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JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2021 • TUCSONWEEKLY.COM • FREE

Primary Time! Meet the candidates in next week’s Tucson City Council election By Jim Nintzel

CINEMA: Same ‘Old’ Tricks

TUCSON SALVAGE: Homeless in a Tucson Summer

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

JULY 29, 2021

JULY 29, 2021 | VOL. 36, NO. 30

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The Tucson Weekly is available free of charge in Pima County, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue of the Tucson Weekly may be purchased for $1, payable at the Tucson Weekly office in advance. To find out where you can pick up a free copy of the Tucson Weekly, please visit TucsonWeekly.com

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

EDITOR’S NOTE CONTENTS Primary Assessment

Jaime Hood, General Manager, jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com Tyler Vondrak, Associate Publisher, tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com

CURRENTS

Councilman Steve Kozachik faces two challengers as he seeks a fourth term

TUCSON SALVAGE

A house is not a home

CHOW

National IPA Day is coming up

CINEMA

WE’VE JUST A FEW DAYS FROM Tucson’s primary election next Tuesday, Aug. 3. We’ve got two races that voters will decide: The midtown Ward 6 primary where two rookie candidates are trying to unseat threeterm incumbent Steve Kozachik, and the northside Ward 3 primary where Democrats Kevin Dahl and Juan Padres are fighting for an open seat because Democrat Paul Durham stepped down earlier this year and his appointed replacement, Karin Uhlich, did not seek the seat. I write about both races this week. By the way, this is an all-mail primary, but if you haven’t sent in your ballot yet, it’s too late. But you can drop it at one of the city’s vote centers on Election Day (or cast a ballot there if you’ve lost the one you were sent). You’ll find details at the end of both stories. Elsewhere in the book this week: Staff reporter Christina Duran looks at Arizona’s alarming rise of COVID cases, with health experts saying Gov. Doug Ducey and the Arizona Legislature have now passed laws that prevent any kind of meaningful efforts at reducing the spread of the coronavirus; Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Smith introduces us to Linnadee Dehart, who has been living out of her car through this Tucson summer after losing what little she had earlier this year;

Claudine Sowards, Accounting, claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com

columnist Tom Danehy notes how Hollywood screenwriters seem to have written the perfect lines for today’s politics; Chow contributor Matt Russell talks to the folks at Pueblo Vida Brewery ahead of the upcoming National IPA Day; movie critic Bob Grimm says that M. Night Shamalan’s tricks are getting, well, Old; Tucson Weedly columnist David Abbott looks at how some veterans are trying to persuade the VA to be more cannabis-friendly; and calendar editor Emily Dieckman lets you know where to howl this week. Plus, there’s the usual suspects throughout the book, including Tucson’s best comics, sex column, horoscopes and all the rest. Speaking of Tucson’s best: Voting continues in the second round of Best of Tucson®: Legends of the West! Trot on over to TucsonWeekly.com to cast your ballot in hundreds of categories.

Jim Nintzel Executive Editor Hear Nintz talk about all the cool stuff happening 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

M. Night Shyamalan’s tricks are getting Old

Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist, sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor, jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Managing Editor, jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Mike Truelsen, Web Editor, mike@tucsonlocalmedia.com Christina Duran, Staff Reporter, christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com Ireland Stevenson, Staff Reporter, istevenson@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, ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com Emily Filener, Graphic Designer, emilyf@tucsonlocalmedia.com CIRCULATION Alex Carrasco, Circulation, alexc@tucsonlocalmedia.com ADVERTISING TLMSales@TucsonLocalMedia.com Kristin Chester, Account Executive, kristin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Candace Murray, Account Executive, candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com Lisa Hopper, Account Executive, lisa@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.

TUCSON WEEDLY

The Veterans Action Council is challenging the VA’s limits on cannabis

Central cover image: Bigstock / Candidate photos: courtesy images

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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JULY 29, 2021

CURRENTS

COVID RISING

Cases continue to grow, leading health experts to worry about third wave in AZ By Christina Duran christinad@tucsonlocalmedia.com

COVID-19 CASES AND hospitalizations in Arizona continue to rise while new state laws are preventing local governments and schools from implementing mitigation strategies to combat the increased spread. Arizona reached a high rate of transmission of 108 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 individuals per week, according to the July 23 COVID-19 report from Dr. Joe Gerald, an epidemiologist at the UA Zuckerman School of Public Health who has been tracking the disease for more than a year. Gerald reported a 35% increase in COVID-19 cases of Arizonans for the week ending July 18 as well as a 26% increase in the occupancy of general ward beds by COVID-19 patients and an 18% increase in ICU beds occupied with COVID-19 patients as of July 21. He notes this level of hospital occupancy for COVID-19 patients of general ward and ICU beds are similar to numbers seen in March. In his report, Gerald said the rise in cases “seems almost certain” to most likely be caused by the increased prevalence of the Delta variant, accounting for about 75% of all cases. The Delta variant, first identified in India, has increased transmissibility, meaning the variant is more infectious, according to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC). With an exponential rise in cases and more cases of the Delta variant, Gerald and other health officials stressed the importance of vaccinating the unvaccinated population, as they account for the majority of positive cases of COVID-19, along with the majority of hospitalizations and deaths. At a July 23 press conference, Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ, reported that 90% of cases in July have been in individuals not fully vaccinated. Since March, 94% of individuals hospitalized for COVID-19 were not fully vaccinated and 98% of deaths were also of individuals not fully vaccinated. Gerald noted that not fully vaccinated individuals have less protection against the Delta variant than fully vaccinated individuals, meaning they have received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “It’s definitely possible that the current vaccine could at some point in the future become obsolete. We’re not there yet,” said Gerald. “The Delta variant does not threaten our current vaccination effort. For individuals who are fully vaccinated particularly with Moderna or Pfizer, you’ve had your two doses, you’re two weeks passed that, they provide 90% protection against infection and development of severe disease.” While he said at some point Arizona may have to consider boosters, the priority should remain vaccinating people CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

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CURRENTS

SIX-PACK

Councilman Steve Kozachik faces two challengers as he seeks a fourth term By Jim Nintzel jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com

As he seeks that fourth term, Kozachik is facing two candidates who say it’s time for change on the Tucson City Council: MiranTUCSON CITY COUNCILMAN da Schubert and Andres Portillo. Steve Kozachik has had an interesting Schubert, is making her first foray into a career in Tucson politics. political campaign, but she says her time in He accomplished the near-impossible Tucson Roller Derby is serving her well. “So when he won his midtown Ward 6 in 2009: many transferable skills,” she says with a He was a Republican who knocked out a laugh, before adding, “And not just in terms Democrat opponent, Councilwoman Nina of an athlete’s resilience and ability to work Trasoff. How rare is it for a Republican to in a team and keep a cool head under presknock out an elected Democrat? Kozachik’s sure, but also organizationally, because I’ve victory was the first time it had happened been on the board of directors and an active since a recall election in the 1970s. part of leadership of the league since 2016.” Since moving to Tucson about a decade ago, Schubert worked as an academic advisor, first at Pima College and then at the University of Arizona, where she among the leaders of the effort to establish United Campus Workers of Arizona, which represents the faculty, staff and student workers. Side hustles have included a KXCI radio show as well as a feminist-focused live talk show at Hotel Congress, Ladytowne. Schubert says she’s in the race because she thinks the council needs to do more to address climate change, correct structural inequities and racial disparities, develop affordable housing, continue the current free public transit program permanently and preserve open space. “We now find ourselves with a choice,” Schubert says in a COURTESY PHOTO online campaign pitch. “Uphold the status Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachick says quo or rebuild our systems to be more equihe wants a fourth term to tackle “some table and just.” really significant issues that are on the Schubert’s message has resonated with table right now that I’m not going to walk left-leaning Democrats. She’s won the enaway from.” dorsement of Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich, Las Adelitas Arizona, the Pima Area But Kozachik soon was on the outs with Labor Federation, the Tucson chapter of the the Republicans who had supported him. Democratic Socialists of America and the He frequently squabbled with conservaPima County Young Democrats. tive state lawmakers over issues of local The third candidate in the race, Andres control and midway through his first term, Portillo, has similar worries about the status he jumped to the Democratic Party, which quo. Portillo, 27, grew up between Tucson welcomed him with open arms. and Sierra Vista. Since then, Kozachik has served two more Portillo says he’s long been interested in terms and hopes to win another this year. politics. He played soccer at Paradise Valley “We’ve got some really significant issues Community College but eventually returned that are on the table right now that I’m not to Tucson. He interned for Congressman going to walk away from because frankly, Ron Barber and later worked on housing nobody else on the council was complaining issues for Ward 1 Councilwoman Lane Santa about these things until I grabbed ahold of Cruz. (Santa Cruz has endorsed Schubert in them,” Kozachik says. the race.)

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Portillo says one way to help make housing more affordable would be to change Tucson’s zoning so that more people can build second homes on their property where more family members could live. Beyond housing issues, Portillo says he wants to create more opportunity for Tucsonans along with a better transportation system and stronger environmental safeguards.

