youthquake

Sun, 30 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The spring 2010 issue of Wavelength is out now. This past winter, I had the pleasure to meet five of the Valley’s up-and-coming talents. They are artists, they are entrepreneurs, they are philanthropists, they are savvy and they are young. Phoenix is full of inspirational people. These five, all in their 20s or early 30s, are no exception. But their youth, exuberance and passion for what they’re doing cannot be denied — and the community is bettered because of that.

There’s Nate Anderson, founder of Ear Candy, a nonprofit that aims to help get children the best musical education possible. Tempe’s Tony Carrillo has amassed a cult following for his comic strip, “F-Minus,” which got its start at ASU’s State Press and is now nationally syndicated. In Phoenix, Courtney Klein started New Global Citizens as a way to enlighten high schoolers on a plethora of global concerns. Then there’s Promise Tangeman, a Gilbert-based artist who is so busy designing, painting, shooting photos and making crafts that it’s a wonder she finds time to post her blogs, which are read religiously by her devoted fans. And in Tempe, pastor-turned-coffee enthusiast Jason Silberschlag started Cartel Coffee Lab, which is educating customers to appreciate the finer elements of a cup of coffee.

Check out their interesting stories. The future of the Valley is a little brighter thanks to these young souls.

sunsational phoenix

Sat, 29 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I don’t usually write about my sports allegiances. But anyone that knows me knows that I have been a Phoenix Suns fan since, well, damn near birth, even growing up in Ohio. (I think it was the Kevin Johnson trade from Cleveland to Phoenix that solidified my lifelong loyalty.) It’s not easy being a Suns fan. It’s been 17 years since an NBA Finals appearance. The team has been around for 40+ years and has no titles to show for it.

At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t expecting anything special. This team looked old and predictable on paper. Yet they just keep surprising us. The emergence of legitimate young talent — Jared Dudley, Robin Lopez and Goran Dragic — offers a hopeful glimmer that winning ways will stay in Phoenix for a long time. With brilliant play out of the gate, the team started off 14-3 and looked unstoppable. After a mediocre middle third of the season and the All-Star break, they were nearly unbeatable for the last two-and-a-half months of the season.

These playoffs have been special. The chemistry on this team is undeniable. I’m hard pressed to find a squad I’ve respected more. They may not be the most talented team Phoenix has put on the floor (those Westphal/Adams and Barkley/Johnson/Majerle teams were pretty special), but the passion they have for the game and bringing prominence to this fractured community is undeniable.

Now the Suns sit on the brink of elimination heading into tonight’s game six in Phoenix. This may be the last time we see this team take the court together. It may be the last time Amar’e Stoudemire ever dons a Suns jersey. It may be the last time Steve Nash gets this close to a ring.

Whether or not the team wins this series and goes to the Finals, the camaraderie on court has succeeded in bringing a community together. This city has had its share of problems this year. The Arizona government has become the mockery of the nation, education is failing at an astounding rate throughout the state and the economy seems to have devastated Arizona beyond repair in the foreseeable future.

Phoenix residents are practically begging for a reason to celebrate something. The Suns have been that reason, albeit for a short time. Even if it is only for a few weeks, every other night or so we have been able to forget all the crap going on around us and concentrate on the pick-and-roll, the three ball and the marvel that is this team. I hope the ride continues and the cheering lasts all the way till the end of the Finals.

Go Suns!

leaving it halfway

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I have realized this week I have many projects and ideas that are only half-developed.

In 2009, a few colleagues and I mapped out plans for a progressive online men’s lifestyle publication, but production fizzled for a number of reasons — time constraints chief among them — and it remains completely stalled. Between myself and the rest of the group, there were no shortage of ideas, designs and dreams to fuel the project. It’s unfair when life gets in the way. We’ll keep the URL in hopes of one day revisiting the project and making it its intended quality.

I have vowed for a long time to establish a nice collection of art for my walls, but it has never amounted to anything more than a bunch of cool prints littered throughout the house. Funding, obviously, is to blame for the stalling of this project, but it’s something I truly want to accomplish. I need to better manage funds to see it through.

This blog, in fact, has never realized its full potential. I’m so busy editing, writing and reading day in and day out that I don’t make entries nearly enough — it’s been five weeks! — but that’s only half the story. I’ve drawn up wireframes time and time again, planning on incorporating different elements to the site to make it actually worthwhile to visit. Finding the time (and sadly, the effort) seem to be the issues here.

There are countless other examples, I’m sure, but these are just three off the top of my head. Keeping focus is key in any project. I think by focusing on one at a time, I’ll have better luck in accomplishing successful end results.

historic phoenix

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I started (what I thought would be) a small project to help fuel future subject matter for my weekly blog at DPJ, From the Arizona Room: mapping out nationally registered historic sites in the city of Phoenix. Throughout the mapping process I realized two things:

1. Phoenix has a lot more historic sites than I thought (approximately 200 nationally registered).
2. People who say Phoenix has no history better eat their words.

Now begins the process of revisiting each of these sites one by one to add details on dates built — or circa, in some cases — and dates registered. (I wanted to simply plot each point in round 1, which was time consuming enough, thank you.)

Some simple observations I found looking over this map:
• Not surprisingly, the vast majority of historic sites are between Thomas and Buckeye roads and I-17 and 16th Street.
• The majority of Phoenix’s designated historic districts are west of Central Avenue.
• There is a small triangle-shaped cluster of architecturally interesting properties from Bethany Home Road/Central Avenue, up to Northern/7th avenues and over to Lincoln/SR-51. These properties are bigger and younger than most others, and are really neat additions to the database.
• The point furthest east is Gov. Hunt’s Tomb in the Phoenix Zoo grounds.
• The point furthest west is the Cartwright School in Maryvale.
• The Stoughton Estate near South Mountain seems to have some expansive grounds. Anyone have further information on this?
• Victoria Place is the smallest historic district — the 700 block of East McKinley Street in Garfield. I never knew it even existed.

If anyone wants to check out the map, I have it available as a Google Earth (.kml) file. I’ll be happy to email it on over to you!

River jones

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I’m back in Wavelength magazine, and I’m happy to present one of my all-time favorite stories: River Jones Music. This crew is putting Arizona on the folk music map on a shoestring budget in downtown Phoenix, and doing it with a pack of young talent that no scene can quite rival. If you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and check out the artists mentioned in the story.

River, Shalon and the entire gang were amazingly helpful (and unbelievably informative) in the entire story progress (and also very patient). Thanks to everyone who put in the time to talk to me and let me listen.