Our friends in Arivaca will be hosting a great event this Sunday. Looking for something to do? Check it out!
People Helping People will be hosting authors, Kathryn Ferguson, Norma A. Price, and Ted Parks of “Crossing with the Virgin – Stories from the Migrant Trail” and Margaret Regan, author of “The Death of Josseline – Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands”. The event will be this Sunday, April 14th at 2pm at the Old School House on S. Fourth Avenue off Arivaca Road.
As some of you may already know, we have a wonderful Honduran family of 7 staying with us at Casa Mariposa. After a month of living together we have gotten close to the family and want to continue to support them on their own in Tucson. They will be hosting a Honduran dinner this Saturday, April 6th at 6pm at Casa Mariposa located at 127 N. Palomas Avenue in Menlo Park. They are close to finding a place of their own and money from the fundraiser will help cover their housing costs. We hope you will be able to join us this Saturday! Thanks for your support!
Friends – We invite you to join the Casa Mariposa Community and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church to spend some time with us throughout the dark night before the dawn of Easter.
You are invited to enter into this mystery with playfulness, with your bodies, with your stories, and with one another. We will remember that before the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, it waits silently within a cocoon. We will remember those moments in our own lives when we have been transformed; given a second chance; or been reborn. And we will remember many throughout history who followed the way of Jesus to overcome injustice and oppression through acts of nonviolence and love.
The Easter Vigil starts at 10pm on Saturday, March 30th at St. Andrew’s Church located at 545 S. 5th Avenue in Tucson. There will be readings and activties throughout the night. At 6am we will end with the Renewal of Baptismal Vows and at 7am enjoy a potluck Easter breakfast.
Early on the morning of Thursday, February 21st, U.S. Marshals arrested
Dane Rossman at his home in Tucson, AZ on a provisional arrest warrant
issued by the U.S. Attorney’s office, acting on a Canadian extradition
request. Dane is one of five Americans sought in Canada for alleged
offenses stemming from the G20 summit.
On June 26th and 27th, 2010, tens of thousands of individuals gathered in
Toronto to protest the G20 summit. The G20 is a group of finance ministers
and central bank governors from nineteen powerful countries plus the
European Union. During the 2010 summit, Canadian authorities specifically
targeted people involved in migrant justice, indigenous solidarity and
anarchist organizing for prosecution. Dane was arrested along with over
1,100 other protesters in the largest mass arrest in Canada’s history. He
was processed and released without charges. Now, three years later, he is
facing three charges related to alleged property damage.
Dane is a dedicated social justice advocate, humanitarian aid volunteer,
and student. He has spent the past several years in Arizona providing
humanitarian relief on the US/Mexico border, and organizing against racist
profiling laws and mass incarceration.
The extradition of an individual from the U.S. to Canada for property
damage is almost unheard of. Dane’s extradition is political in nature
because it is meant to create fear and criminalize dissent. As long as
global institutions exploit our communities for profit, people will cross
nation-state boundaries to protest and make known the suffering in their
home communities.
Dane is currently being held at the federal Corrections Corporation of
America facility in Florence, AZ, a private prison where most of his
fellow inmates are being held on immigration related offenses. As Dane’s
supporters and friends, we extend solidarity to all those who face state
repression, those in prison due to G20 protest charges, and those
incarcerated for crossing nation-state boundaries. Dane has an extradition
hearing set for April 16th, 2013.
To contribute to Dane’s legal defense fund or to check for updates visit http://supportdanerossman.blogspot.com
Friends – Please join us on Saturday, March 23rd for an authentic Ethiopian dinner cooked by former Casa Mariposa guest Harage. The time is 6:00pm and the place is at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 545 S. 5th Avenue, Tucson. Cost – $10 suggested donation (more if you can – less if you can’t). If you can’t make it but would like to help out Harage and her family please contact us at welcometocasamariposa@gmail.com. Thanks!
