Mountain View
Suzy Jacobson Cherry
The Crack Where the Light Gets In: Christmas on the Event Horizon
Disclaimer: As I refer to quantum physics in the following story, I make no claim to have a strong understanding of the concepts. I simply share my perspective based on my somewhat intuitive interpretation of what I have read about it.
Miracles in the Dark: A Yuletide Reflection
Thoughts on the return of the Light at the holidays. When one of my daughters was a little girl, she saw an elf in the Christmas tree. I remember when she came to tell me about it, convinced that she had seen two eyes peering at her out of the tree.
Mesa Book Festival: Books, Fun, and More!
On Saturday, December 16, the Mesa Book Festival (MBF) returns to Benedictine University in Mesa. Since 2017, MBF has hosted local authors and a wide range of panels and discussions at this free fun family event. If you love reading, MBF is a great way to engage with the literary arts. Meet local authors, publishers, and City dignitaries. Come take part in the various programs and take a stroll through over fifty local author and publishing booths. You’ll find something in every genre here. Be prepared to buy books!
Srianthi Perera's "A Maiden's Prayer" Enlightens and Delights
I purchased A Maiden's Prayer: A Family Story Set in 1970s Sri Lanka by Srianthi Perera from the author in June at the Local Authors Book Fair at the Red Mountain Public Library in Mesa. I couldn't wait to read it, but because of other obligations, it took me a few months to get to it. Once I did, though, I couldn't put it down.
Redrumed: Local Band Signs Distribution Deal
“Redrum! Redrum! Redrum!” Stephen King fans recognize the quote immediately. This word, which is “murder!” backwards is repeated by the child Danny in the horror story The Shining. When veteran Phoenix musician Scott Rowe retired from his long-popular Scott Rowe’s Alice Cooper Tribute Show in 2020, he was already in the process of establishing his solo band, Scott Rowe and Redrum. Beginning in March of 2018, Rowe and Redrum began working with his original hard rock music. Rowe’s original goal with Redrum was to be a heavy metal band. The band played their first gig on November 10, 2018 was at Chopper John's at 23rd Street and Indian School in Phoenix, just a couple of blocks down the road from the once-famous Mason Jar, now known as The Rebel Lounge.
American Women in the Military: Part 2
You can read the first half of this story in Part 1: From the Revolution to Korea. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 265,000 American women served the military during the Vietnam war. Ninety percent of the women worked as volunteer nurses. These brave women served in difficult and dangerous behind-the-lines locations in massive causality situations involving amputations, wounds, and chest tubes for their patients. Approximately 11,000 women were stationed in Vietnam during the nearly twenty-year war. Ninety percent of them were nurses in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. However, women also served as physicians, air traffic controllers, intelligence officers, clerks, and in other positions. Most of the women who served in Vietnam volunteered to go.
American Women in the Military: Part 1
Women have served the United States Military since the Revolutionary War. Women and children often followed the army from camp to camp, often to support their husbands, fathers, and sons who were fighting. In some cases, women disguised themselves as men so they could join the army as fighting soldiers. Women also served as spies during the Revolution. They were often quite effective since they could often enter camps and other places without suspicion.
Mesa: First U.S. Autism Certified City
Mesa was named the first Autism Certified City (ACC) in the United States by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES) in 2019. During the initial process, which took about a year, almost 60 businesses and organizations in Mesa and the surrounding area completed autism certification training. Each of those organizations are deemed a Certified Autism Center by IBCCES. In order to earn their CAC designation, organizations must have trained 80% or more of their public-facing team members in how to communicate with and respond to autistic community members.
Veterans Day: East Valley Veterans Parade
The East Valley Veterans Parade Association (EVVPA) will be hosting the 2023 East Valley Veterans Parade on Saturday, November 11 from 11 am to 2 pm. The parade route will run along Center Street and First Street in downtown Mesa. The parade provides an opportunity for the community to gather in honoring, thanking, and celebrating local Veterans, active Military, and their families.
"Haunting on Main Street: Downtown Mesa"
Downtown Mesa has invited all “boos and ghouls” to do some Halloween trick-or-treating on Main Street. Lots of Downtown Mesa merchants will be handing out individually wrapped treats to children in costume. The fun begins at 11 am and the trick-or-treating will continue until all the candy has been distributed.
Rockin' the Starlite Lounge: A Tale of Friday the 13th
Some people in western society believe that Friday the 13th is an inauspicious – read that “unlucky” – day. Tales of terror and superstition abound as to why that may be, but for some rock and roll fans this past Friday was anything but unlucky.
Jump on the Bandwagon with Dodge the Caravan
You’ve probably never heard of punk band Dodge the Caravan, yet. With Eva Bush on vocals, Zach Brown on guitar, Caleb Walker on bass and vocals, and Noah Ankeney on drums, this group brings together a powerful combination of skill, talent, and creativity.
Celebrate Mesa Fall 2023: October 14
The City of Mesa will be holding their signature semiannual, family friendly carnival, Celebrate Mesa, on Saturday, October 14, from 5 pm to 9 pm. This FREE event will take place at Red Mountain Soccer Complex. This fun family event includes lineup includes free bounce houses and games for the kids, a petting zoo, two stages, community vendors, and a helicopter landing. Unlimited large carnival rides will be available for just $5 (age and height restrictions may apply)
Upgrading SR 347: Maricopa Project Begins
An email from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) announces that a project to improve and widen State Route 347 (John Wayne Parkway) in Maricopa has started in Maricopa. The road improvements are being implemented to help relieve traffic congestion and reduce travel times.
Gwen Verdon: Fosse’s Muse, Broadway Legend
It’s a Saturday night sometime in the mid-1960s. A young mother and her four children sit before the black and white television. Supplied with popcorn and Kool-Aid, they are ready to watch the upcoming movie. It’s an exciting time, these nights when Dad’s at work, and Mom and the kids gather together in the dark, anticipating something new and wondrous. Tonight, the movie is a musical. Musicals are Mom’s favorite, and so too are they beloved by the oldest daughter.
Opinion: What's Happening to the Food Service Industry?
I believe that televison chefs are ruining the restaurant industry. I’m referring to the way chefs are portrayed on “reality” TV, social media, and in fictional televison series. I do not, however, think they are doing it alone.
Bringing Back Rock & Roll: Lords of Van Buren
Rock band Lords of Van Buren is the kind of band that brings memories of the 1980s Phoenix music scene, offering original music that makes people happy. Lords of Van Buren’s music is described as “a mix of punk and pop in the vein of Clash and the Foo-Fighters.” The band started life in Phoenix as Saints of Van Buren, and played their first gig with the new name this past April at Chopper John’s.
A Toast For Jimmy Buffett
My first introduction to the “beach bum” trope was Kahuna, a character played by Martin Milner on the 1966 television show Gidget. Sally Fields played the title character in the series. I later watched the original films with Sandra Dee, in which Cliff Robertson played Kahuna, but it’s the television show that sticks in my memory. I can almost hear Gidget talking about her boyfriend “Moondoggie” in Field’s sweet teenage voice even now.
Pink Promises: Examining Barbie's Place in Society
It seems like everyone and their sister and brother has written some kind of commentary on this movie. I don't usually jump on a bandwagon like this, but this time, I want to counter some of the reviews I’ve read in the past couple of weeks.
Suzy Jacobson Cherry
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M.Div., Educator, Writer, Artist. Writing about local music, events, businesses, spirituality, books, opinion, and living life in Mesa. Also write for Medium, Vocal.Media, and HubPages. Book author. Published in newspapers, magazines, broadsides, anthologies, and online journals. US Air Force Veteran.
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