Friendly Reminder :)) One Week To Go > Poster Design Contest Deadline 29 Jan

The third annual Southwest Maker Fest will come to downtown Mesa on March 12, and your design can help make it a success! Proposal deadline is in ONE WEEK!

Click on the link below to see the design contest guidelines and please consider submitting a design for this exciting, collaborative event. The design will be used for the SWMF 2016 poster and program cover. We would love to feature YOUR creative ideas to promote an event that celebrates the power of creativity for individuals and communities across the region.
http://www.southwestmakerfest.com/

Report From Fronteras The Changing America Desk

To Spanish-English bilingual speakers Fronteras are usually considered the borderlines or border areas between areas [like the westward expanding American Frontier and Manifest Destiny we were taught in history classes].
In recent areas of conflict, the federal government in one case in Oregon is choosing to stand-off and one case from Mormon-dominated towns on the Utah-Arizona border the federal government's Department of Justice is choosing go to trial this week in Phoenix.

[Image from Wikipedia]

Why is such a large geographical area all the way from the state of Oregon to the states of Utah and Arizona a fertile ground for news attention? An answer might be found in the historic settlement patterns and land claims in the West before there were recognized state boundaries on lands
The image to the left from Wikipedia shows boundaries of the provisional State of Deseret (orange with black outline) as proposed in 1849.
Modern state boundaries are underlaid for reference.
Some history is important to note here - The State of Deseret  was a provisional state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never recognized by the United States government. The name derives from the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon.
The provisional state was a bold proposal, encompassing most of the territory that had been acquired from Mexico the previous year as the Mexican Cession.
The proposal encompassed nearly all of present-day Utah and Nevada, large portions of California and Arizona, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon.
Although

The idea of creating a state based on Mormonism began to fade away after the coming of the railroad in the 1860's which opened the territory to many non-Mormon settlers . . . now over 200 years later  those claims on lands and the domination of religious beliefs in the issue of religious discrimination in the function of government are getting attention. To read and listen to the report on the DDOJ trial taking place this week in Phoenix you can go here >> Fronteras Desk Report on January 19, 2016

How all this plays out remains to be seen 

• in the Bundy Oregon stand-off,
• in the Department of Justice actions at a trial in federal court starting Wednesday in Phoenix,
• and here locally in the City of Mesa on the issues of equality and inclusion for all protected classes by the force of law with the passing of a City Ordinance where the minority Mormon religion has dominated government and politics for decades.

Senior Field Correspondent Jude Joffe-Block (Phoenix) caught the radio bug while assisting a radio reporter in Mexico, and has been happiest wearing headphones and pointing microphones ever since. She initiated Fronteras Desk coverage in Las Vegas as the project's first Senior Field Correspondent there. She then joined the Phoenix newsroom in July 2012.
Previously, she contributed stories on immigration and criminal justice to KALW in San Francisco and multimedia content in both Spanish and English to The Associated Press in Mexico.
Joffe-Block is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and Yale University, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico.
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Take Me Out To The Ball Game > Under Armour Pre-Season All-American Tournament

That happened over the weekend at Sloan Park, home base for Chicago Cubs Spring Training here in Mesa.
The official season at that sports complex starts in March. That's a big thing - a big investment of public money from borrowing millions in a municipal bond issue by the City of Mesa. That subject - and leveraging the debt service owed by taxpayers in the city [$3,260 per capita] - was addressed by City Manager Chris Brady in a divided discussion about land-speculation being considered by the Mesa City Council at a recent city council meeting.

Let's put discussion in the warm-up bullpen about the city's big debt service costs      for now to look at one pre-season happening in the big major league business of baseball that was here at Sloan Park.
Most people think of baseball as a spectator sport - they watch the players either in-person by paying to attend [one-day or overnight-stays at local lodging where the city makes money on hotel occupancy taxes and sales taxes from spending in retail and restaurants]. Team owners make billions in broadcast rights sold to networks to show the games, networks make millions selling on-air ads during the games and sponsors pay millions to get attached to sports and athletes. What the City of Mesa might gain is unclear - an analysis of ROI return -on-investment would show that but figures are sketchy.

Seeing a report in Idaho's Standard Journal 12 hours ago showed there was another industry in the sport of baseball - pre-season evaluation and training with an attention-getting bait: Your Path to Greatness Starts Here
Only one event gives you the chance to make your mark on the field as an Under Armour Pre-Season All-American. Players will be put onto teams based on their region and teams will then compete in two days of intense competition. Last year, all 30 MLB teams had a scouting representative along with the MLB Scouting Bureau.
Here's a link >> https://www.baseballfactory.com/ua-baseball/ua-pre-season-tournament/

The Standard Journal staff did a great job reporting on one aspiring baseball player
Madison baseball player Hayden Leatham competes at prestigious baseball tournament
Father Matt Latham is shown in a courtesy photo accompanying the article with his son Hayden at the Chicago Cubs spring training facility here at Sloan Park, formerly Wrigley Field.
Six teams of 12 players competed at the event, in front of several scouts. Morales said representatives of every Major League Baseball team were in attendance, as well as college scouts.
Since the The All-America Baseball Game’s inception in 2008, 217 of the 255 draft eligible players from the Under Armour All-America Game were selected in the MLB Amateur Draft including 60 first round picks.

