David Fitzsimmons — Arizona Daily Star
Today the Arizona Wildcats are playing the Stanford Cardinal in the NCAA Woman’s Basketball Finals.
Archive for the ‘University of Arizona’ Tag
Cartoon du Jour: GO CATS Leave a comment
Del Sol Pool Area & Golf Course Where the NCAA Championship Women’s Team Play Leave a comment
Del Sol Pool Area & Golf Course (Home of the 2018 U of A Women’s Championship Team)– Image by kenne
We will be there tomorrow to see the the Isley Brothers & Commodores at the AVA Amphitheater. — kenne
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White Dove Of The Desert Computer Art Leave a comment
White Dove of the Desert (Mission San Xavier del Bac, First Posted April 2011) — Computer Art by kenne
‘‘San Xavier del Bac, known as a rancheria since the seventeenth century and as a mission since 1720 or 1732, was, in June 1768, committed to the care of Padre Francisco Garces, who was its minister for eight or ten years, but whose successors are not named in any record that I have seen. The neophytes were scattered and had forgotten their doctrine, so it is said, but they consented to return if not compelled to work. The mission was destroyed before the end of the year by Apaches, who killed the native governor and captured two soldiers, the padre and most of the neophytes being absent at the time. In several subsequent raids, the mission livestock disappeared, but after 1772 lost ground was more than regained, though Padre Garces * * * was, for a large part of the time, engaged in northern explorations. The official report of 1772 shows a population of 270 on the registers and describes the church as moderately capacious but poorly supplied with furniture and vestments. During this period, all the churches of Pimeria Alta are described as adobes, covered with wood, grass, and earth. Arricivita, writing in 1791, mentions on one page that the Franciscans have built here adobe houses for the natives and walls for defense against the Apaches; but though specifying somewhat minutely the various churches that had been built or repaired, he says nothing of such work at Bac. In a similar statement on another page, however, he includes Bac and Tucson among the places where churches of brick had been built. Yet I think the chronicler would not have dismissed with so slight a notice the magnificent structure still standing at San Xavier, which has elicited many a description from modern visitors. The church is said to bear the date of 1797, which is presumably that of its completion. The building, or rebuilding, was probably begun soon after the date of the reports on which Arricivita based his work and completed it in the final decade of the century. * * * The establishment seems to have had no minister and to have been practically abandoned from about 1828, though the Papago ex-neophytes are said to have cared for the building to some extent in later years.’’
This is the oldest mission in Arizona or California and today stands as a monument to the early fathers’ industry, religious zeal, and architectural skill.
“Tucson, as we have seen, Tucson is first mentioned in 1763 as a rancheria visita of Bac, which had been abandoned for the most part. In the last years of Jesuit control, however, it had 331 Indians, more or less, under the control of the missionaries. In his report of 1772, Reyes describes San Jose de Tucson as a visita of Bac, without church or padre’s house, on a fertile site where a large number of gentile and Christian Indians—not registered, but estimated at over 200 families—had congregated. Many of these seem to have been subsequently scattered; at least Anza found only eighty families of Pimas in 1774. Says Arricivita: ‘‘The Apaches have always sought to destroy a small rancheria at Tucson, it being the point of entry for their irruptions; but by the efforts of Padre Garces, there was built a pueblo, with a church, house for the padre, and a wall for defense, and it is to-day, a presidio of Spaniards.’’’’
From this, it will be seen that Padre Garces made Tucson a walled town, it being the first and only walled city in the United States.
— from History of Arizona — Volume I
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Zoom, Zoom Leave a comment
View from Patio Toward Downtown Tucson at Sunset (Focal Length 72 mm or 2.5x Optical Zoom) — Image by kenne
University of Arizona Stadium Lights, “A” Mountain Center-Left and Kit Peak Observatory Center-Right (Focal Length 300 mm or 11x Optical Zoom)
— Image by kenne
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“Lay down these words . . .” 1 comment
Bear Canyon Creek, Santa Catalina Mountains — Images by kenne
RIPRAP
Lay down these words
Before your mind like rocks.
place solid, by hands
In choice of place, set
Before the body of the mind
in space and time:
Solidity of bark, leaf, or wall
riprap of things:
Cobble of milky way,
straying planets
These poems, people,
lost ponies with
Dragging saddles
and rocky sure-foot trails.
