Friday, February 16, 2007
11:04:54 PM

Today started off with a bit of an adventure. I had read the directions wrong as to where the morning HDO (host drop off) location was. Instead of ending up at the staff hotel, I found myself half way across town at the U of Arizona campus. Considering my options I phoned our cast manager only to find out that they were just a few blocks down at a church having a seminar with an organization that has set up water stations in the Arizona desert for illegal immigrants. I walked there and even though I was late, it was all good. After the session we boarded the bus for the US - Mexico border. On the way we had group discussions on various scenarios for border crossings; both legal and illegal. The process of obtaining a visa to travel into the US is both expensive and very time consuming with wait times of sometimes over 5 years. Many people seeking a better life opt for illegal immigration either on their own or with the help of "Coyotes" or people smugglers. The border is actually largely fenced, forcing would be illegal migrants into dangerous desert or mountain regions. Over 650,000 illegal migrants cross over the border each year. Despite its smaller size, the border actually has more legal crossings yearly than the US - Canada border. We had some time to walk around so a group of us went to McDonalds for a snack. I had a Big Mac (of course). It was all Goodª. After lunch back in Tucson, we had a panel discussion about immigration and what is socially just. I'll be honest. I was drifting in and out of sleep for most of the time. Thank goodness Jess was sitting next to me to give me a friendly elbow every so often so I wouldn't sleep and fall out of my chair. Immediately after this event I located the nearest coffee shop and ordered a triple shot hazelnut espresso ice latte. That kept me awake in the afternoon for set up and rehearsal for our BTS (Back Tracked Show - no live band) in the evening. It was held on campus for a crowd of about 500 or so. The rushed schedule was a *tad* stressful. Supper was catered all fancy like but we had no time to enjoy it, we all just ran in, inhaled the food, and left to get ready for the show. Because of the way things worked out, I was actually only in 3 of the show numbers but it was all good. I know I'll be getting to bed early tonight (before 1 am) because I am so tired. Tomorrow we have our biggest show yet.

Drug of Choice - The Venti Ice Caramel Triple Espresso Maccichino

Even the phone company Geico is Spoofing Up With People!
US Boarder Patrol Portable lighting equiment
USBP
The Great wall of Mexico
Mexico on the Right, the US on the Left
US on the Right, Mexico on the Left. The population is much higher on the Mexico side
The Mickey D's Gang Patrolls the Border


Kitt Peak, location of the observatory I may visit on Sunday
Lunch is Served!
Today's Performance Venue @ U of A
More Espresso as we conduct another camous flyer raid

Its all Good.


In the News today @ http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/history_culture/41806.php

Published: 02.15.2007

Up with people

By Randi Eichenbaum
Tucson Citizen

The Up With People performance at Casino Del Sol on Saturday has caught some Tucsonans off guard. Many thought the group didn't exist anymore.

Aside from a short hiatus a couple of years ago, Up With People continues to generate what it initially set out to do: recruit youths throughout the world to travel internationally, performing and promoting community building and peace.

Responding to the tumultuous happenings of the '60s - Vietnam and civil rights battles to name a few - Tucson resident Blanton Belk founded the traveling performance group in 1965.

"I always had been looking for something that makes a difference in the world," says Belk, the group's chairman emeritus. "That's kind of in my genes."

This week, the group, which is now based in Denver, travels to its birthplace where many former members live.

Tucson resident Mia Hanson is one of them. Hanson joined the troope at 17 in 1977. She was the dance captain during the '80s and has served on the board of directors.

Hanson, who helps coordinate the annual cultural festival Tucson Meet Yourself, identifies with Up With People's philosophy.

"It's about learning to go with the flow and staying connected with people and what they need," she says.

Up With People's current group of 73 young adults has been busy this week serving the community by putting on workshops, listening to guest speakers and interacting with Tucson youths They will conclude their stay with the Saturday concert.

Along with their own show, a new local ensemble - One Kingdom Image - is one of the acts lined up for the night. The group's focus is to give back to the community by renewing young people's lives though music and arts.

Like Belk, 42-year-old Richard Noel, founder of One Kingdom Image, felt a calling by the world's current social situation to form the group.

A Rastafarian from the Caribbean Islands, Noel stresses the importance of language as a tool to making a difference.

"We are in a time when the world is divided by religion. There is a war between Muslims and Christians, and I truly believe we need to check ourselves and come together as God's people," Noel says. "We need to speak more life into our community. You are what you are by the way you speak, and I truly believe in the power of speech."

