Desert Rats, River Runners, and Canyon Crawlers: Four Arizona Explorers with Gregory McNamee

San Tan Library- Bronze Room 31505 N Schnepf Rd, San Tan Valley, AZ, United States

Francisco Garcés, a Franciscan friar, arrived in what is now Arizona in 1768. Assigned to the church at San Xavier del Bac south of present-day Tucson, he traveled widely throughout Arizona and California, charting overland routes that later travelers would follow. Near where Garcés would meet his death in 1781, an American soldier named Joseph […]

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Education in the News: What’s Happening in Classrooms Today?

Pima County Public Library- Eckstrom-Columbus Branch 4350 E. 22nd St., Tucson, AZ, United States

The debate over what happens in the classroom continues to escalate as politics creep into curriculum. What can be taught, what can be said, and what pronouns teachers can use are all in question. What are the new bills and school policies being introduced in Arizona? How is legislation in other states influencing the national […]

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Education in the News: What’s Happening in Classrooms Today?

Pima County Public Library, Dusenberry-River Branch, 5605 E. River Road #105, Tucson, AZ, United States

The debate over what happens in the classroom continues to escalate as politics creep into curriculum. What can be taught, what can be said, and what pronouns teachers can use are all in question. What are the new bills and school policies being introduced in Arizona? How is legislation in other states influencing the national […]

FREE

Education in the News: What’s Happening in Classrooms Today? with Derek Keith

Pima County Public Library - Flowing Wells 1730 W. Wetmore Rd., Tucson, AZ, United States

The debate over what happens in the classroom continues to escalate as politics creep into curriculum. What can be taught, what can be said, and what pronouns teachers can use are all in question. What are the new bills and school policies being introduced in Arizona? How is legislation in other states influencing the national […]

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Women of the West: Untold Stories from American History with Jana Bommersbach

Sunnyslope Historical Society 737 E. Hatcher Road, Phoenix, AZ, United States

Besides Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley, any Western women come to mind? Probably not—not because they weren’t just as important to settling the West, but because history was so focused on the goons and gunfighters, it forgot the women. So it’s a surprise that a 16 year-old Shoshone girl from Dakota Territory named Sacagawea would […]

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LGBT+: A History in Arizona with Marshall Shore

Mesa Public Library - Downtown 64 E. 1st St., Mesa, AZ, United States

Arizona’s history of the LGBT+ community begins long before Arizona was a state with the Native American belief of two-spirits, continuing on through to the seismic shift of Civil Union/ Marriage Equality. There are some surprises along the way as we talk about artists and Arizona connections to Warhol, Keith Haring, and those muscle magazines […]

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From “Chief” to Code Talker: Four Profiles of the Navajo Code Talkers with Laura Tohe

San Tan Library- Bronze Room 31505 N Schnepf Rd, San Tan Valley, AZ, United States

During WWII a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines without knowing that they would be called on to develop a secret code against the Japanese military. This select group of Code Talkers devised a Navajo language code that was accurate, quick, never broken, and saved many American lives. This talk profiles four […]

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He/She/They: Why Pronouns Matter with Erik Tanchez

Coolidge Public Library Program Room 160 W Central Ave, Coolidge, AZ, United States

There has been a lot of attention on pronouns in the news headlines recently—from state bills aimed at regulating pronouns in the classroom to social media platforms offering pronoun options. So, what is a pronoun? How are pronouns related to gender identity, such as cisgender, transgender, nonbinary? What are gender identities? Is there a difference […]

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Dams, Mines, and Hotels: Media and Misinformation Affecting the Grand Canyon with Matthew Goodwin

Sedona Public Library in the Village 25 W. Saddlehorn Road, Sedona, AZ, United States

In 1961 a newspaper article discussed a proposal to build an 18-story, 600-room hotel inside the Grand Canyon descending from the south rim to the canyon floor. A letter-writing campaign ensued that succeeded in blocking the hotel. But lawmakers instead passed a bill that allowed the company to mine uranium there—they never had any intention […]

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Era of Artificial Intelligence: What Is Research, and How Is Knowledge Created? with Andrea Christelle, Ph.D.

Coolidge Public Library 160 W. Central Avenue, Coolidge, AZ, United States

In today’s digital world, anyone can publish their writing. Anyone can make a movie. The democratization of knowledge or content creation has given a voice to untold stories. But there is a flipside. Who, or what, gets to create knowledge? Can AI systems create knowledge? When Chat GPT writes a student’s paper, is that original […]

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