Tucson Weekly, July 1, 2021

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SMELLS LIKE DOG SPIRIT

Sink into stories about pet psychics and doggy daycare in our special pets section, brought to you by our friends at:

SKINNY: Ducey Busts Open State Treasury, Hands Money To His Rich Pals CITY WEEK: Where Are The Fireworks?

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JULY 1, 2021

JULY 1, 2021

JULY 1, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 26

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STAFF

CONTENTS THE SKINNY

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Arizona Legislature gave a giant tax break to Arizona’ highest earners while giving the rest of us a couple of bucks

TUCSON SALVAGE

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Baby vampires, daddy gifts and toddler WTF expressions

CITY WEEK

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How to celebrate the Fourth of July, and other events around town this week

CINEMA

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ADMINISTRATION Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher Michael Hiatt, Vice President

EDITOR’S NOTE

Jaime Hood, General Manager, Ext. 12 jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com Claudine Sowards, Accounting, Ext. 13 claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com

Cross Words

Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, Ext. 10 sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com

BOY, DO WE HEAR ABOUT IT WHEN we screw up the crossword. Last week, we accidentally included the wrong clues for our New York Times crossword puzzle—and judging from the number of you who reached out to let us know about our screwup, it’s damn certain that many of you love doing it every week. We apologize and will get it right going forward. We also apologize for leaving the last few lines of staff writer Christina Duran’s look at rising home prices and rental costs in last week’s print edition. You can find Duran’s whole in-depth report at TucsonWeekly.com. This week, we celebrate pets in our special My Best Friend section. The package includes a story about Dogtopia, a doggy day care and boarding facility that ensures your dog has a great time while you’re out of the house; a profile of local pet psychics; and photos of our readers’ favorite pets. Elsewhere in the book this week: The Skinny looks at how the Arizona Legislature gave a giant tax break to Arizona’ highest earners while giving the rest of us a couple of bucks; staff writer Christina Duran explores why so

many dollars targeted for eviction prevention have yet to be distributed; Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Smith reflects on fatherhood; arts writer Margaret Regan finds a few silver linings for arts organizations amidst the pandemic clouds; movie critic Bob Grimm takes a trip with Zola; Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott explains how you can get your cloudy record cleared if you have past marijuana offenses; calendar editor Emily Dieckman tells you where you can see fireworks this year and how else to have fun during this Independence Day weekend; and we’ve got the usual sex column, horoscope, crossword puzzle and cartoons scattered throughout the book. Happy Fourth of July, everyone! See you under the rockets’ red glare. Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Nintz talk about all the cool things to do in Tucson during the World Famous Frank Show at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday mornings on KLPX, 96.1 FM.

RANDOM SHOTS By Rand Carlson

EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, Ext. 38 jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Managing Editor, Ext. 43 jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Mike Truelsen, Web Editor, Ext. 35 mike@tucsonlocalmedia.com Christina Duran, Staff Reporter, Ext. 42 christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com Ireland Stevenson, Staff Reporter, Ext. 42 ireland@tucsonlocalmedia.com Contributors: David Abbott, 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 Courtney Oldham, Production Manager, tucsonproduction@timespublications.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 TLMSales@TucsonLocalMedia.com 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 Times Media Group 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 Times Media Group. 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.

A stripper’s scheme to make some quick bucks goes terribly wrong in Zola

TUCSON WEEDLY

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Southern Arizona NORML expungement clinic coming to Tucson July 3

Cover image courtesy Bigstock

Copyright: The entire contents of Tucson Weekly are Copyright Times Media Group. 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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THE SKINNY FLATTENED ARIZONA

Gov. Doug Ducey achieves his dream of comforting the comfortable and afflicting the afflicted Jim Nintzel jnintzel@tucsonweekly.com HIGH ON THEIR OWN SUPPLY-SIDE

theories and stuffed with the cheddar that Uncle Sam has been shipping to the state to keep the economy healthy through the pandemic, Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP lawmakers at the Legislature last week delivered the mother of all income tax breaks, creating a flat tax that will shift the burden of supporting the state government from Arizona’s wealthiest residents to the middle class. And they are telling some whoppers to hide the real impact. The governor’s office suggested the average tax cut will be $350 a year—a number that only climbs that high because the amount of money being handed away to the highest earning Arizonans is so colossal that it balances out the peanuts most Arizonans will receive. It’s like living on a block where nine houses are worth $100,000 each and a 10th is worth $1.1 million. On average, every house is worth $200,000—but that’s still twice the value of nine out of 10 houses. Ducey had the cold stones to justify this giveaway to Arizona’s top earners by saying he was looking out for the “little guy.” Everyone has their own definition of the little guy, but this proposal does the exact opposite. According to the state’s bean counters at the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, little guys—the ones who earn, say, between $40,000 to $50,000 a year and pay, on average, $683 in income taxes annually—will

get about an average of $39 a year in this tax break. Meanwhile, people who earn between $200,000 and $500,000 will see, on average, a tax cut of $3,202. Those who earn between $500,000 and a million bucks a year will see a tax cut, on average, of $12,000, which will decrease their taxes by nearly 40%. And if you earn more than a million dollars a year, you’ll see a taxes decline by about 43%. Why can’t Republicans be honest about the real beneficiaries of this taxpayer ripoff? Because they know good and well that Arizonans would rather see taxes invested in schools, highways, health care and other programs to improve their lives rather than given away to people who don’t need it—namely, people earning more than a million bucks a year. Republicans rammed this budget through in a matter of days, with the Senate passing it literally in the middle of the night. The public didn’t have a chance to weigh in and even the Democratic caucus was shut down in the House of Representatives, with Speaker Rusty Bowers complaining that because Democrats hadn’t come to work earlier in the week and slowed the process down, they forfeited the right to speak out against this theft of the state’s treasury. The few GOP holdouts against the budget—and most of them couldn’t wait to vote for this giveaway—came on board once Ducey agreed to increase the percentage of the income tax that goes to cities and towns from 15% to 18%. While that may hold cities and towns harmless, how long will it be

before Republicans decide to cut that percentage or find other ways to shift costs to the local jurisdictions? There’s a lot of good that money could have done for the state. Lawmakers could have funded schools, many of which are in disrepair. They could have invested in higher learning to reduce the ever-increasing cost of tuition. They could have funded special ed for kids who need extra help. They could have increased funding for our decaying highways. They could have put more money into affordable housing programs, making it easier for first-time homebuyers to get a house and begin building generational wealth. But when your priorities are taking care of the rich, those sorts of projects are just going to have to be funded through bake sales. This entire tax cut was Ducey’s revenge on the education community for having the temerity to ask voters to raise income taxes on the 1% to better

SORENSON

fund schools. Voters, who want better schools, approved the measure last year, but Ducey would never let the will of the people stand in the way of making the rich richer. While it’s highly unlikely that the flat tax could be reversed in the Arizona Legislature (as raising taxes requires a two-thirds majority vote), there’s a chance, however slim, that this could be reversed by voters. A coalition of groups are considering whether to hit the streets with petitions to force a referendum on the measure. The Legislature has set up a bunch of minefields in recent years to make it harder to get a referendum or initiative on the ballot, so we’ll see if organizers can sidestep those challenges and persuade voters to give up $3 a month in exchange for investments in the state’s people and infrastructure. ■

