Arizona
Dana Kennedy: A caregiver advocating for Arizona’s aging population | Arizona Capitol Times
For Dana Kennedy, the state director at the Arizona branch of the American Association of Retired Persons, aging is not only a political issue, but a personal one. A social worker by profession, Kennedy brings her own experience of caring for aging family members and clients to her work advocating for Arizona seniors at the state Capitol and beyond.
Kennedy sat down with the Arizona Capitol Times to discuss the biggest issues impacting aging Arizonans and her personal connections to her advocacy work.
The questions and answers have been edited lightly for style and clarity.
Can you tell me a bit about your career trajectory?
I became a social worker in Orange County, California, during the Orange County bankruptcy. I did home health and hospice, so I basically connected family members to the services to help keep them in their own home. With the county going bankrupt, people were going to have to pay for (services), so I made the tough decisions (about whether) they were able to stay safe in their own home or not. That’s when I realized our long-term care system was broken. With a bachelor’s degree in social work, you really need to get your master’s, but I wanted to focus on macro policy and help solve our long-term care policy problem. So I ended up going to Boston University, and I got my master’s in social work. In both undergrad and grad school, I got certificates in gerontology, the study of aging. I’ve always been an aging nerd. I became an AARP member when I was 20. After graduate school, I went to (Washington) D.C., and that’s a very broken system as well. I wanted to work on long-term care policy, and people are like, that’s not a sexy issue, that’s never going to happen. Fast forward to being the state director at AARP, it’s my dream job.
What do the day-to-day responsibilities look like in your role?
It changes all the time. Within one week I have been at the Capitol doing a press conference regarding a bill that we were trying to get unstuck, then the following weekend I was in Long Beach representing AARP at the National Conference for Mayors. Then the following week I was down at the Corporation Commission because we’re intervening in the rate case. So I can go anywhere from working with mayors to working with state legislators to working on utility issues. At the same time, I’m also a caregiver. I just lost my dad, but I was flying back and forth to California to help my dad transition to hospice and then pass away, and I’m bringing my mom out next week for a clinical trial at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute. So I work on all these really important issues, but at the same time I’m helping myself as well as our staff navigate aging issues, because we’re all going through it. And if we’re not going through it, we will one day. So it’s really a fascinating job, and it’s everything that I ever wanted to do.
What initially drew you to issues affecting seniors?
I’m the first person in my family to go to college … and I worked my way through college. I was a paid caregiver, and I took care of a person who became disabled giving birth to her first child. She was in a wheelchair, and then her mom had a stroke, so I took care of both of them. It was such a hands-on experience. At the same time, my great-grandfather came to live with me and my mom when I was in high school. I watched the role reversal of what my family went through, (where the children) act like the parent, even though they’re not the parent. It didn’t really work out with my great-grandfather living with my grandparents, so he came to live with my mom and myself. So I always had this desire to work with aging, and I really wanted to work with families to help them deal with the transition of dealing with aging parents, that role reversal.
Can you talk a bit about how your personal experiences with aging family members inform the work you do?
It’s so important. (My great-grandfather) lived to be 99 years old, and he was completely cognitively intact until his last day. But I helped my family navigate him being able to make his own decisions. I know what’s best for my family. It doesn’t mean that my family is going to take my advice. That’s where it gets really hard with parents and the aging population because they still have autonomy until they’re not able to make decisions. When you go from mild cognitive impairment to all the sudden moderate cognitive impairment to severe cognitive impairment, then it’s that slippery slope of wondering, how do I take their keys away? They need somebody to come into the home to help with transferring, but they don’t want anybody to come into the home. And they get to make that decision until they’re not able to. I think (my experience) allows me to understand that everybody gets to make their own decisions, but at the end of the day, we need to make sure that they have the tools to be able to make that decision.
What is the most pressing issue impacting Arizona’s aging population?
It’s a national issue, and it’s Social Security. The Social Security solvency issue is front and center. We’ve all heard that Social Security is always going to be there. But Congress has kicked the ball down the road all these years, and all of a sudden we’re at a critical point. What’s going to happen if Congress doesn’t act? There’s going to be an automatic cut to Social Security. We have a population issue. People pay into Social Security, it’s a pay as you go system, and people aren’t having as many babies and we’re also not allowing immigrants into this country right now. So we need people to continue to pay into Social Security.
What has been your biggest accomplishment in this role?
There’s a few things that I’m really proud of. During COVID, we were the very first state in the nation to get visitation policies for people in long-term care facilities, and I’m really proud of that. We worked with Governor (Doug) Ducey on that. Families were locked out and residents were locked in and it was really hard. I’m also really proud that you know we got the (Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program), which lowers the cost of prescription drugs for everybody. We also supported Proposition 104. That was a city tax issue, and it was when I first started at AARP, but that provided $31.5 billion in transportation infrastructure over 30 years. People don’t realize that transportation is such an important issue as you age. Most likely you’re going to lose your keys one day. What happens when you lose your keys and you can no longer drive? You become socially isolated. Social isolation is like smoking a pack of cigarettes every single day, it’s really damaging.
What has been the most challenging part of this role?
