On I'm Going Back To Arizona (And You Should Probably Come Too)
Elitist.
This is almost a reasonable response to what's happening. The only problem is, my mom lives in Tucson, she teaches and she sees foreign and indy films about 4 or 5 times a week (no shit, the woman is an encyclopedia of film knowledge, it's bizarre). The amount of culture that Tucson contains - he has just made it even more likely that no one... See More will ever want to visit Arizona. When I lived there, I was impressed by Tucson, for the lazy, sleepy place it was, it was also a place with very good restaurants, a lot of cheap theatre - opera, dance, and plays - and some of the most beautiful scenery you'll ever see (while on your way to the bar to get wasted, that part's TOTALLY on the money). Under the guise of being worldly and educated and leaning on his Nat Geo cred, he sounds like a bit of a racist himself.
All that before my morning coffee.
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On I'm Going Back To Arizona (And You Should Probably Come Too)
And...a response from my mom, Carol Masuda:
Good article. I can see his point too. However, I mostly see people my age or my Mexican friends of many ages from school or the people who work at the environmental groups of many ages who have my viewpoints and like the things I do. They do read, love music, movies and are aware of what's going on in the world.
There is ... See Morea population of poor, illiterate and disgusted people here who are angry no doubt about it. There are also a lot Hispanics who work hard and are not out getting drunk all the time and have a limited income (the college kids add a lot to the drinking population by the way). He does not mention the Hispanic population here which is pretty family oriented. They mostly have low paying jobs but do not fit into the description he gives.
Yes, the schools are in bad shape because we have so many retirees and people earning very little and the houses are cheap so that means a low tax base for the schools. Retirees don't want to spend on schools as they did that before they moved here. A catch 22.
I think he is right in many things but also is seeing things from only his perspective as I see them from mine. The people in Tucson that I know are pretty mad about the new law and there are a lot of university professors, teachers, Hispanic families and professionals who are pretty angry. They are not the total population but I also think that if one doesn't live here and meet all sorts of people, one has only one viewpoint. When you come to visit only, you see the same people each time and it is necessary to know a larger segment of the population before making a judgment. I don't know if he does know a lot of people here (all ages, all nationalities and all walks of life) He is right though, there are a lot of disgusted "rednecks" too. They are easy to find and pretty vocal. I guess I would have to know how much he gets involved with life here and how much he socializes with a large segment of the population because his article seems to be based on one friend and maybe friends from high school.