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The Real MVP: Sustaining A City Through Faithful, Daily Work
Midtown Artisans We benefit from the good work of thousands of people every single day. Stop for a moment and consider: whose work is loving and serving you right now? Are you sitting in your home or a coffee shop, enjoying a carefully controlled temperature made possible by HVAC installers and engineers? Look up. Do you ever think about the stability of the ceiling above your head? Probably not, and that’s because of the good work of carpenters and roofers, architects and inspectors. Pause for a few minutes and look around at the chairs and tables, TV sets or books lining your shelves. The words of the authors and imaginations of the designers that fill your home don’t stop working when they clock out. Work done well continues to work long after the product or service is complete. Santa Rita Park I was particularly contemplative one day about the way that our work connects us as a community. It was a beautiful morning, crisp with soft light. I was enjoying the park with my baby girl and my pup when I noticed a city employee cleaning nearby. I stopped and said, “Thank you for the work that you do, I’m really grateful for it.” His response was simple, honest and deeply profound. He emphatically thanked me for the encouragement. It clearly meant a lot to him. It also meant something that we enjoyed this park, one plot of land that he was called to steward. Knowing that the fruit of his labor was sweet to us, was a gift to him. In his gratitude he began to tell me how he found his way into this work. “I grew up a few blocks from here and my mom used to walk us three miles away for us to have a safe park to play at. When I would walk by this park and see the workers I would say, I want to be one of those guys one day, and here I am 50 years old, and I’m one of those guys,” he shared. He went on to talk about how it was discouraging that the park still wasn’t known for being a safe place for families to come and enjoy our wonderful weather. Those long walks he took as a boy were decades passed. He longed for change then and through decades of daily work he still longs for it. I think it was his demeanor that made his words echo in my head. He said what he said with contentment coupled with grief. The words of a man who has lived and worked in a few square miles for half a century. It was a dream come true to be able to take care of the park he passed by so many times. A dream that most of us overlook. Maintenance work isn’t celebrated in our culture. Work that sustains the systems and structures that we all benefit from is often minimized or overlooked. Perhaps we don’t have the deep and steady love for where we live that is required for this sort of sustaining work. We love change and transformation on a large scale, but how about the transformation of fresh-cut grass or a new coat of paint. It’s easy for us to imagine the ways a teacher loves her students or a nurse his patients. But the way our park employees promote clean, safe places with their dirty, hard labor- do we have eyes to see? There is no question that we put certain jobs on a pedestal, casting a shadow on “lower forms of work.” The sociologist and the politician wrestle with the same questions that this park employee described that day: how can we seek flourishing for the young and the old in our city? For those who have homes and those who don’t? But while we debate and study, sometimes fruitlessly, he shows up everyday and loves both through the work of his hands. Written by Teena Dare. Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com. Further reading from the Arizona Daily Star about the City of Tucson’s Groundskeepers
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Andrew Tang: Making a One Year Anniversary Possible!
Anniversaries honor the 365-day rhythm built into our world. Peering into the past can move us into the future with a greater assurance of our calling. Couldn’t we all use a bit more of that? Sometimes it just feels so hard to discern if we’re in the right place doing the right things with the right people. For Kristin Tovar: her own sense of calling hasn’t been linear or clear cut. Opening the store was not a no-brainer for her. There were lots of challenges along the way. As the founder, the messiness of the process sometimes made Kristin question whether opening the store was the next right step. Her words of encouragement for anyone in this position: don’t let the ambiguity or difficulties make you question your calling. The goal isn’t for it to be easy but for us to be faithful with what’s in front of us. There was quite a bit of trust that went into saying “yes” to the store. With the support of her husband Alex, the team of two eventually became three and then four and eventually seven! This growth was one of the reasons that Kristin decided it would be feasible and beneficial to take the step of opening the shop. She found herself on a platform and hoped to invite others onto it to use their gifts to serve the mission of celebrating Tucson. THE SHOP AS A THIRD SPACE Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term “third space” to describe community meeting places apart from the home and workplace. Many agree that these third spaces where people can come together with little or no pressure to perform are vital for cities to thrive. They offer us a place to just be a part of the community, perhaps bump into old friends or make new ones. That has been exactly what the WILWIL shop has been for me and many others. Whether during one of the many events at the Annex or just a random Tuesday in the middle of the day…it is a place for everyone to come and feel at home. Not long after opening the shop, The Tovar fam moved from a neighborhood they deeply loved to a house that better fit their needs as a family. It was a good choice, but a hard one. Their deep roots of community and familiarity were lost. But in it all, this third space has been a home away from home and an anchor that enabled them to make the change. It is a place where their kids come and learn about hospitality and welcome strangers into their little shop-home. It’s a place where they learn that they are a part of something much bigger than just their immediate family- the community of Tucson, embedded in the larger human family. LONGING TO BELONG Oh how our hearts long to belong. This yearning is powerful in seasons of transition like the Tovars had. Newness is exciting but it is new after all- void of that sense of knowing and being known in a place, within a community. When my husband and I moved to Tucson nearly two years ago there were three people that helped cushion our fall from familiarity. They’re intentionality, invitational nature and love for the place they lived gave us hope for life in a new city. KT, AT & AT The three people that so naturally welcomed us into our new city happened to be the 3 OG’s that opened up a shop a year ago whose mission is to welcome in their community. Their natural hearts for hospitality are like a centripetal force that draw us in and commissions us to return to our city with a deeper sense of calling to care for the place we call home. When you think about the type of work you should be doing it is easy to overlook the natural ways that you operate in the world that may not fit with one specific job title. Some great questions to ask yourself: what do I typically do with my free time? What are