Sloan Park is one of ten locations all over the country for the 2016 Under Armour Tournament Schedule - complete schedule and locations in this link >> http://www.teamonebaseball.com/tournaments/

Re/What works > Social Media = More Than Selfie Posing + Self-Promotion

Wael Ghonim, Internet activist and computer engineer, believes that the Internet can be the most powerful platform for connecting humanity, if we can bring civility and thoughtful conversations back to it.
In just six days his 13:34 You Tube video Let's design social media that drives real change  filmed in December of last year and uploaded on January 13, 2016 has attracted 238,444 viewers.
While there are obvious advantages to social media, some claim that it has a deceptive presence that gives people a false sense of satisfaction just from clicking a button without taking any real action or risks.

For your MesaZona blogger, I am thrilled to see such a forward-thinking venture develop as a way to engage more people with politics and thus improve engaging citizens, increase transparency with insisting on open data, and establish accountability in government using digital democracy.
All are clearly stated outcomes and goals for the City of Mesa in Bloomberg's WhatWorksCities.
Simply put: interactive communication undoubtedly increases the accountability of governments.

What did Wael Ghonim do? He anonymously created a Facebook page. It had more fans than established media organizations and even top celebrities.He crowd-sourced ideas from people - It made people realize that they were not alone. Then came the consequences. His online world became a battleground filled with trolls, lies, hate speech. He stayed silent for two more than two years, using the time to reflect on everything that happened, trying to understand why did it happen. It became clear to him that while it's true that polarization is primarily driven by our human behavior, social media shapes this behavior and magnifies its impact. Say you want to say something that is not based on a fact, pick a fight or ignore someone that you don't like. These are all natural human impulses, but because of technology, acting on these impulses is only one click away.

What does he say now? 
There are five critical challenges facing today's social media:
1. We don't know how to deal with rumors. Rumors that confirm people's biases are now believed and spread among millions of people.
2. We create our own echo chambers. We tend to only communicate with people that we agree with, and thanks to social media, we can mute, un-follow and block everybody else.
3. Online discussions quickly descend into angry mobs. All of us probably know that. It's as if we forget that the people behind screens are actually real people and not just avatars.
4. It became really hard to change our opinions. Because of the speed and brevity of social media, we are forced to jump to conclusions and write sharp opinions in 140 characters about complex world affairs. And once we do that, it lives forever on the Internet, and we are less motivated to change these views, even when new evidence arises.
5. -- and in his point of view, this is the most critical -- today, our social media experiences are designed in a way that favors broadcasting over engagements, posts over discussions, shallow comments over deep conversations. It's as if we agreed that we are here to talk at each other instead of talking with each other.

Time For Another TEDtalk > Why Great Architecture Should Tell A Story

Architect Ole Scheeren designs buildings that generate both functional and social spaces.

When Ole Scheeren (TED Talk: Why great architecture should tell a story) unveiled his design for a complex of residential towers in Singapore, his clients were stunned. “There was a moment of silence, and I could feel that there was a degree of disbelief in the room.” Why? Because Scheeren had turned 12 towers on their sides, and stacked them like Lincoln Logs. It would take him two weeks to convince the clients that the plan could even work — but he relishes conversations in which he can challenge the ingrained notion that the only way is up. He invites us to reimagine our cities’ skylines via five of his iconic buildings.

"For much of the past century, architecture was under the spell of a famous doctrine. "Form follows function" had become modernity's ambitious manifesto and detrimental straitjacket, as it liberated architecture from the decorative, but condemned it to utilitarian rigor and restrained purpose. . . I want to propose a completely different quality.
If form follows fiction, we could think of architecture and buildings as a space of stories -- stories of the people that live there, of the people that work in these buildings. And we could start to imagine the experiences our buildings create."

Whole transcript http://www.ted.com/talks/ole_scheeren_why_great_architecture_should_tell_a_story/transcript?language=en#t-26839

BOW > Becoming An Outdoor Woman in Arizona @ Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch

No, not me!, dear readers. Yours truly is definitely a tenderfoot dude-mellow maverick in outdoor life here in Arizona. Yet in a way it's a personal story. Later for that ...
This blogsite is taking a turn to showcase a three-day workshop at a location outside of the central core of the New Urban DTMesa - Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch.

