Weekly Wide Web

The Siren Call of My Phone

The Siren Call of My Phone

In general, I'm horrified when I see that someone has tagged me in a photo on Facebook. There's a sense of dread that sinks in between seeing the notification and the moment when the photo loads on my screen.

While I am appreciative that someone is digitally capturing the moments of my life, I am embarrassed to say that with the addition of photos taken at my wife's graduation party, there are now at least two photos on Facebook that feature me looking at my iPhone in some sort of social setting. The classic photo of me looking at my iPhone was taken at Golf N' Stuff, when, theoretically, I was spending time with my family—but instead, there's me, standing behind a stroller, intently focused on a tiny handheld screen.

Thankfully, there's now an update to that somewhat dated shot.

While I can come up with a number of vaguely legitimate justifications for looking at my iPhone, with the old standby being, "I thought I felt it buzz, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't work/the baby sitter/(insert provider of time-sensitive news here)," seeing another of these photos does remind me that I need to interact with actual people once in a while, instead of seeing what combination of letters were just played on "Words With Friends." My wife recently uninstalled Facebook on her phone, which is seeming like a better idea all the time.

I'd like to stop the number of Dan-staring-at-his-phone photos at two.


THE WEEK ON THE RANGE

We followed the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour; raised an eyebrow over state Senate President Russell Pearce's Fiesta Bowl stories; looked at reaction to President Barack Obama's immigration speech in El Paso; kept an eye on the Tucson Unified School District ethnic-studies controversy; and saluted Sen. John McCain for rejecting the right-wing meme that waterboarding helped lead to Osama bin Laden's Pakistani hideout.

We brought you photos from the Slutwalk; laughed at the right-wing freakout over Common's appearance at a White House poetry event; spent more time at Kino Stadium watching the Tucson Padres; and was sad to inform you that A. the Intern was dropping out of the mayor's race.

We shared the news that Green Valley residents created a memorial to honor Gabe Zimmerman, the Congressional District 8 staffer who was killed in the Jan. 8 shooting rampage; brought you new polling numbers that showed Arizona Democrats really love Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and Arizona Republicans don't like Donald Trump or J.D. Hayworth; and brought you more crazy details from the failed effort to recall Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.

We debuted our new "This Week in Tucson Bicycling" column by Mike McKisson; took you inside Dragon's Spark, a temporary store selling crafts by local artisans, products made of recycled materials and fair-trade merchandise; celebrated the opening of Mercado San Agustin; previewed the Dan Zanes show at the Rialto Theatre; recommended you check out What Laura Says and Black Carl at Plush; and gave you more sage advice on what TV you should be watching.


COMMENT OF THE WEEK

"Maybe it's going to be a race to see if he's recalled or indicted first."

TucsonWeekly.com commenter "J_in_Cochise" theorizes on the political and possibly criminal future of Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce ("Wait, Russell Pearce Might Have Lied About the Fiesta Bowl Scandal?" The Range, May 13).


BEST OF WWW

Our non-intern-based coverage of the race for Tucson mayor continues with a video featuring candidate Jonathan Rothschild. Rothschild was recently scolded on our blog for a moment in an Arizona Daily Star profile during which he ordered a Budweiser while at a local brewery. To give him an opportunity to correct that error in non-locals-first judgment, we met with Rothschild and tasted a series of local beer offerings in an attempt to find him a new hops-based drink of choice. This offer extends to any legitimate candidate running for city, state or national office.

Also, we have a video slideshow of the festivities from last week's Slutwalk, since we always appreciate events meant to raise awareness that also show a sense of humor.