[Tom] This week on Arizona, Illustrated coach Adia Barnes on motherhood [Coach Adia] Selfcare for yourself as a mom is always comes last.

And that's just real.

And I think that women are real when it comes to this stuff, making [Tom] Tucson a better place.

One cat at a time.

[Clara] I've dedicated my life trying to solve a problem that is not anywhere close to being solved.

[Tom] And the journey of a young aspiring blues musician.

[Roman] Tucson will always be at home and the community will always be something that I hold very dear.

[Tom] Welcome to Arizona Illustrated, I'm Tom McNamara.

We're here in front of McKale Center, the home to University of Arizona men's and women's basketball.

And you know, in twenty nineteen women's basketball broke attendance records here.

And for the first time ever, they played before a sold out crowd.

The last year, they came within one win of a national championship.

The team is led by head coach Adia Barnes, who's the third-winningest coach in school history.

We sat down with Coach Barnes, not to talk about the game, but to talk about something else that's near and dear to her heart, and that's motherhood.

[Speaker] Adia Barnes and the Wildcats will play for the national championship.

- Soft Music - [Coach Adia] I always teach my players to be the best version of themselves, so I have to model that.

And you're not trying to sell something, you're just being authentic and true to yourself.

So I think on the outside, everything always looks perfect And it's never and never, as you never know what someone's going through.

And I think for women, I think it's hard sometimes because we were so many hats, but we're women's basketball an the years of women coaching is the years their childbearing We can kick ass that both it's one of the hardest jobs over have, and I mean, to me that's doing more than what a typical dad does.

I do see the double standards.

But, you know, I'm a mom, I'm proud of it.

I'm glad to talk about it.

I announce my pregnancy like on a Monday.

I think I have my radio show.

I just amount's I just passed the first trimester.

So I announce it on a Monday and I have like the miscarriage on like a Thursday.

So I was carrying a baby for seven days.

They had passed away.

So that was kind of like, oh, man.

Yeah, that was a hard moment.

Gone for surgery on Thursday, Friday night after codes.

And so I remember sitting at the game a couple minutes, I'm like, you know, wanting to break down, like, why am I here ?

Like, I just had a miscarriage, like I shouldn't be here.

But then like my team played their hearts out.

They were just like they knew something was wrong.

They didn't know at the time what I went through.

But I think they knew something.

And so they just played hard.

We weren't a little we were bad that year.

We weren't going to lose that game.

And then on the Saturday is my birthday, and I had 150 people at my house for an alumni event, so like I didn't really have time to even grieve And then like I just smiled or whatever.

And then Sunday coach the game and just kind of didn't ever really take time off.

So there's like a hundred fifty women I talked about the story.

But in an intimate setting to all those women.

And then there was women like crying because so many women in the room have gone through that.

And I didn't really understand how many people have gone through that.

I was just sharing my story as a working mom.

And then there was a writer in the crowd there.

Sudden I became public for that.

But I didn't care.

I was kind of like, it is it is like that's what happened Women across the country and like across campus, they'd come up with me crying like I went the same thing.

Like so many women had, like in no one talks about it because it's a hard thing to talk about, but it's like so common.

Love like this is real and like you probably in that room, if when we sit in this room as players, I bet you half of them will go through it And so I think that's another thing I do for the players they see behind the scenes stuff and then they see me put on the face on the public.

And I think that's something they can learn to be resilient because it is hard balancing all those things.

But if it's not, if it's easy, it's not worth it I was scared to death.

I was like every day like, OK, am I still pregnant or not?

Like it was scary.

I was 43 turning 44.

There was a five percent chance to get pregnant like I was like and that was like killing it.

I was getting in shape.

I was like, I'm getting my body back.

And I started looking good.

I lost twenty five pounds, like I was I threw away all my my chubby girl clothes and then was like sweating in a game.

I was like, why my sweating?

And I found out I was pregnant, took like four test.

So I was like, oh, gosh, like I am deathly ill. Like I this probably is not going to happen.

So I could not tell anybody it was like sick.

But the girls knew something.

