The Arizona Daily Star Opinion team has been hosting a weekly Zoom chat for over a year now. We have loved getting to know our readers better, and our readers keep joining the chat each week looking forward to each new guest.
We have had bee experts, government officials, grief support counselors, authors, reporters, local organization leaders and so many more. Here are some of our upcoming guests — we hope you join us.
Look for the individual announcements each week, which will include the Zoom ID and password, or you can email Opinion coordinator Sara Brown for a link at sbrown@tucson.com. If you have suggestions for a guest, send those to Sara, too.
June 10: Pet show and tell. Join us on Zoom and show us your pet(s) and tell us their story. We can’t wait to meet you all!
June 17: Carmen Duarte: Carmen started at the Star in 1981 and wrote “Mama’s Santos: An Arizona Life,” a book about the Mexican and Mexican-American experience in the Southwest through stories about her family. It won 11 awards.
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June 24: Tony Davis: Tony graduated from Northwestern University and started at the Star in 1997. He has covered environmental stories since 2005, focusing on water supplies, climate change, the Rosemont Mine and the endangered jaguar.
July 1: Tim Steller: Tim is the Star’s metro columnist. A 20-plus year veteran of reporting and editing, he digs into issues and stories that matter in the Tucson area, reports the results and offers his analysis.
July 8: Melissa Maize: Melissa has lived in Arizona since 2002 (transplanting from California). She has a bachelor’s degree in human services/management. She became a case manager in 2016 starting with Bridgeway, then in 2018 rolled over to an ALTCS (Arizona Long Term Care System) case manager for the Banner University Health Plan.
July 15: Kristen Cook: An almost native Tucsonan, Kristen Cook is a writer, mom and budding ukulele player as well as a former columnist and award-winning reporter for the Arizona Daily Star for 26 years. She is also the author of two books: “This.” and “That.”
July 22: Dean Salman: Dean is an observatory technician at Kitt Peak Visitor Center. He has about 50 years of experience in astronomical photography and 20 years in nature photography. His work has been widely published.
July 29: Christopher Castro: Christopher is a professor and associate department head of hydrology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona.
Aug. 12: Patty Machelor: Patty covers issues pertaining to children and families, as well as people living with disabilities. She previously reported on court cases, with an emphasis on juvenile court. She has worked for the Arizona Daily Star since 2001.
Aug. 19: Dave Devine: A 1975 graduate of the University of Arizona, Dave since 1995 has written about the history of Tucson and Southern Arizona. In that time he has completed three books and several monographs on subjects ranging from Tucson’s history since the 1854 Gadsden Purchase to the history of St. Luke’s in the Desert to tales, both serious and lighthearted, from territorial Tucson.
Sara Brown, Opinion Coordinator at the Arizona Daily Star Newsroom working with editorial, features, business and metro. sbbrown@tucson.com, 520-807-8466. Twitter: @sbrownarizona. Facebook: sbrownarizona.