KOZACHIK SAYS HE’S CHALLENGED the status quo throughout his dozen years on the council. He points to various initiatives during his time on the council. He tried to block the Broadway widening between downtown and County Club Road; the project is now underway, but planners trimmed the widening from eight lanes to six and Rio Nuevo is now involved in giving the “Sunshine Mile” a Mid-Century Modern makeover. He has worked with refugees after they are released from Border Patrol custody, finding temporary housing for them at midtown’s Benedictine Sanctuary and later helping with the efforts at Pima County’s Las Alitas shelter. When the city stopped collecting glass in the recycling program, he set up collection centers and found a company to turn glass into asphalt. He’s crusaded against gun violence, al-

SORENSEN

COURTESY PHOTO

Democrat Miranda Schubert says Kozachik doesn’t represent her values.

though the Arizona Legislature has generally blocked Tucson efforts to restrict firearms. He’s gone to bat for the Islamic Center at the corner of First Street and Tyndall Avenue when it became the target of harassment by UA students living in the off-campus towers that surround it. And after Kozachik challenged UA President Robert C. Robbins over testing students for COVID, the UA Athletics Department informed him that he was being laid off after more than three decades of managing projects and facilities. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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CURRENTS

OPEN SEAT

Democrats will choose between Kevin Dahl and Juan Padres in next week’s Ward 3 primary election By Jim Nintzel jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com WITH NO INCUMBENT SEEKING reelection, two Democrats are vying to the be the next Ward 3 councilmember in next week’s primary election: longtime environmental activist Kevin Dahl and local entrepreneur Juan Padres. Dahl says he was inspired to run because of he’s concerned about climate change. He says the issue affects so many aspects of governing Tucson, from water issues to transportation system to housing. “We need to plan for adaptation and mitigation,” Dahl said. “I don’t want to look into the future and see a Tucson where people have to leave, because we didn’t act on climate change. I rather see a future where everybody chipped in and we made sure that houses were better insulated and shaded by trees and that we harvested rainwater to support the vegetation that we need in

pocket parks and alleyways and we shaded bus stops so that people can get to work and not have to suffer every day, waiting under the hot sun.” Dahl says the city can make combat climate change locally by expanding the use of solar power, replacing city vehicles with electric cars and buses and improving the transit system to get more gas-powered cars off the road. Dahl has a long history working on local environmental issues. He headed up the Tucson Audubon Society and Native Seeds/ SEARCH, a nonprofit seed bank designed to harvest seeds to support agricultural diversity. He now works as the Arizona senior program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association. He’s been endorsed by Karin Uhlich, who was appointed to the Ward 3 seat earlier this year after Paul Durham stepped down for personal reasons. (Uhlich also represented Ward 3 from 2009 to 2017.) His environmental work helped secure the endorsement

COURTESY PHOTO

Democrat Kevin Dahl says Tucson needs to adapt to climate change.

of Congressman Raúl Grijalva, who said that Dahl “has had a strong career as an advocate for the environment, from helping to usher in Pima County’s award-winning Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan to protecting the Grand Canyon from uranium mining.” He’s also got union support from the AFL-CIO Pima Area Labor Federation

and the Communications Workers of American Arizona State Council. In general, Dahl says the city has a fairly progressive police force and he supports adding more officers to the force, although he admits that as a white man, he’s less likely to have a bad interaction with police CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

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DANEHY

THE PROPHETS OF HOLLYWOOD SURE KNEW WHAT WAS ON THE HORIZON By Tom Danehy, tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com WHEN DID THE WRITERS OF GREAT movie lines get to be so prescient? So, you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance… --Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber

ARIZONA SENATE PRESIDENT Karen Fann, who has authorized the spending of hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars in search of anything that might keep her hysterical cries of election fraud alive, is facing the endgame of her expensive and dangerous assault on democracy. Her minions, simply by handling them, have permanently tainted the Maricopa County voting machines, which will now have to be replaced. And the ballot count, which never should have happened in the first place and was supposed to be done in March, crawls onward into August and will now be followed by yet another count. But earlier this month, Fann, all full of herself (and crap, as well) stepped to the microphone and, with a bravado that is sure to play well with her inbred Caucasian constituents up in Prescott, announced that there is “a discrepancy” between the number of ballots that have been counted by the conspiracy theorists in the colorful vests and the number of ballots cast that was reported by the Maricopa County Board of

CLAYTOONZ By Clay Jones

Supervisors. But, what is the discrepancy here? A difference of one ballot out of 2,089, 563 cast? Or 10? Or even 100? All would be perfectly reasonable. Just ask anyone who has had to count a stack of currency. The bills are all of the same denomination, so you just have to count the number of bills in the stack. Do it three times and the odds are that you’re going to get three different answers. And, in this case, you’ve got dozens of knuckleheads—all with an insidious agenda—counting millions of ballots. The really weird thing would be if the numbers matched exactly. We know that the tRump-lickers want to find something (anything!) to back up their increasingly wacko claims (bamboo ballots?), but wouldn’t it be a hoot if they actually counted fewer ballots than the number cast? Mathematically speaking, that’s just as likely as finding a surplus of ballots in the count. If they told Fann that there were too-few ballots in the count, she could still save face by using the big word she just learned. “So, you’re tellin’ me there’s a discepancy…” I’m not (Black). I’m a Cuban. —Charlie Snow in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings

IN THE MOVIE SET DURING THE time of the Negro baseball leagues and the segregated major leagues, Richard Pryor’s character Snow keeps trying to sneak into the Majors, masquerading as a Native American (Chief Takahoma) or a Cuban (Carlos Nevada, which means Charlie Snow). When people would tell him that he couldn’t play for the Yankees because of his race, he would say, “Oh, I’m not a Negro. I’m a Cuban.” As it turns out, that’s the new get out of jail card in Florida. After vile Florida Governor Ron DeSantis used a pliant legislature to push through racist voter restrictions and give Donald Trump a sweetheart casino deal (like Trump could actually make a casino work!), he then crowed on national TV how he didn’t give a damn about COVID. (In the past couple weeks, Florida, which has 6% of the nation’s people, had 20% of the latest COVID cases.) One of DeSantis’s favorite vulgar actions was the passing of a law that made many forms of political protesting a crime, with many protesters facing felony charges. But last week, when Cubans (who tend to vote Republican) living in America shut down one of the main highways in the Miami area as a protest against the government in Havana…not one arrest. When asked about it, DeSantis’s reply amounted to “It’s okay; they’re Cubans.” When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. —Newspaper editor Maxwell Scott in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence

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I ALWAYS THOUGHT TEXANS were tough (except for Ted Cruz, who skips to Cancun). But when three guys wrote a book poking holes in some of the myths surrounding the Alamo, some Texans in power went nuts. Instead of fixing the power grid that caused some Texans to DIE during last winter’s storm, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor got a museum to cancel an appearance by the authors because (gasp!) somebody was actually telling the truth about the Alamo. For example, Mexico, which controlled the land on which the Alamo sits, did not allow slavery and Davy Crockett and others not only owned slaves, but they also wanted Texas to be a slave nation or state. The Texas Legislature took time away from trying to see to it that Black people in Houston don’t vote next time to enshrine the false narrative about the Alamo in school curriculums across the state. So now, Texas school kids—the majority of whom are Hispanic—are going to be subjected to the Heroic Anglo Legend of Texas “history” and not both sides. When will then be now? Soon! —Lord Dark Helmet and Col. Sandurz in Spaceballs Remember when Democratic and Republican leaders alike used to ridicule the likes of Joe Sweeney and his fellow crackpots? Now the Republican leaders are writing checks to the crackpots. If we don’t all stand up for free, fair and inclusive elections in America, when will democracy end? Soon. ■

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Story & photos by Brian Smith

A house is not a home THE GRIND IS ON, ON IT GOES. The heat waned some and it’s dreamy and strange out. A kid violinist serenades, exhilarating Eastern-sounding modals and delicate danceable rhythms. The entire eastern sky blue-black, a worlds-colliding monsoon thunders in her direction. The 67-year-old woman grasps at the beauty, says it lives wherever she can find it, even while resting against a car, the one filled with all her earthly possessions, in a Target parking lot. She sees God poke in from time to time, implying a greater force at work, its indifference to human suffering notwithstanding. An ex-cop whom she’d met in nearby Udall Park, whom they both called an angel, put her up in a couple motels for nearly a month. That helped her catch her breath until her cat, sick with cancer, recently operated on, cracked open her stitches and bled on the floor. Linnadee Dehart lost everything—computer, waterbed, family photos, her dentures even—six months ago after a sewer pipe burst and flooded the condo she shared with her partner. She gums her food now, the least of her troubles. The condo condemned, her partner now somewhere out of town fighting for his life, cancer. He gave her the car, a nice-looking blue PT Cruiser. It often will not start. “I pray a lot,” the diminutive, 98-pounder says, pacing outside her car, wearing two-pocket black yoga pants, purple top. Neck tendons flexed, features hollow. Sometimes a COVID mask. An absent laugh. “Maybe I am losing it.” This is when her story unfolds, in jumpy vernacular, raspy yet feminine, sentences upon sentences like processions and burials for the persons she used to be, or still is. A barrage of wrenching scenes enough to finish any-

one off, interspersed with moments of calm, work and relief. Relief now in the inexplicable surprises of daily life that are not devastations. Relief in the lives of two aging animals she keeps with her in her tidy, packed car, her “children,” cat box on the passenger-seat floor, flies buzzing around it and a half-finished McDonalds fries, old Chief Harley, her pitbull-lab mix, stretched out on the backseat. Indiana born, the family soon existed adjacent to, but far away from the Southern California dream factory, in Rancho Cucamonga, near Ontario, California. The father, an ex-Marine, once befriended John Wayne after appearing as an extra in one of his WWII films, even took the family on a visit to Wayne’s yacht. That dad, big belly, three-packs a day, the eternal beer in hand, began raping Linnadee when she was 6 years old, sometimes on the family’s dinner table. The horror that lasted into her highschool years. Once her mother walked in and said, “you leave Linnadee alone, she has school in the morning,” and went to bed. Victim-blamed by some family members, the intrafamilial rape criticisms, called a whore; loyalties divided, dad versus Linnadee. Her shame internalized. The father’s ugly grip on the family dynamic became the family dynamic, uncover any rock to find the rotted worms. “He would never stop touching me, for years,” Linnadee says. “My mom, my grandma, my aunt knew he was molesting me, but he could get away with it. He might kill me. Mom was scared of him. We all feared him. When I close my eyes I still think about things my dad did to me.” Jennifer Kurtz is Linnadee’s sister, two years her senior, on the phone from her home in Fontana, California, and

