Remember 9/11 on 11th anniversary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: RABBI SAMUEL M. COHON, 327-4501
SAT BIR KAUR KHALSA, 490-1165
PASTOR TOM DUNHAM, 982-7115

Together We Remember: September 11, 2012

September 11th, 2012 marks the eleventh anniversary of the events that changed our country and our world in the most profound ways. In Tucson we seek to commemorate this day as both a memorial remembrance and an inspiration to help build our community, our country, and our world for good, for life, and for peace. Out of our diversity of backgrounds, creeds, and races we embrace a deep unity that employs our collective gifts to remember 9/11 and to be inspired to strive for a better, brighter future for us all.

Tuesday, September 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm, the Tucson Multi-Faith Alliance will hold a community prayer service entitled “Together We Remember: September 11” at Streams in the Desert Lutheran Church, 5360 E. Pima. Clergy representatives of many different faith communities and civic leaders will participate in a ceremony of prayer, music, and reflection.

Everyone is invited to attend and remember. Attendees are asked to bring a can of non-perishable food for the Community Food Bank.

The Tucson Multi-Faith Alliance is a multi-faith group dedicated to building mutual understanding and community across the boundary lines of religion, race, creed, orientation, and ability. Its members commit themselves to an ongoing dialogue, and resolve to learn, teach, pray, and act together to bring an open religious and spiritual dimension to public life in Tucson.

Call (520) 327-4501 for more information

This summer my husband and I listened to a lecture by the architect Michael Arad about the memorial at the site of the former World Trade Towers in NYC. He won the design competition in 2004 for this huge project, and spoke of the long process it took to create a beautiful & respectful memorial for the families of the nearly 3,000 victims. Read the New York Times article about Mr. Arad: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/arts/design/how-the-911-memorial-changed-its-architect-michael-arad.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.

Later in August my husband was in NYC and was able to view this memorial in person for the first time, and he said it was “deeply moving”. He added that “the silence and physical depth of the memorial was awesome”. I hope to see it someday.

“Stonewall Uprising” documentary at the Loft (about the Stonewall Inn gay bar event of June 28, 1969)

One Hit Wonders film at the Loft Cinema on September 8, 7:30 p.m.will be the 2010 documentary “Stonewall Uprising”. From the Loft website:

“On June 28, 1969, everything changed.”

“It was the Rosa Parks moment,” says one man. June 28, 1969: NYC police raid a Greenwich Village Mafia-run gay bar, The Stonewall Inn. For the first time, patrons refuse to be led into paddy wagons, setting off a 3-day riot that launches the Gay Rights Movement. Told by Stonewall patrons, Village Voice reporters and the cop who led the raid, STONEWALL UPRISING compellingly recalls the bad old days when psychoanalysts equated homosexuality with mental illness and advised aversion therapy, and even lobotomies; public service announcements warned youngsters against predatory homosexuals; and police entrapment was rampant. A treasure-trove of archival footage gives life to this all-too-recent reality, a time when Mike Wallace announced on a 1966 CBS Reports: “The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. He is not interested in, nor capable of, a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage.” At the height of this oppression, the cops raid Stonewall, triggering nights of pandemonium with tear gas, billy clubs and a small army of tactical police. The rest is history. ”

movie poster

The late activist Dr. Maurice Grossman passionately spoke of this event at his October, 2008 talk at the Democrats of Greater Tucson. Maurice was a leader in the local Tucson Stonewall Democrats club. And here’s the link to the Arizona Stonewall Democrats (click here).

A portion of the proceeds from Wednesday’s showing will benefit Tucson Pride. Here’s their mission statement:

* Our Purpose is to produce and promote Pride events for Tucson, Arizona, throughout the year.
* Our Intent is to create forums through which Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Heterosexual people can express their creativity, visibility, unity, and diversity with dignity.
* Our Aim is to nurture cultural and artistic expression throughout the community.
* Our Goal is to educate, commemorate, and celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender history, uniqueness, and diversity in all the facets of our community.

We have come a long way since 1969, with gay marriage now being performed in five states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont),and the District of Columbia.
And I just heard of a lesbian couple who crossed the border into Canada (where it is also legal) to get married.

The Loft Theater is at 3233 E. Speedway, east of Country Club.