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Volunteers like Local 1912 have Merkle, an apprentice with Local 1912, helped Habitat for Humanity sigwanted to give back to the community nificantly as they continue to face a as a way of compensating for his past shortage of volunteers, especially with criminal activity. the overbearing heat. According to “When I was involved with criminal Daniel Freeman, building superintenactivities I think I took so much from dent for Habitat for Humanity Tucson, the community that right now I just the majority of their regular volunteers want to give back,” said Merkle. “If we are snowbirds, who are currently out of can help each other out, and we can state and will likely return in August. help out the community I think that’s “Crews, like these guys today, showwhere it’s at.” ing up is amazing,” said Freeman. At 19, Merkle was in and out of the “These guys are in this element all day, prison system, falling back into old every day for a living and then for them ways after every release. After being to take a day off and still do it, it’s an released in April 2017, Merkle went back to working at Jerry Bob’s for a year outstanding thing that happens.” Without volunteers and donations, before joining the carpenter’s union. Habitat for Humanity would be unable With a little inspiration from his to absorb the costs of rising home brother-in-law, Merkle looked into apprenticeship programs and zeroed in prices, lumber costs or labor that continue to plague the market and provide on the carpentry classes he took while quality homes. attending Eastern Arizona College “Most people think that Habitat is through the Department of Corrections. He began to look for a local carpenters building a low-quality, low-product union and found Southwest Carpenters. home and we’re not,” said Freeman. PHOTO BY CHRISTINA DURAN He pointed at a two-story house across “I wound up calling on meeting “These guys are in this element all day, every day for a living and then for them to take a the street and said “That’s a $200,000 night,” Merkle said. “I got lucky. It was day off and still do it, it’s an outstanding thing that happens,” said Daniel Freeman, house,” then pointed at the house a Tuesday meeting night. I went there. building superintendent for Habitat for Humanity Tucson. Everyone was there. I got a job the same they are building and said “This is a $200,000 house.” day, started as a level one apprentice.” “These folks are getting the same Merkle hopes to create a mentorship house, the same build, the same quality program whereby inmates can work with the union, with the help of the De- that anybody else is getting,” said Freeman. “Habitat is eating all of those costs partment of Corrections to offer them Local carpenter’s union volunteers to aid Habitat for Humanity build homes and the only way we’re able to survive guidance. “Get them in here,” Merkle said. “Get that is through all the grants and the donations and just the general involvethem learning carpentry. Get them ment from the public is what keeps us volunteering. Get them on part of the By Christina Duran and cash in their volunteer hours for going. If the public doesn’t get involved, mentor committee. Get them some christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com prizes. They can even get help paying we don’t exist. So that’s what makes us guidance. Get them work, and we get for school or medical expenses, acsurvive is the generosity of everybody paid decent, so if we get them in here cording to Joseph Kobel, treasurer of and we get them working, there should that donates and gives, whether it’s THE SUN GLARED DOWN AND TEMPS Local 1912, who used some of his excess be no reason to be doing other things.” money or volunteer time.” ■ rose to nearly 100 degrees at 6 a.m. volunteer hours to help cover some of Saturday as a group of carpenters his medical expenses. installed windows and doors on a newly Ron Heilman, vice president of the built home in a quiet neighborhood just Local 1912, said the union had previoussouth of the Pima Air & Space Museum. ly volunteered before the creation of Japanese Restaurant The nine carpenters from Southwest CUPP, so many members supported the & Sushi Bar Carpenters Arizona Local 1912, a union creation of the program. While the proDaily Specials Half Price Rolls created more than a century ago, were gram provides an incentive, Heilman $6 Sake Bombs All Day volunteering with Habitat for Humanity said “it’s all about giving back.” Tucson, a nonprofit that helps families He said the organization works with 5036 N Oracle Road own or repair quality homes. 888-6646 other nonprofit organizations, such as Union members can participate in Women Warriors, an organization supM-F 11:30am to 2pm the Carpenters Union Participation & 5pm to 10pm porting the female veteran community Sat 12pm to 10pm Program (CUPP), where they can help in Southeast Arizona. shoguntucson.com Sun 12pm to 9pm organizations like Habitat for Humanity As a former prison inmate, Ian

CURRENTS

HOUSE PARTY

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CURRENTS

STAY AT HOME

Aid to renters, landlords available as CDC extends eviction moratorium through the end of July By Christina Duran christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com WHILE THE CDC LAST WEEK PUT COVID-RELATED evictions on hold until July 31, a local program aimed at preventing evictions has more than $20 million available to aid both renters and landlords. The Tucson Pima Eviction Prevention Program, a collaboration between the City of Tucson, Pima County, Community Investment Corporation and local nonprofits, provides rental and utility assistance for tenants facing eviction due to COVID-19-related reasons. The program still has more than $20 million in rental assistance available of the $34 million in federal eviction prevention funding for the City of Tucson and Pima County. Community Investment Corporation Director Danny Knee expects more funding from the American Rescue Plan. The program has until Sept. 30 to expend about 65% of those relief funds, but there’s pressure to distribute money before the end of the eviction moratorium under which many tenants have maintained their homes. Program officials expect a wave of eviction proceedings will be filed mid-summer. The CDC said last week’s extension of the moratorium through the end of July “is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium.” Knee said it’s challenging to distribute the money because there are so many people to serve but he doesn’t have the staff to process all the applications. “How do you go hire and train as many people as would be needed to process all that and then when that’s over, then let them go?” said Knee. “Nonprofits, most of us are relatively small places, where we’re not set up for that. We’re not set up like Amazon to deal with Christmas rush or something like that and this work, it can’t just be anybody. It’s not unskilled type of work that people are doing.” Knee said the program is distributing about $1 million in funding every week, earning praise from the Arizona Multihousing Association, which said in its June newsletter that the program is “on track to be the most efficient and expedient program in the state.” This was compared to Arizona’s Department of Economic Security’s program, which had dispersed $7.8 million in rental and utility assistance out of $289 million to 1,519 applicants in Coronavirus Relief Funds as of Monday, June 28. But AMA President Courtney LeVinus says the entire process has been beset by delays. “The delay in deploying eviction relief funds continues to frustrate residents and property owners,” LeVinus said via email. “Congress allocated these funds months ago, yet this continues to be an issue. Property owners in some cases are owed 15 months of rent, sometimes $15,000 to $20,000. Meanwhile millions of dollars in relief money is

not being deployed to people in need.” According to LeVinus, Arizona has received nearly $1 billion in relief money through various levels of government over the past 16 month, but has deployed less than 15 cents of every dollar received. From November 2020, a waitlist began to grow, with around 4,000 applications waiting in the queue in March when they began processing them, said Knee. He speculates around 2,400 were legitimate, as some of those applications may have been duplicated because of a change in eligibility requirements and because the program encourages cooperation between tenant and landlord, where either a tenant or landlord can apply. With around 500 to 600 applications coming in every week, the process takes roughly four weeks to get through the waitlist, said Knee. Those at or below 50% of area median income who may be eligible for unemployment or who have been unemployed for a longer period have priority in the list. With the city and county, CIC also created a scoring system to take into consideration how long someone has been on the waitlist. “What we were finding early on is that if you didn’t do that, the people who didn’t have a higher priority score, they would never have gotten served, because people are always coming in,” said Knee. Once they are off the waitlist, tenants and landlords must provide the required documents, like pay stubs, leases and proof of the rent in arrears, to prove eligibility and ensure a legitimate landlord/tenant relationship. With 65 case managers across 10 agencies, the process takes another two to three weeks. Knee said income verification is making the process take closer to three weeks. “If somebody were to get on the waiting list right now on average, it would probably take them about two months to get served, which is obviously really problematic with the moratorium coming up,” said Knee. “We’re very stressed about what’s going on.” Last month, the Department of Treasury updated their guidelines for emergency rental assistance to allow the use of readily available information or “proxies” to verify the income eligibility of renters. In order to expedite a process bogged down by red tape, the city and county followed CIC’s suggestion to use the Neighborhood Vulnerability Map Index, a map created from a 2020 study identifying vulnerable areas in Tucson and Pima County based on five factors: percentage of nonwhite residents; level of education; renting versus owning housing; income level; and the number of children living in poverty. Applicants would submit their address and self-attest to living in one of those vulnerable areas. Knee said about half of the applications submitted in recent weeks have gone through that process, meaning “no gathering of pay stubs, no calculation errors, no back and forth.” With those improvements, Knee hopes to increase the amount of funds paid to $1.5 million a week in the next couple of weeks and get closer to $2 million a week. “The money is not going to run out,” said Knee. “I know that’s one of the concerns. That is not the concern right now. There’s American Rescue Plan money that is going to fall behind this. So, if people can be patient, the money will be there. There are landlords that have been out over a year, have not gotten a payment for over a year, and so it’s

very difficult to ask them to be patient.” LeVinus said the request for more patience is unreasonable. “During the pandemic, we did not require grocery stores to give away free food and home goods. We didn’t enforce a ‘fuel cost moratorium’ requiring gas stations to provide free gas. Only property owners have been asked to make this unbelievable sacrifice—a 16-month moratorium that has been ruled unconstitutional by multiple federal judges,” LeVinus said via email. “Collectively, Arizona property owners–including mom and pop rental owners–have lost millions of dollars in rental income while still paying their own mortgages, property taxes, payroll, maintenance costs and other bills.” LeVinus said she didn’t expect the end of the eviction moratorium will cause a spike in evictions. Instead, she expects them to increase incrementally. “We have seen predictions of an ‘eviction tsunami’ based on bad data and unreasonable projections,” said LeVinus. “We do believe there will be an incremental increase in evictions. That’s inevitable, given that evictions have slowed to a near standstill over the past 16 months. At some point, people will have to pay the rent they owe or there will be some consequence.” AMA continues to advise landlords and property owners to continue what they have been doing for 16 months: “Keep working with rental residents who make an effort to work with them,” according to LeVinus. “This type of collaboration requires renters to make an honest effort to communicate, seek assistance and work with their property manager,” said LeVinus. “Unfortunately, we have seen many renters fail to participate, including applying for assistance.” ■ The Tucson Pima Eviction Prevention Program provides landlords and property managers with up to 12 months in back rent and three months advance pay for tenants who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. Those in need of assistance should visit tucsonpimaep.com.

