Broad Perspectives

Caitlin Schmidt and Susan Barnett are co-founders of Tucson Spotlight, a new digital news publication in Tucson.

Caitlin has lived in Tucson for 20 years and spent a decade reporting for the Arizona Daily Star before co-founding the Tucson Agenda. She has won numerous awards for her reporting. She’s an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism and sits on the boards of several professional organizations.

Susan Barnett is a native Tucsonan who previously worked for La Estrella de Tucson, the Arizona Daily Star’s Spanish-language publication, and the Tucson Agenda. She’s pursuing a master’s degree in bilingual journalism and has worked as a talk show host and digital producer at various local outlets.

Linda Ronstadt – La Cigarra, was played on our music break.

Dee played in the DuPage Symphony Orchestra in Chicago. She moved to SaddleBrooke in 2006. She started taking lessons here in Tucson from Dennis Bourret who she felt was a wonderful teacher. He helped her get back up to speed. She started looking for an orchestra to play with.

Dee Schroer found the orchestra, and she plays violin with the Southern AZ Symphony Orchestra (or SASO).  She also served as President of their Board for several years. It’s incredible how much skill and precision it takes to play in an orchestra. Dee explains everything from rehearsal to the different roles and functions of the orchestra, and the discipline it requires following intricate cues.

Played on our music break:   Four Seasons Op 8 Spring: Allegro by Itzhak Perlman

Marilyn Fitzgerald is a life-style coach, training facilitator, and speaker with a focus on holistic health.

As the president of Spirit-Mind-Body LLC and M.D.F. Communications Inc., she has been a contributing writer to many health and wellness publications including Conscious Choice magazine.  She was the former co-host of the Les Brown Radio Show, which focused on personal development topics.  She is the author of Change Your Mind,Change Your Life: The Spirit of a Winner – A Guided Wellness Journal.

Pam Simon served as Community Outreach Coordinator for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords since the Congresswoman first took office in 2007.  Before working in the congressional office Pam taught middle school and high school for over 20 years in both Washington State and Arizona.

On January 8, 2011, Pam was shot in the arm and chest while staffing the Congresswoman at a Congress on your Corner event in Tucson.  Since retiring from the congressional office she has served on the staff of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Everytown for Gun Safety and has been an advocate for gun violence prevention.  She currently volunteers with Moms Demand Action and the Everytown Survivor Network to promote common sense gun legislation at the local, state and national level.  In 2014 Pam was named a White House Champion of Change for her work on gun violence prevention.

Pam also served on the January 8 Memorial Foundation board.  She is grateful for the creation of a permanent memorial to honor the lives taken on January 8, 2011 and to recognize the remarkable way in which the community came together in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Melissa Hosten, is the Director of the University of Arizona Center for Recruitment and Retention of Mathematics Teachers. (aka CRR). Melissa’s areas of focus include mathematics for girls and data science for young children. She is a former President of Women and Mathematics Education and is active in Arizona Math Leaders and the Arizona Association of Mathematics Teachers.

Kathy Ogden’s daughter Courtney, was diagnosed at 9 months old with neuroblastoma, a pediatric solid tumor cancer that usually presents on the adrenal gland. Very sadly, she passed away at home, Thanksgiving Day, 1999.

Today, we are here to talk about the non-profit Courtney’s Courage, dedicated to raising funds for childhood cancer research, specifically neuroblastoma, and to assist with support services for pediatric cancer patients being treated at Banner Children’s – Diamond Children’s Medical Center and their families.

Below is the song we played for our music break.

Lara Ruggles is a Tucson  singer/songwriter who performs electronic pop under the name SharkkHeartt and she also performs acoustic folk songs under her own name.  She’s released an EP, two albums, and four standalone singles since 2011. She’s toured the United States at least a dozen times – by herself, with her own band, and as a musician and crew member for other artists such as Gregory Alan Isakov and poet Andrea Gibson. She says the biggest moments of her career so far have included opening a Christmas show for LeAnn Rimes and being selected as the artist-in-residence at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.  That allowed her to spend a month on the Big Island writing and recording new songs, and having close encounters with more sea turtles than she could keep count.

You’ve probably  seen her playing around town playing in different places, and she was a finalist in the 2024 Tucson Folk Festival Stefan George Songwriting Contest.  “Lizzie” is a 19 year old – Tucson born and raised – indie folk musician & songwriter. Her brand new EP “Turn it into Art” was released on November 29th! Lizzie says with her songwriting she is ready to make you dance, make you laugh, and make you cry all at the same time. Playing her acoustic guitar and singing, Lizzie plays all over town at venues and events such as the Tucson Folk Festival, Hotel Congress, The Fourth Avenue Street Fairs, Monterey Court, Espresso Art Cafe, Groundworks, and more. She hopes to spread the joy of music, bring people together, and touch as many hearts as she can possibly reach!

86-year-old author Sandra Butler was raised in a conventional 1940s suburb to become a wife and a mother. She spent seven years being unsuccessful at being a proper wife but was delighted with being a mother. A divorce catapulted her and her two young daughters into the turbulent l960s. Immersed in the anti-war and civil rights movements, she found her political and psychological foundation in the second wave of the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s. She began college in her mid-thirties, which led to graduate study, five books, two films, and decades of organizing and community building.

Her new release, Leaving Home at 83 chronicles Sandy’s struggles to balance her autonomy and independence with a growing longing to be taken care of, something she disapproves of in herself and has fought against all her life.

Nina Simone was played on our music break.