, it’s apparent that her accessories had a purpose.

Gloves. Of course, in the winter, people wear gloves for warmth, but my Grandma wore gloves whenever she went out. She wore them to church and to the store—everywhere she would be meeting people, shaking hands, or touching objects that had been touched by others—faucets, door handles, railings, produce, you name it. Gloves can be both fashionable and functional. Will they be the new fashion statement for 2009? I hope so.

Hats and scarves. Growing up in the 1950s, everyone’s grandma had a collection of little hats for church or fancy occasions. My Grandma was religious about covering her head—hats for church and babushkas (scarves) for everyday wear. When it’s cold out, you lose a lot of body heat through your head. Throw away your vain worries about hat head and wear a hat or a scarf this winter.

Hankies. Grandma had a whole drawer of embroidered hankies to match her cotton gloves of every color. Obviously, hankies can be used to blow your nose, but Grandma also used them every time she coughed or sneezed. The advice these days is to cough into your elbow rather than cough into your hand. Whatever you do, don’t cough or sneeze into the air or into your hand (unless you wash your hands immediately afterward.)

Sharing. Grandma was decidedly not into sharing: don’t drink out of someone else’s glass, use their plate or eating utensil, taste their food, eat or drink out of a container, or even use another family member’s bath towel, hairbrush, or toothbrush. These are especially important for families with small children. Children who are attending school or pre-school are little germ magnets, and they bring these germs home. Protect your family by making it a practice to wash your hands when you come home.

Take a few lessons from Grandma and prevent disease by intervening with potential disease vectors. Wash your hands, wear gloves, cover your head, cover your mouth, and don’t share. And, of course, if you are able, get a flu shot.

You know you're a Baby Boomer when...

20. You remember dial telephones, five-digit telephone numbers, and party lines—telephone party lines, not political party lines.

19. You remember watching The Lone Ranger, Howdy Doody, the original Mickey Mouse Club, Johnny Carson, and Steve Allen on a black and white television—although you were probably too young to understand the jokes Carson and Allen were telling.

18. You remember when almost everyone’s mom was a homemaker and dad was the breadwinner.

17. You remember the excitement of the Sears Catalog—especially the Christmas edition.

16. You remember when people paid cash for everything and to pay for Christmas presents in December people opened Christmas Club accounts the January before.

15. You remember when the only television stations you could get were the three local affiliates for NBC, ABC, and CBS. That, of course was long ago, when there was news, investigative reporting, and locally-produced programming on television.

14. You remember the British “invaded” the US—musically, that is—and all music was on vinyl.

13. You remember the draft and the prime time ritual of pulling military draft numbers from a rotating bin, as if it were a macabre, life-and-death lottery (which it was).

12. You remember the days that President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Kent State students were shot.

11. You remember watching the Senate Watergate hearings live on television and watching President Nixon leave the White House after his resignation.

10. You or someone close to you served in Vietnam, protested against the Vietnam War, or moved to Canada to avoid the draft.

9. You have at least dabbled in Eastern religions, meditation, yoga, tai chi, alternative medicine, vegetarianism, controlled substances, and/or composting.

8. You own a copy of the Tao te Ch’ing, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diet for a Small Planet, or anything by Carlos Casteneda.

7. You remember when everyone smoked cigarettes everywhere, and LSD was legal.

6. You learned to type on a manual typewriter.

5. You remember AM transistor radios were a miracle of technology, computers filled entire rooms, and data entry was done on key-punch machines.

4. You remember when abortion was illegal, and the birth control pill had not been invented.

3. You remember the sexual revolution before AIDS, HIV, and herpes.

2. You own something tie-dyed and wore it to a Woodstock 40th anniversary party.

1. Regardless of your gender, you have an old photo of yourself with shoulder-length hair, a beaded necklace, hairy armpits, and no bra.

We’ve come a long way, baby…