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Story & photos by Brian Smith

Baby vampires, daddy gifts, and toddler WTF expressions IT IS FATHER’S DAY TODAY and my wife and two daughters huddle around me outside on the patio with gifts. Mostly the children are suckling mom’s boobs, and at 19 months apart, their size variance forces mom into awkward and painful hunched positions, Zuzu on her lap, Rickie standing, two little heads stuck to her chest like the little vampires they are. Today like any other lately I am one of the undeserving, and the presents labeled to me are just so damn daddy— house slippers, multi-colored boxers, a bouquet of sunflowers, a fancy lighter with a caring inscription from mama, and equally fancy cigars. A card from my son Reece—a cartoon goof on a pandemic mask-wearing son and dad, says “I love you dad but I will always wear a mask around you because …” with a visual representation, “of the FARTS!” Before Reece’s pandemic homeschooling, I overheard him bragging to his first-grade classmates once that he had “two dads,” which made that day one of my best ever. Reece is out today with his biological father, a good man whose word is gold. It was breakfast in bed too, mom wielding Zuzu and a vegan lumberjack plate and Rickie’s squirming limbs atop me, heart-shaped mirth-face in my breath, before launching into a familiar series of scary gymnastic frolics that see her careen off the bed, get up, run and laugh. At 20-months old she is fearless, even when balance will not support it. In diapers and self-chosen animal-print dresses she leads the way on street walks, in parks, at nature centers—way way ahead, her run-waddle unable to contain her curiosity. I’ve had to keep her from jumping in lakes, from dashing onto busy roadways, from headfirst careens down slides. She never looks back for approval, comfort or direction,

which is one of my many daily heartbreaks. We are forever chasing her. Rickie pages through books, draws, and generally plays alone now, hardly much need for grownup playmates. She’ll eat any food, devours broccoli and couscous, and lately climbs and stands on the piano bench, Jerry Lee Lewis-style, pounding keys—sometimes a lower-register thing worthy of any horror-film soundtrack, which often fits the scenario. Her melodious utterances and pleasing single-word English and Spanish attempts to express the art and scribbles she works on, or things in nature she has grown to love—the lizards, tarantulas and javelinas who frequent our yard, the saguaros and ocotillo—become the little melodies that lull me to sleep at night. Zuzu is six-weeks old, quiet and calm. She spent the first two weeks in her new universe feverish and discolored with jaundice, which mom, unyielding in her round-the-clock patience and observation, sunned and nursed out of her. Mom suffered through new-born jaundice with Reece, and let motherhood dictate. She still balances a confused and slightly jealous Rickie, whose toddler WTF expression says, where did this boob-hogging creature come from? Zuzu is patient with Rickie’s pinching and heavy-handed play, and lumbering displays of love, which become a struggle for us to keep gentle. I’m convinced Rickie learned the rough-touch and tumble interactions from big brother Reece, which he likely learned from me, how we’d tickle and play hard until someone finally got hurt, usually both of us. Zuzu studies hard the world around her now, not in that way of merely seeing things, more like placement and note-taking, a kind of mini buddha not really comfortable with cacophony

around her, but tolerant of it. She cries only when she needs boobs, all she really needs to say. When all three children create noise and havoc there is little that soothes, but maybe that is what is supposed to soothe, but hell if I’ve learned that yet. Maybe it’ll take a good decade to be able to look back to truly recognize the beauty of this time, as a few close-friend parents who’d been through it tell me. I lose patience, get angry with Reece, fill up on shame and regret minutes later in the horror I might become my angry father, as if I don’t remember a 7-yearold boy’s boundless energy and aggro stances, the make-believe violence, which really comes down through us as creative impulses from somewhere else.

I only want to teach kindness, to people, places and things, and be a figure of joy and help harness creativity, yet I find myself sometimes the dreaded wall between Reece’s fun and my sanity, like I should wear a whistle and a striped ref’s shirt. The pandemic killed social interaction with kids Reece’s age, now left to organized playdates with few other children whose parents often cancel out at the last minute. Reece is developing little universes of his own, filled with roleplay and theatrical narratives, he can now disappear into his bedroom for short durations and create said worlds, which is often a respite for all of us. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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TUCSON SALVAGE

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My parents didn’t play with me or my siblings growing up, I mostly remember them shouting and hitting us. They had five children and I think all of us kids were afraid of them. I grew to adore my parents later in life and now I wish they were both alive to meet their new grandchildren. A woman I profiled recently in these pages laughed and told me “aw, having children keeps you young.” Well, I’m damn tired all the time, a manboy who made it to his 50s only to then have three young children. Once, years ago, I happened to be on the phone with author Denis Johnson, talking drugs, writing, and a folk-pop album for which he wrote lyrics, and he talked of fatherhood, his own children, whom he had homeschooled, how they’d tired him, how they made him feel like a dumbass. That last part stuck with me. Here was the greatest then-living American author, a genius in my mind, whose work inspired me so much as

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

to change my life, whose sentences in conversation varied little from those on his pages, asserting his education holes were getting filled and improved upon by his children. Now I can sort of understand. Reece is using words I didn’t know the meaning of until I was 20, and when he converses with mama in Spanish I get lost in my own half-assed translations. Once the boy gets heavy into, say, Roman mythology, critical theories, or steps beyond ordinary arithmetic, geometry and algebra, the sorts of things he’s already favoring, I fear I’ll be dust in his intellectual zeitgeist. My daughters show signs of hyper-curious intellects. I am grateful, to be sure, but tire thinking of challenges ahead. I had wasted so many years in my late-teens, 20s and 30s chemically dulling my brain, obsessed with my own personal fates, and the missed opportunities to read and write more, and to think, vanished into boozy ether, suicide ideation, crippling depression, and pointless chord structures. I’m not complaining now, the subsistence and experience has somehow given me riches later in life, particularly in reflec-

tion and definition, and as I’ve said speaking in college writing classes over the years, I would not recommend such self-canceling experiences to anyone, only to go and tell someone. When it comes to my children, I’ll do all I can to prevent them from slipping into the deep end, at least the dark waters I’ve learned to recognize. I’ve already held myself up to Reece as some kind of cautionary tale, gaping my mouth so he can count up the missing teeth addictions had wrenched away. To think of the lives my children have ahead of them, and me as both a guide and observer, and earner, I can only hope I can defy myself to uphold the challenges. It is getting difficult to separate what this life is to what I think it could be; the real mystery is now watching little brains develop. And my wife, her day-and-night breast feeds, soothing sing-songs into tender ears, how she creates insightful worlds to mirror our children’s needs, as I sleep or look on helpless, questioning my place in such a female ecosphere. I discover comfort in how life aligned in such a way to allow me to even bear wit-

ness and share such a private pitch. How did I get here? I wanted to win the Tour De France, be a rock ’n’ roll star, a regarded author. Funny. It was a long untouchable dream to have a family of my own, impossible to play out in any true instance beyond the romantic. I knew humanity did not need another white depressed manboy addict procreating equally troubled children. Comprehending the need to get the fuck over yourself is a long hard lesson to learn, and for me having children hammers that lesson home daily. Overcoming addictions was easier, and that nearly killed me. My wife Maggie counterpoises my shortcomings and depressions, and often, unknowingly, embarrasses my parenting skills. She steps beyond human imperfections into a bigger love. Sometimes she has four children. Mostly she is a force of nature, simultaneously writing screenplays, editing documentaries, organizing teacher’s lessons and next-day kid plans, all on her phone at night in the dark, as two little vampires fall asleep on her boobs. ■

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Fireworks! Happy birthday, America! Celebrate with the City of Tucson’s annual display atop “A” Mountain, beginning at 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, July 4. The City is allowing free parking at the Tucson Convention Center’s Parking Lot B (off Cushing Street between Granada and Church avenues) or Parking Lot C (off Granada between Broadway Boulevard and Cushing Street). Free parking will also be available all day Sunday at the city/ state garage and at meters throughout the downtown area. But there’s restricted access to Sentinel Peak Park throughout the weekend. If you’re up north, Oro Valley won’t be having a formal party, but they’ll be launching a 20-minute fireworks show from Naranja Park, 810 W. Naranja Drive, beginning at 9 p.m. 2021 Star Spangled Spectacular. Feel like going on a bit of a staycation for the Fourth of July? Head over to Marana for this fun-filled event, featuring more than two dozen food vendors! Bring the kids so they can play on the playground and splashpad, bring the cooler full of drinks and water so you can stay hydrated, bring your dancing shoes so you can get your boogie on to the music, and bring sunblock so you don’t roast to death in the heat. 5 to 9:30 p.m., with fireworks at 9 p.m. Crossroads at Silverbell District Park, 7548 N. Silverbell Road. Red, White and Boom. If you want to get an early start on the Fourth of July weekend, head over to the Forty Niner Country Club’s 2021 Red, White and Boom Fireworks Extravaganza, featuring water inflatables, music, lots of games and five food stations with grilled burgers, hot dogs, brats along with BBQ pulled pork, pizza and cookies along with fireworks after sunset. The party starts at 5 p.m. Friday, July 2, at Forty Niner Country Club, 12000 E. Tanque Verde Road. Admission, which includes food, is $30 for adults and kids 13+ and $20 for kids 12 and under, with a family pack for two adults and two kids going for $80. Desert in Bloom. This month at the Madaras Gallery, they’re celebrating the beauty of the desert in bloom, from prickly pear blossoms to wildflowers and poppies. The explosions of color that happen in blooming season are perhaps both one of the most surprising and most wonderful parts about living here in the desert. And when the going gets rough with that desert heat, it’s always a good idea to take the