I was eating like sauerkraut and then like, honestly, Covid hit and I was able to hide.

So it was the best thing for me because I was just starting the show, because at the time I was like three months.

And I honestly didn't tell people to like five and a half months.

And I told people on my on my friend's radio show.

I don't think I would sustain the pregnancy because I would have been traveling all over the world and I would have been every day on a plane not resting.

I don't think about 44 or with the sets.

It was only a twenty nine percent chance I would carry to term.

So she was like my miracle baby.

So I got it.

So like when I look in the mirror and I'm like like I look at the final four games, I'm like Idia, you need to get and save.

Like you need to be a role model.

And I look at my baby, I'm like, I would have gained five hundred more pounds.

Like, I don't give a damn.

Like, I'll get there and I'm OK.

I'm I'm forty four with a newborn.

Like I'm sure I'm doing my best.

So after my daughter was born, like the day that she was born in the hospital, I got pre-eclampsia.

So it's a very common order and it's very common African-American women.

But I remember I was in the hospital and I just thought like because I'm 44, I just had a C-section.

I was struggling.

Right now I have a headache.

Everything's blurry just because I'm older.

And then they did some testing.

I had like such high blood pressure.

I could have like had a stroke.

And so they did let me out of the hospital.

So in the hospital monitoring it, they let me go a couple of days later.

But then I had to stay kind of on bed rest.

Obviously, I did not had them like I had to measure my blood pressure like every I don't know, three hours extremely high.

So that's why when I started getting on the Zoom's all the time, it was like stressful stuff.

They were like, you can't do that.

And so I did some that I didn't do them like I didn't do them every day.

So I kind of had to take a step back, obviously wasn't going to talk about it.

So I took like three and a half weeks after a month, I went back slightly missed, like a week or two of practice, but I just sat more practice.

So they didn't know.

And it went away after like four or five months.

But it was a it was a long time.

And it's hard.

Like I still check it sometimes, but no one ever really knew except of my husband.

So I'm trying to do a better job of balancing that and take care of myself, but the reality is right now I'm not capable of doing that.

The selfcare for yourself as a mom is always come last, and that's just real, and I think the women are real when it comes to this stuff.

It is what it is, and it's a short period of pass Normally I would pump right before the game, so then during the games, I'm not in pain like those of you that have poverty, Barbara said You know, like after a couple of hours, your boobs are like up to here and you feel like you're going to explode.

So there was media obligations before the game.

So I didn't really have time to pump.

So I went through the game.

I was like, oh, I'll be OK.

So I was like, I'm so stressed out, I'm probably not going even have a lot of milk because I'm stuck.

It was a stressful moment.

You know, the biggest game in my life.

And so during the game, I remember feeling like, ooh, I don't want to like have my shirt with milk in front of five million people or more.

So I was like, I need a pump for five minutes of halftime just to kind of relieve the pressure And just real quick.

So I go in there and pump.

I'm talking to my staff.

They were used to it, but then they I mean, boobs everywhere all the time.

And so I walk out and I was like kind of late.

So Holly asked me a couple of questions that she didn't know.

Obviously, I didn't tell her.

And then someone was like, yes, you we came out really late.

So I think someone behind me in our organization said, yes, she had to pump.

And then I go out there and then later on I found out she said it.

And see, I wasn't mad.

She said, I don't really care.

Like I wasn't embarrassed about I was just like, I have to do.

I have to do.

Sorry, but it's not something I would ever I wouldn't have told anybody.

But that was my reality.

So it like went viral.

I didn't even think it was that big of a deal, so I just was like, yeah, like everybody has pumped and like I didn't even like it didn't ever register.

I was more worried about the milk on national TV.

I wasn't worried about the pump part, but I was more worried, like, I do not want wet stains here.

I would like die.

I think that it just it made it real so many women talked about, I'm like, wow, so, so many women have gone through that or they haven't had a place to do it or they've been in a crunch.

You need to do it for a meeting So it was so relatable.

And so I think that was good that we just brought attention to it.

It makes me feel good that like I think that I attracted some audiences that probably wouldn't watch.

So I think that was cool.