qualities about me that stand out to others and how can I use them to love my neighbor? Kristin and Alex pressed into that question, knowing that they would need some serious provision to make it all happen. The most important provision they received was in the form of Tang. Andrew Tang. Sometimes our hopes and prayers are answered in one spectacular human. Tang has been a gift to this team in more ways that we can spell out here (though I’ll give you a meager overview). And just as he answered the call to partner in establishing the store, he is stepping back from his role to courageously explore what it means to be faithful to his sense of calling for his life in this next season. TANG SEND-OFF If you have yet to meet Tang, make sure you head over to the store by May 4th to try to catch him on one of his last days in the shop. Tang’s last day intentionally falls on the official 1-year anniversary of WILWIL’s shop opening (stay tuned for a celebration to come!). From the days of folding shirts in the Tovar’s living room, Tang has played an indispensable role in the store’s first year. He is one of those rare people that is equally gifted behind the scenes and behind the counter. His natural abilities to create order from disorder helped transform a small space into a lovely, refreshing place to take in Tucson. His knack for efficiency made the process of ordering and storage, getting people paid and planning for events- all look easy. And if you’re anything like me that work ain’t easy! And then when you thought you pinned him down as simply hospitable and efficient, his creativity and array of knowledge bubbled over as he curated local beer and wine selections for the special “Monsoon” Happy Hours. One might think someone this talented would be busy building up his own legacy but his eagerness to serve others has been evident from the days that he volunteered his time at early events and the work he put into setting up his teammates for success as they ventured into new waters. Tang is truly a one-of-a-kind human with gifts and a heart that rivals anyone I know. His contributions to WILWIL will be forever etched into the fabric of everything that is to come. Without him, the shop would not be open as you see it today. He made this welcoming, community space possible for us to all enjoy. Celebrating Tang is as easy as celebrating this wonderful first year of WILWIL’s presence at the Annex. It has been a year of hard work, countless relationships built and strengthened, and new opportunities for people to love where they live. UPDATE: He’s not leaving Tucson! Written by Teena Dare. Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com.
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American Eat Co: Creating a Shared Table That Goes Beyond Boundaries
Before American Eat Co. opened I can’t say I went south of 22nd Street on foot. Now it’s becoming a family tradition. Our new baby girl was content to take in the big world one block at a time. When we arrived, it felt like home. That’s exactly what co-owner, Jesus Bonillas, said he and his partner, Guillermo (Memo) Gallegos, hoped American Eat Co. would be- a welcoming place for everyone. Each detail of this all-local food court was designed to enhance the experience of being together. The floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights invite in wonderful natural light during the day. The neon murals and warm Edison bulbs electrify the space at night. All of the businesses orbit around two long, wooden community tables inviting family, friends and strangers to all share a dinner table. Each plate displays a variety of food from the eight restaurants to choose from, but everyone shares in creating the buzz of laughter and conversation that fills up the space. For Jesus and Memo, South Tucson natives, it was essential that this project contribute to the flourishing of Tucson by bringing people together, empowering entrepreneurs, and preserving family traditions. BOUNDARY LINES American Eat Co. exists right on the border of Tucson and South Tucson. We are like most cities in the way that wealth and development tend to pile up in certain areas. City demographics show that the poverty rate in South Tucson is 2.5 times that of Tucson. These numbers reveal a grossly unequal distribution of wealth, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. As Bonillas so beautifully said about his community, South Tucson is extremely rich in relationship. “North-side” Tucsonans have certain forms of capital and opportunity that aren’t available to many on the South Side and South Tucson boasts of cultural riches that we often desperately lack. American Eat Co. does something very special for our city in providing a space right on our boundary lines where we can come together with all of our varied gifts and needs. We have so much to learn from each other, so much to offer one another, what a better place to start than sharing a dinner table. OPPORTUNITY COST One of the ways Bonillas and Gallegos are redeeming the unequal opportunity in our community is through empowering local talent to take the next step to own their own business. Opening a restaurant is a huge risk because of the enormous up front investment it takes to get started. This keeps countless talented chefs and visionaries from making the leap. So they took it upon themselves to get the necessary permits, fully equip each kitchen and store front and offer it all at a fraction of the cost. They took on a lot of risk out of love for their community and a desire to see local businesses thrive. The fruit of that risk is vibrant and sweet. We taste it as we devour a half dozen dry-rub wings from AZ Rib House or enjoy the dynamic flavors filling up the poke bowls from Dumb Fish. We take it in as we witness passionate cooks transform into entrepreneurs and local entrepreneurs expand their businesses. And we partake in the process as we pick out a carefully carved cut of meat from Andy at Dos Amigos Butcher Shop. THROUGH THE GENERATIONS Andy’s Dad was a butcher. He opened Los Dos Amigos Meat Market on Drexel and Cardinal when Andy was seven years old. By 16 he was learning the craft and helped his Dad run the business for 15 years. He learned the “old school” way of butchering that took care to use all different parts of the animal and minimize waste. After 3 decades serving Tucson, Los Dos Amigos closed their doors in 2016. Andy had picked up a career in real estate and it seemed that his days in front of the butcher block were behind him. When I asked him what brought him back to butchering, he simply responded “I just have it in me.” He went on to share how opening his store in American Eat Co. gives him the chance to continue his family legacy of providing quality, fresh cuts of meat to his community but gives him new opportunities as well. He freshly grinds up the beef for the sliders at The Bite and provides fresh meat for the delightful Chicano food at Avenues (two of the first-time businesses at American Eat Co!). On Friday and Saturday nights guests can select their own steak that Andy then grills over mesquite. And Saturdays and Sundays he offers menudo, fully stocked with homemade hominy. In talking to him it’s clear how happy he is to be able to continue this work in new and creative ways. WHAT CAME BEFORE Andy’s work not only carries on his family legacy but reminds us of another. The building of American Eat Co. was previously home to American Meat Company, a butcher shop that served Tucson for