[ad_1]
(Old Pueblo Abuelo is a registered trademark pending)
This is the seventh part of “Old Pueblo Abuelo,” a Sunday thought about positive things that happen in Old Pueblo from a sometimes quirky and often humorous grandfather who was actually born in Tucson.
“You have a choice where you want to stand, so remember to stand closest to where you sit.”
I was born here. It was a Sunday – April 26th, 1964. I was in the womb when JFK was killed and the Beatles hit the charts with “Can’t Buy Me Love” when I was born.
On that day, a new Mustang from Holmes Tuttle Ford cost $ 2,500, there were eight drive-ins (Apache, Cactus, Fiesta, Midway, Miracle, Prince, Rodeo and 22nd St.), Fred Busby’s Rolling Hills Country Club Estates stood on the Program $ 15,000, Hidden Valley Estates sold for $ 30,000, Ronstadts was located at 70 N. 6th Avenue, Count Scheib would paint your car for $ 29.95, Tucson High won the state tennis tournament the day before, and the Boston Celtics won their sixth straight national championship.
It’s a different world now, but Tucson has largely remained intact. I lived in the Washington DC area and the Phoenix area. These areas are cities, but Tucson remains a community surrounded by communities. Each is linked by about three degrees of separation, which means that a friend of a friend of a friend’s chances are you happen to be you.
Most, if not all, of us know a local small business owner. I tried to count the ones I know on my Facebook list but I stopped at 30 with most of them being restaurant or bar owners. They have all been particularly hard hit during the pandemic and most continue to fight like most of us. I can imagine that most of them chose Tucson because they had a strong connection and love for our community.
Some of them advertise and most of them support local causes like charities and youth sports. Some of them have and continue to advertise on AllSportsTucson and it’s an honor. We treat our advertisers like Wings over Broadway and Frog and Firkin with respect. We do our best to let people know that they fully support our youth while providing excellent dining experiences in different ends of our community.
We never have, and never will, expect free food or drink from our sponsors – heck, we rarely accept free food from snack bars because we know schools are trying to raise money to survive – they don’t have to give reporters a free hot dog or hot dog Soda.
I love our local community and the small business owners who love Tucson too.
I carry pruning shears and pruning shears in my truck because there are trees and bushes in the neighborhood around the school I teach that seem to grow like weeds. It doesn’t cost me anything to stop to trim a tree blocking a bike path or sidewalk. I also carry huge garbage bags to hand out to other Tucson neighbors who are picking up trash along our streets and you would be surprised how many people are doing this. Just take a look. I stopped in Oro Valley last week because an elderly gentleman was picking up trash in front of Ironwood Ridge with a small grocery bag and was grateful for the larger bag. When I can, I also pick up rubbish and put the laundry away at my school.
I remove graffiti from my school and near my house when I see it. It is not that hard. I don’t even know if I need a permit to do this, but I do.
I created an opportunity for people through my charity, Kicks4Kids, to give children in our community new tennis shoes valued at over $ 400,000 for shoes valued at over 16,000 pairs of trainers. I plan to quit when I get to a million.
You can find more “Old Pueblo Abuelo” here.
I paint murals and have paid others to paint murals in our church. Most importantly, in my 33 years as a teacher in our community, I have taught over 5,000 students. This includes around 30 second-generation students, including my youngest daughter, who now teaches at my school.
@AmphiSchools kids check out the progress of our new @RioVistaBullDog murals at pic.twitter.com/dEuw5s8Cby
– Andy Morales (@ AndyMorales8) January 26, 2018
I’m not telling you any of this to brag, I want you to do what you can. These are just examples. We all do something to help because we love our community and scratch our heads when some try to tear it down while detracting from the people and businesses that are trying to survive here without giving anything back.
My late father told me, “It is better to do good than to do good,” and so my family moves on. We love our community and if not, nothing stands in the way of moving to Phoenix. Just a FYI, I also love a few people who live in Phoenix so move elsewhere.
FOLLOW @ ANDYMORALES8 ON TWITTER
Andy Morales was named Best High School Reporter by the AIA in 2014, received the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News Award winner, and has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girl wrestling. His own children have won several state high school championships and have been called to all-state teams. He competed in hockey, basketball, baseball, and athletics in high school and his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the voting member of the Ed Doherty Award in Southern Arizona, which recognizes Arizona’s best footballer, and was named a Local Hero by Tucson Weekly in 2016. Andy was named Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019 and is a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
[ad_2]
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/XT55LHRVUFAQFM6G5RXE4ZAWUY.jpg "Tucson-based distillery whiskey named among Top 100 Spirits of 2021")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/XGU6SM7T4ND6XMX5IQROUZBVFY.jpg "Tucson Veterans Day Parade canceled due to downtown construction")