PHOTO BY BRIAN SMITH

Linnadee Dehart and Chief Harley in her home.

remembers everything about Linnadee. Says, in soft tones, “My mom didn’t have sex with him. Linnadee had large breasts, and he went after her. He’d lock me in my room, the windows were nailed shut. He put a knife to my throat and said he’d kill me if I ever said anything. He did it to her all the time.” She pauses, “that woman has been through living hell.” Linnadee can’t remember her elementary school years, blocked out, if she went at all or if it was all bible school with her grandparents. “I remember junior high and high school,” which she graduated in 1973, a cheerleader in parades, with dreams of being in the Army, of making grandfather clocks too. She even created one once. She spent time away from dad with her grandparents, and grandpa was an ordained Methodist minister, the one man she could trust, who literally died in her arms when she was a child. “Something is with me—him—still, wherever I go.” But grandma’s hands did things to Linnadee and Jennifer in the bathtub. She would lock Linnadee naked in a closet, force her to eat her own thrownup cottage cheese. “That was my father’s mother.” To escape dad’s purview, Linnadee married young. A few marriages ensued to men who either beat her, or hid addic-

tions from her. Every union came with stabs of real resentment. “I was married to my first one for years and I had no idea he was shooting heroin or that he had a record. I found out when he got arrested.” Tells of her second husband, a marine stationed in Japan, who later wiped her out, stole everything, and moved far away. “I reported it,” Linnadee says. “Of course, nothing ever happened.” Another put her head through a wall in Phoenix, Arizona. A Greyhound bus took him away, and she wound up in Tucson. One cracked her tailbone with a kick and broke her fingers. There was the time she was kidnapped and nearly murdered by a stranger. She was beaten and bloody, but kicked and screamed herself away, chased until someone unleashed his dog at the man, who vanished into the night. Maybe the dog saved her life. “‘You’re dead, bitch,’ was all he would say,” Linnadee remembers, her mind hazy with the worst details. “She did manage to escape that,” Jennifer says. “I can’t believe I survived all these things,” Linnadee says, adding, “I never did prostitution though, I was a good girl.” One time, Linnadee lived alone with her daughter, 6 months old, at a “roach-infested” motel in Ontario,

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California. Some guy living in the room next door got into Linnadee’s room and raped her. He got away and disappeared. In 1991, her son Timothy, the product of that motel horror, now 13 years old, was murdered by a cop’s son. “I could never afford anything for my kids at Christmas,” Linnadee says. “But I finally saved up $400, I was working two jobs, and got Timmy an all-chrome bike. He just cherished it. This kid, this cop’s son, was big, and a bully. My son started skipping school because he was so afraid of him. But he stole my son’s bike. Timmy went to get the bike back. Now this kid’s dad kept his gun, a .357 Magnum, under the bed, unlocked.” He used that to shoot Timmy in the face, killing him. “The kid said they were playing Russian roulette,” Jennifer says, “But that was proven wrong in court.” “He went away for less than a year,” Linnadee says. “I looked him in the eyes in the courtroom, and said, ‘you got away with murder.’” The devastated mother went to a local newspaper for help and they set up a fund to have her son buried. “Lots of people showed up for the funeral,”

Linnadee says. “It was a child. But not one cop showed up.” Thirty years later she can hardly hide the grief. She recalls the day her dad died, a heart attack at age 45, “his last words at the hospital were ‘did The Dodgers win?’” She half-laughs. Quiets a moment, adds, “You have to forgive. I forgave him. I knew he was a sick pervert. I knew his mother was sick.”

LINNADEE RECLINES IN THE front seat of her car, her nightly bed, and affects ease in conversation with Chief Harley. “Are you OK?” At night she pulls her car into a nearby apartment complex lot where it’s safe to sleep until morning. Her day begins and ends taking care of her animals. But first it’s McDonalds, at 5 a.m., hits the restroom, sometimes gifted food with a “shhhh, don’t tell anybody” whisper. It’s Udall Park later, where her dog and cat can lay out on a blanket and she places ice water in their food bowls. Sometimes she waits on a friend who accepts mail for her, to swing by. She thinks often of the moments of calm; say, the last six years when she

was paid to aid in teaching Bible studies, nighttime classes outside the condo. Before that, the good dependable work she’d found in food service, at Sirloin Stockade, eight years a crew leader at Golden Corral. The calm of a place with walls and a door and a shower for many years, the routine of a partner. The calm of no longer needing to escape. “I haven’t found a church yet that will help me in a bigger way. They help with food and clothes, they don’t help you get a place.” She’s familiar with San José Women’s Shelter, but found too many rules—to Linnadee, a catalog of insurmountables: “I’d get a case-worker, I don’t need a case worker. I’d have to apply for jobs but I can’t work. I have gout, sores. My knee is bad and I have arthritis; I wasn’t able to walk for a long time after my right leg swelled so bad. I couldn’t have my cat. I’d have to get the vaccine shot, but that makes me so nervous, getting sick for weeks, then I couldn’t care for my animals. The drug test part is fine, I don’t do drugs.” Linnadee is also diabetic, and eats very little now. “Motels are $400 a week,” she adds. “I don’t get that in a month. I just need a

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place to live. I never had a problem until I got kicked out of my condo.” She receives $360 a month Social Security, $90 of which comes off the top for her phone, but she is getting a no-charge new one. Receives some state food assistance, but not much. Her regular Bible-study teaching, for which she was paid $300 a month, is now gone. It is a strange Target, this particular branch of the corporate behemoth. There is an employee here, Adam Peebles, prayer-bead bracelets and the kind of temperament one wishes most could slide up into. Peebles is young, smart, talks philosophy and psychology as such apply to the ethics behind his work in the store. Talks situational forces of nature, as if he’s running a Goodwill help center. It was Adam’s kindness toward Linnadee, the water, milk, sometimes cash from his pocket. “He talks to me,” Linnadee says. “He’s a good man, he has a heart. I broke down twice in front of him, I was so embarrassed. They’re all like that at that Target.” A lenient negotiation of troubled folk versus store commerce can’t be easy. I’m CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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TUCSON SALVAGE

SIX PACK

no fan of corporate culture, but skepticism subsided when I witnessed the store’s treatment of Linnadee. There is a nonjudgmental aspect here, more so than a cruise through your average Walmart, or Whole Foods. In a way, Adam is doing his job, but in another he’s pulling something from within, a quality that got him hired. “A lot of people treat her subhuman,” Adam says, “unable to see past damage. Our culture is changing. I try to translate that to humans. You know, Linn will not ask for help when she is needy.” Adam doesn’t know this, but one day he saved Linnadee from killing herself. I tell Adam what Linnadee said. Wet appears in his eyes. He adds, “The resilience of human beings blows my mind.”

He says he’s sure that he lost his job over being outspoken. “It doesn’t take don’t take a brain surgeon to connect those dots,” Kozachik says. Kozachik can be blunt, such as with the recent flareup regarding the expansion of Reid Park Zoo. When protestors objected to plans to build a new tiger exhibit over Barnum Hill earlier this year, Kozachik sided with the zoo, saying it had done the required outreach years ago and construction was about to begin. Mayor Regina Romero sided with the protestors and delayed the project, with the council eventually voting (with Kozachik opposed) to spending up to $5.5 million for a new plan on top of $2.5 million on scrapped plans. “We’re gonna spend $8 million to preserve Barnum Hill,” Kozachik says.

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LINNADEE’S DAUGHTER, IN HER 40’S NOW, lives in Northern California, works as a dialysis technician (Linnadee: “Isn’t that something?”) and they communicate. Linnadee has four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. “After my son died, she was a teenager, and we fell apart, she’d run away from home,” Linnadee says. “Her father came back into her life, which was great for her. But I don’t ask her for help. She’s not in a position to help me and I know she wishes she could.” “She’s all I got,” Jennifer tells me on the phone. The sister isn’t enjoying an autumn-year easy-go herself, daughter and grandchildren live with her, a divorce from her husband imminent, and she may lose her place to live. “I don’t have money laying around, I send her clothes and things when I can, we talk all the time. She’s had a rough life. She doesn’t deserve it. It doesn’t seem fair. It’s like nobody cares.” “I’ve had bad luck,” Linnadee says, now standing outside the Target store entrance, rain beginning to wet her gray, neck-length locks. “There are so many things I don’t like that could help—medicine, beer, cigarettes. I do take medicine for my diabetes.” A long moment passes, she adds, “My dog would let me know if something was wrong with me. He knows. “But I’ve always had dreams of helping kids with cancer,” she says, and tells of visits to kids in a local hospital oncology unit. “As sad as it is, the children always get me to smile.” A few nights later I receive a text from Linnadee and I call her. She’s a mess, her cat died, and she is crying and screaming. One of three heartbeats living in her car, gone. Storm winds distort the line, but she manages to calm down. “She was 17 years old and we were soooo close. I helped her through everything. I just have to move on.” Here’s the thing about Linnadee: She is gracious. Shows no malice toward humanity, and if she has none, who should? ■

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COURTESY PHOTO

Democrat Andres Portillo is focused on housing issues.