And I think it was cool that like I brought recognition to stuff that I didn't even know, like it needed that much recognition So and it's cool that people chose me to be a voice, or if I can help like the next woman or help someone accept like their assistant, let her breast feed or let her go and pump for 20 minutes.

I think that if I'm supporting women and helping changes, then I'm happy.

It's a blessing.

[Tom] In Pima County, more than 100000 feral cats live in urban and rural areas, and for over 30 years, Clara Lee has trapped, spayed or neutered and released thousands of these felines.

And her connection to cats goes beyond the strays.

She houses dozens and continues to find ways to interact with these mercurial creatures.

[Clara] Hi, Gary.

Yeah.

Hey, it's Clara Lee, I'm in your backyard.

[Gary] They're in there to the left.

[Clara] This shed, ok. Hi babies, we make sure I got all of them.

And I saw a few others and I brought some extra traps, if you want to them as well, while I'm here.

[Gary] Put hem everywhere, put them on the roof, put in the kitchen, whatever, just anywhere?

[Clara] OK.

I had 14 kittens that I picked up on Saturday, that it is this time of year where we get dozens of calls a day.

I mean, I have to admit that I've been doing this for over three decades, and there are times when it can be, kind of frustrating and discouraging to think that I've been doing this for this long.

And we still have a pet overpopulation problem.

Hi there.

[Old Man] Are you going to keep the cats?

[Clara] We don't keep them, but we spay and neuter them and vaccinate them against rabies.

[Old Man]But why don't you kill them?

[Clara] We don't kill them because it's considered [Old Man] I killed that son of -bleep-, he feeds 40 cats every day.

[Clara] No [Old Man] that's my dumpster.

I had to pick up cat -bleep- all the time.

[Clara] I'm sorry.

That's not the service I'm offering.

[Old Man] About to kill the damn thing.

[Clara] Well, that would be illegal.

[Old Man] Smell in my garbage can.

[Clara] Yeah, the community cats are very, very controversial, there are people that do want would just prefer them to be euthanized, hum Clearly, we don't see that as an ethical alternative.

TNR stands for Trap Neuter Release.

So TNR is pretty much the only thing we've got at the moment.

Nobody wants to see cats off the street more than people working in humane societies, but it's just literally physically impossible to take in every stray cat and try to tame it to find it at home.

One of the reasons I like working with feral cats is they sort of walk this in-between line of animal rescue and wildlife.

There are cats that are maybe the same genetic cat that we have sitting at home, but they're generations of just wild living on the street cat.

So they're really just as wild as any bobcat.

And to try to take that cat in and make a pet out of it isn't altogether that enjoyable for you or the cat.

But this is a problem that humans have created, what with human sprawl and the invention of dumpsters and trailer parks.

And, you know, we have given them a really good breeding ground and they have really taken advantage of it.

So we take them and we spay and neuter them, vaccinate them given them the medical care that they may need.

[Old Woman] what about the people that housed them.

You know, there are companies that take in, you know.

[Clara] Right now, because it's what we refer to as kittens season.

Every cat rescue in Pima County is full.

[Old Woman] Oh, wow, wow, Jeez, I don't, I really don't know what the deal is.

[Clara] it's a frustrating situation.

[Old Woman] It's just too bad that I mean, fix them does help But there's just how many can you fix?

[Clara] Well, thank you for coming over.

We're doing our best.

[Old Woman] Thank you bye bye.

[Clara] Thanks.

Bye.

This is my house and yeah, I can introduce you to this is Mach, you kind of have lost has that ocelot kind of look Benny.

So this is Twinkle.

Twinkle came in in a trap and was spayed when I first brought her home.

I couldn't even pick her up without her biting me.

Come on bud.

You can see his back legs, his back legs are actually backwards, but he gets around.

Great.

He's a happy dude.

One of the main reasons I bought this house is so I can convert this into what I call the cat apartment.

It's got a mixture of friendly and farels.

Most of the ferals that end up with me are usually here because they either have a medical reason that they really should not be released back out into the wild, or there really is not a safe place for them to go back to.

