Baiza Muhammad
Baiza Muhammad is the new director of the Tucson Women's Commission. She co-founded the American School for Human Dignity and was an educator with Tucson Unified School District.
BEST ASPECT OF TUCSON
The diversity of Tucson is amazing. We have the opportunity to live and learn people's cultures from around the world. But because of economic conditions we don't get to appreciate the diversity, because all of these different cultures are vying for a way to live. I could probably go anywhere in the world and live and work because of all the diverse cultures I've experienced here. My husband of 22 years--whom I adore--and I lived homeless by choice for a while. We had a big van, but not a home. We used to meet people from all different places, and sit in Fort Lowell Park and talk. We'd taste food from their countries and share cultures. You couldn't do that in Chicago--there you need a house with a big ol' heater.
BEST SANCTUARY
I love the library. Main Library is like therapy for me. I love to just sit and research other cultures, everything I can learn about cultures. I love to find out things they don't talk about a lot in textbooks, like how people communicate, how they live, their beliefs. I love studying human beings.
BEST PLACE TO WATCH PEOPLE
My favorite place to people-watch has been Downtown Saturday Night, when I was there for the American School for Human Dignity. I love overhearing conversations, how people walk, how they talk.
BEST TOPOGRAPHY
My favorite thing about Tucson is the nearness of the beauty of the mountains, the natural environment. Also, in reality, you can get every season within Arizona, just by driving a few hours. In Flagstaff, you get the snow and mountains, and then in Southern Arizona you get the desert and valleys.
BEST GETAWAY
If I a had a day off, I'd get my children and husband and look at Tucson, look at where we've been living all these years and see all the things we've never gotten to see. We'd try to get a grip on what Tucson is, see places I haven't been to in a while, like the Reid Park bandshell, the parks, the Arizona Historical Society, and, of course, the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I'd talk to my children and find out what it's meant to them to live in Tucson all these years.
BEST PLACE TO THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
I'd like to see visitors and students go see a mosque, one that gives an international perspective. The Islamic Mosque of Tucson, near the University of Arizona, is where people come from all over the world. There are Irish, Arabian, African, African-American, European people there--people from everywhere and in all colors.
BEST EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
I'm an educator and the best thing to do to get young people together and look beyond the complacency of Tucson--way beyond--is to get them interested in other cultures. Tucson Unified School District has a tour by bus to African-American colleges, so the kids can see what is out there. The kids say it's the most exhilarating experience.