over six decades. This family-owned and operated business not only provided food for families to enjoy but was itself a place where the community came together. The most important table at American Eat Co. is set for the Islas family- honoring the way that they loved their community through their good work. I’ve watched as many diners looked at the photos and reminisced about what was- about this place that was a significant part of their family life and is once again a place where they can come together. It’s really easy to get excited about new things in old buildings but history often gets swept away in the tide of anticipation. We love the character of historic design but know little of the character of the generation before us that inhabited those spaces. This small table in the middle of all the excitement invites us to pause for a moment and remember that all new things signify the end of something else. This space is significant to the community and continues to be a place for people to come together, to carry on family traditions and start new ones, and enjoy the good gifts of food and drink cultivated by the hands of our neighbors. CELEBRATE WITH AMERICAN EAT CO American Eat Co. is about to celebrate one year in business on April 13, 2019. Whether you’ve visited before or not, we encourage you to join us in celebrating this significant milestone with them in opening Tucson's FIRST all local food court with a meat market, ribs, poke bowls, tacos, Greek food, pizza, burgers, ice cream, coffee, beer & wine bar! Bring the whole family to enjoy food specials, live performances, DJ's, and fun activities for the kids. This will be something you won't want to miss! Find more information about the celebration on the Facebook Event Page: American Eat Co Turns 1! Written by Teena Dare. Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com. Photos courtesy of American Eat Co.
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Tugo Bike Share: Imagining a Better City Through the Lens of Two Wheels
Exploring your city is just like riding a bike. Even if it’s been months or years since you’ve taken an intentional interest in Tucson, it only takes a bit of muscle memory reactivation to get back at it. Sure you have to tune up those deflated tires, find your U-lock hidden in the depths of the closet, stretch out those tight hammies…but as soon as you feel the wind in your hair it’s like you never took that long, unintended break of dating your city. But what if this proverbial bike was a real bike with air already in the tires? Enter: Tugo Bike Share. Just like ride shares and home shares (think Uber and Airbnb), bike shares are the new way to explore or simply get around town. CARING ABOUT CONSUMPTION We already have so much stuff, it’s piling up in our garages and our junk yards. So what if instead of buying a bike, we shared one with our neighbors across the city? We grew up hearing phrases like “sharing is caring” but in many ways were told that we should grow up to be self-sufficient and never need to share with anyone. But I think that having full treasure troves of stuff that we only use on occasion is a way of the past. Netflix series like Minimilasm and Tidying Up are hitting home with a generation that is disillusioned by the broken promises of our consumer society. Happiness studies have affirmed the Notorious words of the 90’s that the more money we come across the less satisfaction we see. And it’s not just a personal problem. Our physical world needs rest from the endless production that has been exasperating its rich resources and polluting its fresh air. We have one planet Earth, yet if everyone consumed at the same rate as Americans- we would need 3 to 5 planets worth of resources to keep up (The Story of Stuff Project). But again, we only have one world. So a bike share doesn’t only help our city but is one important way that we can move towards more globally sustainable lifestyles. THE POWER IN SPENDING OUR OWN ENERGY Energy is an all-important resource that we often hear about. There are finite energy sources and renewable ones like the sun and the wind. But there’s another source of renewable energy that we all possess, just waiting to be tapped. Free energy that is not only self-sustaining but actually increases as we use it. When we walk, bike and the like- we burn calories instead of fossil fuels. We simultaneously protect our air and counteract the effects of dozens of Estrella donuts. That’s what I call having our tres leches and eating it too. Riding bikes offers intangible benefits as well. Exercising and enjoying sunshine is vital for mental health, especially if we work inside all day. It also gives us the gift of seeing. When we slow down and slough off the large metal barrier that our cars tend to be, we see our neighbors, new local businesses, a person in need. Seeing is the first step to engaging our city. LIVING PUBLIC SPACES One local non-profit works hard to promote this type of engagement. Living Streets Alliance seeks to envision streets as “living public spaces that connect people to places and to each other.” A great example of their work is the now colorful and inviting intersection of 6th Avenue and 7th Street right outside of Exo Coffee. There is a Tugo station on one corner and public tables and chairs across the way. I sat at one of those tables as I spoke with Kylie Walzak, the lead program manager at Living Streets Alliance. Reflecting on our car-centric roads she proposed, “we’ve forgotten how to imagine what else streets can be for.” Kylie helped me see that when we accept the status quo we lose sight of a more beautiful vision for our city. This rich potential of a more connected city is an important reason that the City of Tucson decided to bring in the Tugo Bike Share. I got to sit down with Nick Grzebienik and Yolanda Jordan, the GM and Marketing Lead for Tugo, to learn more about their hearts to love Tucson through their work. In Yolanda’s words, “Tugo is a whole new way to see Tucson.” And this is just as true for someone visiting for the first time as it is for a native. Visitors are able to experience what Tucson is all about- amazing neighborhoods punctuated with wonderful restaurants and businesses embedded in a beautiful sprawling desert landscape. All of those things are more fully appreciated on two wheels than four. And while we whole-hearted welcome our winter visitors and part-time residents- imagine if more of that seasonal traffic was re-routed to our bike lanes. THRIVING URBAN CORE Bikes can do wonders not only to alleviate car traffic but also to protect against endless sprawl that is etching away at our desert landscape. Cities thrive when the urban core is accessible and engaging. Each one of the 330 Tugo bikes across Tucson is a bright yellow opportunity to navigate the city in a new and simpler way. And they take the notion of being accessible seriously. There is a $5 yearly membership available to Tucsonans who qualify for financial assistance which makes up nearly a fifth of their members. That is over 3 times the average for other cities with similar programs. This is a huge benefit for our neighbors who may have limited access to transportation. In the wake of an actual Tucson winter there’s no better time to get out and meet some neighbors, discover new places, or simply jump on Tugo to go to work. No bike pump needed! Written by Teena Dare. Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com. Photography by Rycardo Bia and Yolanda Jordan.