Friends – Although Easter is still a few weeks away Casa Mariposa is hopping! We have a family of 7 staying with us for a little while and are in need of extra hands and diapers. We are in need of large diapers for a 2 year boy. Also if you have some extra time it would be great to have more folks around the house. Besides 3 adults we have a teenage girl and boy a 3 year old girl and 2 year old boy. A wide range of ages to spend time with! If you can give either time or diapers please email us at welcometocasamariposa@gmail.com or contact Paula or Rachel directly. Thanks!
Friends – You thought February was busy wait til you see the line up for March. These are just a few of the happenings happening around town. Hope to see you at one of them!
5 month Anniversary Vigil for Jose Antiono Elena Rodriguez – Weds., March 6th
A carpool from Tucson, leaving from Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W. 23rd St., at 3:30 pm, Wed. March 6 will travel to the vigil. We’ll park in one of the pay lots on the US side, near the downtown port in Nogales, AZ, and then walk (about 20 minutes) west along the wall, to the point just opposite where Jose was killed on October 10, 2012 where the vigil will begin. Or you can cross and walk with the people vigiling on the Mexico side. It’s crucial that we keep demanding justice for Jose Antonio, and keep this huge injustice in the public eye. Please bring candles if you can.
International Women’s Day – Friday, March 8th
Former State Senator Paula Aboud will keynote the annual celebration of International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8, 2013 at First Christian Church, 740 E. Speedway from 7‐9 pm.
The event is free and everyone is welcome.
Aboud is founder of Women Ignited Now (WIN), working to reverse the damage being done to women’s rights by the Arizona Legislature.
On International Women’s Day, WILPF will explore the connections between the failure of the United States government to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, (CEDAW) originally proposed by the United Nations in 1979, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which is currently being debated in the US Congress, and the Arizona legislative agenda opposing
women’s rights.
The event will include poetry and dancing and a forum for discussion of ways to mobilize women and men who share a vision of peace and social justice for the world.
Art Opening at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery – Saturday, March 9th
Casa Mariposa guest, Cesar Lorenti, will have his art on display at Raices Taller Art Gallery. Cesar describes his work in the following words: “I have traced landscapes in Guatemala, with humble houses in grassy places, with lines that reflect peace, tranquility and calm.” Join us on Saturday and meet Cesar.
“Endurance / Resistencia”
Opening Celebration
Saturday March 9, 2013
6:00 – 9:00 pm
218 E. 6th Street (1/2 block east of 6th St. & 6th Ave.)
Regular Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 pm and by appointment
Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop is proud to partner with the César E. Chávez Holiday Coalition in dedicating the month of March to the work of César E. Chávez. We are honoring the legacy that Chavez left as an educator, environmentalist and a civil rights leader. Join us for the opening of our exhibit “Endurance / Resistencia” on Saturday, March 9 and upcoming community events!
Lecture – The Feminist Fight on Mexico’s Border – Friday, March 22nd
Join us for a distinguished Lecture at The University of Arizona on Friday, March 22 at 3:30pm by Melissa Wright. Melissa is a collaborator of Juanita Sundberg who has been doing significant work documenting the femicide in Juarez for the last decade. The talk will take place in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, S202
Dr. Melissa W. Wright of Pennsylvania State University will be presenting
her lecture; Feminicido, Narcoviolence, Gentrification: The Feminist Fight on Mexico’s Border.
Sponsored by The School of Geography and Development, The Center for Latin American Studies, The Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, and The Southwest Institute for Research on Women. This event is free of charge.
Scott Ainslie: Javarita Coffeehouse Concert Series – Friday, March 15th
On March 15, at 7:00 p.m. acoustic blues master and songwriter Scott Ainslie will return to the stage at the Javarita Coffeehouse at The Good Shepherd United Church of Christ in Sahuarita AZ (17750 S. La Cañada).