Many fans of Barnum Hill, who say that it was the city’s fault for not doing enough outreach to recognize that the man-made hill and lake were a vital community touchstone, are in Schubert’s corner because Kozachik has been so blunt. He says he’s willing to take his stands and let the chips fall where they may. “one thing about me is, you may disagree with me but you’ll know why I have taken my position and I don’t take any of them without studying up.” Schubert says the battle over Barnum Hill shouldn’t have happened in the first place because city officials should have been more sensitive to the needs of the community. The situation has eroded trust between the city and its citizens and now “it’s falling upon community members who have to stick up for their own interests and our own green space, and their elected official is not doing that for them.” Portillo says zoo officials are getting a bad rap because the city didn’t insist on better outreach that could have avoided the problems in the first place. Kozachik enjoys the support of many of his colleagues. He’s been endorsed by current council members Paul Cunningham, Nikki Lee, Richard Fimbres, as well as former mayor Jonathan Rothschild, former council member Paul Durham as well as Pima County Supervisors Sharon Bronson and Rex Scott. Kozachik is confident enough in his changes that he has

foregone fundraising for the campaign, vowing to keep his spending beneath $500. “I think people who are participating in the electoral process probably recognize who I am and what I’ve done,” he says. “And you know, if that’s sufficient, then great. And if not, I’m not going to go out and ask people open up their wallets to try and convince them otherwise, We’ve got a lot of local small businesses and nonprofits who could use those $100 checks. So that’s where I want those dollars to go.” But he is getting support from an independent campaign committee, Friends of Steve K, which has reported contributions from developers such as Tom Warne, David Dabdoub, Scott Stiteler, Randi Dorman as well as car dealer Jim Click, a major contributor to GOP candidates and causes. Kozachik says he doesn’t know what the independent campaign is doing, but “whatever they do better be positive. Because one of the things that makes me crazy is negative politics.” Neither Schubert nor Portillo have raised much themselves. Schubert raised just over $16,000 as of mid-July and sent in an amended application for public matching funds, but had not received them as of this week. Portillo raised just $260 as of mid-July. The winner of the race will face independent candidate Val Romero in the November general election. ■ It’s too late to send in your primary ballot through the mail. But you can drop it off or receive a new ballot if you don’t have your mail-in ballot from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 3, at the Donna R. Liggins Recreation Center (2160 N. Sixth Ave.), Parks and Recreation Administration (900 S. Randolph Way), El Pueblo Senior Center (101 W. Irvington Road). You can also drop off or get a new ballot at the Tucson City Clerk Election Center (800 E. 12th St.) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (and 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. You can also drop off your ballot at the Pima County Recorder’s Office (240 N. Stone Ave.) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 3.

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OPEN SEAT

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than a person of color. “We want people to be safe,” Dahl says. “We want people to be safe in their homes, we want businesses to be able to operate without being robbed. But what does that mean for each individual? I feel safe calling 911 and have great experiences with police helping in difficult situations, but I know there are people who will not call 911 because they’re afraid to bring the police into their situation. So with that, as a background, you know, we have a relatively progressive police force in Tucson, and we have a progressive police chief. They instituted many of the reforms that country why people, experts have been suggested for police to deal with these issues.” Dahl supports efforts to supplement police with social workers in appropriate situations. Padres is making his second run for office, after failing to unseat Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson in last year’s primary election. He says he got into the race over “frustration with how things are going not only in Tucson, but in Ward 3, you you’re very well aware, word three is the poorest word it has the highest crime rate. It has some of the

COURTESY PHOTO

Democrat Juan Padres says the city needs to do more to lift people out of poverty.

worst infrastructure in the community.” Padres grew up in Nogales and came to Tucson in 1989 to attend the University of Arizona, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in business administration from the Eller College of Management. He’s tried his hand at a number of careers, including selling insurance, running a restaurant and doing public relations for an automated trucking company. He worked in economic development at the City of Tucson and now runs a business that does import and export of beer and wine between the United States and Mexico. Padres says that Tucson needs to do

more to create jobs while also being more careful about handing out incentives. “I really do believe that poverty is Tucson’s biggest issue,” he says. “We’re very poor community for our size. … And I do believe that poverty is the root cause of most of the other issues.” He admits that there are no easy answers to reducing poverty. “I do believe that economic development is the way to go,” he says. “And I know that’s overstated. And it’s easy to say, ‘Well, we just bring in jobs and investment.’ But I think right, you have to set the table for investment to bring jobs.” Padres says a big element of that involves public safety and worries that local police don’t get enough support, although he also says that he understands why many people are suspicious of police given the brutality issues that have come up in recent years, particularly involving people of color. “I think Tucson has a very progressive police department,” Padres says. “The police chief has done an excellent job and really does mirror the values of Tucson. I don’t think the police brutality issues that are happening in other parts of the country are necessarily applicable here. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. There are bad apples in our department as a problem

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 11

or any other department.” Dahl had raised more than $58,000 for his campaign, including $19,587 in matching funds from the city, as of July 17. Padres had only raised $474 as of the end of March, but his fundraising since then remains a mystery. He has failed to turn in his last two fundraising reports, which were due on July 15 and July 24. Padres did not respond to a question regarding the missing report as of the Weekly’s print deadline. The winner of the race will face independent candidate Lucy LiBosha. ■ It’s too late to send in your primary ballot through the mail. But you can drop it off or receive a new ballot if you don’t have your mail-in ballot from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 3, at the Donna R. Liggins Recreation Center (2160 N. Sixth Ave.), Parks and Recreation Administration (900 S. Randolph Way), El Pueblo Senior Center (101 W. Irvington Road). You can also drop off or get a new ballot at the Tucson City Clerk Election Center (800 E. 12th St.) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (and 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. You can also drop off your ballot at the Pima County Recorder’s Office (240 N. Stone Ave.) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 3.

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COVID RISING

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

who haven’t yet been vaccinated. In a statement released Friday, Gov. Doug Ducey urged Arizonans to get vaccinated, while continuing to assert the state would not mandate or enforce key mitigation strategies. “We will not be listening to the lockdown lobby. Businesses will stay open. Students will be able to attend school. There will be no mask mandates,” said Ducey. “We have a proven solution with the vaccine. I strongly encourage every Arizonan who is eligible for the vaccine to get it so they can protect themselves and our whole state.” At the end of the legislative session, Ducey signed into the law several statutes limiting the ability of the local jurisdictions and schools to combat COVID-19. Senate bill 1819 prohibits a county, city or town from issuing any order “related to mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic that impacts private businesses, schools, churches or other private entities, including an order, rule, ordinance or regulation that mandates the use of face coverings, requires closing a business or imposes

a curfew,” while the K-12 budget bill made it illegal for schools to require face coverings. Arizona Public Health Association Executive Director Will Humble noted on his blog that Ducey, Christ and Republican lawmakers “have tied the hands of virtually the entire state to the point where nobody is allowed to do virtually anything to slow the spread of COVID-19. … It’s like they have us in reverse lockdown.” Two weeks ago, two Arizona schools received a letter from Ducey’s office requesting a change in their isolation and quarantine policy as it stated fully vaccinated individuals would not have to quarantine, following ADHS guidelines. Despite the actions by state officials, Christ said ADHS “public health guidance and recommendations have not changed” and continues to recommend unvaccinated individuals wear masks and get vaccinated. However, since the peak in April, vaccination delivery has stalled. As of Monday, July 26, 46% of Arizonans have been fully vaccinated. Among the almost 4 million Arizonans who have yet to be fully vaccinated, are children

younger than 12 who are not eligible for a vaccine. As students head back to school next month to full in-person learning and schools and local jurisdictions limited in their COVID-19 response, Gerald believes the new school year has the potential to accelerate transmission. “It has the potential to throw fuel onto a fire that’s already started,” said Gerald. “When we think back to the summer of 2020 and school reopening we were actually coming off the peak rates in early July, and things were generally improving. Whereas, this time around it’s the exact opposite. We are headed up at the same time that we’re trying to restart schools and so there’s already a brewing outbreak ongoing.” He noted that while children historically have not been “great incubators and accelerators of transmission” the Delta variant could possibly override this and make children more effective in transmitting the virus. As a parent of three kids, with two not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Christ said she is making her two unvaccinated children wear masks and urges parents to do the same. They also recommend parents keep their children home if they have any symptoms. “Not only are we seeing COVID in the community, we’re starting to see increased other respiratory viruses,” Christ said. “So we just want to make sure we’re not spreading anything at school. So make sure that you keep your kids home when they’re sick.” Nearly 32% of 12 to 17 year olds have been vaccinated with at least one dose of vaccine, said Christ on Friday. Gerald reported that children 15 to 19 years of age have case rates similar to those

of adults, but cases are rising among all age groups. “With inadequate vaccination uptake, eliminating COVID-19 is no longer a plausible public health policy goal,” said Gerald in his latest report. “COVID-19 is almost certain to become an endemic disease with varying temporal and geographic implications. Fortunately, vaccination will remain a viable disease control strategy offering a high degree of protection to those willing to accept them.” Gerald said we would continue to see a rise in cases into October, but would likely not increase to previously seen outbreaks of COVID-19. “I think it is very unlikely that it’s going to be as big as what we experienced this past winter, I don’t think it would be as big as possible for it to be as big as what we experienced even last summer. So it’s somewhere between where we are right now, and where we were in the summer of 2020,” said Gerald. He noted that Pima County, which has been quicker at implementing mask mandates and other mitigation strategies, has a lower rate of transmission than Maricopa County or the state, with about half their rate of transmission. “The Governor’s office and the legislature are really standing in the way of public health progress. They’re tying our hands in making it much more difficult to achieve our public health goals,” said Gerald. “It’s hard to see how that’s going to work out well for us....so instead of hampering our efforts to get people vaccinated the state should and could be doing more to help us achieve our goals and right now they’re kind of standing in our way.” ■

