Help Others, Help Yourself
Acupuncture and Food Drive
Noon to 5 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 1
2900 E. Broadway Blvd., No. 170
881-1887
You can heal yourself and help people in need on New Year's Day by donating food in exchange for an acupuncture session.
"People can just show up anytime between noon and 5 p.m.," said Shoshana Mayden, business manager of Tucson Community Acupuncture. "We have a group-treatment setting, so we have a bunch of chairs and four acupuncturists."
The business has a goal of helping 150 people, surpassing the 122 served last year.
In exchange for two food items or a suggested cash donation of $5, people can try out this ancient Chinese treatment, which involves pricking the skin with small needles. Proceeds benefit the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, and the business will donate an additional $2 for every person treated, Mayden said.
"At this event, we get a lot of first-time people who have never done acupuncture before. It's a really great way to try it," Mayden said.
Patients can expect to remain clothed (minus shoes and socks) and will be treated in a large community room where they will rest in a reclining chair. One-time-use needles will be inserted at specific points, depending on the patient's complaint. The visit should last about 20 to 30 minutes.
"We treat just about every condition under the sun in our clinic," Mayden said.
How acupuncture works is still the subject of debate.
"It's kind of a million-dollar question. People are not sure exactly how it works; they just know that it does," Mayden said. "From a Chinese medical standpoint, it's helping bring the body into balance. From a Western perspective, it helps by using the inflammation response in the body, relieving pain and releasing endorphins."
Watercoloring Reality
Dean Mitchell—New Works
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday; and 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, from Monday, Jan. 2, through Wednesday, Feb. 15
Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery
7000 E. Tanque Verde Road
722-7798
A bit of the East Coast visits the Southwest starting on Monday, Jan. 2, when an exhibit of Dean Mitchell's new works opens at Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery.
"He is a new artist for us," gallery owner Mark Sublette said about Mitchell, an award-winning artist who was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Florida. "We had to have him; he's fantastic."
Mitchell's works aren't your typical watercolors. A couple of his paintings currently hanging in the gallery have taken viewers by surprise, Sublette said.
"They thought they were photographs from a distance," he said. "It's amazing he's able to show this medium so well.
"From a technical standpoint, he can capture the minute details," Sublette continued. "Watercolor is not an easy medium to work with. It's not forgiving. You can't do it over."
Mitchell's paintings defy traditional watercolor style, with rich and intense details in both landscape and figure portraits.
"To see how quickly he works, and the result of that painting, it kind of blows your mind. It's very realistic," Sublette said. "I think, especially with his figurative works, he shows people in a very natural kind of pose. They really have a life to those figures."
Entrance to the gallery is free. To preview Mitchell's work, visit www.deanmitchellstudio.com, or visit the Medicine Man Gallery website, which includes images from the show and a video of Mitchell in action.
Stringing Together the New Year
Classical Music Concert
2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 1
665 W. Roller Coaster Road
887-5127
What better way to kick off the new year than by basking in the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at a free concert?
Dove of Peace Lutheran Church is launching its eighth season of free classical concerts, and is focusing on composers of the 18th century. The year's first concert, the Mozart bash, starts at 2 p.m. on New Year's Day, and features members of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and Tucson Chamber Artists.
"We're focusing on the music of Mozart; it fits with the music of the 18th century, and Mozart is undoubtedly one of the most-popular composers in the classical realm," said Eric Holtan, music minister at Dove of Peace and artistic director of the concert series. "The focus of our series is on 18th-century music. You get the likes of Mozart, Bach and the other biggies like Beethoven and Haydn."
The Mozart program includes his String Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, K406, and Oboe Quartet in F Major, K370, as well as favorite arias from some of the composer's operas, Holtan said.
The concert will also include some of Mozart's transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier."
"These are significant works for keyboard that he transcribed for string quartet," Holtan said.
Although admission to the concert is free, it benefits Interfaith Community Services, Holtan said.
"We make it free and open to the public as a gift to the community, and at the concert, we take a free-will offering. Every dollar goes to the charity," he said.
Hike Into the New Year
"First Day Hikes" at Arizona's State Parks
Catalina State Park, 9 a.m.; Picacho Peak State Park, 10 a.m.; Roper Lake State Park, 10 a.m.; Kartchner Caverns State Park, 10:30 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 1
(602) 542-4174
State parks across America are offering a New Year's Day treat to help people start 2012 on the right foot, so to speak.
In Arizona, free "First Day Hikes" will occur at 13 parks in the state. In Southern Arizona, hikes will be offered at Catalina State Park, Kartchner Caverns State Park, Roper Lake State Park and Picacho Peak State Park.
"Whatever park you choose, you just pay for your car to get into the park, and then you go on a hike with a ranger or volunteer," said Ellen Bilbrey, spokeswoman for Arizona State Parks. (A $6 entrance fee will be charged at Kartchner Caverns.)
The hikes are an excellent way for residents and visitors to enjoy the state's natural beauty, Bilbrey said.
"The idea is to start your year out right, and be healthy—and remember that all those beautiful parks are yours, and you need to use them," she said.
Bilbrey stressed that programs such as the hikes benefit the state by bringing money into nearby communities. It's also worth noting that the state parks' budgets have been ravaged in recent years by cuts made by the state Legislature.
"State parks were designed to be economic engines to the communities that they're in. Those parks keep those little communities chugging along," Bilbrey said. "It's important for people not only to exercise and get out there, but when they're in that community, maybe they'll stop and get a hamburger or visit a gift shop."
Hikes will vary in difficulty, Bilbrey said.
"You don't have to climb to the top of the peak at Picacho," she said. "The parks have all levels of trails."