Almost all of the animals that live here would be dead.

If I had not intervened.

This is Sadie Rose.

Hi Sadie.

I wanted a pig and so I adopted her from someone who was trying to rehome her just because they'd had some life changes.

I usually jokingly say if the cats are healthy and they don't have anything wrong with them, then they don't need to be here.

So this is Ghostface Killer.

He's a fecally incontinent cat.

He's always kind of leaking poop.

But he's a lovely, wonderful, sweet cat.

It's just really hard to live with a kitty that leaks poop.

But I had the ability to build this enclosure.

So now he lives out here.

This is Eddie, the cat that loves to mark absolutely everything.

Very difficult to have as an indoor pet.

But the majority of the cats out here are feral.

There is always shade in this enclosure.

Yes, it is hot, but feral cats are also used to living outside If you are a fan of feral cats, this is a feral cat lovers dream.

The professor X was found in a dumpster when he was just a few days old.

My husband had passed away before, just before that, and my husband was suffering from brain damage.

And so he he thought he saw cats a lot and he would ask about the cat and sometimes he would be petting an invisible cat.

And when he was in hospital for so long, there was never a therapy cat to come visit him.

I thought, wouldn't it be neat, if I could train a cat to be a therapy animal, and then we could go visit people in hospitals and hospice And so that's what we did.

Professor X started hiking with me when he was a baby simply because he was a bottle baby and need a constant attention.

And I was hiking a lot.

So I was like, well, you're just going to have to go with me.

[Woman] What type of car is that one?

[Clara] He was found in a dumpster in South Tucson when he was just a baby.

Both of these guys came from feral cat trapping sites, [Woman] oh, his diaper, ohh.

[Clara] She doesn't have control of her back legs or her muscles.

[Woman] Oh, oh.

[Clara] She's a happy, happy girl, though.

She's just the happiest, Kitty.

And then this is Hawk.

He was born with no front legs.

[Woman] Oh, my gosh.

[Clara] Strange as it may sound, walking your cat on a leash seems to becoming more and more popular, not just here in Tucson, but worldwide.

People want to be able to give their cat the opportunity for that.

You know, that stimulation, that entertainment that we give our dogs by taking them for walks.

So more and more people are starting to hike with their cat camp, with their take their cats for walks on leashes.

I learned about other people here in Tucson that do that.

We formed our Arizona Trail Cats or our Tucson cat hiking club.

[Clara] Do you want some buddy?

I know What draws a person to do whatever it is they do, whatever they are passionate about.

It's just something that that you feel that makes you feel like you have a purpose and it's special for you and it's meaningful to you.

There's something about felines and their energy that I'm drawn to.

And we have to have a connection.

And I think they feel it as well.

There are a lot of highs and there are lots of lows.

The highs, when you get to pull a kitten out of a dumpster and it becomes this amazing therapy cat.

But it's also very frustrating to realize that I've dedicated my life to trying to solve a problem that is not anywhere close to being solved.

[Tom] For more information on the Humane Society of Southern Arizona Trap Neuter Return program.

Go to hssaz.org.

Starting when he was a young child, Roman Barten-Shermann played the blues and seasoned musician Tom Walbank took notice.

The two have played together in southern Arizona ever since.

But like all good things, this duo may be reaching an end at least for a while.

at least for a while.

- Birds sounds and Blues music - [Roman] We're doing a outdoors distanced neighborhood concert extravaganza sponsored by the lovely folks at the Feldman's Neighborhood Association.

- Blues music - ♪ Oh, can can he, Mama?

♪ Oh... (MUFFLED) ♪ Oh... (MUFFLED) ♪ Oh can he Mama ... (MUFFLED) the Rolling Stones when I was growing up.

But it wasn't until I was 15 and I saw the Maxwell Street scene in Blues Brothers.

With John Lee Hooker, With John Lee Hooker, which ironically the only blues song in the whole movie.

- Blues Music - [Tom W.] And then I got John Lee Hooker album and then Muddy Waters deep into it for the next 35 years.

Waters, deep into it for the next 35 years.