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HardVolume: Equipping People for the Adventure of Life
In our bodies we live and move and have our being. It is with our eyes that we gaze upon the sun dipping behind the Tucson mountains, with our ears that we hear the coyotes howling at the full moon. It is our skin that soaks up the winter sunshine, our tongues that taste hot caldo, and our noses that welcome the fragrance of the holidays. It is with our bodies that we hold our children, embrace our friends, do the good work that we’ve been called into. For most of human history, men and women have moved to live. It would have been unthinkable to not use our bodies for work and survival. But with the advent and proliferation of technology, we find ourselves in a predicament. Technology does a lot of the physical work for us. We have cars for transportation, machines for laundry, refrigeration for our store-bought food. Human Movement- for many of us- is optional. And yet it is the way that our bodies are made to function and flourish. FROM DREAM TO REALITY There’s a 1940s red-brick warehouse on Fourth Avenue, just south of the Broadway curve, where human movement happens. Eric Mackey, owner of HardVolume Crossfit, couldn’t have chosen a better place for the gym. As a Tucson native, Mackey watched many similar warehouses fall into disrepair and was an eyewitness to the darker days of downtown. Having a father active in city government gave him an insider eye into the revitalization process through the years. For him to have a business on the verge of a now bustling downtown and the historic Armory Park is a dream come true. It’s a dream that he didn’t always know he had. Mackey moved away for college to pursue music. Like the best musicians during the late 80s, he had long hair and played guitar. He worked for a number of record labels in the Twin Cities and then Los Angeles, totaling a decade and a half. When the music industry underwent a major transformation, it was time for a change of career. Mackey eagerly welcomed the idea of returning to Tucson, this time to explore his lingering interest in holistic healthcare and sports fitness. Tucson was the perfect place for this with its impressive list of medical and integrative health centers. He talks about that move home with admiration, “I’m very attached to the desert. I always missed it. Tucson has grown quite a bit, yet has managed to remain the Old Pueblo.” That speed, along with some great weather and sprawling terrain, makes Tucson a primo destination for endurance athletes to train (and live!) Marathon runners, cyclists, swimmers -and those that do all three- flock to Tucson. MOVEMENT TO MATCH THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF OUR WORLD While working towards holistic injury prevention with these and other competitive athletes, Mackey suffered a pretty serious injury of his own. That is when he discovered this thing called Crossfit. It was 2007 and a New York Times article described a new cross-training program that was just beginning to bubble up into the mainstream. It integrated all different aspects of fitness: gymnastics, plyo skills, conditioning, weightlifting, etc. From Mackey’s vantage point it made sense. Humans need diversity in their movement to match the dynamic nature of our world. Think of our incredible mountains. The crags and undulations of the rock faces, dipping into valleys carved out by the synergy of raindrops. Our incredible hiking trails give us a taste of what it’s like to engage nature with our bodies. The vast array of difficulty levels invite people of all abilities to come. They range from gently inclined paved trails for those who need wheelchair or stroller access to upright routes for our rock-climbing contingent. That is the magical thing about living in a world where human movement is optional; It becomes an adventure that can fill our times of rest. Those of us who no longer move to work get to move to play. We explore the wonder of our bodies and nature simultaneously. I can’t think of a better place to do that than Tucson, Arizona. That is why Mackey believes Crossfit has become such a popular form of exercise for our community. In just a decade we’ve added 18 well-frequented Crossfit gyms around Tucson. It fits because Tucson wants to grow in functional strength and fitness to equip our bodies for the adventure of life. And just like Tucson, which is a tapestry of people and cultures, this form of fitness is able to weave in some of the most helpful types of movement from a variety of traditions. STRETCHING THE EDGES OF OUR LIMITATIONS When I step into HardVolume I witness something that makes Tucson great: people of all ages and backgrounds moving alongside each other. Just like our mountain trails, each exercise can be scaled to work for every body. While there is an aspect of competition for those that are motivated by that, the ultimate goal is to learn how to move better. That is what gets Mackey and his trainers excited about their work. When we become more confident in our body’s abilities, we begin to take other big steps in our lives. That might look like pushing back against the afflictions of aging or burdens of life that threaten to isolate and discourage us. When we experience weight bearing down on our shoulders or feel the shortness of our breath as we run and jump we get acquainted with our limitations. The trainers at Hard Volume embody the good work of meeting people in that place of vulnerability. We hate to feel weak but when we have someone there to encourage us and gradually help us to stretch the edges of our limitations we find true strength. Not the strength that comes from “muscling up” or hiding our weaknesses but the strength that comes from accepting where we are and starting there. Some cities are new cities. They boast of bright, shiny spaces and modern concepts. Some cities are old cities- history and tradition are at the forefront scripting day to day life. But then there’s Tucson. Rich in history and culture and yet welcoming of new forms. The men and women in that old warehouse downtown are working to make Tucson stronger. As we make resolutions for this new year let us think about what it looks like to face our weaknesses, be strengthened to love our community better, and celebrate the good work of our neighbors. LEARN MORE ABOUT HARDVOLUME CROSSFIT AT WWW.HARDVOLUME.NET OR VISIT THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION! Written by Teena Dare. Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com.
