Tucson, AZ: Quality of Life: Culture Pass

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

As someone who lives within a fairly frugal budget, I can tell you that access to some of Tucson's and Arizona's cultural, natural, and recreational amenities is expensive. To wit, for one adult:

Tucson Museum of Art: $12
Tucson Botanical Garden: $15
Reid Park Zoo: $10.50
Tohono Chul Botanical Gardens: $15
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: $22
Saguaro National Park: $20 per vehicle
Catalina State Park: $7 per vehicle
Coronado Recreation Passes: $5 per vehicle

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

 I remember how poor I was when my daughter was young. If that were today, and if I lived in Tucson, many places would be off limits to us because of the admission fees. There are many, many low-income families in Tucson.

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

In 2017, more than 18% of Tucsonans lived at or below the poverty line. Twenty-six percent of Tucson's youth lived in poverty. Normally, I would compare Tucson's poverty rate with the US average, but who cares? When it comes to access to arts and sciences cultural centers, parks, etc. in Tucson, it only matters how many Tusconans can't afford to reap the same experiences and knowledge that their more affluent cohorts in Tucson can.

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

This hurts us as a community, now and in the future.

If children don't know about - see, touch, hear, and talk to - painters, dancers, sculptors, scientists, naturalists, master gardeners, authors, astronomers, biologists, historians, engineers, mathematicians, technicians - how can they normalize these disciplines as accessible to them?

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

If we can maximize the experiential education of all of our children, and through that, maximize their potential lifetime earnings, it will reverberate through our communities, and to their children, and to their grandchildren.

Besides, access to centers of culture and nature are part of the Declaration of Independence: the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness.

Access to centers of culture and nature adds to our quality of life.

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

So ==> When I registered for my Pima County library card, I was mighty impressed to learn about the Culture Pass. Similar to what I'd do with a book, I can "check out" the admission for two people to Tucson-area arts, nature, and sciences centers - at no cost. I have one week to use the admission and then my "loan" automatically returns to the library. I can check out a new venue the following week; two "loans" per month.

Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson, Arizona. August 2019.

A companion program to the Culture Pass is the Field Trip pass program for Title 1 schools (schools that serve a large percentage of low-income students).

"The Act One Field Trip Program is a system and a solution for narrowing an opportunity gap that denies students from low-income families equal access to educational arts experiences."


Yes!


My first Culture Pass admission: Tucson Botanical Gardens. A collection of garden rooms that bid you to sit and be, to gaze and listen, without speaking, and without thinking too much.

Take a minute now, and be with me.

Tucson, AZ: Titan Missile Museum

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

There's an allure to visiting Really Big Shit.

Also: Nerdy Stuff.

And: Scary, Apocryphal Places that I only really want to be real in science fiction, and not in real life.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

The Titan Missile Museum meets all of the above criteria. Fortunately, there is also levity to be had. For example, I almost bought this kids' lunch sack. I craved it. Nostalgic thoughts of the Jetsons and Robert Heinlein.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

And this piece of equipment thrilled me. I have no idea what it is. For some reason it reminds me of Marvin the Martian from the Looney Tunes cartoon.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

Which, when I sought the Martian, made me wonder what is the similarity? Dunno. The mind is sometimes inscrutable. But some blasts from that past:

It wasn't too long in the Titan Missile tour when I realized that mostly I just wanted to see:

1. A Really Big Missile, and maybe touch it
2. Flashing buttons, spinning dials, and words like "Top Secret" and "Do Not Touch!" 

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

The two docents were obviously knowledgeable about the Titan Missile program, but they threw too much content at us at too high a speed. It was like hearing fast-talking news commentators on the broadcast channels, which I find irritating. I began to tune out the docents' spiels pretty quickly, finding looped cables and wheels and other distractions more appealing.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

And listen, the Titan Missile Museum is not my first rodeo for this genre of tourist attraction; most times my attention stays focused on what the docent is saying.