Consequently, here I am - Blues Music - - applause - [Roman] So I grew up in Bisbee through some stroke of cosmic fate.

Our neighbor at the time was a man named Ben Todd.

He burned cassette tapes of you know, great listening material for a kid of that age, like Mance Lipscomb, Georgia prison work songs.

- Music - I was constantly listening to that stuff in in a stroller going through Bisbee.

And I think that that just like internalized a lot of the sounds of this music within my brain at a very young age.

[Tom W] I was working in 17th Street [Tom W] I was working in 17th Street Market in the music store there [Man off camera] Roman Barten Sherman.

He's got a blues name too.

And I'm looking forward to hearing brother man over here play.

Tear up, buddy.

[Tom W.] And I was like, oh, yeah, I've been told about that guy.

He's from Bisbee.

And people were like in hype about him already.

- Guitar music with muffled lyrics - [Tom W.] He obviously had a passion for it, and I saw that common thing with with me and I was like, oh, he's... he's a lifer, you know what I mean?

He's in this for the long haul.

- Blues Music - [Roman] I've been incredibly fortunate for many reasons.

Specifically with my friendship and musical collaboration with Tom Walbank.

- Blues Music and muffled lyrics - When I just came to Tucson and was in middle school, he trusted me enough to let me open up for him at Cafe Passé And we did that for many years.

We did that for many years.

He would play first and then we would do a couple of songs together, and then I would get up and do my set.

- Applause - [Roman Young] Thank very much, and now, to Tom Walbank.

- Blues Music - [Tom W.] And we took that to Congress and we did that to Congress patio for many years.

- Blues Music - [Roman] I feel like I've learned a huge amount by just watching him perform because he's so, you know, just such a professional.

- Music - Find myself at a loss for words, just trying to describe like how locked into it he is.

- Music - [Tom W] As he's got older, it's the rhythm that's got better because he always had the facility for the notes, but the solid rhythmic timing is, is where it's just like.

Yeah, he's fully formed now, so.

Yeah.

- Blues Music - ♪ I'm a stranger here ♪ standing out in the street, I'm a stranger here standing out in the street.

[Tom W.] It's funny, it wasn't till the pandemic that we started doing gigs together [Roman] playing for a couple of songs, so much fun.

But when you really get locked into it for hours, different things happen.

- Music - [Tom W.] We've worked out a way of playing.

It's kind of like telepathic thing, you know, what they're going to do on a dime.

♪ And it ain't gonna be long... [muffled lyrics] [Roman] Tucson will always be a home, and the community in Tucson will always be something that I hold very dear.

- Applause - I'm going to be splitting my time between Tufts University and the New England Conservatory.

Five years for two degrees.

The program that I'm going to is called Contemporary improvization.

It's like the only non jazz or classical conservatory program.

So there's a bunch of people coming from different directions, but all of them have a strong centralized passion for something that they've established a foundation for independently.

More or less.

[Tom W.] So it's yes.

The last time for a while that Tom and Roman will play together.

And, you know, and it is I'm laughing now because I know he'll be, he'll be back - Blues Music with muffled lyrics - [Tom W] He'll like learn violin or learn piano.

And next week he's playing this crazy, tricky stuff.

So he's a stone-cold musician, so I like I said, the sky's the limit after he goes to university.

- Music - [Tom W.] It's definitely a marker, in the, you know, in his life as a young man.

And what's the next step?

Mr. Roman Barten-Sherman ladies and gentlemen.

- Applause - [Roman] Please give your hands for Mr Tom Walbank, everybody - Applause - [Tom] You can listen to the full audio recording of Tom Walbank and Roman Barten-Sherman set by going to our Web site at azpm.org/arizonaillustrated.

Before we go, here's a sneak peek at a story we're working on [Man] Arid and semi arid regions in general and specifically here in the Sonoran Desert.

Surface water resources are really scarce and they're becoming increasingly scarce as we move forward into the future.

And that's because we have urbanization.

We have more people living here using up these water resources, and we also have changes in precipitation patterns.

[Tom] Thank you for joining us here on Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara, and we'll see you next week.