July 4 IndepenDANCE Party at MSA Annex. At this point in the heat of summer, and as we continue emerging from the pandemic, surely there is no small number of us who feel that a dance party for the Fourth of July is just what the doctor ordered. With the high energy cumbia of Tucson’s Los Esplifs, DJ Herm and the Flam Chen Fire Dancers, you’ll find yourself bopping along and shaking your troubles off. There will also be food trucks and a bar by Westbound, to keep you fueled through all the partying. Because this party is at the festival grounds at the MSA Annex, you’ll have a great view of the A Mountain fireworks as well. 7 to 11 p.m. Sunday, July 4. MSA Annex, 267 Avenida Del Convento. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. One-on-One Writing Consultations. Calling all writers! The Pima County Public Library’s writer-in-residence, Marge Pellegrino, is generously offering virtual office hours this summer, for anyone looking for advice, feedback, pointers and tips on writing. Pellegrino left the business world to be a writer since 1984, and she’s been writing and teaching about it ever since. She’s led workshops for people of all ages, coordinated programming for the Owl & Panther Project for 20 years, and developed the library’s Word Journeys program for 12 years. She’s also the author of Neon Words: 10 Brilliant Ways to Light Up Your Writing. 2 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and 10 to 11 a.m. on Thursdays. Sessions are half an hour, and limited to one per person per week. Be sure to register in advance at the library website!

by Emily Dieckman

Summer Safari Nights. Even the wildlife at the Reid Park Zoo is getting in the spirit this Independence Day! This week’s theme is American animals, including alligators, grizzly bears and certain species of birds. Come hang out for an evening full of interactive activities and live music by Mama Coal Country Band. There are also carousel rides and plenty of food and drink specials, including craft beer, prickly pear margaritas, wine and White Claws, for those gearing up to start the Fourth of July festivities a little bit early. See ya later, alligators. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 3. Reid Park Zoo, 3400 E. Zoo Court. $10.50 adults, $8.50 seniors, $6.50 kids ages 2 to 14.

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time to focus on the good stuff. The exhibit will be open throughout the month of July. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Madaras Gallery, 3035 N. Swan Road. Free. CAPTRUST Community Gallery: Arizona Landscapes. The Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance has partnered with CAPTRUST on this gallery celebrating the work of Arizona artists. It’s located in Phoenix, but it’s easy peasy to make a virtual visit at saaca.org. The summer 2021 exhibit focuses on art inspired by Arizona landscapes, across multiple mediums and styles. Barbara Garber, for example, is a natural light fine art photographer. Casey Cheuvront does painting, drawing and ceramics. Ira Beckway works in ink, oil and etching, among other mediums. And Nancy Breiman does everything from graphic design to woodworking. Come see the exhibit and celebrate our lovely state! Akira. Let’s go to the movies! This treasure of a film helped introduce anime to Western audiences. These days, the dystopian story based on Katsuhiro Otomo’s comic book is a cult classic. Set in 2019 (the distant future, from when the film was made in 1988), the story takes place in Tokyo, post World War III. When motorcyclists Kaneda and Tetsuo accidentally discover a secret government project to create and weaponize telekinetic humans, they end up in a big, violent, beautifully animated mess. Don’t miss a chance to get back to The Loft. 8 p.m. Saturday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 6. The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. $10 GA. Artists Among Us. Hell yeah, there are artists among us! Tucson seems to attract them. You’re probably an artist of some sort, aren’t you? This exhibit features work by Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum employees who moonlight as artists, and includes drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics and crochet. There’s something powerful about being reminded that we are not defined only by our day jobs, and that the people around us aren’t either. So cheers to viewing and enjoying the work of these folks in this exhibit by the Desert Museum’s Art Institute. On display through Aug. 1. Hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Baldwin Gallery at the Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road. $23.95, with discounts for seniors, youth, children, Arizona/Sonora residents, and military.

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ARTS & CULTURE

COURTESY PHOTO

The Tucson Fine Arts Association at the Temple of Music and Art in 1928.

SILVER LINING

Reeling from pandemic closures, some arts groups have found new ways to work together By Margaret Regan tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

the actors won’t be rehearsing Shakespearean sword fights or other scenes in the museum. The rehearsals will still be in the Temple, in a large hall that is IT TOOK A PANDEMIC TO GET THE also useful for stashing scenery. Arizona Theatre Company and the The switch came about when ATC Tucson Museum of Art to join forces sold the Glenwood Hotel, a handsome once again. historic building on Scott Avenue. It Sort of. was sold this spring to developers for Nowadays, ATC is the sole art or$1.1 million. The theatre company had ganization that makes its permanent had their offices for 14 years at the home in the Temple of Music and Art. Glenwood, which is conveniently right But back in the 1920s, when Tucson across the street from the Temple. But was smaller, the Temple was host to a ever since COVID forced a shutdown multitude of arts, including theatrical in March 2020, the theatre has been groups that were the precursor of ATC. dark. Without ticket sales, ATC was And the Tucson Fine Arts Associastrapped for cash. And like workers tion—the forebear of the TMA—was the across the United States, the theater’s equal of the other groups. staffers fled to their homes to avoid the It “used to occupy gallery space on deadly virus; they quickly switched to the second floor,” says Jeremy Mikodoing their work on laptops and their lajzak, director of the Tucson Museum meetings on Zoom. of Art, displaying art and bringing in “Once the pandemic hit, we had three esteemed lecturers from the likes of the or four people in the Glenwood,” ATC Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eventuartistic director Sean Daniels says. “We ally the association moved on to other were using half of that building. Empty digs, and in 1975 built the Tucson Mu- offices, tons of storage. The office culseum of Art and took that as its name. ture has changed” and it’s not coming Now, thanks to the pandemic, ATC back. “We learned in the pandemic that and TMA are sharing some space, just people are going to be able to work as their forebears did long ago. The from home. We can work from multiple theatre now rents six offices in the places.” museum’s Baker Center, while still It made sense to sell. maintaining its theatrical home in the “For us to own office space is not Temple, a 15-minute walk away. Luckily, where an arts organization should be.

We should be putting money on stage or on our staff.” Daniels says ATC was careful to sell to buyers who would respect Glenwood’s cultural value. One of the developers, Kevin Volk, told the Arizona Daily Star that the group is “committed to honoring the property and preserving the architecture.” For a company that almost folded a few years back, the money is a gold mine. “We’re really in a fantastic place right now,” Daniels says, “looking to come back really strong.” If the pandemic unexpectedly got the theater on a good financial footing, it also pushed the company into the online world. “A year ago we were like every other theatre. We would put some ads on Facebook and wondered why it wasn’t working in terms of digital marketing,” he recalls. With live theatre impossible, COVID forced the staff to up their virtual game. Before long, Daniels was hosting a popular online talk show every Friday. ATC started staging free online readings of new plays, performed by actors in their homes all over the country. The audiences watching from their own homes have numbered as many as 24,000 over the course of one play, far more than the audiences the company attracts in person. “Now we have a real base of people that we connect with online on a weekly basis,” Daniels says. “It’s a newer audience—a real silver lining. We won’t try to get them all into the theatre, but if 10% of them came, 20% came, that would be transformative.” Over at TMA, director Mikolajzak can also count some blessings. Renting the rooms out to his ATC friends brings in some welcome cash. The museum was closed for months, and then reopened on July 30 with limited hours and capacity, which means a loss in revenue. Unfortunately, the office rooms now occupied by ATC staff are empty in part because some TMA staffers were let go. To make the ATC folks feel comfortable, the art museum hung up an old print of a painting in the Fine Arts Association gallery in the Temple in those early days. “Collaboration is something we in the arts talk about all the time,” says Mikolajzak. And now that they see their theatre colleagues often, “we’re talking about collaborative lectures, talking

about our summer arts program. There might be a performance that goes along with an exhibition. “I’m excited for this collaboration. I want museum patrons to go to the theater, to the university, to MOCA, to experience contemporary art, desert museum or zoos. Arts in a city like Tucson really do need to stick together.” Some of the town’s smaller arts groups have also found positive ways to counteract the coronavirus. Ballet Tucson partnered with other organizations in a series of outdoor dance concerts this winter and spring, bringing attention to all of them. The troupe danced at Tucson Botanical Gardens, public parks, St. Philip’s Farmers Market and Tucson Museum of Art. After the two performances at TMA, audience members were invited to come inside and look at the popular Wyeth show, the new Latin American Art wing and others. John Salgado of Raices Taller says that the 23-year-old gallery has weathered many ups and down, so COVID 19 was “one more to tackle.” The Latinx gallery has always been an in-person enterprise but early in the lockdown Salgado taught himself how to create online exhibitions. “We’ve had great results,” he says, “and we have actually increased our outreach.” Artists from Croatia, Canada, Mexico, India, the Netherlands and others have now shown their work in the virtual gallery. Sales are up too, so much so that Salgado plans to make all future exhibitions hybrids, showing art both online and in person. “Definite silver linings have allowed us to continue our mission,” he says. Contreras Gallery has likewise assembled virtual shows. Husband and wife Michael Contreras and Neda Contreras have continued making their own art in their space, and their work, Neda’s paintings and Michael’s handmade silver and turquoise jewelry, helped pay the rent. Last spring, Michael vowed that the gallery would not open its doors until an effective vaccination was widely available. That time has now come, and Contreras will open on the Fourth of July weekend. There will be no reception but the show of work by nine women is still a celebration. “We’ve been in hibernation,” Michael says. “And now we’re finally emerging.” ■