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Flowers and Bullets: Linking Generations through Art & Sustainability
When I first found out I was moving to an internationally recognized food city I was pretty excited for the great restaurants and food culture. But I’m learning that our UNESCO designation is not just about great tacos, but all that goes into them. Flowers and Bullets is a prime example of how, in Tucson, food is a means to pass on culture, push back against inequity, celebrate our place, and promote togetherness. FLOWERS ARE THE ART AND BULLETS ARE THE STRUGGLE Flowers and Bullets started with a couple of friends eager to engage with the needs of their community through hip hop, clothing design, murals, and other visual art founded by Dora Martinez, Jacob Robles, and Tito Romero. As the movement evolved and new collaborators were added, the roots began to spread out and sink a little deeper in the form of, well, literal roots. One of the struggles some of the founders experienced growing up in Barrio Centro was the lack of healthy food options in close proximity. This is a pervasive trend in lower-income neighborhoods, largely made up of men and women of color. There is a much higher number of liquor stores and fast food options and less healthy grocery stores and farmer’s markets (if any) in many of these neighborhoods. GREEN SPACES The Green movement that has popularized in recent years tends to be centered in wealthier, white neighborhoods. These ways of growing and procuring food feel new and innovative. But the original members of Flowers and Bullets recognize something that is essential for the neighborhoods that are getting left behind: these techniques aren’t new and they aren’t Anglo in origin. Instead, sustainable growing practices have been used to cultivate our land for centuries. Tucson is known as the longest, continuously cultivated land in North America, built on a 4,000-year-old farming village. The rich heritage of our food culture in Tucson that has been nationally recognized is due in large part to the way that men and women are learning from and carrying on the traditions of indigenous land cultivation. Flowers and Bullets has realized the beautiful opportunity here. Creating more green spaces in underserved neighborhoods simultaneously provides healthy food and serves as a source of connection to history and culture. The founders decided to begin where they had roots, in local neighborhoods. They jumped right in and planted about a dozen backyard gardens just in the first few months. Alfonso Chavez, the Art Crew Coordinator, talks about some of the essential practices they implement in these gardens. In addition to growing native foods, they “never use metals or plastics or anything harmful to the environment, rather are mindful of the land and what it offers and how we work in unison with the Earth rather than just take take take.” They have also installed rain water harvesting systems lead by Rachel Frank and Alaina Pierce, to incorporate this sustainable practice that has historically been used to utilize our most precious resource in the desert. The best thing about these installations is they are eligible for full reimbursement from the City! As they continue to establish backyard gardens in Barrio Centro, they are also preparing for a larger-scale project at the Julia Keen Elementary property. This school was closed in 2004 because of its direct proximity to Davis Monthan’s flight path. Cultivating this land as a larger-scale community crop production effort, will restore this site a source of life for the community. And they recently received the exciting news that they were awarded the Haury Grant which will enable them to hire on some of their faithful volunteers to get this project going! COLLABORATING FOR THE COMMON GOOD Alfonso Chavez, commenting on the collaborative nature of Flowers and Bullets said, “one thing that is crucial in community organizing is networking.” The wide range of the interests and talents of F&B members have made them a very interconnected organization. These partnerships have created an opportunity for mutual learning and growth. Alfonso volunteers on the San Xavier co-op farm on the Tohono O'odham Nation and is thankful for the way that they are able to champion a similar vision. He also was able to visit the Arizona State Prison in Tucson and bear witness to the creative work being done there. He was invited by Madeline Kiser who teaches environmental stewardship workshops inside the prison. Some of the men currently incarcerated have established a community garden to provide healthy alternatives to the food available to them. They gave a lesson on resiliency and native crop production. Alfonso was encouraged by their work and is looking forward to further collaborations with them. LINKING THE GENERATIONS While Flowers and Bullets has been busy developing their agricultural arm, they haven’t abandoned their love for hip-hop and art. This is one of the central ways they are able to connect with the next generation and help to encourage the development of healthy cultural identity. They are involved in the Tucson Hip-Hop Festival and have led hip-hop lesson plans with youth to draw out ways that lyrics can bring awareness to some of the issues our cities are facing. A recent mural collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club- Steve Daru Clubhouse, is a great example of their creative approach to mentorship. When they were asked to do a mural to promote unity within the diversity within that neighborhood, they decided to begin by talking to the elders of the community. They learned about a powerful movement that took place in there back in 1972. This neighborhood didn’t have a park, sidewalks or a septic system. Through a series of marches, protests and meetings with city council members, the city granted their requests in the form of Joaquin Murrieta Park and El Rio Community Center. They talked with the kids about the importance of the protests and the significance of mural work in general. They taught them about natural color dyes native to our region that have been used for generations and the actual process of spray painting and creating murals. The kids then joined in to create the mural which depicted the protests alongside agricultural and cultural themes and the surrounding topography such as the Santa Cruz River. Whether it’s in the form of murals, clothing, hip-hop or community gardens, Flowers and Bullets is working towards a healthier, more connected community. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FLOWERS AND BULLETS. LIKE FLOWER AND BULLETS ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW FLOWERS AND BULLETS ON INSTAGRAM Written by Teena Dare Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com.