Dubbed the “coffeehouse with a conscience.” The Javarita Coffeehouse Concert Series provides first rate acoustic, roots music, while also educating and informing our performers about the situation and struggles of the Borderlands and the Southwest desert.
Ainslie has been carried to Arizona by a song – “The Land That I Love” – that he penned after hearing the story produced by public radio station KUAT about Grecia Cruz, a Mexican migrant who was lost on the Tohono O’odham Reservation in June of 2007.
Spurred not only to write the song, but to travel to southern Arizona to work with The Greenvalley-Sahuarita Samaritans, Ainslie met Samaritan co-founders Rev. Randy Mayer and Shura Wallin at an eastern music and arts camp with a conscience, Common Ground On The Hill. “The Land That I Love” has been released on “Border Songs” the new benefit compilation CD for the Arizona humanitarian group No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes
Friends – There are more local events to let you know about coming up soon.
Action to End Operation Streamline
Please join us on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 from 12:30-1:30pm in front of
the Evo A. DeConcini Federal Courthouse in Tucson, Arizona (405 W
Congress). We will be gathering to demand an end to Operation Streamline
as part of National Days of Action from Feb. 19-21, leading up to a
legislative hearing in DC on February 22 on Operation Streamline as part
of the discussions on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Operation Streamline is a little-known border enforcement program that is
part of a larger trend toward criminalization of migration. Operation
Streamline mandates criminal prosecution of migrants in certain border
sectors, including the Tucson Sector. The federal government now commits
over $1.02 billion per year towards sentenced days for the criminal
incarceration of migrants. Since 2005, the federal government has spent an
estimated $5.5 billion incarcerating undocumented immigrants in the
criminal justice system for unauthorized entry and re-entry, above and
beyond the civil immigration system. The private prison industry is one of
the biggest beneficiaries of these programs. Lucrative contracts for
Bureau of Prisons-contracted “Criminal Alien Requirement” prisons have
contributed to record profits for corporations like GEO Group and
Corrections Corporation of America.
Other groups across the country will be staging similar press conferences
and actions from the 19th to the 21st. Attached and below you can see a
memo that outlines a broad statement of demands for any comprehensive
immigration reform. This memo comes from national groups such as
Grassroots Leadership, ACLU, AFSC, and Justice Strategies that are working
to organize these National Days of Action.
Fundraiser for Iskashitaa
Iskashitaa Refugee Network will be holding a fundraiser and video premiere at La Concina (201 N. Court) on Tuesday, February 26th from 12pm to 10pm. At this all day celebration you will have the opportunity to purchase beautiful, local, refugee-made food and craft products as well as particpage in silent auction. 10% of all food and beverage sales at La Cocina will go to Iskashitaa.
Iskashitaa Refugee Network is a grass roots organization that helps rebuild refugee lives through involvement in the Tucson community. Iskashitaa is a community partner of Casa Mariposa and keeps our house full of oranges and grapefruit!
You are invited to a Honduran Dinner this Saturday at Casa Mariposa!
6:00pm-8:00pm
127 N. Palomas Ave
$10 a plate, kids free
Estrellita, who was released from detention through the amazing efforts of many people in the Tucson community and throughout the country, will be preparing a Honduran dinner this Saturday night! Meat and vegetarian options will be available. Proceeds will help her to purchase a bus ticket to join her cousin in Texas and to benefit the Rainbow Defense Fund to provide bond support for more LGBTQ people in immigration detention!
She will also be preparing pupusas for sale at the dinner or for pick-up anytime Saturday. If you would like to order pupusas please email: Rachel.Winch@gmail.com with your order. They are $18 a dozen, $10 / half dozen with all of the fixings or $15/dozen and $8/half dozen for just the pupusas. Please specify whether you would like cheese or meat.
Please RSVP to Rachel.Winch@gmail.com to give us a sense of how many people are coming to dinner! But feel free to come even if you have not RSVPed. And please distribute widely!