Noel, a skilled percussionist who has performed with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, has put together One Kingdom Image. The group uses lyrics - accompanied by keyboard, electric guitar and percussion instruments - that speak to the young.

Belk says he is looking forward to the performance and the reunion by members of the group at the place of its beginnings. He recalls Tucson's original reception to the group's formation.

"Tucson will always be our home base. This city backed us," Belk says. "I think some cities might have had trouble with that, but this city had spirit."

Thursday, February 15, 2007
10:48:29 PM

Today we were up for 5:45 to be to the staff hotel for 7 am. We headed out to the Pascua Yaqui Native Reservation for some regional learning and community impact. In the morning however, myself and the next batch of advanced people started our prep work for our upcoming cities. I, along with Kaylee DeGraff are responsible for setting up Utrecht in the Netherlands. There sure are a lot of things that go into the planning of a single week for 70+ people. We had our meeting at the native owned and operated "Casino del Sol"; the casino of the sun. The Casino is what got the tribe to where it is today; the third largest tribe in the US from what was one of the poorest. The Casino provides funds for everything from their own medical clinic to housing and sanitation. Usually I wouldn't have been allowed into the casino because, like with many things in the U.S., I am underage. I was however tagged with a bright green wrist band so I could be easily tracked on the security cameras to make sure I wasn't doing any illegal gambling. Over lunch near the outside amphitheater where our concert is to be held on Saturday I talked to a teacher from one of the high schools that some of the other students had community impact sessions with in the morning. We also had guest speakers from the Band Council of the Pascua Yaqui Nation and some of the senior administrators and head of security of the casino. They explained how their nation was the first to fight the US government in court for the right to operate their own gambling facilities; and win. Its amazing how far they've come since 1994 when their first bingo hall opened. The revenues are on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars; if not billions. In the afternoon we had fitness time which for me meant hitting the playground and playing on the swings, slides, and monkeybars. I even managed to get a sunburn; in February! In the latest part of the waning afternoon we rehearsed out mini show for the U of A faculty tomorrow.
Back with my host family, we had salmon baked in butter, rice, and mixed vegetables in cheese for supper. It was really good; especially with fresh squeezed lime juice drizzled over it. Tomorrow is a long day, we're heading to the Mexico border for some more regional learning activities. Its all Goodª

Tucson before dawn
Downtown
Arizona Sun rise
Aren't all areas supposed to be drug free?
Sierra Madre Mountains
Casino Del Sol
The Amphitheatre
A Cheryl Crow autographed guitar, we're performing on the same stage as many musical greats


A typical Arizona garden

Fun on the swings!
Gabe volunteered to instuct aerobics at the rec center fort he afternoon
the Pascua Yaqui tribe flag

More to come tomorrow!

Check out the link to see our showtimes here.

Also, I am over 19,000 photos in my library as of today. (that's about 22GB, I'm soon going to need a drive just for pictures!)

FEBRUARY 17 - UP WITH PEOPLE

Recognized as one of the most extraordinary multicultural education programs in the world, Up with People exists today to spark people to action in meeting the needs of their communities, countries and the world while building bridges of understanding as a foundation of world peace.

Tickets:

$20 reserved, $10 general

Where:

AVA Amphitheater

Time:

Call 838-6700

Tickets can be purchased at AVAconcerts.com


Powered by my new Favorite Drink at Star Bucks:

February 14, 2007
10:37:57 PM

This morning we left early for a new facility in the north west of Tucson. Today, being valentines day had an immense innate capacity to suck right off the bat for my being far far away from my fiance back in Newfoundland. We did a secret valentine exchange; Armando was my valentine and he got me a pink fuzzy pig pezz dispenser. To compound this, today is my host mom and dadÕs wedding anniversary. I serenaded them with some fiddle music before I showed them the slideshow of Newfoundland pictures I had promised. Being from Mexico, they were quite intrigued with the geography. Anyhow, in the morning after our meeting we hopped on our tour bus and headed out to different schools. I went to Van Horne Elementary School where I read books to two classes of 4th graders. After reading the kids could ask us about our home countries and UWP. Some of the questions were quite interesting such as: ÒDo you ever see the sunlight in Canada?Ó In one of the classes, a girl had a violin and we had a few extra minutes at the end of our 45 minute session. I asked her if I could play some for the class; she said yes. They were amazed by the style of the Newfoundland music and asked for 2 encores which took them into their recess time. They said I should replace their music teacher because my Òmusic was so much betterÓ.