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hijacked into a progressively sketchy situation. Paige and Keough make a very nasty story completely watchable. Keough goes for something straight up annoying and succeeds, giving us a frighteningly conniving yet clueless Stefani, complete with a culturally appropriated “blaccent.” Keough is so damned good at what she does that she somehow keeps the dangerous Stefani likeable, even as the world spirals out of control due to her lies and actions. As Zola, Paige gives the movie a calm center, a person dumb enough to get into such a bombastic situation, yet resourceful enough to navigate it, as if she’s been through some major shit before. In what stands as one of the year’s best performances so far, Domingo gets the role of his lifetime as X, an at first smiley host who goes full-blown PHOTO BY A24 nasty badassed pimp when Zola threatens to end their trip early. Bravo’s approach sometimes feels like a Twitter feed (complete with that whistle notification alert). Zola befriends the sketchy Stefani quickly, much like A stripper’s scheme to make some quick bucks goes accepting somebody into a Facebook feed. The twist terribly wrong in ‘Zola’ here is that the instant invitation into Zola’s world brings true horror rather than a glimpse into what By Bob Grimm Stefani had to eat that day or pictures of her cat. tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com The movie is funny in an uncomfortable way that befits the subject matter. If you’ve seen Bravo’s Lemon, you know she is at home with uncomfortable humor. Most of the laughs come from Braun’s clueless IN 2015, A DETROIT STRIPPER POSTED 148 ramblings as the boyfriend who has not one ounce of tweets that went viral. The tweets told the story of a trip to Florida meant to score big dollars in stripping, control over the direction of his and his girlfriend’s but wound up a comic nightmare of pimps, dirty old lives. Bravo’s film goes to some very dark places. A sex montage involving some shady men is not for men, and gun shots. the squeamish, and a hotel scene towards film’s end Zola, co-written and directed by Janicza Bravo, is goes to creepy extremes. In short, don’t take the kids a taut, bonkers account of those tweets, tweets that to this one. were, in fact, dramatically embellished from actual James Franco was originally set to direct and star events. Still, much of what happens in this movie but removed himself from the project after his sexual happened in real life, and it acts as a precautionary misconduct allegations came to light. It’s probably a tale. Simply stated: If somebody, after just meeting you on your waitressing shift, suggests you tag along good thing. While Franco managed to make a good movie with The Disaster Artist, his vision wasn’t the on a journey to make a lot of money stripping, your best option would be to politely say no and head on right one for this subject matter. Bravo approaches the material in a very matter-of-fact manner that prohome. vides a kinetic energy for just short of 90 minutes. Taylour Paige, in a breakout performance, plays Nothing self-indulgent about the movie. If Franco Zola, a waitress who occasionally strips for extra money. She meets Stefani (Riley Keough burning up had done the movie, it probably would’ve had a stuthe screen, as usual) and a quick flirtation commenc- pid Spring Breakers (the most overrated movie of the es. Before she knows it, Zola is on her way to Tampa last 10 years) vibe. The film’s weekend trip packs a lot into those less with Stefani, her boyfriend Derrek (a raw and ridicuthan 90 minutes, and when Zola calls it a day, we’re lous Nicholas Braun) and a mysterious man called X ready to call it a day with her. It lets off the gas at just (a sinister Colman Domingo). the right point. The movie marks major progressions Things go from bad (cheap motel, sleazy strip in the careers of Keough, Paige, Braun and Domingo. joint) to worse (markedly better motel, but lots of It’s also further proof that Bravo has a unique vision gross men paying for and demanding sex) in the behind the camera and is a director on the rise. ■ course of the first day. Turns out Stefani is a part time prostitute, X is her pimp, and Zola has been

CINEMA

BAD TRIP

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CLEARING CLOUDY RECORDS Southern Arizona NORML expungement clinic coming to Tucson on July 3

By David Abbott tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com THERE ARE NEARLY 200,000 estimated expungable cannabis offenses throughout the state of Arizona and on July 12, the floodgates will open for those affected by old cannabis laws to petition to have charges on their criminal records sealed. While some petitioners may be able to expedite the process through the websites of their county attorney’s office, many will likely need some help navigating the system. To help affected individuals figure out how to move forward, Southern Arizona NORML will host a self-help expungement clinic in Tucson at Harambe Café, 6464 E. Tanque Verde, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 3. The clinic will be conducted by lawyers specializing in amicus or criminal law, who will walk qualified applicants through the process. “We provide people with information about how they can fill out petitions themselves, so these are self-help clinics,” Arizona NORML Communications Director Jon Udell said. “We’re not going to file petitions for people. There’s a lot of risk that goes along with doing that. We’ll essentially walk them through the petition that was released by the Arizona Supreme Court, explain what the different sections require and provide information.” AZNORML has been recruiting and training volunteer attorneys so they are prepared to successfully guide individuals through the process.

“Luckily, the petitions are not an incredibly complex legal endeavor,” Udell said. “It’s fairly simple and straightforward.” There are likely to be exceptions, though, and unique cases that require a more individualized approach, according to Udell. For instance, if someone was arrested for possession of an ounce of cannabis and later violated probation with a firearms possession, under the new law neither of those offenses would have taken place now that pot is legal. There are also inmates serving time in prison who might not have been there had it not been for low-level marijuana charges. So there might be “gray areas” that require a more complex approach and will likely set new legal precedents. “There could be some cases like these, and some of the bigger-impact legal groups will step in and try to take on some of them,” Udell said. “They will take up the appellate courts and get some good binding case law to help other people out.” But for the majority of people, it will be fairly straightforward. While there is nothing in place to address federal offenses, anyone with charges including misdemeanors should consider getting their records cleared, as even low-level possession charges can come back to haunt such individuals. “Misdemeanor charges can show up in people’s background reports and you can have employers refuse to hire them—there’s nothing stopping them from doing that,” Udell said. “Apartment complexes and landlords can also refuse to rent to you.”

JONATHAN UDELL

“We’re not going to file petitions for people. There’s a lot of risk that goes along with doing that. We’ll essentially walk them through the petition that was released by the Arizona Supreme Court, explain what the different sections require and provide information,” said Arizona NORML Communications Director Jon Udell.

The clinic is open to the public and drop-ins are welcome. Attendees are encouraged to bring as much documentation as possible relative to their previous cases or arrests in Arizona, including arrest records, criminal complaints and/ or sentencing orders. Individuals who do not have documentation are still encouraged to attend. AZNORML will host several additional clinics in the Phoenix area in the days leading up to July 12. More information can be found at arizonanorml.org. Another option to file a petition is available at the Pima County Attorney’s Office website at www.pcao.pima.gov/ prop207 for individuals with simple and straightforward cases. According to PCAO Senior Counsel Jack Chin, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 116,000 drug-related cases “potentially eligible” for expungement in Pima County since 1995—as far back as online records go—but 90% of those will not qualify.

“When we actually take a look at these cases, a lot of them will not be eligible,” Chin said. “That [number] includes all of the narcotics cases. Some of them aren’t going to involve cannabis, and some of them, if they do involve cannabis, are going to involve an amount that’s over the limit. But this is the giant pool that we have to sort through.” PCAO will initiate an effort to assess those cases, but individuals who apply online will have priority over cases where expungement has not been directly requested by the individual. Julie Gunnigle, Arizona NORML’s director for politics and civic engagement, recommends a cautious approach to the online county attorney’s method because of privacy issues and a vague timeline. She also thinks that a crush of early, self-filed petitions will have a snowball effect and show that there is nothing to fear from the process. CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

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CLEARING CLOUDY RECORDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

“We’ve really tried to be intentional about driving that early turnout, because that’s going to drive further turnout and more people coming forward,” Gunnigle said. “The way it’s structured right now is entirely dependent on somebody raising their hand and saying, ‘Yep, that’s me, I have a prior conviction,’ and recognizing that for directly impacted people, there’s still a ton of stigma around cannabis.” High turnout can also help bridge barriers with those in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color (BIPOC), where citizens are far more likely to be prosecuted for drug offenses. “I’m hoping that as they see a rush, more people feel confident that clinics like ours can provide them real legal relief,” Gunnigle said. “Because when it comes to access to justice, there’s so many people who’ve fallen through the cracks and who’ve been just straight up lied to.” According to 2020 analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union, Black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, “notwithstanding comparable usage rates.” The report, titled “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, 2020,” stated: “In every single state, Black people were more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some states, Black people were up to six, eight, or almost 10 times more likely to be arrested. In 31 states, racial disparities were actually larger in 2018 than they were in 2010.” Chin says Pima County “doesn’t have perfect records” on racial demographics related to cannabis arrests, but his quick search of the county’s database of marijuana-only cases showed that since 1995, there were 9,600 of them. About

3,000 of those cases do not have racial data, about 3,000 were white and the other third are from Hispanic, Black and Indigenous communities. “We do try and track the defendant’s race in our database, but we have a large number of blanks there,” he said. “We just don’t know.” Chin emphasized Pima County has no intention of using information provided on the website for anything beyond expediting expungement, although if someone has an active warrant, immigration issues or some other complication, they should consult with a lawyer before they submit petitions. “We’re asking people to file a petition on the website, so we can clear their record. This is not a trap,” Chin said. “We do ask for their email address and for their address, because we’re required to put that in the petition. But, we’re not just trying to gather information on people so that we can use it against them.” On the other hand, Chin added, if somebody has an open warrant, or has escaped from prison or some other legal complication, “we’re gonna have to act,” he said. “But if somebody has questions about their criminal justice status, or about their immigration status, they should talk to a lawyer,” he said. While some petitions will be generated from the PCAO, most will come from petitioners’ requests. If prosecutors cannot show clear and convincing evidence that the offense is ineligible for expungement, it will be expunged if the petitioner files a request. “The lack of information is not held against the person with a conviction, it’s held against the state,” Chin said. “Our offices are in communication with the Public Defender’s (Office), we’re in contact with the Superior Court and the Justice Court, and I think everybody’s interested in cooperating to make this as efficient and effective as possible.”

