Once Upon A School - Innovative Project, Good Design!

It is refreshing to find a well-designed websiteand project whose message is simple, clear, and innovative. I like it!

Creative Social Change - Carrotmob

I'm a long-time activist who believes that social change and activism has to be fun and creative. I can't do marches and door-to-door campaigning. That's why this project called Carrotmob excited me. "Carrotmob organizes consumers to make purchases that give financial rewards to those companies who agree to make environmentally friendly choices." For their first campaign, they focused on liquor stores in San Francisco. Check out this entertaining video to learn what happened.

Saturday May 31 - Downtown Geographical Expeditions

downtown re:VISION is pleased to announce its second project, Downtown Geographical Expeditions!

VOICES, Inc. presents:

the living stories project

“Downtown Geographical Expeditions”
Saturday, May 10, 10 am – 4 pm and/or Saturday, May 31, 10 am – 4pm
(Sign up for one or both!)

Been downtown lately? What do you see? Dust? Renovation? Construction? Vacancy? Change? What do you envision for Downtown Tucson’s future? What are your downtown stories, memories, experiences and hopes? How might you help contribute to Downtown’s re-emergence?

Join veteran VOICES artists Kimi Eisele and Josh Schachter on two, day-long journeys to explore, document, discuss, re-map, and re-imagine Downtown Tucson through writing, photography, and movement (yes, dance! but don't fret, we define "dance" broadly--it's easy!). Expeditions will offer participants the opportunity to experience, see, critique, and celebrate the city center in new ways. Activities will include walking tours, mapping, photography, writing, movement, emphasizing participants’ personal stories, memories and experiences of the city, past, present, and future. Stories and experiences will be gathered and shared through “re:VISION,” an artist-led initiative aiming to re-invigorate the dialogue about Downtown Tucson’s future using art practice, intervention, performance, and other creative means.

Workshops are suitable for people of all ages and abilities. No prior experience necessary. Writers, photographers, dancers, visual artists, thinkers, performers, planners and anyone interested in sharing stories, discussing, and creatively re-imagining Downtown Tucson are encouraged to join us!

Guest artists Kimi and Josh are the VOICES’ founding writing and photography directors ran the 110 Degrees After School Magazine Project, for five years. Both have gone on to conduct artist residencies in schools and cultural institutions in Tucson and across the country. Kimi has taught workshops and directed performances combining writing, the spoken word, and dance. Josh has taught photography and digital storytelling to youth and adults.

LIVING STORIES OVERVIEW AND REGISTRATION:
WHAT: An all day workshop exploring and documenting Downtown Tucson through writing, photography, and movement.

WHEN: Saturday, May 10, 10 am to 4 pm
and/or Saturday, May 31, 10 am to 4 pm

WHO: All (14 years and up).
No experience required.

WHERE: VOICES headquarters, 48 E. Pennington and various downtown locations. Wear comfortable shoes, clothes and bring a hat and water. Bring a bag lunch.

SUGGESTED DONATION: $25 (please consider sponsoring a low-income youth to participate).

QUESTIONS: Rachel Villarreal, VOICES Projects Director, rachel@voicesinc.org or 622-7458 x209 or Donnamarie Miranda, VOICES Administrative Assistant, donnamarie@voicesinc.org or 622-7458 x204

You may register for the workshop by mail, email, or phone. Please direct registration to Rachel Villarreal, VOICES, 48 E. Pennington St., Tucson, AZ 85701,
or rachel@voicesinc.org, or 622-7458 x209. Please include the following information:

Name
Mailing address and contact information
Briefly tell us why you are taking this workshop
Check made out to VOICES for $25 (please reference “Living Stories”)

Interview with Margie Puerta Edson - Idea Rodeo Commentator and Loyal Supporter

I'm always excited when I see that someone has commented on my blog. Margie Puerta Edson - a friend, colleague, and neighbor - has been Idea Rodeo's most frequent commentator (thank you!). I asked her a few questions about her thoughts on Idea Rodeo and other important subjects:

What keeps you coming back to Idea Rodeo?

1: Friendship and loyalty. I want to show support for whatever projects my friends (in this case Julie Ray) are involved with.
2: Interest. It’s interesting and thought provoking for me. I have a general interest in the subject matter covered on the Blog: art, food, philanthropy, Tucson. It’s all interesting to me and viewing these topics from a different perspective is interesting to me. Also seeing how many times I can use the word “interesting.”
3: Ego. Julie’s Blog provides me with a forum to express my ideas and opinions and it is rather egocentric of me to think that anyone should care to know what I think.
4: Voyeurism. It’s kind of like reading someone else’s diary and living life through their experiences.
5: Reminds me of a kind of performance art adapted for our time and technology.

What topics most interest you?