You can see an interactive map of the tour here. Below is a copy of the map, but you'll need to go the link in the previous sentence to avail yourself of the interactivity. Source: Titan Missile Museum.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

Monsoon clouds convened over the mountains as we emerged from down below.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

As always, it unsettles my spirit when there is beauty and serenity in a place of death. Yes, yes, I know, I know: The goal of the Titan Missile program was to prevent mass destruction instead of wreak it. Still, the missile is an agent of destruction. .... And yes, it is immaturity on my part to resist this truth: There is a dark side that exists - always - in nature, in societies, in families, in each of us.

Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona. July 2019.

A slide show below of my visit to the Titan Missile Museum:

Missouri: Springfield: WOW Aquarium and Wildlife Museum, Part 1

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

December 2017

My two sisters, one of their friends, and I visited the new Wonders of Wildlife (WOW) Museums, the aquarium and the Wildlife National Museum.

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

The visit ain't cheap. And, really, visiting both exhibits in one day is a challenge, especially for minors and for the most senior among us. Not just because it might be tiring, but because of the sensory overload, exacerbated by the hum and movement of the other visitors.

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

If I lived close by, then I'd just buy the ticket for one of the two exhibits and return another day for the second exhibit. If I'm staying overnight, then I'd forego the savings of buying both tickets together and buy the tickets separately so I can go to one exhibit the first day and the second exhibit the next day.

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

In this article, I'll focus on the Aquarium, and tomorrow, the Wildlife Museum. 

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

At first, I was pretty underwhelmed by the Aquarium. In the beginning, the traffic path isn't clear and I thought perhaps there were only two floors of the museum, one of which was consumed by award-winning fisherfolk. Which I didn't care about one whit. But one of my sisters noted there was a third floor, which I went to and that's when I began the long journey through the quite large Aquarium.

Three standouts for me:

• Two jellyfish tanks
• The darling, charming, personable sea snakes (who knew?!)
• The flirting or fighting Caribbean spiny lobsters

I had fun putting music to the jellyfish videos I took here and here (with one embedded below).

And here's a slide show of my jellyfish photos:

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

The sea snakes reminded me of the gladness of watching prairie dogs and meerkats.

WOW Aquarium, Springfield, Missouri. December 2017.

And below is a video. Enjoy:

.

And here's a video of two Caribbean spiny lobsters conducting a dance or a battle.


If you'd like some gentle moments of serenity, I invite you to sink softly into a cloud of Pachelbel in blue below:

A deep breath.

El Paso: Mammoth Dung

Mammoth dung, UTEP Centennial Museum, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

I felt right smug when I saw this dung display at UTEP's Centennial Museum. Imagine. An exhibit of poop.


Why, I've been collecting pictorial poop for years now.

Some unidentified effluvia here, outside the abandoned primate facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

I captured some fine excrement in Colorado here and here.

Have I told you yet about the jackalope poop I picked up in the cemetery on the far east side of El Paso?  No? Well, that's coming.

I have an epic story of poo here. It's my personal story of poo.

There's also a story of a geographic curiosity that looks like poop. 

Poop, vodka, and a jawbone in Mestia, Svaneti, Caucasus Georgia. May 2012.

I confess that the mammoth dung in the museum exhibit looks like fried chicken to me. 

Toronto: AGO: Watching

I like the peace in the original artwork and in the quiet looking upon the artwork. The contemplator's head is slightly tilted, like the little girl's.

One of my favorite paintings at the AGO is below. It's by William Kurulek. I can't decide which photographic version I prefer, and I don't have to.

William Kurulek, Home on the Range, AGO, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. June 2016.

William Kurulek, Home on the Range, AGO, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. June 2016.

Colorado: Longmont: The Longmont Museum

Longmont Museum, Longmont, Colorado. May 2016.

My sister, Murphy, and I visited the Longmont Museum.


It's in a grand, graceful building. Contemporary.


The museum is free!

Volunteers at the museum help offset the municipal costs of running this cultural amenity.

I was astounded to discover that the Ancient Ones had invented the purple plastic mechanical pencil.

Longmont Museum, Longmont, Colorado. May 2016.