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Caridad Community Kitchen: Flourishing through food
Creativity isn’t limited to the arts. It’s something that all problem solvers use to make a way that wasn’t there before. It’s one of our greatest tools because every problem, place and season calls for a unique response. Caridad Kitchen is committed to the pervasive problem of hunger in Tucson. They recognize that meeting this fundamental need for all men, women and children to have access to healthy food is essential to a flourishing city. With profound creativity they have found ways to simultaneously provide for this problem while pursuing vocational, psychological, social, and communal thriving. CULINARY TRAINING PROGRAM Caridad Kitchen offers a free 10-week culinary program that trains students in the essentials of working in a kitchen. It is designed for men and women who are unemployed or underemployed and are motivated to build a career in the culinary industry. Kristen Culliney, the Director of Caridad Kitchen, described how they consider applicants with a variety of employment barriers. Some have struggled to find work after being convicted of a felony. Even after serving their allotted sentence, their conviction can still serve as shackles as they seek to reintegrate into society. Other barriers may be familial, educational, or an array of personal challenges that have made adequate employment difficult to find. Students invest 40 hours a week in developing their skills and building relationships, which has successfully led to meaningful employment in professional kitchens for students from 25 classes over the past 6 years. But here’s the wonderfully unique thing about Caridad- they train through making creative and nutritional meals for those in need of food in our community. This gives students a chance to love their neighbors as they receive this gift of free training. COMMUNITY MEALS Through the students, staff, and volunteers at Caridad, 10,000-12,000 community meals are prepared each month and made available to anyone experiencing hunger without qualification. Led by the chef’s at Caridad, these community meals are crafted to reinforce the dignity of all men and women regardless of what their current struggles may be. They don’t serve anything that they wouldn’t make for their own families. Once the food is prepared, church partners then serve as meal sites that either provide the food in the form of “to-go” sack lunches or as a hot meal. For the latter, the church volunteers set up a weekly dining space and create a hospitable environment for guests to enjoy their food. This format not only emphasizes the dignity of all people but collapses the socio-economic divide that can segregate our neighborhoods and public spaces. The volunteers serving the meals have a chance to get to know and learn from their guests that are coming from an array of backgrounds. These interactions are essential for a connected and flourishing community. FOOD FOR EVERY AGE Caridad also has programs that focus on young and old. They prepare 250 daily meals for after school programs and 1,500 meals a day for seniors in our community alongside Pima Meals on Wheels. Caridad’s executive chef works with a dietician to customize meals for the common dietary needs of seniors in our city. By Caridad Kitchen making the food locally for these programs, not only can they receive personal feedback on the needs and wants of those they serve, but they can also source much of their ingredients from local growers. It is a commitment of Caridad’s to invest in the local food system here in Tucson. This focus on making local food available for low income residents in Tucson is a passion of Caridad Kitchen. This drives their ever-growing initiatives that seek flourishing for local growers, for the environment, and for all Tucsonans. There isn’t space here to share all of the wonderful things Caridad is doing for our city. I encourage you to learn more, set up a tour of the space, volunteer. The staff is very welcoming to new faces and happy to share their vision. I will leave you with a brief story of a Caridad graduate recorded by Megan Black, the student services and volunteer manager. Enjoy! MARCELLA TRUJILLO SOLISCARIDAD CULINARY TRAINING PROGRAM GRADUATE, CLASS 14 Four years ago, Marcella was working as a cashier at a fast-casual restaurant in Tucson. She had been given a couple of opportunities to help prepare food in the kitchen, and it was then she realized she wanted to cook for a living. A family member told her about the Caridad Culinary Training Program. After giving it some thought, Marcella decided to apply and was accepted into Class 14 at the beginning of 2015. When she thinks about her ten weeks of training at Caridad, Marcella remembers learning so much in such a short period of time. Not only did she learn hard skills such as knife cuts, and how to store food at proper temperatures, she also learned a lot about herself. She realized that sometimes she would doubt her own abilities, and found it challenging to ask for help. She was very independent but learned the importance of working as part of a team and leaning onher classmates when she needed to. She also felt much more confident in her own abilities at the end of the program. Marcella’s graduation from Caridad was emotional not only because it was the first graduation she had ever had, but also because she finally felt like she had accomplished something in her life. She knows that she made her family very proud. After graduation Marcella worked on-call at Caridad for the summer and then found full time employment as a cook at a senior living community. Two years later, the Caridad Community Kitchen started providing meals for the Pima Meals on Wheels Program and Marcella applied to work full-time at Caridad. She is now a cook for the kitchen’s senior meal programs. She loves giving back to the community and takes tremendous pride in telling people that she is part of the Community Food Bank team. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CARIDAD COMMUNITY KITCHEN, A PROGRAM OF THE COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. Written by Teena Dare Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com.
