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1,100 backpacks represent the number of college students who died by suicide in 2018. This event was designed to raise awareness about mental health and encourage suicide prevention.

Can 1,000 Empty Backpacks Save Lives?

Also: How Pima County could pay for newly opened migrant shelters; Bridging cultural divides with the Persian language; Tucson author Janni Lee Simner reads from her new book.
Guatemalan father with his 5 year old daughter. It took father and daughter almost two weeks to get to the Arizona border. They are asylum seekers staying at a temporary shelter opened by the City of Tucson to relieve the overflow of migrants at Tucson shelters. (April 18, 2019)

The City of Tucson Offers Hope to Migrants in Need

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Go backstage at Tucson High Magnet School to preview "Our Border Town"; Tucson poet laureate TC Tolbert receives grant from the Academy of American Poets; And, what would you do with the blessing of extra time to be alive?
AZPM is partnering with StoryCorps for One Small Step to record conversations between strangers who hold different political beliefs.

Finding Common Ground with "One Small Step"

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Free speech debate on campus; "I Dream in Widescreen Returns"; and thoughts on kindness from the Mission Garden.
"Hold On To Your Weaves" (2018) / photograph by Kennady Schneider

#Black - Exploring Identity with Photography

Also on Arizona Spotlight: A "Go Fund Me" campaign for the border wall; An author's journey in search of her Sephardic Jewish heritage; and the world debut of the play "The Hall of Final Ruin."
The cover from La Cerca's 2018 album "Night Bloom".

La Cerca goes Acoustic for a Spotlight Session

Also on Arizona Spotlight: "Arizona 360" goes on the road to El Paso to talk border politics; the immigration story of a UA graduate from Mali and the bright future she has built.
Thomas Thwaites' documents his quest to take a break from being a human in his book "Goatman". Photograph by Tim Bowditch.

Becoming a Goat?

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Trials begin for "No More Deaths" volunteers; How photographing Bears Ears National Monument became a passion for a retired astronomer; and remembering when Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Tucson.
Actor and playwright Jim Brochu portrays actor and artist Zero Mostel in "Zero Hour".

Exploring "Zero Hour", and the Rebellion of Zero Mostel

Also on Arizona Spotlight: A family separated for 6 years by the U.S. / Mexico border; Gary Paul Nabhan on "Food from the Radical Center"; and the Zoppè Family Circus legacy.
Nayla Altamirano, a lawyer, an activist, and a performance artist with Zapotec and Chilean roots, is one of dozens of artists participating in the 2018 Binational Encuentro, October 11 - 19, 2018.

Women Migrate Across More Than Borders

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Borderlands Theater explores"Sanctuary"; Pima County's Master Gardener program celebrates 35 years; and Tu Nidito presents an art show by youth coping with grief.
20 students from Nogales, Arizona and 20 from Nogales, Mexico take part in a unique program about listening at the border wall that runs through their city.

Listening Beyond the Wall

Also on Arizona Spotlight: "Cleopatra - No Submissive Woman"; bobcats in the backyard; and how Film Tucson is bringing Hollywood back to The Old Pueblo.

The Heart of Loveland

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Independent brewers on both side of the U.S. - Mexico border team up; and a roundtable talk on how Tucson arts presenters can survive and thrive during the hot summer months.
The album cover for Rebekah Rolland's "Seed & Silo".

Spotlight Session: Rebekah Rolland

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Are immigrant children in custody being housed in Phoenix?; Tucson's refugee community faces uncertain future together.
Christine Vivona

A Bright Touch: Harpist Christine Vivona

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Voices of protesters in Nogales; and a conversation with NASA nurse Dee O'Hara on the birth of the space program.
Father and teenager daughter make dangerous trip from Guatemala to the Arizona border.

Separated & Reunited on the Border

Also on Arizona Spotlight: An update on the poaching of a male jaguar sighted in the Huachuca Mountains; meet Ciara Peterson, a Tucson girl who is a national champion at using braille.
Felisa is learning to cope with the communication disorder aphasia with her fellow group members at the Aphasia Center of Tucson.

Overcoming Aphasia: "A River is Made Drop by Drop"

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Where Arizona stands after a tumultuous week for U.S. border policy; and an alternative to sunscreen developed at the University of Arizona.
Illustration for the "Bundyville" podcast by Zoë van Dijk.

Taking a Trip to "Bundyville"

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Legal battles on the border over the separation of families; and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman talks about life, death, and having fun in between.
The new winter melon crop grown from heirloom seeds donated by Chinese Tucsonans in the Mission Gardens.

A Taste of Tucson History

Also on Arizona Spotlight: An update on Central American asylum seekers at the U.S. / Mexico border; using music to build community for America's homeless; learn about the traditions of Ramadan from a Tucson Muslim family

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