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TUCSONWEEKLY.COM 13

CHOW

YOU DESERVE BITTER National IPA Day is coming up

By Matt Russell tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com

IT’S THE DAY OVER WHICH HOP fans like myself swoon. By the time this newspaper hits the streets, we’ll be about a week away from National IPA Day on Aug. 5. This day dedicated to the glory of hop flowers, celebrated by craft beer enthusiasts on the first Thursday of every August, is a reaffirmation that the market is robust for those who prefer their brews on the bitter and slightly more spirituous sides. However, with sours and other styles of beers trending upward over the past year, I’ve wondered what the future holds for my beloved India Pale Ale. Encouragingly, after sitting down with local brewery executive Linette Antillon, I’ve learned that the spirit of National IPA Day guides her team’s work throughout the calendar year. “We brew many different styles of beers, but we really love to brew the kinds of beers that we really love to drink, and mostly those are IPAs,” said Antillon, co-owner of Pueblo Vida Brewing Company, 115 E. Broadway Boulevard. “We love to play with the nuances of hops, and IPAs lend us that creative ability to showcase and blend certain varieties.” Since Pueblo Vida opened their doors in 2014, a full 70% of the beer they’ve sold is in the IPA category. And with my sneak peek at what they’re preparing to roll out, I’d expect that number to flirt with 95% on Aug. 5. To get ready for the big day, Antillon’s team is brewing four special IPAs, three of which are infused with ingredients to balance the bitterness with sweet notes. The Melon Creamsicle IPA is a fruity expression of their signature Cereus IPA, made with Strata, Citra and Mosaic hops. “All of our infusions are made with fresh ingredients, so I imagine that we’ll be chopping a lot of fresh honeydew melons and using either coconut or vanilla beans in this one.” This beer presents at an approachable

6% on the Alcohol By Volume (ABV) scale. A Strawberry Limeade Benthos IPA will also be on tap, featuring Idaho 7, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops. Fresh strawberries and lime juice will come together with the tri-hop blend to deliver a kicked-up version of this classic summertime refresher with an ABV of 6.5%. National IPA Day wouldn’t be complete without a selection or two that punch the palate in more powerful ways, and two of the day’s releases will exceed that expectation. Weighing in at an ABV of 8%, the Dynamic Double IPA starts with Nelson, Citra, and Ella hops. It’s then infused with pineapple and other fresh ingredients that Antillon says will trigger “thoughts of pineapple upside down cake.” Sounds like my kind of dessert! The last beer in the celebratory lineup is certainly not for beginners. It’s a triple IPA, with a mighty ABV of 10%, that’s intentionally named Still Life. Strata, Citra and Galaxy hops will all come together to deliver a high-voltage, beer-sipping moment that you’ll not soon forget. The four limited-edition releases will make their Pueblo Vida taproom debut, in glasses, crowlers, and growlers, at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 5. If the kegs don’t dry out by 9 p.m. that evening, the taproom will be open on Friday from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. Whatever your plan is for National IPA Day, either at a local taproom or in the comforts of home, please enjoy it responsibly and save some of that swoon for next year. ■ Contact Matt Russell, whose day job is CEO of Russell Public Communications, at mrussell@russellpublic.com. Russell is also the publisher of OnTheMenuLive.com as well as the host of the Friday Weekend Watch segment on the “Buckmaster Show on KVOI 1030 AM

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Monsoon Madness Plant Sale. How ‘bout that monsoon season?! The plants are celebrating just as much as us by growing extra green and beautiful. So, head over to Tohono Chul to pick up some new little friends and learn more about the world of plant care. They’ve got a great selection of local growers and nationally renowned plant experts selling weird and wonderful desert-friendly plants. Maybe you’re finally heading back to the office and want a lil’ dude for your office. Maybe you’re late to the quarantine trend of stocking up on houseplants. And hey, you don’t need a reason! Buy some plants if you want. 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 30, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Tohono Chul, 7366 Paseo del Norte. Free admission during the sale. Backroads Country Band at the Gaslight. God bless the Gaslight Theatre for giving us something about Mondays to look forward to with their Monday evening concert series. This week, they’ve got Backroads, aka the Ultimate Country Cover Band. They’re bringing you covers of No. 1 hits by artists ranging from George Strait and Brooks and Dunn to Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Florida Georgia Line. You’ll be singing and dancing along the whole night. And it might just make facing Tuesday morning at work a little more bearable the next day. 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 2. Gaslight Theatre – East Side, 7010 E. Broadway Blvd. $15 to $27. Transformative Meditation Class With Yin Yoga Elements. I mean, it’s worth a shot, right? Meditation and yoga are the sort of practices that always seem worth at least trying. This class at Floor Polish is a good way to ease yourself into it. Instructor Myrene Dickinson, a hypnotherapist, meditation coach and Yin Yoga instructor who also has a master’s degree in psychology, will start the class off with some physical yoga movements. Then, you move into the meditation portion of the class, building skills to help mange stress, build focus, improve self-awareness and grow in forgiveness and patience. 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, July 31. Floor Polish Dance + Fitness, 930 N. Stone Ave. $10. Fuss-Free Gardening. The best kind of gardening! We desertfolk tend to over-maintain our plants. I mean, raise your hand if you’ve ever accidentally caused root rot in a succulent or other desert plant. In this virtual class offered by the Tucson Botanical Gardens, horticulturist Noelle Johnson (aka the “Arizona Plant Lady”) will offer some of her top tips for keeping up a low-maintenance gar-

Masque-Rave Ball. So, we have good news and bad (or maybe just gloomy) news. The bad/gloomy news is that masks are required at this event. But the good news is that they’re not talking about THAT kind of mask. For this modern twist on a masquerade ball, Solar Culture wants all guests to wear neat masquerade costume masks. How fun! If you’ve never fantasized about meeting a mysterious suitor at a masquerade ball and dancing the night away with a charming, presumably good-looking masked stranger, go ahead and start now, so you will be ready. 10 p.m. Friday, July 30. Solar Culture Gallery, 31 E. Toole Ave. $15 Your Favorite Movie, Improvised (Digital Edition). Are you ever watching

your favorite movie, say Titanic or The Shawshank Redemption, and you think, “You know what’s missing from this film? Some improv comedy!”? Boy, does Tucson Improv Movement have a show for you! Come shout out your suggestions to the performers so they can improvise your favorite movie, even if they’ve never seen it before! You’ll be cracking up, and if you pick up some drinks and snacks too, you’re in for a pretty much perfect Saturday night, if you ask me. Thing About Matthew and Surge Pricing are the openers. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Tucson Improv Movement, 414 E. Ninth St. $7.

by Emily Dieckman

HUB A La Road: The Brewery Tour. I’m disappointed to announce that not only have I never had a beer float (as in, a scoop of ice cream in beer), but I’ve never even heard of a beer float. If you are in the same, shameful boat as me, this is the week that we can change everything! In this week’s edition of the HUB’s summer brewery tour, they’re teaming up with Ten55 Brewing Company to offer up this sweet treat. The HUB’s mobile ice cream truck will be at Ten55, offering up a selection of ice cream to pair with the XOXO Coffee Stout. Talk about a midweek pick-meup. 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4. Ten55 Brewing Company, 110 E. Congress St.

den, as well as point out some of the biggest mistakes to avoid. One of the only things better than an idyllic personal garden is an idyllic personal garden that hardly requires any work, right? 10 a.m. to noon. Friday, July 30. Tucsonbotanical.org/class. $30. Summer Safari Nights. Did you know that ostriches can run up to 70 miles per hour? Incredible, considering that I don’t even understand how their legs support their big, round bodies. Learn more about these big ol’ birds and some of the animal kingdom’s most Olympic-ready animals at this week’s Saturday night event, which has an “animal athletes” theme. We’re talking big strong African elephants, gymnastic champion squirrel monkeys and plenty more. Plus, aerial performances by humans from the Circus Academy and all the usual games, wildlife activities, food and tunes. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Reid Park Zoo, 3400 Zoo Court. $10.50 adults, $8.50 seniors, $6.50 kids ages 2 to 14. Rise of the Prospects. Maybe you don’t want to go to the movies or just grab a typical drink this Saturday. How about watching some Muay Thai (kickboxing) fights by talented locals over at the Rialto Theatre? This action-packed show will give you something to talk about all week long. See more than 15 sanctioned amateur fights at this event, and then decide from there whether you want to launch a Muay Thai career for yourself. Good for all ages, but be warned that your kids might be attempting to reenact the fights for the next week or so if you bring them. 5 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. $40 to $60. Free Time: Building Community for Incarcerated Writers. This event hosted by the University of Arizona Poetry Center and American Friends Service Committee is a unique way to get involved with a good cause. Each month, this workshop meets online to pair artists in Tucson and surrounding communities with incarcerated writers across the country who are looking for guidance, mentorship and collaboration through regular correspondence. Workshop leader Joe Watson will guide participants with advice on how to offer advice and compassionate criticism, suggest notable works by incarcerated writers, and review developments in criminal justice reform. Email heyjoewatson@arizona.edu prior to the first workshop to receive instructions on how to join via Zoom. 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, July 31. Online. Free.