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Why I Love Where I Live: Engaging in beauty & brokenness
Neon sign designed by Saywells Design Co., installed and built by Cook and Company Signmakers for Why I Love Where I Live. In light of our recent shop opening, we wanted to take a moment to openly reflect with all of you about our journey here at Why I Love Where I Live. Opening our retail store was a big step for us, one we didn’t necessarily plan. A PLACE TO STORE STUFF We were actually on the hunt for storage space for our online merchandise when the opportunity arose to open a retail space at the MSA (Mercado San Agustin) Annex. Through the process of planning for this, we thought more on where we’ve been and where we’re headed. As many of you know, this all started as a very personal process of learning to love Tucson as home. But in time, it grew beyond that into something that belonged to our larger community. It was no longer one story but a collection of voices. WILWIL (short way to say our tongue-twister-of-a-name) became something that had outgrown our original vision and in a way, we were following its lead. A storefront presented a great opportunity to give space to this evolving project. It would offer a physical connection point, a tangible place for us to engage with our neighbors on a regular basis. THROUGH LAUGHTER & TEARS We were right that this store would grow and stretch our vision, even before opening day. The more our WILWIL family grows, so grows our understanding of where we live. Our team has had the privilege to hear stories from men and women with an incredible array of perspectives and family histories that are Tucson. We are on a journey that can be exciting one moment and heartbreaking the next, because truly engaging a place requires our whole heart. It calls upon our laughter and our tears as we long to see flourishing for all of our neighbors, and yet know that sometimes one man’s success can unknowingly cast a dark shadow over another’s fading family legacy. ENTERING IN TOGETHER Every city everywhere has a complex interplay of cultures, religions, and political ideologies that are typically riddled with conflict and inequity. Sometimes it’s easy to cast our gaze across distant shores and clearly see the division in those other, not so close to home, places. We can feel it, and lament its brokenness while simultaneously hoping for reconciliation. But it’s much harder to hold our neighbor’s gaze for long enough to see their pain, to know it that intimately. Not to mention to really contemplate how our culture and our own comfort may be contributing to that pain in ways we might not fully understand (yet). This intimate collision of cultures has been both a difficult and also precious part of our journey as a team, in growing a love that is deeper than just a love of food or culture or entertainment. It's not less than that, but it's certainly much more than that, and the complexity of it all runs deep. As we’ve continued to listen to our neighbors, we’ve heard some of their heartache over the rapidly changing dynamics of Tucson neighborhoods, and even the location where our shop has made its home. As money and development get poured into the area, we must remember the generations of culture that are central to our city's narrative, even when a greater understanding of a place causes us to make changes in our own ways of thinking and living. This quickly changing landscape is teaching us to slow down and seek to understand more. A PLACE TO CALL HOME We want to learn and grow with all of our neighbors, as we each play our small part in reflecting the beauty that we were uniquely created with for the sake of the other. In our process of understanding place, learning to love where we live in a more complete way, the most shaping education for us has come by way of relationships. We are grateful for those that have slowed down with us and patiently invited us to see sides of Tucson we might not have otherwise seen through their kindness and bravery in building bridges across generations and across communities. In our new space at the MSA Annex, our hope is to be a place where people can feel at home being themselves, to be reminded of the essential role we each have as participants in this unfolding story of our place. Photo courtesy of Tzin Garcia. ONE AMONG MANY Every business, organization, family and person has gifts that may bring healing, preserve culture, foster development, or cultivate a sense of community. When we try and do it all, we often are left tired and discouraged. When we don’t consider what our part is, we can feel isolated or disengaged. The only way we’ll be able to play our part is by resting in the reality that we are one among many. We see our team's role as celebrating the good, true, and beautiful things in our city through as many fun and creative ways we can possibly think up! With that same lens, we don't want to shy away from the brokenness and true problems we see our city face on a daily basis. We'll point out both the beauty and the brokenness with the hope that it leads each person to engage in some way and work to stay off the sidelines. Through the work of Teena and others on this blog, we want to put on display the rich and diverse ways Tucsonans are living into their callings in hopes that it will help you better discern your own. As we each discover what that means for us individually, we can look to our neighbors as partners in seeking flourishing for all. We humbly continue on in this life-long learning process of loving where we live, and we invite you into our new shop to keep the conversation going. We’re so thankful that you are in it with us. A collaborative piece on behalf of the WILWIL team, written and edited by Teena Dare and founder, Kristin Tovar.
