AZ Week Notebook – 2011
posted by Michael Chihak
Discussions abound in the midst of the worst wildfire season in Arizona history.
Midst of? Yes, it's not over, despite the beginning of the monsoon rains and a good drenching in Southern Arizona in the last couple of days. Fire conditions remain high in many parts of the state.
Questions to be answered:
How do we manage the forests with the best known, although not always agreed upon, ecological science?
What are the management and usage issues that created the conditions leading to the state record 538,000-acre Wallow Fire, the 223,000-acre Horseshoe 2 Fire and the 30,000-acre Monument Fire?
What role did climate change play in the conditions that led to the fires?
We are striving to find experts to speak on the topic for Friday's Arizona Week.
July 5th 2011 at 13:15 —
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posted by Michael Chihak
The director of the Arizona Centennial Commission made a cogent observation in my interview with her this week about the upcoming festivities to mark a century of statehood.
Karen Churchard called the centennial an opportunity for Arizonans to decide how we as a state should evolve in the next 100 years.
Among other things, Churchard said, we need to figure out what industries will drive the new century's Five Cs in Arizona.
You remember the Five Cs: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate.
Time was when every school kid in the state could recite the Five Cs as readily as the ABCs. Many school kids' dads and moms earned honest livings in one or another of the industries represented by the Five Cs. They didn't need much education for that work, mostly manual labor.
But now the work world has changed, and the labor needs are less manual and more mental. Which means we need more education and better schools.
With ongoing erosion of the state's public education budget by the Legislature, our schools are hard pressed to match the needs of the labor market. The state’s support for K-12 education in the coming school year will be at its lowest per student in more than a decade.
Why, word is that some schools will be able to afford to teach only three of the Five Cs. And who knows where they’ll be on the alphabet?
The point is obvious: Without a strong educational system, we won't be able to attract and grow the industries that will create a new set of Five Cs for the next 100 years.
Most other states are well ahead of us – in years of statehood, educational success and establishing their own economic development plans for the next century.
Knowing that, we should resolve to celebrate Arizona’s upcoming birthday with this gift – an educational system that leads in transformation of the Five Cs That will give us 100 years of prosperity -- a most appropriate centennial gift.
July 2nd 2011 at 8:38 —
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posted by Michael Chihak
Every Arizona school kid ought to be able to name the state's Five Cs, the hallmarks of economics and culture that shaped Arizona's first century as a state.
Copper, cattle, cotton, climate and citrus.
Now come preparations for the centennial celebration, culminating in the Feb. 14, 2012 recounting of President William Taft signing the law making Arizona the 48th state.
Festivities galore are in the planning stages, and we will hear about some of them on Friday's Arizona Week. At the same time, the state's Centennial Commission director sees the celebration as an opportunity to look forward.
"Who do we want to be in the future, not just from a culture and a people, but how do we want to take care of our land and what industries are really going to be the Five Cs, if you will, of the next 100 years?" Centennial Commission Director Karen Churchard asks in an interview.
Watch Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. MST, PBS-HD-6, or on this Website for more discussion of the state's legacy and its future.
June 30th 2011 at 16:29 —
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posted by Michael Chihak
History looks backward with the notion of preparing us to look forward. In the case of University of Arizona anthropologist Thomas E. Sheridan, that backward look in Arizona: A History includes some potentially frightening scenarios for the future.
Sheridan's history was published in 1995, and now with the statehood centennial approaching, he has updated the book, adding chapters on the state's most recent history -- its population boom and desert land consumption and economic development.
The forward look that he gives should cause the reader to pause and reflect on where our state is headed. Sheridan will discuss the state's prehistory, history and his view of its future on Arizona Week Friday at 8:30 p.m. on PBS-HD-6.
The new edition of Arizona: A History will be published by University of Arizona Press in time for Arizona's statehood centennial next February.
June 30th 2011 at 8:58 —
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posted by Michael Chihak
Arizona Week on Friday will focus on the state's legacy as manifest in its people and customs and in the plans and projects under way for statehood centennial next year.
Interviews for Friday's program will include:
-- Dora Vasquez, chair of the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission, which is reviewing proposals for Arizona Legacy Projects. They are described as projects that portray significant aspects of Arizona history, offer wide public wide access and sustainable beyond 2012.
-- Karen Churchard, director of the Arizona Centennial Commission, which is raising money for the celebrations and coordinating the planning of numerous activities statewide for the Feb. 14, 2012 anniversary.
-- Thomas Sheridan, a University of Arizona anthropologist who has written a history of the state and of Tucson's Mexican-American population in the 19th and 20th centuries.
-- Ned Norris, chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, descendants of the Pima people who have lived in Arizona the longest -- 4,000 years or more -- and whose ancient language gave Arizona its name.
June 28th 2011 at 11:21 —
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posted by Michael Chihak
By DIANA SOKOLOVA, Arizona Week intern
The Grand Canyon state is counting down the days till its 100th birthday. The official commemoration began in January 2011 with planning for celebrations all over the state.
Arizona was admitted to the union as the 48th state on Feb. 14, 1912.
The Arizona Centennial Commission, established by Gov. Jan Brewer, is planning and coordinating a wide range of festivals, events and projects.
Initially, $5.5 million was allocated from the state general fund for grants to organize communities’ celebration events, but it wasa cut because of the state's tough economic times.
The centennial commission is relying on private donations, sponsors and volunteers and hopes to get Arizona's 120 cities and towns, 15 counties and 22 Native American tribes involved.
Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott will participate in the "Arizona Best Fest," feature restaurants, wineries, microbreweries, local foods and traditional arts and crafts highlighting Arizona traditions and cultures.
Arizona Week will pursue interviews with Native American tribal leaders, a historian and the head of the centennial commission for Friday's program.
June 27th 2011 at 11:31 —
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