Stop by and say hey at booth 422

And ask about Secular Arizona

Sunday is great day to take in the Tucson Festival of Books. Sundays are always a little less crowded and it’ll be a beautiful day. When you visit the Tucson Festival of Books stop in at booth 422 and meet my heroes, the ordinary yet extraordinary Arizonans behind Secular AZ, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group that serves our democracy right here in Arizona.

(I believe in their mission so much I gave them two of my cartoon collection books to use as fundraisers.)

I had the joy of spending some time yesterday hanging with the Secular AZ crew. When someone would walk up to the table to investigate their books, buttons, bling and brochures, they’d be asked,” Have you heard of Secular Arizona?”

“No, I haven’t. What does your group do?”

“We lobby at the legislature in Phoenix. We track bills and send out alerts. We believe in protecting the separation of church and state.”

“Sounds good. Crazy times we’re in.”

Good, indeed, I think to myself. I think we have another convert to the cause, Very often a dreadful bill has died before it ever crawled out of the primeval ooze thanks to the lobbying efforts of the patriots I’m standing with at the Secular Arizona booth. Busy people with busy lives who make the time to insure Arizona remains a secular state.

And Secular Arizona’s exhaustive coverage of the crazies is invaluable. Case in point:

Worst. School board meeting. Ever.

Back to the dialogue at the booth.

I’m impressed by the cool manner of the young Secular Arizona volunteer who tells me he came to his perspective late in life. He tells curious soul, “Sign up for our newsletter and alerts. And check out our weekly guest speaker zooms. They’re popular.”

Another drop-by runs her hand along the titles of the classic lit laid out on the table. “What are these books?”

“Books that have been banned in Arizona.”

“Oh my God. These books are banned? I read those two in high school! Banning these books is crazy.”

I had to interrupt this intelligent conversation by pointing out that the books in question all contained demons.

Obviously. Why else ban them? “If you touch that paperback right there in front of you you will combust in a ball of fire.”

A curious woman asks another cheerful advocate, a happy warrior for reason, “Are you anti-religion?”

“No, we are not anti-religion.”

“Are these buttons and stickers free?”

“We take donations.”

The folks in the booth have been in the trenches a long while.

Jeanne Casteen, the Executive Director, has personally attended and reported on nearly every school board meeting in Arizona since the extreme Christian Nationalists were elected to inject religion into the public sphere. Specifically, their religion.

I’ve been following Jeanne’s substack blog forever-which I commend to you:

Her extensive resume as a lifelong public school educator gives her a depth of authority on education in Arizona that is highly respected. Want to make her head explode? Ask Jeanne if she thinks the GOP’s school voucher program is a grift. (I like activists who are fiery and who know their subject.)

Her extensive service as an elected school board member gives her the perfect expertise to understand and write on the range of destructive mischief too many present boards engage in.

Her empathy for the trans and LGBTQ kids these zealots would marginalize is profound.

Her insight into the history and value of the First Amendment and her defense of it is inspiring.

Stop by this afternoon and meet a hero of mine. And her equally heroic band of “good trouble” makers.

I may be there cheering them on.

Here is the website for this terrific organization: https://secularaz.org/

Booth 422.