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Hamilton Distillers: Infusing Flavors of Home
One evening, a little over a decade ago, the couple was enjoying Scotch while they barbecued over mesquite scraps. Elaine had a crazy thought. Why couldn’t you use mesquite in place of peat to create a wonderful single-malt whiskey that tastes like home? WHISKEY DEL BAC One table, two glasses, single ice cubes slowly softening the spirits. Connection. We all crave it, but again and again we find ourselves feeling disconnected. Disconnected from our communities, our environments, from ourselves. We feel it when our face-to- face interactions are replaced with words on a screen. When we zoom by our neighbors with our windows rolled up and our radio singing. We feel it when we don’t know our collective story, the cultures that have cultivated the land on which our homes rest. When we work long hours or conflicting schedules, missing the ones we love the most, we feel it. Food and drink are fundamental conduits for connection and yet so many of the trends in our culture have stripped them of this identity. Our food and spirits are mass-produced in a far away land, keeping us from seeing the faces of the men and women who grew, harvested, or even delivered it to our local grocery store. We eat in our cars or at our desks, alone. We drink too much or too often or to dull our senses, only further disconnecting us from ourselves and the world swirling around. This wasn’t the reality for Dale Riggins, Brand Manager of Hamilton Distillery (producers of Whiskey Del Bac). She grew up on a barley farm in Coolidge, a 5th generation Arizonan. She experienced what it meant to be connected to the land and what it produced. When she was offered the opportunity to work with the team at Hamilton, there wasn’t a question in her mind. Her eyes were full of life as she told me the story of how this operation came to be. A TASTE OF HOME Elaine and Stephen Paul, owner of Hamilton Distillers, once made spectacular furniture out of local mesquite wood. Their company, Arroyo Design, was well recognized as the forerunners for the way they cultivated this tree. One evening, a little over a decade ago, the couple was enjoying Scotch while they barbecued over mesquite scraps. Elaine had a crazy thought. Why couldn’t you use mesquite in place of peat to create a wonderful single-malt whiskey that tastes like home? One distillery, a copper still, and 100% barley- this is American Single Malt Whiskey. It’s a category gaining popularity for craft distillers across The States, and for good reason. As Dale put it: when you only have these 3 requirements, “you can paint whatever you want on it and (at Hamilton) we’re painting on the Sonoran dessert.” Hamilton is one of the relatively few distilleries in the world that completes the whole distillation process in house, from malting to bottling. This makes it so that they can infuse the flavors of the desert all along the way. It’s what is often referred to in the wine world as terroir. Dale, who has an extensive background in wine, helped me understand this idea. She defined terroir as: a sense of place. For wine, it’s every detail of the environment it’s produced in, from the soil to topography to climate. Whiskey Del Bac has proven beyond question that this sense of place can be achieved in spirits as well, especially Single-Malt Whiskey. Whiskey Del Bac: Three Cultures, One Place Whiskey Del Bac: A word in English, followed by one in Spanish, finishing with a Tohono O’odham word- meant to represent three of the dominant cultures living together in one place. In living alongside other cultures, we can struggle to see what connects us and to respect what sets us apart. The word Bac means, “where the water rises back out of the sand.” The Santa Cruz River, from which Hamilton sources most of their water, does just that. Water re-emerging from the cracked earth- a gift of life, an invitation to be here. With today’s technology and globalized world, we often fool ourselves into believing that we are no longer dependent on the natural environment or on the people who have come before us. This simply isn’t true. Del Bac reminds us of that by mindfully using local water to help us taste the goodness of the place we all share. Rather than stripping the water of all it has to offer, they only charcoal filter it to remove the chlorine. This is one way that they “paint the Sonoran Desert” on their whiskey. WEATHER, WATER AND WOOD Whiskey Del Bac comes in three original styles- the Dorado, the Clear and the Classic. The malting process for the first two involves smoking the barley over a fire of velvet mesquite from Reddington Pass. This wood infuses its uniquely sweet character that balances the smoke beautifully. They also submitted to the desert climate in their decision to age in new oak barrels (aside from the clear of course!). The warm days and cool nights make the oak expand and contract, imbuing its flavors and allowing the whiskey to reach maturity more quickly. Weather, water, wood- things that every place everywhere has. But they aren’t ever quite the same. The team at Hamilton has been inspired by connecting to the particularities of the world around them and curating something special to our region. In an industry where corners are sometimes cut and mass-production still dominates, the integrity of their work shines through. Each of their whiskeys have won multiple national awards, and have an ever-growing market. But we have the advantage in Tucson of having it readily available. Whether you take a tour at the distillery or pick up a bottle at your local grocery store, it’s hard to miss! And if you prefer to enjoy your whiskey mixed up in a cocktail, nearly all of the bars downtown (and beyond) have a Del Bac original on the menu. The next time you sip some Del Bac, I hope that tastes of home can invite you to sink deeper in your chair as you make time to reconnect with the people and places that give shape to yourlife. All photos courtesy of Hamilton Distillers. For Tours & Tastings at Hamilton Distillers, visit http://hamiltondistillers.com/visit-us. WRITTEN BY TEENA DARE Teena lives in Tucson, Arizona and loves to capture the passions of others with words. Find more of Teena's work at www.shakingspirits.com. BONUS! COCKTAIL RECIPE: THE SPIRITED SAGE Created By Teena Dare 1.5 Oz Whiskey Del Bac- Clear 2 Muddled Sage Leaves .75 Oz Fresh Lemon Juice .5 Oz Honey Syrup .5 Oz Licor 43 .25 Oz Green Chartreuse FOOD & DRINKTEENA DARE
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