Like the website saguarolakeranch.com says, historic Saguaro Lake Ranch, one of the most scenic guest ranches in the Southwest, is one of Arizona's hidden treasures that has welcomed guests from all the world for almost 100 years.
It started as a construction camp for the building of the Mt. Stewart Dam that harnessed the hydroelectric power of the Salt River at the same time providing resources for wildlife and outdoor recreation.
It was an eye-opener for me back in 2002 after becoming a refugee from New York City following the 911 Twin Towers attacks to find that life is simple in a rustic spot with "panoramic views of  a wilderness, . . sun-filled days, exciting adventures, idyllic star-lit nights and good company". 

I brought "New York values" working at the ranch cooking for two years, going over-board one day off with a housekeeper in rough currents kayaking down the Salt River in search of the wild horses, and diving to the floor when a neighbor walked into the kitchen with a gun in a holster. Cooking in an open pit-fire using mesquite with stones in the ground, helped by a wrangler demonstrating Dutch oven cooking for guests, and working with owners Steve and Susan Durand and their sons Jason and Kevin were part of my education all about Arizona and outdoor life.
Just the way that two-year gig turned my life around, here's some information about a 3-day workshop coming up this week Jan 22-24 starting at noon on Friday to just after noon on Sunday: Just talked to Kim at BOW and she tells me there is one bed left to book. If interested, please call her at 480-644-0077.
Arizona Becoming an Outdoors Woman

The Arizona Wildlife Federation (AWF) conducts Becoming an Outdoor Woman (BOW ®). BOW gives women (18 and older) the opportunity to learn about hunting, fishing and related activities in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. Skills such as gun safety, shooting, angling (including fly fishing), camping, Dutch-oven cooking, map and compass reading, marksmanship with rifle and bow are taught.

Instructors, who volunteer their time to teach these classes, are experts in their field. Some are employed in the fields they teach; others are experts in their subjects, including archery and rifle marksmanship. Still others are Arizona Game and Fish and U.S. Forest Service employees with years of experience in the flora and fauna of Arizona.

    http://www.nwfaffiliates.org/sites/azwildlife.org/ht/d/sp/i/60573/pid/60573

There are many reasons why women come to BOW. For some, it is just some ‘ME’ time. A different take on a girlfriends weekend away. BOW is a great way to enjoy camaraderie with other women and maybe learn a new skill.

Many BOW participants are looking for a little adventure, a baby step outside their comfort zone.

Still others are looking for like-minded women to network with. Single moms might want the skills to safely take their families camping or fishing or geocaching. At BOW she can learn those skills and find a friend to go with.
Read more: http://www.ammoland.com/2016/01/arizonas-april-2016-becoming-an-outdoors-woman-event/#ixzz3xWHE1dJX
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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Mormon News Report > Top Stories January 15: Bundy-Style Mormonism

" - ism" was one of Google's chosen words for 2015. 
The attention of your MesaZona blogger was recently re-directed from The New Urban DTMesa while receiving newsfeeds and news alerts and broadcast and streaming news for the last 14 days about a heavily-weaponized group taking over a property in Oregon. They've been called by mainstream media "right-wing domestic terrorists", "armed terrorists hijacking public lands", and "deluded nuts" among another things.

However, rarely brought up in world and national news broadcasts is that Clive and Ammon Bundy are disciples in the Mormon religion.
Is this another example of religions running wild with followers taking to the extreme fringes? 
[Image to the right is Ammon Bundy giving a talk at a public charter school here in Mesa last year.]
Mormons behaving badly?
Perhaps to counter-act any possible negative publicity, the LDS church is engaging in a series of internal conversations starting with a radio interview broadcast three days ago.
Listen . . . here's the link > KUER/bundy-style-Mormonism
Well worth the time 52.39
One commentator Zeke had this to say: The LDS Church has a huge problem with bitter, hateful anti-government mormons running amok.
Another commentator Tsuji wrote this: I am a Mormon and do not support the Bundy's one bit, but I disagree with your characterization.
They are deluded nuts but they think they are making a political statement . . . The Feds are wisely trying to avoid escalation.
And another johninnv wrote this: Just like in Bunkerville. The local elected Mormon leaders of the region did NOT ever say a word against what 'ol pappy Cliven and offspring were doing. Not once. Not a Bishop, nor a take President, nor the several Mormons in elected leadership positions. NOPE - and many of them indicated that they supported Bundy positions. The Mormon church needs to get over its long cultivated hatred of the United States Government.

Bundy-style Mormonism

By Doug Fabrizio • Jan 14, 2016

Thursday we’re asking if the occupation of a federal office in Oregon is a Mormon enterprise, and if so, what kind of Mormonism? The Bundy brothers leading the group are LDS, and they use Mormon theology to talk about motives and dealing with “tyranny.” The Church has condemned the tactics, and while the Bundys’ views aren’t mainstream, historian Patrick Mason says they didn’t come out of thin air. He and others join us to talk about the groups’ politics and faith in relation to Mormon orthodoxy.