Hard to say…I find the whole blog interesting for different reasons and have trouble separating the parts. I see it as a whole. As I said, it is a bit like performance art and Julie is the lead. The topics are secondary performers, the various people in Julie’s life are recurring characters and I move in and out, sometimes a member of the audience and sometimes a part of the show. If I were to dissect it, I would say the biographical aspects are most interesting.

If you had your own blog, what would you write about?

Visual art and travel as they relate to ME!

Do you think there is a connection between food and philanthropy?

Yes. I believe my first experience of philanthropy was a transactional kind that involved a bake sale for some club I was in at school. Metaphorically, food could equate with either abundance and generosity or scarcity. How much does anyone one need of anything – food or money – to be happy? Cooking for someone can be a nourishing and generous act. Hoarding is seen as bad, whether you are talking about money or food. Sharing one’s wealth, sharing one’s resources is seen as good for the most part. And of course this all makes me think of the oh so dreaded fundraising events that include awful food.

If downtown Tucson was a burrito, what would be in it?

Nopalitos cooked in a red Chile sauce with some Tepary Beans rolled up in a mesquite flour tortilla served with Cholla Blossoms on the side.

Any additional comments?

Thank you for the opportunity to have a guest appearance on your Blog. It is a very generous and kind gesture. I’ll have to start a Blog of my own so I can return the favor.

Stay tuned for Margie's blog - coming soon?

We Are What We Eat

I had the privilege of participating in We Are What We Eat, a collaboration between New ARTiculations Dance Theatre and the Community Food Bank. The performance was a series of pieces that combined dance with stories about breastfeeding, baking, gardening, food waste, gleaning, desert harvesting, and more. I created a temporary installation, Food Fantastico, for the final performance at Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Through the 10-week process, I learned how to create movement from words and phrases, met amazing people working to improve our county's food security, and reflected on our food systems. I was inspired by the Community Food Bank's Food Security Program, which "promotes, demonstrates, advocates for, and collaboratively builds an equitable and regional food system, which supports food production and strengthens communities." I bought two eggplant plants at the Santa Cruz River Farmer's Market (run by the Food Bank and where we performed an excerpt of our show) and planted them this morning!

Me and my installation


Children who participated in the performance try to eat the inflatable toast while Prasenjit watches.


Close up of Food Fantastico

All Things Burrito

I got an interesting comment on my last post, which got me thinking about the history of the burrito. In my response, I said that the burrito is a Mexican-American creation. I would like to re-phrase that to say that the burritos most of us are familiar with are - cheese, lettuce, rice beans, guacamole, etc. - are a hybrid of the two cultures.

In 1998, a journalist at Washington Post went in search of the origin of the burrito (which I discovered at this blog) "As we followed the historical trail, and got closer and closer to the source, the burritos became smaller and smaller, and our favorite ingredients disappeared one by one. When we finally found what we thought was the original burrito, it was very different from the burritos we knew and loved."
Burritos-A Search for Beginnings, Peter Fox, Washington Post, November 4, 1998

Another source, Food Timeline, notes, "Burrito lovers David Thomsen and Derek Wilson believe that the modern burrito originated 'in the dusty borderlands between Tucson and Los Angeles.'"

Finally, I've discovered there are at least two people that have dedicated entire blogs to burritos:

Burritophile
Burrito Blog

downtown re:VISION

Ok, it's time for some shameless self promotion. I've recently launched the downtown re:VISION project to spark new ideas and action around downtown Tucson. The first project is the BURRITO files, where I interview people on the streets of downtown and invite the public to do the same.

Here are a few examples. I invite you to participate - as an interviewee or interviewer!



April 3, 2008
1. What is your name? Justin
2. What are you doing downtown: Hosting an open house for One North Fifth
3. Do you live in Tucson? Yes. Originally from Buffalo, NY.
4. Describe downtown in 3 words or less: historic, funky, re-nascent
5. If downtown was a burrito, what would be in it? chipotle, nopales, guacamole, beans, lettuce and cheese.
6. Have any significant events in your life occurred in downtown Tucson? It's part of my re-birth.

P.S. Learn more about One North Fifth - the new apartments on Congress Street - at Thursday open houses at the new Tooley's on Congress (corner of Congress and 5th). Free coffee and snacks! (No, I wasn't paid to write this, but I did get some free coffee!)



April 3, 2008
1. What is your name? Maxx/Laura
2. What are you doing downtown: Just got off work/taking a break
3. Do you live in Tucson? Yes, native/Yes, from New Jersey
4. Describe downtown in 3 words or less: I love it/It needs more
5. If downtown was a burrito, what would be in it? no guacamole/lots of people going green and reading books, lots of friendly faces
6. Have any significant events in your life occurred in downtown Tucson? I got married once downtown/I got married once downtown (they didn't know this about each other).

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF THE BURRITO FILES