The worlds like endless
four-dimensional
Game of Go.
ants and pebbles
in the thin loam, each rock a word
a creek-washed stone
Granite: ingrained
with torment of fire and weight
Crystal and sediment linked hot
all change, in thoughts,
As well as things.
— Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, 2010
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A Journey To Open A Time Capsule of Our Solar System 2 comments
NASA Image
In 2016, the NASA New Frontiers mission (OSIRIS-REX) will be launched with the purpose to catch up with the streaking asteroid named Bennu in 2018. The University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab are leading this mission.
Bennu – Saturn — NASA Image
Yesterday, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center released an animated video depicting the solar system’s formation highlighting the importance of asteroids as 4.5 billion year time capsule containing the basic materials from which all matter came.
kenne
NASA Video
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De Grazia — The Man Was In The Grove 1 comment
De Grazia Gallery In The Sun, Tucson
One of my favorite places in Tucson is the De Grazia Gallery In The Sun — I go there every chance I get to learn about and admire the work of Ted De Grazia. The gallery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and houses six permanent collections of paintings that trace historical events and native cultures of the Southwest.
Having just learned of a new book, De Grazia – The Man and Myths, by James W. Johnson and Marilyn D. Johnson, I’m eager to buy it and learn more about De Grazia. In the following video, the authors talk about the making of their book.
Family Visiting the Gallery While In Tucson
The Gallery In The Sun is a must stop for family and friends visiting us here in Tucson.
One of my favorite Ted DeGrazia paintings — Tambolero
De Grazia’s art work overshadows his skills as a musician and composer. A trumpeter, De Grazia had a “big band” orchestra during the 1930’s, which help pay his tuition at the University of Arizona where he earned a Master of Arts with his thesis, “Art and its Relation to Music in Music Education.” One of my favorite De Grazia painting is that of a drummer, “Tambolero,” which brings to mind Steve Gadd, one of the most well-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry. If you like big band jazz, you will love the following video, Steve Gadd & The Buddy Rich Big Band: Basically Blue.
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“HealthCare” — ” But, No On Cares” from Carmen Tafolla’s Poem, “HeathCare, The Sign Says” 1 comment
Carmen Tafolla — Images by kenne
It was a little over six years ago that I first met Carmen Tafolla. She was the March 2007, guest reader at Montgomery College’s (now Lone Star College – Montgomery) “Writer’s In Performance” series. I was impressed!
Carmen, a native of the West-Side barrios of San Antonio, Texas is an excellent writer, but first and foremost a storyteller. Often her readings include taking on the persona of the person in the poem, as shown in two of the photos in the above collage (older women and a child). Carmen is very inspirational — she touches your heart.
As a storyteller, Carmen follows the instruction from a historian, which she writes about in the poem, “The Storykeeper:”
Ask the whispers, she whispers,
breathed out in unguarded moments,
when the soul is too worn down to hurt more,
in the numbness of the night,
when the father wrestles with the unwritten history,
pleading to save it, speak it, bury it,
staring at the pluma across the room,
avoiding the paper.
from the poem “The Storykeeper” in the book of poems, Sonnets and Salsa
Even though I like to think I’m relatively up to date with the southwest literary world, I was surprised to learn yesterday that last March 2012, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro appointed Carmen Tafolla as the inaugural poet laureate — an honor well deserved.
The University of Arizona houses one of the best-known centers of poetry, “Poetry Center,” in the country; yet after doing a site search, I learned that Carmen Tafolla has never read there, which I difficult hard to believe — wondering out loud (in print), WHY! The Poetry Center should invite this unique Southwestern voice to read in Tucson.