Gunnigle believes the most efficient and fair way to do it would be a blanket expungement driven by prosecutors’ offices throughout the state. “They really should recognize that it is unfair to ask people who have been subjected to prosecution for this unjust war on drugs to have to step forward and do this on their own, and it is far less work for them to find them,” she said. “It’s about money. It’s about resources. It’s about time ... I really don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for folks saying that it’s too hard to undo the harm that they’ve

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caused.” Ultimately, expungement is about righting wrongs brought about by the decades-long War on Drugs and giving people who are not otherwise criminals a second chance. “We’re doing this because the people of the state of Arizona wanted marijuana records cleared,” Chin said. “We are cooperating in that, because we think it promotes public safety and to give people the opportunity to have a clear record and get housing and employment and all that.” ■

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

They also de-emphasize and suppress any energy-draining passions that might have a hold on us. I’m hoping you will take full advantage of this in the coming weeks, Cancerian. You will generate good fortune and sweet breakthroughs as you highlight desires that uplift you and downgrade desires that diminish you.

to “seek the spiritual in every ordinary thing that you do every day.” You have to work at it a bit, he says; you must have it as your firm intention. But it’s not really hard to do. “Sweeping the floor, watering the vegetables, and washing the dishes become holy and sacred if mindfulness is there,” he adds. I think you Libras will have a special knack for this fun activity in the coming weeks. (Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a series of “Mindfulness Essentials” books that includes How to Eat, How to Walk, How to Relax, and How to Connect. I invite you to come up with your own such instructions.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo author Wendell Berry suggests, “It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.” Although there’s wisdom in that formulation, I don’t think it’s true a majority of the time. Far more often we are fed by the strong, clear intuitions that emerge from our secret depths—from the sacred gut feelings that give us accurate guidance about what to do and where to go. But I do suspect that right now may be one of those phases when Berry’s notion is true for you, Leo. What do you think?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): My unexpected interpretation of the current astrological omens suggests that you will be wise to go naked as much as possible in the coming weeks. Being skyclad, as the pagans say, will be healing for you. You will awaken dormant feelings that will help you see the world with enhanced understanding. The love that you experience for yourself will soften one of your hard edges, and increase your appreciation for all the magic that your life is blessed with. One important caveat: Of course, don’t impose your nakedness on anyone who doesn’t want to witness it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1750, more than 250 years after Columbus first visited the New World, Native Americans were still a majority of the continent’s population. But between 1776 and now, the United States government stole 1.5 billion acres of land from its original owners—25 times the size of the United Kingdom. Here’s another sad fact: Between 1778 and 1871, America’s federal administrations signed over 500 treaties with indigenous tribes—and broke every one of them. The possibility that these sins will eventually be remedied is very small. I bring them up only to serve as possible metaphors for your personal life. Is there anything you have unfairly gained from others? Is there anything others have unfairly gained from you? The next six months will be prime time to seek atonement and correction.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you analyzed the best-selling songs as measured by Billboard magazine, you’d think we were in the midst of a dangerous decline in population. The vast majority of those popular tunes feature lyrics with reproductive themes. It’s as if there’s some abject fear that humans aren’t going to make enough babies, and need to be constantly cajoled and incited to engage in love-making. But I don’t think you Sagittarians, whatever your sexual preference, will need any of that nagging in the coming days. Your Eros Quotient should be higher than it has been in a while.

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): Columnist Linda Weltner says that there’s a dual purpose to cleaning your home, rearranging the furniture, adding new art to the walls and doting on your potted plants. Taking good care of your environment is a primary way of taking good care of yourself. She writes, “The home upon which we have lavished so much attention is the embodiment of our own self love.” I invite you to make that your inspirational meditation for the next two weeks. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “For peace of mind, I will lie about any thing at any time,” said author Amy Hempel. Hmmmm. I’m the opposite. To cultivate peace of mind, I try to speak and live the truth as much as I can. Lying makes me nervous. It also seems to make me dumber. It forces me to keep close track of my fibs so I can be sure to stick to my same deceitful story when the subject comes up later. What about you, Taurus? For your peace of mind, do you prefer to rely on dishonesty or honesty? I’m hoping that for the next four weeks, you will favor the latter. Cultivating judicious candor will heal you and boost your intelligence. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In her essay about education, “Don’t Overthink It,” philosopher Agnes Callard reminds us, “No matter how much we increase our investment at the front end—perfecting our minds with thinking classes, long ruminations, novel-reading and moral algebra—we cannot spare ourselves the agony of learning by doing.” That will be a key theme for you in the next four weeks, dear Gemini. You will need to make abundant use of empiricism: pursuing knowledge through direct experience, using your powers of observation and a willingness to experiment. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that when our rational minds are working at their best, they inspire us to cultivate our most interesting and enlivening passions.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh advises you and me and everyone else

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Pulitzer Prizewinning author Donna Tartt, born under the sign of Capricorn, writes, “Beauty is rarely soft or consolatory. Quite the contrary. Genuine beauty is always quite alarming.” In my view, that’s an unwarranted generalization. It may sometimes be

SAVAGE LOVE QUEER QUICKIES

to figure it out. —Union Not Concealing LGBTQ Energy

I just attended the nauseating wedding of my 30-year-old niece to her boyfriend of several years. Both of them seem as gay as possible but they are diehard religious fanatics. I can list 50 signs these two are gay and once you point it out to someone who isn’t a bible thumper they go, “Yeah, that makes so much sense.” The bride’s father, who was also the minister, praised them for not moving in together before the wedding—another sign. I personally find hetero abstinence until age 30 to be highly suspicious. In fact, refraining from heterosexual intercourse until that age only seems realistic if someone is gay or asexual. Our extend-

Why would you go to that wedding when it’s still possible to plead pandemic? And avoid having to sit in a room full of unpleasant people and their equally unpleasant friends? Both real and imaginary? A group of people who are also highly likely to be unvaccinated? Anyway, UNCLE, if you’re out to the family about being queer and/ or being queer-friendly—it’s unclear what you ultimately figured out about yourself—your work here is done. Your niece knows queer people exist because you exist; she knows queer people live openly because you live openly. So she knows she has options and she knows she has at least one family member she can turn to. Now if you were to take the

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

ed families are all religious blowhards and we’re the only queer-friendly outlet in the family. I want badly to let the newlyweds know it’s OK to question the complexities of sexuality and that we’re here to support them. I fear they’ll live for decades in awkwardness because my niece’s minister father is beyond judgmental and insists love (and marriage) can only exist between one MAN and one WOMAN. Is there any tactful way to ask someone if they’re gay? Or to at least offer support if they are closeted? How do we let them know our little corner of the family will love and support them? I wish someone had asked me when I was trying

true, but is often not. Genuine beauty may also be elegant, lyrical, inspiring, healing, and ennobling. Having said that, I will speculate that the beauty you encounter in the near future may indeed be disruptive or jolting, but mostly because it has the potential to remind you of what you’re missing— and motivate you to go after what you’ve been missing. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): On July 21, 1969, Aquarian astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the second human to walk on the moon. It happened during a spectacular astrological aspect, when transiting Jupiter and Uranus in Libra were trine to Aldrin’s natal Sun in Aquarius. But after this heroic event, following his return to earth, he found it hard to get his bearings again. He took a job as a car salesman, but had no talent for it. In six months, he didn’t sell a single car. Later, however, he found satisfaction as an advocate for space exploration, and he developed technology to make future trips to Mars more efficient. I hope that if you are now involved in any activity that resembles Aldrin’s stint as a car salesman—that is, a task you’re not skilled at and don’t like—you will spend the coming weeks making plans to escape to more engaging pursuits. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Astronomers say the Big Bang birthed the universe 13.8 billion years ago. But a star 190 light years away from Earth contradicts that theory. Its age seems to be 14.5 billion years, older than the universe itself. Its scientific name is HD 140283, but it’s informally referred to as Methuselah, named after the Biblical character who lived till age 969. Sometimes, like now, you remind me of that star. You seem to be an impossibly old soul—like you’ve been around so many thousands of lifetimes that, you, too, predate the Big Bang. But guess what: It’s time to take a break from that aspect of your destiny. In the next two weeks, you have cosmic permission to explore the mysteries of playful innocence. Be young and blithe and curious. Treasure your inner child.■ Homework. Send your suggestions about how I might be able to serve you better. Newsletter@freewillastrology.com

next step—a radical step—and actually call your niece on the phone and asking her if she’s queer… if you were to list all the traits you regard as proof both she and her husband are queer… it’s possible she might suddenly come out. Unlikely, UNCLE, but possible. But it’s almost certain you would be scratched from the guest list for all future family events— whether or not your niece comes out— which seriously tips the scales in favor of making that call. Recently my nephew informed the whole family that he is gay. We all said supportive things and I told him about a “coming out” series of movies (Boys Life) and he appreciated the gesture. Now I come to the REAL reason for my writing to you. Though I enjoy the company of women—I am a man—my secret is that I find

