Feb 2011: Left in Tucson - A new year, a new direction

I have decided to use this space to chronicle my "time" in Tucson. Calling it "Left in Tucson." That was Jim's suggestion due to the unusually high number of left-handed people who call Tucson home. It's hard to believe, until you start taking notice at restaurants, at the grocery check-out, the movies, the library, etc. Tucson likes to consider itself a mecca for artists, sort of a poor cousin of Santa Fe. Everyone knows that lefties are the creatives, or like to think of themselves that way.

Yes, there is lots of public art, as well as galleries and art fairs. It's amazing how many stores have their windows regularly painted (by the many starving artists, I imagine) to promote a holiday or a special promotion. As a kid in New Jersey, I remember downtown windows being painted for Halloween, Christmas and maybe Easter, but nothing like this. Even the mechanic who keeps my 1986 Mercedes Benz 560SL humming along gets his front window painted with some theme or other every month! I kind of like it. I especially like driving by our local Dairy Queen and taking note of this week's special dessert. The paintings of the DQ Blizzard of the week are the best!

Jim's favorite hang-out, a breakfast and lunch place (they don't have diners or luncheonettes here) has taken the public art thing to another level: the entire inside of the restaurant is covered with a mural of a Hillbilly town - a cross between the old T.V. shows, The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. With a name like "Jethro's Cafe," what else would you expect?
While the motif may be redneck hillbilly, the food is decidedly not possum and catfish. Lots of left-handers, like Jim and me, are fans of the place.

I always get a kick out of meeting new people in town. In the Northeast, when you ask someone what they do, you get answers like, Investment Banker, Realtor, Software Engineer, I'm in Sales, Wall Street Broker, I'm in Pharmaceuticals. Here, the answer is more often; "I'm an artist." I quickly learned that usually means the person has no means of serious employment but melts colored glass and turns it into jewelry to pawn off on friends and relatives. At first, I used to get real excited and ask where was their gallery located or when were they planning to have their next exhibit? Frequently the response was, "Oh, I don't sell my work. It's my hobby or a creative passion."

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