We do know that many in Tucson are aware of Carmen Tafolla, since one of her books, “Curandera” was banned Tucson Unified School District’s unprecedented censorship and massive removal of Latino and Mexican American literature and texts from its classroom. As a result, and in honor of the book’s 30th anniversary, Wings Press reissued a special “Banned in Arizona!” edition, of “Curandera.”
kenne
(The title of this posting, “HealthCare” — ” But, No One Cares” is a line from Carmen Tafolla’s poem, “HealthCare” the sign says.)
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A Visit To Biosphere 2 8 comments
University of Arizona Bioshere 2 — Images by kenne
When we have visitors here in Tucson, one of the places we try to take them is Bioshere 2, so on Tuesday of this week we took Justin. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a larger image in a slideshow format.
kenne
Southside View of Bioshere 2 — Water & Life Experiment
Bioshere 2 -Rainforest & Ocean
Joy & Justin Reading About Bee House
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2 – Kitchen in Living Quarters
Bioshere 2 – Desert
Bioshere 2 – Water & Life Experiment
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2 Savanna Ecosystem
Bioshere 2 Savanna Ecosystem
Bioshere 2 – Ocean
Bioshere 2 – Rainforest
Bioshere 2 – View of The Catanina Mountains
Bioshere 2
Bioshere 2 – Desert
Bioshere – Justin Taking Photo
Bioshere 2
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David Lazaroff — Early Dam Considerations In Sabino Canyon Leave a comment
David Lazaroff In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
“In the last years of the century (19th) Tucsonans devised increasingly elaborate schemes for bring the waters of Sabino Creek to Tucson, but none were carried out. Then, in 1901, Sherman M. Woodward, a young professor in the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics at the University of Arizona, formulated a plan so compelling that it would influence events in Sabino Canyon for nearly four decades,” writes David Lazaroff in his 1993 publication, “Sabino Canyon – The Life of a Southwestern Oasis.” It was all about trying to bring water to the booming city of Tucson. During Lazaroff’s talk on Sabino Canyon, to the 2011 SCVN trainees, he shared the history of attempts to dam Sabino Creek, which I have edited into a minute video.
kenne
Naturalists and Trainees Listen To David Lazaroff — Image by kenne
Related articles
- An Introduction to Sabino Canyon with David Lazaroff – SCVN Class of 2011 (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- Taking A Wide-Angle Look After A Morning Rain In Sabino Canyon (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- Sabino Creek Is Dry – Almost! (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- SCVN Nature Walk #2 In Sabino Canyon (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
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The Poem, “Hawks Circle” — Revisited 2 comments
Image by kenne
The following poem was part of a blog entry a year ago October on poet Gary Snyder’s reading at the University of Arizona Poetry Center. The posting included my poem, Hawks Circle” with the above photo. Now a year later, much has evolved in my understanding of the natural world around us. For starters, I now know the big birds soring above are not hawks, but turkey vultures. Still, I have, and will continue to show my ignorance as I seek to increase my knowledge of nature.
Hawks Circle
People want to know,
Why Tucson?
With so many roots tied
to the star,
deep and connected,
why turn a back
To comfort?
To convince?
To culture?
Reasons abound
answers diverse,
yet similar.
Some old,
some recently learned.
More often than not
my answer is earthy,
yet ethereal.
Of another world,
yet of one world.
Answers giving birth
as hawks circle
riding the currents
above the foothills
gawking the ground
providing a Gary Snyder image
clear of mind
having no meaning, “but that
which sees is truly seen.”
— kenne
. . . followed by:
Behind is a forest that goes to the Arctic
And a desert that still belongs to the
Piute
And here we must draw
Our line.
As the crickets’ soft autumn hum
is to us
so are we to the trees
as are they
to the rocks and the hills.