JULY 29, 2021

below the R-rating, and trying to send folks home with a sense of closure. No, no, no. If there was ever a movie that didn’t require a tidy ending and warm feelings, it’s this one! It’s astounding how Shyamalan can flirt with something so perfectly demented and then just piss it all away. The movie is based on a graphic novel called Sandcastle, and having read that novel, it’s fair to say he takes a lot of liberties. Some COURTESY PHOTO of them clever, some of them catastrophically bad. The movie’s failures can’t be blamed on the source Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan delivers a movie full of cool ideas that don’t age well material. Shyamalan screws himself. By Bob Grimm The cast actually does great work despite the tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com sporadically messy assignment they’ve been handed. McKenzie is a terrific actress, and while the movie WITH ‘OLD,’ M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN ONCE doesn’t spend enough time dealing with the complexagain overbakes his cinematic souffle and the damn ities of an 11-year-old in a woman’s body, she does thing collapses before it makes it out of the oven. Too bad, because there are elements at play during manage a few good bizarro moments. Wolff is equally its running time that make it occasionally feel like one good, especially when his character gets into a predicament with his vacation girlfriend. That predicament of the more bizarre, daring and wacky thrillers he’s ever made. Shyamalan’s perfectionist tendencies work is the film’s outrageous highlight. The dialogue gets a little wordy in that Shyamalan to derail what could’ve been the darkest of darkest style where he holds your hand and over explains horror comedies with solid satirical bite. In the end, things, but for much of the time, it actually contribit’s just another out of nowhere, poorly executed Shyutes to the weirdness of the movie. The characters amalan twist and tidy ending that’ll send you home don’t talk like normal people talking because Shyawith that, “Oh, I have been Shyamalanned, again!” malan has a hard time writing realistic dialogue, but it feeling. totally suits the picture’s odd, unorthodox pace from A family shows up at a super spiffy tropical resort about the midway point until near the ending. for some much-needed R&R. Guy (Gael Barcia BerSome moments in the film, where the camera seems nal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) are dealing with some marital and medical problems, and their two children, to be averting its eyes during the rough stuff, give the vibe that there was an R-rated cut at work. It’s PG-13, 11-year-old Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and 6-year-old and that rating keeps things a little too tame given the Trent (Nolan River), are all about going to the beach. subject matter. This is messy business, and the film They eventually make it to a special beach courtesy of a shuttle driver played by Shyamalan himself. (Not should be messy. As for the overall statements on aging, Shyamalan a good sign!) They, and a host of other resort guests, sees the positives with the negatives when it comes to make their way through a small canyon to a delightful the years passing. Mostly the negatives, as people conenough beach for some fun in the sun. The Twilight Zone stuff kicks in almost immediate- tort due to calcium deficiencies, or have fatal seizures, ly, as Maddox and Trent return from a beach explora- or fall off cliffs because they are trying to escape tion five years older. They eventually age into actress getting old. As for the folks with degenerative mental ailments (one in particular played by Rufus Sewell), Thomasin McKenzie and actor Alex Wolff as the beach is a place where you somehow age 50 years in a they get homicidal. On second thought, Shyamalan day. That’s bad news for some of the older folks on this doesn’t really see anything positive in aging. As for the wrap up, it’s part sinisterly clever, and excursion, and it lends to pre-existing medical condipart totally unnecessary. That unnecessary part goes tions exploding in grotesque (albeit PG-13) ways. against the grain of the whole movie, and results in M. There’s a stretch of this movie that is equally hilarious and disturbing, as well balanced a stretch of run- Night failing to stick the landing. Sadly, Shyamalan screwing up the endings is as inevitable as the aging ning time Shyamalan has ever put to film. Then, it all process getting lampooned in Old. ■ slips away and the whole darned thing is squandered in favor of tidy screenwriting, keeping the proceedings

CINEMA

THE ‘OLD’ RAZZLE DAZZLE

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JULY 29, 2021

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Botanica. 6205 N. Travel Center Drive 395-0230; botanica.us Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily

Harvest of Tucson . 2734 East Grant Road 314-9420; askme@harvestinc.com; Harvestofaz. com Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily

Desert Bloom Re-Leaf Center. 8060 E. 22nd St., Ste. 108 886-1760; dbloomtucson.com Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily Offering delivery Downtown Dispensary. 221 E. 6th St., Ste. 105 838-0492; thedowntowndispensary.com Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily D2 Dispensary. 7105 E 22nd St. 214-3232; d2dispensary.com/ Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily

And don’t forget to visit the Short Rest Tavern now located inside TGG Tucson Mall

Earth’s Healing. Two locations: North: 78 W. River Road 253-7198 South: 2075 E. Benson Highway 373-5779 earthshealing.org Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Offering delivery The Green Halo. 7710 S. Wilmot Road 664-2251; thegreenhalo.org Open: Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Green Med Wellness Center. 6464 E. Tanque Verde Road 520-281-1587; facebook.com/GreenMedWellnessCenter Open: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Enter the realm at Park Place or Tucson Mall

Nature Med. 5390 W. Ina Road 620-9123; naturemedinc.com Open: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily The Prime Leaf Two locations: 4220 E. Speedway Blvd. 1525 N. Park Ave. 44-PRIME; theprimeleaf.com Open: Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Purple Med Healing Center. 1010 S. Freeway, Ste. 130 398-7338; www.facebook.com/PurpleMedHealingCenter Open: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Southern Arizona Integrated Therapies. 112 S. Kolb Road 886-1003; medicalmarijuanaoftucson.com Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily Total Accountability Patient Care. 226 E. 4th St., Benson 586-8710; bensondispensary.com Open: Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 .m. to 7 p.m.

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HOMEFRONT CONFLICT

Veterans Action Council works to change VA medical pot rules By David Abbott tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia.com A GROUP THAT STARTED WITH with an online “buddy check” during the height of the COVID shutdown is taking a serious swing at the Veterans Administration’s rules regulating medicinal pot, seeking to challenge the federal prohibition against cannabis use in vets suffering from PTSD and pain associated with their service. A pair of Tucson cannabis advocates have joined a nationwide group of veterans lobbying to end stigmatization of medical pot use in qualified patients and gain fully funded access to it from the VA. “We started meeting, just getting together as a buddy check-in with Zoom meetings,” said Veterans Action Council member Tony Landry. “In time it developed into some initial work, and we sent a letter out to help Sean Worsley get out of jail.” Worsely is a disabled and decorated Iraqi War veteran suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury who possessed a valid MMJ card in his home state of Arizona, but was arrested in Alabama for possession in 2016. He was released on a plea agreement at the time, but his life began to spiral and last year he received a five-year prison sentence in Alabama. He was granted parole last October, though, after serving eight months in prison. The VAC letter may or may not have affected the outcome of that case, but the action galvanized the loose affiliation of veterans to set bigger goals in service of U.S. military veterans. One of the main organizers of the group is Army veteran Ricardo Pereyda, a Tucson native who’s been advocating for veterans’s access to medical marijuana since 2013. Pereyda survived several injuries in his six years of service and came home 100% disabled due to injuries sustained

in Iraq. The VA prescribed a heavy drug regimen—a common theme for injured returning warriors—but he finally found relief in cannabis, which also helped him kick his alcohol use. “The VA and the military told me to go find a hobby, and they gave me a full pension,” Pereyda said. “I could literally sit on my ass all day and just flick boogers at the wall if I wanted, [but] I can dedicate my entire focus and my energy to this because I don’t have to worry about slaving at some fucked up job while I’m doing it.” A good chunk of his focus and energy has gone to laying a foundation for high-level lobbying for destigmatized access. Earlier this year, the VAC published its “2021 Green Paper: A Call to Action,” a white paper that lays out the case to end the U.S. “prohibition of medical cannabis.” Stating the VAC mission, “Doing what needs to be done to provide safe and affordable access to natural medicine and alternative therapies for veterans,” the paper “outlines significant concerns within the medical cannabis community, and what we feel are some potential remedies.” The paper’s executive summary takes issue with the VA’s overprescription of opiates and other pharmaceutical drugs and calls on the VA to “fully recognize cannabis as a viable treatment option for U.S. veterans.” “Multiple attempts have been made to resolve the inability of veterans to incorporate cannabis into their official treatment plans,” the paper states. “Every attempt made to address our concerns has been sabotaged at the federal level. The VHA (Veterans Health Administration) must take action on this issue. Federal leadership in the executive and legislative branches of our government must understand the enormity of this situation.” The paper also addresses the need to help vets who self-medicate and address the number of suicides, estimated at 22 per day, according to numbers provided by the VA to the VAC. Since 2001 and the advent of the Global War on Terror, an

COURTESY PHOTO

Ricardo Pereyda and his medicine.

estimated 30,000 veterans have committed suicide, while 7,032 have died on the battlefield, according to a recent Department of Defense report. The VAC also advocates for Department of Agriculture support of veterans growing cannabis both for research, and to someday stock VA-sponsored dispensaries. Despite medical legalization in 36 states and four territories, and expanding adultuse recreational legalization that now reaches 18 states, two territories and the District of Columbia, veterans with MMJ cards in their own states face prosecution on a federal level in states where it is not legal, as well as stigmatization by the VA when they seek health care. “The VA has a responsibility for our health, and they’re not doing it,” Landry said. “They’re not fulfilling their duty, so it’s time to get all these ducks in a row and get the stigma blocked because the stigma is still bad surrounding cannabis.”

