Cell phones are everywhere. In the 21st century, a dead cell phone signal has become nearly unacceptable. Cell phone towers provide a clear answer. But they also created a problem—a problem that many have taken to calling “visual pollution”. Few consider cell phone towers easy on the eyes. Fortunately, companies such as Larson Camouflage have…
The Tucson rock-climbing scene is paramount to the parks and recreation community in Arizona and has proved to be rock-climbing heaven for both avid and casual climbers.
The most popular and difficult scene that southern Arizona has to offer can be found at Mt. Lemmon. It is more than 9,100 feet above the desert floor and sports around 1,200 separate routes for climbers.
Another notable spot in the state include, Camelback Mountain and Hole in the Rock both located in Phoenix.
For newcomers to the sport, there are many bouldering areas scattered around the state where they can work on they’re craft before taking on more challenging courses.
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<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/63788349″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/63788349″>Holi Festival of Colors by Jessica Ahles</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user11074463″>J.Ahles</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
{/source}Just before 2 o’clock, an announcer advises the crowd to take deep breaths. He says, “You’re not going to want to breath this stuff in for a minute. So enjoy the fresh air now.” In seconds, thousands of hands raise and an explosion of bright powdered paint fills the sky in rural Utah. Mantra music pulsed and cheers ensued in celebration of one of India’s most ancient and joyous holidays.
Each year, Spanish Fork, Utah summons a pilgrimage to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors. This year, 80,000 people gathered at the Sri Sri Rhada Krishna Temple to welcome the arrival of spring at the two-day event.
“Well Holi for me was one of the best experiences ever,” said Staci Polasek, a first-time Utah Holi celebration participant. “The countdown to throw the paint was exciting and then the freedom I felt once throwing all the paint in the air was amazing. It took away all the worries and bad stuff for that short time and I could just appreciate the minute in time for everything it offered.”
The meaning of Holi stems from several stories in Hindu mythology and is believed to have its roots reaching over 2,000 years ago.
Originally referred to as “Holika,” the festival is most commonly believed to originate from the legend of the demon king, Hiranyakashyap, who had ordered his sister, Holika, to kill his son after he refused to worship his father.
Knowing Holika had the ability to enter a fire without burning herself, Hiranyakashyap ordered her to do so while holding his son, Prahlad. When Holika entered the fire, she instead was burned while Lord Vishnu saved Prahlad for his extreme devotion.
A flippant labeling of Arizona’s Native Americans as drunks on the CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly” makes light of an issue that has long plagued the Native American communities of the state.
In early March, the television show aired an episode in which Mike’s mother, played by actress Rondi Reed, confronted her daughter-in-law, Melissa McCarthy’s Molly, about a suggested move to Arizona.
“Who the hell said I’m moving to Arizona,” Reed’s character said. “You ever been to Arizona? It’s just a furnace full of drunk Indians.”
The episode comment was followed by a faithful laugh track, but later triggered outrage from Arizona’s Native American tribes.
“This is 2013,” said Erny Zah, the director of communications for the Navajo Nation’s president and vice president. “I thought for the most part we were past a lot of these offensive slurs, not only against Native Americans, but also to all minorities in the world… ‘Mike and Molly’ is a nationally syndicated TV show on one of the big three networks…and this comment made it through to that level.”
Photo by Bill Morrow, Flickr
In the next month, roughly 6,000 undergrads, 200 Ph.D. students, 900 master degree students, will graduate among 29 individual ceremonies in Tucson.
With these thousands of soon-to-be graduates comes masses of family and friends coming to Tucson over the course of one short weekend next month for spring commencement ceremonies at the University of Arizona.
Local businesses, hotels, and property owners also prepare for one last busy weekend of business before the long, slow summer months.
Last May, 18,000 people attended the 2012 University of Arizona spring commencement ceremony. “We had to turn away tons of people,” said Mary Venezia, assistant director of strategic initiatives at the University of Arizona.
Venezia works along with a committee on the yearlong process of planning a graduation for thousands of students and families.
Plans for this year’s commencement took a big turn when the planning committee changed the school’s usual venue from the McKale Center to Arizona Stadium.
With a bigger venue comes bigger expenses. “We have a lot of first time costs this year, like paying someone to build a stage,” said Venezia about the customized stage needed for the ceremony held in the stadium for the first time since 1972.