JULY 1, 2021

pleasure in sucking the pecs of muscular males. In my college days I made several male students and professors QUITE happy and I got pleasure from these encounters as well. Occasionally, when the opportunity presented itself, I came while being dominated by a muscular man with big nips and it was heaven. My family knows nothing about this “other side” of me. I find myself envying my nephew’s openness. Perhaps a naive question, Mr. Savage, but are there others out there like me? —Pensively Examining Complex Sexuality P.S. Maybe one day I can take the same brave step my nephew has. Yes, PECS, there are other bi guys out there. Some are into muscular pecs (although we just call them tits now), some keep this side of themselves from their spouses and families (which exacerbates bisexual invisibility and poor mental health outcomes among bisexuals), and some really get off on being dominated (because, like, that shit is hot). So you are definitely not alone. P.S. Today could be the day. Just wanted to say thanks for the push I needed to come out as bisexual to my family. I told my parents a couple weeks ago and just told my sisters. Surprise response? My oldest sister is also bisexual. Not the response I was expecting but it was a moment of recognition for both of us. I’m 31 years old and for years I convinced myself that labels weren’t important but I feel like a huge weight was lifted off me. THIS is who I am and it IS important. Thanks for talking about bisexual visibility for a long time. For some reason it took that repetition for me to feel like my bisexuality mattered and that coming out is important for me and the whole LGBTQ+ community. —Proudly Unmasking Silenced Heart Welcome out, PUSH, and how cool to learn you have—that you’ve always had—a queer sister! I’m a man. As a teenager I had crushes on women but I was usually too shy to do anything about it. I had a girlfriend for two

years and I enjoyed her romantically and sexually. After the relationship ended—and after struggling to find women that were attracted to me—I decided to explore my sexuality. This is when I discovered trans

women and became very confused. I am very aroused by them, even more than to cis women, and this is very confusing to me because they were women with very feminine appearances but their genitals were still masculine. At first I thought this was just some passing kink but then I decided to experiment with trans sex workers. I got very aroused and enjoyed these encounters. Does this make me gay? I have never felt anything towards a cis or trans man and can’t picture myself doing anything with one. I have always identified as straight but this makes me think the label doesn’t fit. Also I haven’t told anyone else but my friends think trans women are men and doing anything with them sexually is gay. Are they right? —Complications Implicating Straightness Your friends are wrong. You’re a straight guy who likes dick—dick, not dudes. And luckily for you, CIS, there are plenty of dicks out there that aren’t attached to dudes. While it might feel like a complicated and complicating way to be a straight guy, CIS, the straight label still applies. “LGBT” patterns are neurotic, preventable, and treatable. The Left has been lying about this for decades. Friskiness is one thing, perversion is another. Early-life problems in parental bonding are the root of most conditions of sexual irregularity. —Sharon Offers An Opposing View

Lemme guess, Sharon-Rhymes-WithKaren: many, many years ago you caught your husband with a cock in his mouth— the same husband who was never big on initiating sex (at least with you)—and somehow your husband managed to convince you it was just one of those things, just one of those frisky things, a trip to the moon on cocksucker wings, just one of those things. I’m here to tell you there wasn’t just one. Your husband has sucked more cock than you know, SOAOV, and less cock than he’d like. And for the record: LGBT describes people, not patterns, and everything you claim—that we’re neurotic, that we can be cured, that we failed to bond with one parent or bonded too much with another—was debunked decades ago. I would urge you to do a little reading but your time might be better spent checking in on your husband. Where is he right now? mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Savagelovecast.com

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Barks from Beyond Pet psychics receive messages from the other side of the rainbow bridge By Emily Dieckman

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My Best Friend 2021

For the Love of Pets Jeff Gardner Tucson Local Media

I

t’s no secret that Americans love their pets. Aside from the fact that phrases like “pet parent” are entering our vernacular, consider this: According to the annual survey facilitated by the American Pet Products Association, an estimated 67% of American households have a pet. This adds up to about 85 million families that own a pet. And the number is only increasing, with only 56% of American households owning a pet in 1988 when the survey was first conducted. Now, we don’t discriminate when it comes to pets, it doesn’t matter if they’re furry, scaly or slimy, as long as they’re properly cared for and make you happy (most of the time). But it’s no exaggeration to say cats, and particularly dogs, own our hearts. According to that same American Pet Products Association survey, of the 85 million Ameri-

can pet households, 42.7 million owned cats, and 63 million owned dogs. Dogs are an American tradition, from presidential pets roaming the White House to that Mark Twain quote that only gets sweeter by the year: “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” In these pages, you’ll find information on local pet resources like doggy day care. You’ll also find a fun and fascinating article on local mediums who claim to communicate with your pets via extrasensory perception. But last and certainly not least, we have the Tucson Local Media pets contest! We’re ordaining the cutest pet in the region! You’ll also see an award for the ugliest local pet, but note the asterisk. Let’s be honest, dogs have that special power where even an “ugly” dog is adorable in their own way, and that’s certainly the case for this year’s winner. A big thanks to all our readers who submitted photos, and may the best pet win!

Tucson’s Dogtopia locations unique from national sites Jeff Gardner Tucson Local Media

T

ucson’s franchise Dogtopia locations are relatively new to the area, but after a large transformation last year, they’re seeing plenty of business and wagging tails. With locations across the US and Canada, Dogtopia brands themselves as the leading provider of dog daycare in North America. However, the two locations in Tucson and one in downtown Phoenix operate under a slightly different model to facilitate a tight-knit community of dogs. The first local Dogtopia opened in Oro Valley in March 2018, on Oracle Road. The following year, a second Dogtopia opened on Tanque Verde Road. According to Dogtopia relationship manager David Duran, both Tucson locations underwent a massive transformation during COVID, briefly shutting down and receiving a new management team. These local locations now operate under a “weekly enrollment model,” where all daycare dogs are required to come in and play at least once per week to ensure familiarity. The locations offer various enrollment plans from one day per week to unlimited daycare. In addition, only dogs enrolled in daycare are eligible for boarding. “Our complete focus on regular daycare vs. boarding or occasional drop-in daycare means that our dogs know us, we know them and they know each other,” Duran said. “It makes for a much better daycare experience because they are really able to be themselves and have a great, stress-

Local Dogtopia locations are at 7285 E. Tanque Verde Road and 7621 N. Oracle Road, suite 120. Photo courtesy Dogtopia

free time with their friends… This is precisely why we believe so much in our enrollment plans. With all of our daycare dogs first having to pass a Meet & Greet prior to enrollment, we are able to ensure that our playrooms are filled with a tight-knit group of dogs that enjoy playing together.” The Meet & Greet process includes one-on-one time with a Dogtopia staff member, followed by a slow introduction to two or three dogs from one of the playrooms. Once the dog feels comfortable and staff is confident, they are introduced to the rest of the pack inside the playroom. After some further observation in the playroom, they assess whether weekly daycare is a good fit. According to Duran, they generally only schedule two Meet & Greets per day so that they don’t rush the process and take the proper time with each dog to ensure maximum safety. These Meet & Greet takes between 30 minutes and an hour. Each location has three playrooms to accommodate different sized

dogs and their play styles. “Of course, there will be minor disputes among dogs at times but our Canine Coaches, who undergo extensive training, including how to read a dog’s body language, are trained to spot issues before they happen and to safely resolve the situation in the rare cases that they do,” Duran said. Beyond lodging, they provide dogs with treat days, photo parties, spa time and, lately, they’ve been hosting community events for their customers as well. Duran explains that they want their “dog parents” to find community through Dogtopia the same way other parents find community through their kids’ schools. “Between people returning to work as well as taking much needed vacations, we have seen a huge increase in new sign-ups. We might have to start a waitlist soon!” Duran said. “It’s certainly been getting busy but hard to tell if that is from the heat or people going back to offices and traveling. Demand from the

heat in the summer is typically complemented by an increased number of Northern visitors wintering down in Arizona so we are fairly steady throughout the year.” But despite the increased heat, Dogtopia keeps their play areas air-conditioned while being open seven days a week, 365 days a year, with available extended early drop off and pick up hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Customers can even access playroom webcams so they can watch their dogs from afar. “Outside of our daycares, Dogtopia is very proud of its Dogtopia Foundation, which funds programs focused around three worthy causes: service dogs for veterans, youth literacy programs and employment initiatives for adults with autism,” Duran said. “Both of our Tucson stores are on their way to raising enough to each sponsor their first service dogs for veterans and we could not be prouder of our teams and thankful to our generous dog parents who continuously donate to the foundation.”

