By Amaya Gayle Gregory I do not look away. I feel the suffering. Sedona, AZ — I allow it in without filters. I am present, so I know that what is arising now is not the fallout of not feeling, of denial, of ignorance, willful or otherwise. What is arising now is anger, righteous anger, anger at those who see nothing wrong with causing so much suffering, who think it’s fine to fire women in positions of power, to erase the record books, leaving no trace of non-white male accomplishments, the Navajo Codebreakers, Colin Powell, the many women who fought…
Author: Tommy Acosta
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Yavapai College’s immersive theatre anchors Prescott Film Festival’s first day, July 13 Prescott, Arizona — Ancient metaphor collides with edgy storytelling and innovative technology on the first day of the Prescott Film Festival, when Jessie Bertel’s short film, “Imagine a Cave,” enjoys a 360-degree screening at Yavapai College’s revolutionary YMAX Theatre, Monday, July 13, from 3:15 to 5 p.m., at the Center for Learning and Innovation, in Prescott. “The story, the film and [the YMAX] seem like a perfect fit,” Bertel said. A modern re-imagining of Plato’s Allegory for a Cave, the nine-minute film brings Plato’s ideas out of ancient literature and into disturbing proximity.…
Yavapai County, AZ – The Yavapai Reentry Project, a project of MATFORCE, is hosting an event that provides an opportunity for positive community impact. From Inmate to Citizen: A Virtual Learning Experience Are you interested in learning about the challenges faced by individuals returning to the community after incarceration, or do you have a loved one who is currently incarcerated? Join this session to gain valuable insight and increase your awareness about: The difficulties of transitioning from prison back into the community. Understanding the differences in thinking and processing skills between incarcerated and non-incarcerated individuals. Identifying the cultural differences between…
By David Stephen Sedona, Az — Anthropic appears desperate to append consciousness to Claude, for any observation. There is no obstruction against Anthropic for their evolving mechanistic interpretability research, but this rush, or whatever it looks like must be proximal to mind or consciousness is becoming a reckless attitude that a credible scientific organization should not have. What is thought in the brain? What is consciousness in the brain? What exactly is the human mind in the CNS and PNS?Anthropic does not have the answers at all. However, Anthropic will borrow from immature theories, swaddle it with Claude and then say oh,…
Sedona, AZ – BV’s Italian Kitchen, in Cottonwood is happy to announce its new menu designed by Chef David Moraga. This new menu offers the very best in Italian cuisine covering all the standard plates from superb pasta dishes, succulent seafood to mouth-watering fillet mignon, with a dessert menu sure to satisfy the sweetest tooth. A beautiful authentic dining room, soft Italian music in the background and a cuisine that surpasses all expectations, BV’s Italian Kitchen is where you want to dine, whether it be a romantic dinner, a party or birthday. The restaurant is located at 6701 West State…
By Bear Howard and Associates– Sedona, AZ — A recent social media post on Next Door in Sedona provides an observer with interesting insight into how sloppy, ambiguous language creates an illusion of something that is not real and, in the context of a political election environment, can affect how people actually vote. Doing a deep dive, using AI as an assistant researcher, here is an analysis of this post. That is a true case study of how distorted the public forum in Sedona has become. First of all, here is the post, word for work, then the analysis: It…
The City of Sedona took one on the chin with the courts demanding the city pay the Save Sedona Committee $33,872.50, plus $320.29 for its legal costs defending itself against the city’s lawsuit attempting to prevent an initiative from appearing on the ballot for this coming election. Below is a copy of the court’s Summary Judgement: According to Bill Noonan, Save Sedona Committee member: The City Must Pay the Legal Fees of Prop 403. The City sued Prop 403 and lost. Now the judge has told the City it must pay $33,872.50 in legal fees to the attorneys who defended…
By Sedona City Council Member Pete Furman Sedona, AZ — I have been on the Sedona City Council since 2022, and I know that budgeting is a very complex process in Sedona. I believe a well-structured city budget is essential to keep city services running at optimal levels while continuing to help fund the library, the recycling center, and many other community-serving nonprofits. Setting the budget involves every city department, staff, the city manager, the finance director, the council, the mayor, a citizens’ budget committee, and several public hearings. It takes many months to complete. And many say it’s a…
Comedians Peter Sers and Priya Guyadeen take the stage for evening of hilarity Sedna, AZ — The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present Stand-Up Comedy Night live onstage at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Sunday, July 12 at 7 p.m. The show will feature headliner Peter Sers with Priya Guyadeen opening the evening. PETER SERS Peter Sers is a comedian from Los Angeles, California. He began his entertainment career as a professional dancer, and later transitioned into acting, and eventually stand-up comedy. He has been an entertainer his whole life, but what he loves most is making…
By Rabbi Alicia Magal The Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, located at 100 Meadowlark Drive off Route 179 in Sedona, is a welcoming, egalitarian, inclusive congregation dedicated to building a link from the past to the future by providing religious, educational, social and cultural experiences. The JCSVV offers soul-enriching services, programs, concerts, and classes, all listed on the synagogue website, jcsvv.org. Office telephone: 928 204-1286. Visitors are welcome to attend services after a security check. Those who cannot attend in person can access the service through zoom. All are invited to Erev Shabbat service on Friday, July 10 at 5:30 pm…
Sedona AZ — The Sedona Heritage Museum will commemorate National Day of the Cowboy on Saturday, July 25, with a special screening of the 1953 western film “Gun Fury.” The screening will take place at Mary D. Fisher Theatre at 3 pm. “Gun Fury” follows the story of Ben Warren (played by Rock Hudson) who tracks down outlaw Frank Slayton (Philip Carey) after Slayton shot him and kidnapped his fiancée, Jennifer Ballard (Donna Reed). Most of the film was shot in and around Sedona over the course of 19 days. Hudson took meticulous notes of every shooting location each day. …
by Amaya Gayle Gregory Sedona, AZ — The problem with manifestation gimmicks is sometimes they appear to work. If they never did, you wouldn’t beat yourself mercilessly when your personal ship of state appeared to float or sink. Success now and again, even success a great deal of the time, doesn’t mean you figured it out, that you did it, or that you’re a success. It also doesn’t mean that you didn’t figure it out, you didn’t do what you needed to do, or that you’re a failure. It means that those times when you appeared to be a success,…
Universal vouchers are draining public education dollars into private hands, creating a two-track system where the well-positioned get options and everyone else gets what is left. By Bear Howard Sedona, Az — Arizona has become a national test case for what happens when “school choice” moves from a targeted safety valve into a universal privatization system. The conservative argument sounds attractive at the household level: parents should be able to choose the best school for their child. But the system-level result is very different. Public dollars are increasingly pulled into private, religious, homeschool, microschool, and alternative education markets, while the…
By David Stephen There is a recent [July 4, 2026] feature on Space Daily, Physicist Roger Penrose has spent decades arguing that consciousness isn’t something the brain produces, but that explaining it will require physics we haven’t yet discovered, stating that, “Roger Penrose does not think a computer will ever be conscious, and he does not think a brain running on ordinary neural computation would be conscious either. For close to forty years, the Oxford mathematical physicist has argued that consciousness cannot be the product of algorithmic processing at all, and that explaining it will require physics we have not yet…
By David Stephen What is known about how the brain works or does not that should determine if mental illness should be added to medical assistance in dying in Canada? Simply, assuming an individual makes a request for assisted dying because of a serious mental illness, what does the individual and loved ones know about how the brain works that should make the decision seem parallel with the best possible information given all scenarios? This is the question that must be answered by the Government of Canada, before determining if assisted dying should be added to MAID, or if mental illness might make…