Last week, the VAC took its agenda to the office of Sen. Mark Kelly, who in the run-up to the 2020 election voiced support for legalization on a federal level, although his support has recently cooled. In October 2020, Kelly told KPNX-TV in Phoenix he would likely vote in favor of Prop 207 and further that he would “seriously consider” descheduling cannabis on a federal level, thus removing legal restrictions on banking and interstate commerce. “I think I’m gonna vote yes. It has some provisions in there to decriminalize it and address some incarceration rates for marijuana offenses—I think that’s good,” he said of the proposition that legalized adult-use in the state. “I think there’s a funding source there. So I’m probably gonna vote yes. Kelly added: “Based on my vote here in Arizona, I would seriously consider removing it [from Schedule I].” CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

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TUCSON WEEDLY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

The group met last week with former congressman Ron Barber, Kelly’s southern Arizona director, and Katie Campbell, his legislative director. “What we agreed to do was to take the input back to the senator for his consideration,” Barber said of the conversation. “I am specifically focusing on the bill by Sen. Schatz.” The bill to which Barber referred is Hawaii Sen. Mark Schatz’ Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act, introduced earlier this year that would allow the VA to legally prescribe marijuana to veterans. The bill is cosponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.). There is a companion bill in the House of Representatives, cosponsored by Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Dave Joyce (R-Ohio). Barber worked with Pereyda when Barber was briefly a member of Congress and Pereyda was a veterans advocate at the University of Arizona between 201o and 2013. Barber won election to the seat vacated by Gabrielle Giffords when she was shot in 2011. He was shot as well and has had his own battle with PTSD. “Ricardo is a strong advocate, and I really appreciate how he pursues this,” he said. “I really understand from a personal level what some of these guys are going through now. I never went to war, but I was shot the same day [as Giffords]. I dealt

with PTSD and still do.” What comes from the meeting with Kelly’s representatives is yet to be determined, but the advocacy work of VAC continues on a national level. Locally, though, another effort coming down the pike for the Tucson contingency of VAC is to find a social spot for vets who have given up alcohol as a means of self-medication, but want to socialize with fellow cannabis-friendly vets. Something like a Veterans of Foreign Wars for pot. Landry, an Alabama native who came to Arizona to get his medical card, had his own experiences with prescription drugs from the VA and alcohol. He sees the advantages of veterans organizations such as the VFW, but also believes there is a divide between vets that use alcohol and those that have turned to pot as an alternative. “Veterans, especially young populations, come back with all this emotional trauma and they don’t want to go into a barroom situation with a lot of yelling and drinking and parties,” he said. “These service organizations do some amazing things, and they give veterans an outlet, with youth sports, or public speaking, or whatever. They do some good things, but times are changing and we are fighting for a place that veterans can go and be comfortable with medical cannabis.” ■ For more information about the Veterans Action Council or to get involved, go to www.veteransactioncouncil.com.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

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): Author Valerie Andrews reminds us that as children, we all had the “magical capacity to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unselfconsciously to the soughing of the trees.” Oh, how I would love you to be able to recover even a fraction of those talents in the coming days. My reading of the current astrological potentials tells me that your chances of doing so are much better than usual. Your ability to connect with the eternal child and wise animal within you is at a peak. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus singer Barbara Streisand has a shopping mall built below her large home. Its purpose isn’t to sell consumer goods to strangers but rather to stash her precious belongings and show them off when friends come over. Among the storefronts are an antique store, doll shop, costume shop, and candy store. The coming weeks would be an excellent time for you to start building a shopping mall beneath your home, too, Taurus. If that’s too expensive or complicated, here are alternatives: 1. Revitalize your appreciation for your treasured possessions. 2. Acquire a new treasured possession or two that will inspire you to love your life even more than you already do. 3. Reacquaint yourself with the spiritual powers that your treasured possessions arouse in you. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The Dalai Lama says there are core similarities between science and Buddhism. Both keep searching for ever-more complete versions of the truth. Both employ firsthand observation and experimentation to do that noble work. If they find new information that contradicts previously held versions of the truth, both are willing to discard them. Now that you Geminis are entering the Deep Questioning Phase of your astrological cycle, I’d love you to make generous

use of the Buddhist/Scientific approach. More complete versions of the truth will be available in abundance in the coming weeks—if you’re alert for them. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656) achieved the impossible: She became a supremely skilled and renowned painter in an era when women had virtually no opportunities to become artists. Many aspects of her work distinguished her from other painters. For example, she depicted women as having strong, agile hands and arms. In Artemisia’s world, the power of women’s wrists, forearms, and fingers signifies their ability to put their mark upon the world, to accomplish strenuous practical tasks with grace and flair. If I were going to paint images of you in the coming weeks, I would also portray you as having strong, agile hands and arms. I suspect you’ll have potent agency to get things done—to adeptly manipulate the material world to serve your ideals. (Thoughts about Artemisia’s hands come from art historian Mary D. Garrard.) LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Once upon a time”: That’s your phrase of power these days. What do I mean by that? I’m suggesting that you will strengthen your problem-solving abilities by engaging in playful pretending for the sheer fun of it. I’m predicting that you will boost your confidence by dreaming up amusing magical stories in which you endure heroic tests and achieve epic feats. And I’m proposing that you will fine-tune your ability to accomplish practical feats if you regard your robust imagination as crucial to your success. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo singer-songwriter Fiona Apple says she’s not religious. On the other hand, she regularly kneels on the ground and announces to whatever great power might be listening, “Thank you for my problems, and I send

SAVAGE LOVE CRABS

By Dan Savage, mail@savagelove.net

I’m a gay male in my forties and I’ve been married to my husband for nine years. There was some mild infidelity on his part (exchanging photos and flirting via text with another guy) early in our relationship. I confronted him at the time, and he lied to me. I decided to let it go, as it was early in the relationship. Fast forward a few years and he gets crabs and gives them to me. He told me it was most likely from the volunteer work he does in a homeless shelter. I let it go again. Fast forward another couple years and I’m feeling insecure and look on his iPad, and find

confirmation that he was sleeping with the guy he’d exchanged photos and flirty texts with early in our relationship. This sent me into a severe depression. All my concerns over the years were confirmed, and further sleuthing revealed there was another guy he was fucking around with as well. He admitted to all of this only after I showed him the proof. I chose to forgive and forget. The pain was too much to deal with and I just wanted to move on and get back to our lives. At the time we talked about having an open relationship and I told him

my love everywhere.” She’s sincere. She regards her sadness and her challenges as being equally important to her happiness and success. The difficulties teach her what she didn’t even realize she needed to know, and make her appreciate the good times more intensely. I suggest you borrow from her approach right now. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Nobel Prize-winning author Albert Camus wrote, “Great feelings bring with them their own universe”—which he said may either be degraded or splendid, selfish or generous. I love that he allowed for the possibility that great feelings could be positive and noble. So many renowned thinkers focus on negative and ignoble states of mind. In accordance with current astrological potentials, Libra, your task is to cultivate feelings that are splendid and generous. These sentiments should exalt you, uplift you and empower you to spread transformative benevolence to those whose lives you touch. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “How can you hold on to something that won’t hold still?” asked Scorpio poet Benjamin Fondane. In general, you Scorpios have more talent than every other sign of the zodiac at doing just that: corralling wiggly, slippery things and making them work for you. And I expect this skill will be especially in play for you during the coming weeks. Your grasp on the elusive assets won’t ever be perfect, but it will be sufficiently effective to accomplish small wonders. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian Calvin Trillin is a witty writer with a good imagination and a flair for inventive language. But back in school, he confesses, “Math was always my bad subject. I couldn’t convince my teachers that many of my answers were meant ironically.” You Sagittarians are authorized by the cosmic powersthat-be to borrow your style and attitude from Trillin in the coming weeks. So you shouldn’t be fixated on mathematical precision and fastidious logic; your task is not to be conceptually impeccable and scrupulously sensible. Rather, you have a license to be extra lyrical and lush and rhapsodic and humorous and irrepressible.

I was cool with that, but I wasn’t cool sharing my life with someone who lies to me so easily. We mutually decided that opening the relationship wasn’t a great idea and never really discussed it again. I’m happy I decided to move past this because the last four years have been great. We never fight, our sex life is good, we have a wonderful home and social life. I hadn’t felt the need to sleuth on his devices in years. I felt secure in our relationship. Then two weeks ago I discovered he has crabs (again) after he gave them to me (again). He says he has no idea how he got them. This has obviously brought his history of lying and cheating back to the forefront and I’m questioning so many things. I feel like the only way I’ll ever get the truth is if I find proof and