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My Best Friend 2021

Telepathic Con-fur-sation: Animal Communicators Are you there, dog? It’s me, Margaret. Hoff describes herself as a pet communicator and intuitive medium, with the nn Marie Hoff is in the ability to talk telepathically to middle of telling me animals ranging from geckos about how she’s had to horses. She says she first conversations with learned she had the ability to pets about their end-of-life communicate with animals wishes, then seen those same because she learned she had animals reincarnated in new the ability to communicate bodies, when she interrupts with dead people. She hadn’t realized she was clairvoyherself. “Just so you know, I have ant until she took a class on a master’s in animal science being a medium as an adult nutrition, so I come from after leaving a job in the a hard science-based back- pharmaceuticals industry. ground,” she says. “And that Though, it made sense when is, like, so far from something she thought about it. She I would believe, otherwise. thought about milking cows Like sometimes, I hear my- growing up on a farm, and self talk, and I’m like, ‘I can’t how she’d always had a sense believe she’s saying this stuff.’” of how the cows were feeling as she milked them. Or how

Emily Dieckman

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her childhood cat would wait for her every day after school at the same time, but only on weekdays, like she’d inadvertently communicated her schedule to him. Charles Peden, another psychic medium and animal communicator based in Tucson, also didn’t realize he could communicate with animals and the dead, or that it would become his career. He was running a sea glass purveying business when he had his first supernatural encounter—with a ghost in his house—and started experimenting with telepathy and contacting the dead. (Like Hoff, though, he can see inklings of his abilities looking back on his child-

hood.) When the spirit of a German shepherd showed up during a reading of a deceased person, he realized he could communicate with animals too. BOW-WOW HOW IT WORKS

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off has worked as a pet communicator and medium for the past 20 years. It’s been 15 for Peden. Their paying clients, of course, are not the pets themselves, but the pet owners, seeking to connect with their animals on a new level. Hoff says there are four main reasons people get in touch: to communicate with pets who have passed away, to address behavioral issues, to locate lost pets, and to communicate with their pets about medical decisions—particularly end-of-life decisions. “There’s a lot of guilt associated with making medical decisions for animals, because, unlike with people, they don’t really get a say in it,” she says. She has a client, she says, who had spent $40,000 on cancer treatments for her cat and came to Hoff wanting to understand why the cat was always hiding in the basement. Hoff says the cat explained to her that he didn’t want to live, but didn’t want to disappoint his owners with that decision. On the flip side, there are animals given terminal diagnoses who tell Hoff they really don’t feel sick or ready to be put down quite yet. How does all of this work, or allegedly work? Peden compares telepathy to using a

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Photo of Riley, who belongs to Paula Rose

smartphone, which can send data wirelessly in different formats, including text, images and sound. “Telepathy works on those same principles,” he says. “It’s all about energy and little bursts of energy and creating these little encapsulated data packets just like a smartphone does, and entering a network, or the internet of the universe.” Hoff has a similar explanation. Her website says that younger animals are more likely to communicate via images, then start to use words more as they get older (just like humans). They both say they also receive sensations during readings— for example, if an animal is communicating that its leg hurts, the communicator’s leg might hurt too. Because these exchanges are energy-based, and, Hoff explains, “in the intuitive world, there’s no space or distance,” both claim they have done readings for clients and their pets all over the world via phone.

Both agree that missing animal cases are some of the most emotional. Hoff says she found each of the thousands of animals she looked for in her first 10 years of the work, but had slowed down on accepting missing animal cases because they can be so draining. Peden tells the story of finding one dog, who went missing during the summer in Tucson. “I reached out to the dog, he told me his paws were burned, he couldn’t run anymore, that he’d found water and shade and that he could smell Italian food,” he says. ‘‘He was right next to an Italian restaurant. And he gave me the street name he was on. He was on Eighth.” Can all dogs read? I can’t help but interrupt to ask. “Oh yeah,” Peden says. He compares it to moving to a foreign country. After living in the country for long enough, he says, you’d start to learn the language. You’d certainly be able to repeat things like street names and your age.

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WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE SAY?

t’s comforting to imagine consulting our pets about what makes them happy, seeing how they’d like

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to handle their end-of-life care, or even to ask them where they’ve run off to. So, it’s easy to understand why some people turn to animal communicators for help. But I have to say, it’s also easy to understand the perspec-

tive that this whole thing is impossible, ridiculous or a hoax. My main form of animal communication consists of telling my own dog what a beautiful princess she is, so I turned to some experts for some more nuanced insight. Evan MacLean, PhD, director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona, said in an email that he doesn’t know of any science supporting the idea of human-to-animal telepathy. He does acknowledge that the minds of humans and other animals are often quite similar, particularly when it comes to the core psychology behind things like basic emotions, learning and memory. All species that live in social groups, he explains, use signals to communicate, which range from sounds to chemical emissions to visual cues—think barking or

talking, pheromones, and facial expressions, respectively. And these signals are received using known senses, like hearing, vision and touch. “If animals were capable of telepathic communication, it’s hard to understand why they would need these other energetically costly ways of communicating,” MacLean says. “In other words, telepathy proposes that there are communication systems that take place outside the known senses. We have no evidence that those exist, but lots of evidence that animals have evolved specialized communication systems using conventional known senses. We may not always be able to detect these signals (e.g. chemical or visual signals that are not accessible to human perception) but there is no reason to think that telepathy is involved.”

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Jeremy Brown is the owner of the Tucson dog training company the Complete Canine, the winner of multiple national dog training awards, and a therapy dog trainer for the Pima County Police Department. He says he has mixed feelings on the subject. “I’ve had some clients use [animal communicators] and the result is spot on.

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It makes perfect sense,” he wrote in an email. “However, others it seems like they fish for info and give opinions based on this.” So the professionals are skeptical. Hoff says many people are skeptical until they experience it. Peden says he used to be a full-on skeptic himself. See ANIMAL COMMUNICATORS, P7

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Animal Communicators Continued from P5

PEANUT BUTTER AND POSSIBLE ARTHRITIS

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espite all of this and my own skepticism, I am, of course, dying to ask these people to have a quick chat with my dog, Zelda, a Shepherd mix we got from Pima Animal Care Center back in November. But I don’t know what the standard courtesies are surrounding this sort of thing. Is that a big ask? I’m not sure if it’s more akin to asking a stranger to, like, hold your drink for a minute, or asking a stranger to help you move out of your 10th-story apartment. Peden tells me he loves his job, but that readings are

exhausting and emotionally draining. Instead of asking him to read my dog’s mind over the phone, I ask to speak to one of his existing clients. Paula Rose and her dog Riley have been going to sessions with Peden for several years. She went to him most recently when Riley, normally loveable and calm, started lunging at other dogs on walks. When Peden asked Riley if he was lunging at other dogs because they were a threat, or because he was trying to protect Rose, Riley said no both times. When Peden asked if Riley was just showing off, Riley showed him an image of Rose taking something out of the refrigerator, and then mentioned peanut butter. That sounded

familiar to Rose when Peden shared it: Every evening, she slices up some carrots for Riley as a healthy snack, then follows it up with some peanut butter. But what did that have to do with the lunging problem? “He said Riley was changing the subject,” Rose laughs. “He didn’t like being criticized about lunging at dogs.” Rose says Peden was able to explain the problems and potential dangers of lunging to Riley, and that Riley has stopped lunging at other dogs since the session. I don’t ask Hoff to connect with Zelda either, but when I mention I have a dog, Hoff asks for her name and shared some information voluntarily. She explains that Zelda

loves to make me laugh (feasibly true), that she adores me (I hope so) and that she’s adorable (of course—cutest dog ever). She says Zelda showed her an image of me bouncing a ball so Zelda could jump up and catch it, as something she really enjoyed. I have done that, though not often. A lucky score or guess on Hoff ’s part, or Zelda telling me, via a medium, that she’d like to see more ball bouncing? Then Hoff mentioned an image of Zelda splashing around in water, at the type of water park with fountains shooting upward. We’d just tried to take Zelda swimming in a pool earlier the same day, and she wasn’t at all interested in coming in the water, so that didn’t sound quite right to me. But, hey, it’s possible Zelda was trying to let me know she

preferred fountains to pools. When I told her Zelda was 2 years old, Hoff said she was getting something more like 5. This, she explained, could be because Zelda is especially mature, or because she is starting to suffer from something like premature arthritis. “Ah yes,” said one of my friends, when I told him the story. “Surely it couldn’t be that she just got it wrong.” FACT OR QUACK?

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that makes this both interesting and tricky is that there’s no way to verify this by asking an animal, “Is that true, then? Is that what you were thinking?” Hoff and Peden might respond by pointing to instances that animals have shared information with them they couldn’t have known otherwise. Peden says a dog once shared the password for his family’s home alarm system, for example. Or did it? Much to think about, or perhaps look into or laugh about, depending on one’s opinion. The only thing I’ll say for certain about the world of animal communicators is that it’s nothing if not intriguing.

f course, it very well could be that she just got it wrong. It could be that there’s no way for humans and animals to connect telepathically, and that this is an industry of people deceiving the public and/or deluding themselves. Learn more about these As MacLean explained, local animal communicathere’s no proof for the con- tors at annhoff.com and cept. And one of the things charlespeden.com.

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