— Gary Synder
(from “Front Lines/As The Crickets’ Soft Autumn Hum)
Related articles
- University of Arizona Poetry Center / Line and Space (archdaily.com)
- Turkey Vultures Along The Tanque Verde Wash (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- Gary Snyder Haunts Me, And As Far As I Know, He’s Not Dead (9-poeticfingers.org)
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“Am I Buggin’ You?” No, Not The “Bug Man!” 5 comments
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists and Trainees Following the Carl “Bug Man” Olson Over Sabino Creek
If you feel like life if bugging’ you, it’s not the “bug man.” It’s more likely that you are suffering from “nature-deficit disorder,” something you will not have if you are spending time out in nature with the “creek critters.”
The Sabino Canyon Volunteer Nationalist (SCVN) thrive in natural environments and in being part of bonded social groups. Science continues to gather evidence for the benefits of living closer to nature. Most naturalists are well aware of the spiritual and mental sustenance obtained from spending time outdoors — now science is validating it. A few years ago, journalist Richard Louv wrote a book documenting the radical transformation of the culture in which American children grow up, a transformation in which “young people are being taught to avoid direct experience in nature.” (“Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder“) The SCVN mission is to help stop this transformation by promoting the value of learning from nature through activities and programs for children and adults.
To help the SCVN members better understand the aquatic habitats of insects and arachnids, Carl “Bug Man” Olson, Associate Curator, Insects, with the University of Arizona presented to the SCVN mentors and trainees at the Sabino Canyon Visitor’s Center, also down by Sabino Creek. Now I know such things as “The Katydid’s ears are on its legs.” And, “. . . that an insect with the congeal nickname of “kissing bug” could cause life-threatening allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.”
Carl also lead us through a variation of the Creek Critters activity, which involves using nets and small dishes to gather some of the critters in the creek. The images in this posting are from Carl’s creekside discussion. There were plenty of bugs, but no one was “bugged” by the “bug man.”
kenne
Images by kenne
Related articles
- SCVN Nature Walk #2 In Sabino Canyon (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- Funnel-Web Spider: Part II (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- You’re buggin’ me (gregtaylor.wordpress.com)
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Ski Valley, Mt. Lemmon, July, 2011 Leave a comment
Ski Valley, Mt. Lemmon, July, 2011 — Images by kenne
Related articles
- Hiking Up Turkey Run In Summerhaven on Mt. Lemmon (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- Mt Lemmon closes (kinda) Thursday (lescom.wordpress.com)
- Summerhaven – Taking It To The Streets (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- How to Survive Tucson Summers ? Mt Lemmon Skycenter a Cool Place to Escape Seasonal Grilling (pkweis.wordpress.com)
- Summer Hiking In The Catalina’s – Butterfly Trail (kenneturner.wordpress.com)
- My God, it’s full of stars! (gregoryhamel.net)
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The Bailey’s Tour Biosphere 2 1 comment
Mall, Nick, Katie and Joy at Biosphere 2 — Image by kenne
As the recent Yahoo.com article stated, “Human terrarium, Biosphere 2, looking good at 20.” Located north of Tucson in the foothills of the northern side of the Santa Catalina Mountains, this one-of-a-kind facility sits on a ridge at a cool elevation of nearly 4000 feet and is surrounded by a magnificent natural desert preserve. A visit will show you why Time Life Books recently named Biosphere 2 one of the 50 must see “Wonders of the World”. Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability. Behind this highly public exercise was useful research that helped further ecological understanding. The University of Arizona assumed management of Biosphere 2 in June 2007, where real-time research on the future of our planet unfolds daily in the specially designed mini-world. (Click on blue underlined words for more information.)
kenne
(Click here to see Flicker slideshow.)
Becoming is Superior to Being 
On Thursday, April 28th, Joy and I hope to be at the UA Poetry Center to listen to Roger Bonair-Agard do some of his works. Please take a moment to listen to this thoughtful and passionate presentation titled, “Why Can’t America Have Human Rights?”
-110.860703
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