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 2011, an eBay seller produced a 19th-century photo that he said proved Capricorn actor Nicholas Cage is a time-traveling vampire. Although the character in the image did indeed resemble the Oscar-winning star, he rejected the theory, and emphatically declared that he is not a time-traveling vampire. Maybe that all sounds absurd, but I must tell you that you may soon have to deal with people’s equally inaccurate and off-kilter theories about you. My advice: Don’t take it personally. Simply correct others’ misimpressions and rely solely on yourself for definitive ideas about who you are. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I’ve assembled excerpts of love poems for your inspiration. Why? Because you’re entering the Intensified Intimacy Phase of your astrological cycle. Consider using the following riffs as inspiration when you interact with loved ones. 1. “I profess the religion of love; it’s the belief, the faith I keep.” 2. “Holding your hand, I can hear your bones singing into mine and feel the moon as it rolls through you.” 3. “Raw light spills from your eyes, utterly naked, awakening an intoxicating shimmer of adventure.” 4. “I ask you please to speak to me forever.” (Poem fragments are from Ibn ‘Arabi, Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, Herman Hesse, Sara Eliza Johnson, Alejandra Pizarnik.) PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): An Australian witch named Michelle Clinton praises the joys of a “moon garden.” It features flowers and plants that reveal their full beauty after dark. Among the flowers that bloom at night are evening primrose, angel’s trumpet, and Dutchman’s pipe cactus. As for the flowers whose aromas are most potent after the sun sets: night-blooming jasmine, garden heliotrope, and honeysuckle. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will have resemblances to a moon garden in the near future, Pisces. Be alert for opportunities to glow and grow in the dark. (More: tinyurl.com/LunarGarden) ■ Homework: Send me an oracle you’d like to receive for the first week of September. Newsletter@freewillastrology.com

fuck that. I’m not going back to scouring his phone and devices. If I’m staying, I’m staying. But should I stay? Are all past infidelities moot at this point because we’ve put them behind us? Can this new case of crabs be viewed in isolation? Can people get genital area crab infestations during a non-sensual massage? Or am I the idiot whose husband has been fucking around on him the whole time we’ve been together? —Scratching Head And Meat Whether or not you stay depends on what you’re willing to tolerate, SHAM. You were willing to tolerate being married to a guy who had cheated on you in the distant past. Can you tolerate being married to a guy who has most likely cheated on you in the recent past

JULY 29, 2021

and—given his track record—will probably cheat on you again in the future? Answer that question, SHAM, and you’ll know what to do. As for the new case of crabs, SHAM, sure, it’s possible your husband got them during a non-sensual massage— if the place wasn’t clean, if they reuse towels and sheets without washing them, if they don’t disinfect the massage table. I don’t know why anyone would wanna get a massage at a filthy place like that, but maybe your husband isn’t so choosy. But I gotta say… it seems far likelier that your husband, a man who lied to your face the last time he got crabs, is lying to you again. Crabs—pubic lice—are almost always transmitted during pubes-to-pubes contact, e.g., someone who has crabs grinds their crotch against the crotch of someone who doesn’t have crabs and then they both have crabs. That doesn’t necessarily mean your husband had sex with a body worker. He may have gotten one of those full-body-contact massages that involve the masseuse stripping off and rubbing his body all over his client’s body—and while I think that kind of massage qualifies as sensual, your husband may feel (and rationalize) differently. So let’s go ahead assume the worst: Your husband never stopped cheating on you. Which means your husband is the same person he’s always been. Maybe he’s one of those guys who really wants to be monogamous and feels terrible every time he fucks around behind your back. Or maybe he’s one of those selfish jerks who doesn’t want an honest open relationship because that would mean giving you the same freedom. Whatever it is, SHAM, he’s unlikely to change. So, what do you do? Leaving him means giving up everything about your marriage that you enjoy—the good sex life a decade in, the generally low-conflict intimacy, the home you’ve made together, the social life you share. But if staying makes you feel like an idiot, SHAM, your anger

( justified) and resentment (ditto) will eventually ruin what you enjoy about your marriage. To be clear, SHAM, I don’t think staying means you’re an idiot. But you’ll have to make peace with who your husband is if you decide to stay. Not for his sake, for yours. Make peace with it again, I should say, as I don’t think you stopped scouring his iPad and phone for evidence because you didn’t think he was cheating on you. You stopped because you didn’t want to know if he was. If you do stay, SHAM, you might let your husband continue to think he’s risking his marriage when he cheats. That won’t stop him—it hasn’t up to now, right?—but your husband will be less likely to seize every opportunity that comes his way if he thinks he’s risking his marriage. If you don’t hand a DADT card and/or tell him you’ve made peace with his cheating, SHAM, he’ll redouble his efforts to be discreet and continue to be careful to use condoms with other guys so as to avoid exposing you to a more serious STI. (I say “continue to be careful” because if he’s been cheating on you all this time and only brought crabs home, SHAM, then he was probably being careful, i.e., using condoms, with other guys.) For the record, SHAM, I don’t think this solution is ideal—making peace with who your husband is but not telling him—because I’m a fan of ethical non-monogamy. But you’re never gonna get ethical non-monogamy out of your husband. You’re gonna keep getting what you’ve been getting all along. If that’s unacceptable, if you can’t live with that, you should definitely leave. If you can live with that, if you can resume ignoring what you kinda knew all along, you might be able to stay. Good luck. If the condom breaks, who do you think should pay for Plan B? —Settle This Argument The government.

I am on the cusp of starting a sexual relationship with a newly paraplegic man. (We’re both in our late twenties and cis het if that matters.) He hasn’t had any sexual partners since his injury, so he hasn’t had much opportunity to experiment with what works for him now. He’s told me he has no sensation below his belly button. I’m not sure if he’s been able to achieve an erection since becoming paraplegic, but he said he hasn’t been able to orgasm since it happened. I’m hoping that you (or your experts or readers) might have some advice and/or resources for us. I want to make sure that the experience is as satisfying for him as it can be. —Sensitive Personal Issues Need Exploration Reading the blog post “Keeping the Romance Alive After a Spinal Cord Injury” at Spinalcord.com. There are some great insights, SPINE, and lots of useful links. My advice: you wanna have a satisfying sexual experience with this guy—his first since his injury—and that’s great. But you’re more likely to have a positive experience if you don’t make it all about his dick. While you shouldn’t ignore his dick, SPINE, you

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need to go into this encounter—you both need to go into this encounter— believing you can have a rewarding and successful sexual experience even if he can’t get hard or climax. It’s going to take him some time figure out what works for him now—what he needs to get hard, what he needs to get off—and in the meantime, SPINE, his tongue works, his arms work, his hands work. And non-PIV sex—or any other kind of sex in the absence of one or more erections—isn’t some sad consolation prize. They’re satisfying sexual experiences for everybody involved and, just as importantly, they’re things he can excel at, right now, erection or no erection. If you want him to come out of his first sexual experience after his injury feeling more confident about his body and his abilities, center mutual pleasure, not his cock. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

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Classifieds 520.797.4384 Classifieds@tucsonlocalmedia.com

RECYCLING

ACROSS

$CASH$

For ALL unwanted Cars, Trucks & SUVs Family Owned and Operated

Call or text anytime for quote FREE PROFESSIONAL REMOVAL

520-271-0546

New, Old, Running, or not!

Tucson and surrounding areas Mention this Ad to receive advertised prices.

Se Habla

W BUY WE NO OTIVE M O T U A EN OXYG S R SENSO

Español

ALUMINUM CANS

Clean. Not Destroyed. Not Contaminated.

50¢-55¢

LB.

#1 Beverage Plastics 20¢ LB. WASHERS: $5 - $30 (call for details) BATTERIES: 18¢ - 22¢ LB.

WE BUY

PROPANE TANKS! $5 - $10

We match any LOCAL competitors price! All Metals, Scrap Cars, Clean Aluminum 35¢-60¢, Old Water Heaters, Dryers, Refrigerators, All Circuit Boards & All Computers/Parts. Also Non-Working Tablets, Laptops, Cell Phones & Home Electronics

ALL

METALS , LLC

Hours:

Mon - Fri 7:30am - 5:00pm

Closed Sat & Sat *Any Questions Please Call

3818 N. Highway Dr.

Tucson AZ 85705

342-4042

52 City near the Temple of

1 Michelangelo’s only

signed work 6 411 10 Like dewy grass 14 Did diddly squat 15 The “you” in the classic song lyric “I’m crossin’ you in style some day” 17 Caravan member, perhaps 18 Stick with it 19 In-flight call? 21 Risky 22 “My b!” 23 Cosmetics giant 25 Cat, in Catalonia 28 “That’s ridonculous” 33 Cry in a famous balcony scene 35 ___ Eshkol, third prime minister of Israel 36 Browbeat 37 Aster relative 38 Waste receptacle 39 Timely 41 Blood-typing system 42 Release 44 Hair nets 45 “Someone’s going to pay for this!” 48 Warn with a horn 49 Caro who directed 2020’s “Mulan” 50 Some remote inserts

Isis 55 Lucy van Pelt’s frequent outburst to Charlie Brown … or how to fill some squares in this puzzle? 60 One making a scene 62 Woodwind section 63 “The highest result of education,” per Helen Keller 64 Oscar winner Berry 65 Picks 66 Without a leader? 67 Take from one medium to another

DOWN 1 Fool 2 Exchanged promises

28 34

43 47

21 23

9 16

22 25

48 51

57 62 64

3 Love to Hug ___ (plush

doll)

4 Spots for spots? 5 Supplement 6 Pucklike 7 December number 8 Left behind 9 Slip-___ 10 Summer Olympics event 11 With, in France 12 “___ Christianity” (C. S.

Lewis book)

13 Quarry 16 Guacamole ingredient

20 Lhasa ___ 24 Nickname composed

only of Roman numerals

25 Moved up the corporate

ladder, say

32 Embark on the Oregon

Trail, say

34 Drawing pencil? 38 Indian rice dish 40 “That’s better than I

expected!” 43 Leader in the civil rights Scheherazade stories movement, in brief 27 Thus far 44 Hunk 29 Bush appointee of 2006 46 Since fore-e-ever 47 Praised 30 Marilyn ___, singer with the 5th Dimension 51 Pacific greeting 31 “Oh, is that so?” 52 For 26 Many subjects of

Worship Guide 520.797.4384

Classifieds@tucsonlocalmedia.com

NEW THOUGHT

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

TUCSONWEEKLY.COM

JULY 29, 2021