Leaving the school behind we jumped back on the bus and headed to the El Rio Clinic (one of out beneficiaries in Tucson who received funds from out show ticket sales) where we had a bagged lunch and got to talk to some of the doctors there. They are federally funded and have a budget of about 6 billion dollars a year.

After leaving the Clinic, we went to the Town Hall where we met with the Mayor and talked about everything from issues of immigration to what he felt were qualities of a good leader (Vision, Passion, Action Plan, and decision making for the good of the people) His background is actually as an engineer and he had no prior political experience before becoming mayor.

We headed back to the Northwest Community center in the afternoon for various community impact workshops. I participated in a drumming workshop which is part of an after school program for kids. We played different percussion instruments, experimented with different rhythms, and did some dancing too. It could have used more cow bell though.

As well, we had in the founder of UWP, Mr. Blanton Belk who founded UWP in 1965. I never got to shake his hand but he was a great speaker, telling of the times he spent with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And his famous "I have a Dream" speech. Also present was one of the Caldwell brothers who was responsible for most of the music that was performed in the early years.
As the afternoon closed to evening we started setting up for the pot luck supper being held in the community center. The food was great when I did eventually get some.

I Miss my Girl. ;(


Prep at the Elementary School
Matt from Edmonton reads some Robert Munsch
Angelo from Curaco reads about spiders
The Van Horne Crew





We're the big show in town!
Blanton Belk and his wife Betty
A band plays the Tetris Theme song at the Pot Luck
It will be all good Tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
11:46:13 PM

After having oatmeal crisp and coffee for breakfast, Rogelio and I drove in to the University of Arizona Campus where we are going to be based out of for the next week. The campus is amazing to say the least. There are palm trees, gardens, and brick buildings everywhere. About 37,000 students attend this university. We had our morning meeting in a huge ball room that was already set up for us when we arrived. We had many special guest speakers through out the day. These included the ÒProvostÓ (senior administrator) of the University of Arizona and Jim Kolbe, a long serving state senator with close ties to UWP. Tucson used to be the staging grounds for UPW casts for many many years so there are many alumni and the program is well know for the most part. Our show will definitely sell out all 5000 seats on Saturday. During 20 minutes of free time in the morning we dispersed around the campus going on a flyer raid, just handing our pamphlets about our show and program. Some people were very interested, others not so much. Its a good thing I take rejection well.

One interesting thing about this university is that it has a special partnership with UWP in that you can gain over 9 course credits for participating in the program .

Lunch was held in a smaller ball type room. It was probably the best catered meal weÕve seen so far on the trip. It was a do it yourself sandwich buffet with plenty of options. The tables were set with real glasses with cloth napkins folded decoratively inside them and we had real metal silverware. Over lunch I sat with Jim Kolbe and we as a table discussed world issues and issues concerning the US. He talked about things such as the upcoming election that is going to cost about 3 billion dollars. The top running Republican candidate is Senator John Mcain and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The election is going to be so interesting because its the first time since 1952 that there is no one currently in the WHite House who is in the running. Its still very much anyones bet. Some of the hot issues in the election include the war in Iraq, the crumbling underfunded education system, and the fact that over 60% of the US budget (which is currently putting them further into debt) goes to support programs for seniors (medicare type things and such). Other hot topics inclure abortion, stem cell research, and gay marriage.
Also during lunch I took a few minutes outside to take in a Chinese dragon dance to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

After Lunch we had another special guest, Professor Kathy Short. She invited as a part of our CI prep for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are reading childrens books to classes at a few elementary schools around Tucson. We were instructed on how to be better readers and be more engaging to the children as well as the importance of childhood mental stimulation before age 3. Its been show as well that the best indicator that someone is going to be a high school dropout is that they are unable to read with any proficiency at grade 3. We then went to the library to pick out books to read. I picked one about a Cat named Caramba who unlike the other cats, couldnÕt fly. In the end he learns to swim so its all good.

Later in the afternoon we had fitness classes where among other things we learned African gumboot dances.

Nearing the end of the day we had home team meetings and we sampled some canned oysters.

For supper back with my host family, we had home made everything tortillas. The salsa was home made, and really good. Into it we also put beans and new york sirloin steak.
Its all Good








Chinese Dragon Dance
Jim Kolbe and myself

Greg and Whittney read their childrens books
Luigi says its all Good
Hug a Tree, not so big down south
Sandra, Jorne, Aoife, and Laura enjoy their oysters.