I don’t understand why I have such a hard time getting some bills passed. (This session) we wanted to allow cameras in a long-term care facility and (that bill) died. Three years in a row it died. That for me is a really hard pill to swallow. I’ve done three full distance Iron Men, so I don’t give up. I’m persistent. I have a very, very strong mental game and giving up is just not in my DNA. If there’s a will, there’s a way, and I’m going to find it. As long as I have to read another report of somebody being abused and neglected in a long-term care facility, I will continue to advocate to be able to provide tools to stop that abuse and neglect.
Unlike other major pro sports in the United States, Major League Baseball’s annual draft is hardly must-see television. With 20 rounds of picks—it used to be 50—and very few of them household names, only true baseball diehards closely pay attention beyond the first handful of selections.
For college baseball fans, though, the MLB Draft can bring about some stress and uncertainty since both incoming freshmen and existing veterans are eligible to be selected. The best college juniors and seniors are sure to get drafted and sign, while top recruits may be lured into starting their pro careers early via a hefty signing bonus.
Last year the UA saw nine members of the 2025 squad, which reached the College World Series, get drafted and sign. One of its prep signees also took the money rather than come to Tucson.
The 2026 draft, which begins Saturday and finishes Sunday, won’t be nearly as impactful to Arizona’s roster. Only one current Wildcat with eligibility remaining is assured of being drafted: junior right-handed pitcher Owen Kramkowski.
Kramkowski, who struggled in the spring after a breakout 2025 season, is ranked as the 205th-best draft prospect by Baseball America and No. 245 by MLB.com. That would put him in the range of the 6th or 7th round to get selected, though he could go earlier. All indications are Kramkowski will sign.
Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. No other current or future Wildcats are among BA’s Top 500.
Among Arizona’s outgoing seniors, the top candidate to get drafted is left-handed pitcher Patrick Morris, who is currently playing the MLB Draft League. Infielders Tyler Bickers and Maddox Mihalakis could also get picked late or sign as an undrafted free agent.
Draft-eligible juniors other than Kramkowski include lefty Maclain Roberts, catcher Beau Sylvester and outfielders Andrew Cain and Easton Breyfogle. A couple of Arizona’s 2027 newcomers, such as junior college righty Collin Cobb, prep infielder Ayden Deome and catcher Francisco Rivero, are also at risk of getting picked.
Arizona has had 293 players drafted in its history and has had at least two taken every year since 2011.
The first four rounds of the 2026 MLB Draft are Saturday, with NBC airing the first 10 picks starting at 10 a.m. PT before the broadcast switches to MLB Network and later MLB.com. Rounds 5-20 are Sunday on MLB.com starting at 8:30 a.m. PT.
Arizona
Arizona AG continues to investigate Glendale apartment complex after Friday deadline to fix A/C
MESA – Mary Salcedo is the executive director of Arizona Roller Derby, but everyone on the team knows her as MaryMorphosis, or Morph for short.
A derby name is as good as a legal name once you join a league. Arizona Roller Derby – the second-oldest flat track roller derby league in the world – has plenty of unique monikers on its two home and travel teams.
During a doubleheader homestand, players introduce themselves.
“What’s your name?”
“Mecca,” said Sara Mecca-Whitlock, an interior architect in Phoenix.
“Brooklyn Dodge-her,” said Kristi Baptiste, a grandma and senior project manager from Ventura, California.
The rules surrounding derby names are loose. Some players have nicknames bestowed upon them when they join.
“Since I was wearing a Brooklyn shirt, they started calling me Brooklyn, and we added the Dodge-her later,” Baptiste said. “The funny thing is, I am not an L.A. Dodger fan. I don’t even watch baseball.”
It’s clear Roller Derby isn’t like other organized sports. There is no professional threshold to work toward as a goal. Players show up year after year, paying to participate, paying to travel and returning to the community they find along the way.
Across the country, including in Phoenix, teams find a way to organize players and facilities to play the sport.
Selecting derby names is part of the process.
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MAXimum HOverdrive of the Bad News Beaters poses for a photo as she skates at the Broadway Recreation Center in Mesa on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (Photo by Samad Khan/Cronkite News) -
Goldy Knocks, left, and Hella Naughty of the Bad News Beaters pose after their match at the Broadway Recreation Center in Mesa on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (Photo by Samad Khan/Cronkite News) -
Bad News Beaters skater Dr. Doctor flashes a hand sign while posing for a photo at the Broadway Recreation Center in Mesa on Saturday, June 27, 2026. (Photo by Samad Khan/Cronkite News)
“Sure, man,” said Rachel Sherman, a 13-year veteran of Arizona Roller Derby and an electrician training in an apprentice program. “My dad, with the perfect dad joke, was like, ‘Well, I guess if you’re going to change your name, you should probably change your number to four. So I am four sure, man.”
Elaina Bryan, a 25-year-old receptionist in Phoenix and lifelong derby player, said her nickname is Squeezer.
“There was a particular one of my mom’s friends, who I would give a really good squeeze, big hug to,” Bryan said. “So my name actually used to be a little squeezer, but now that I’m an adult, it’s just squeezer.”
The names used outside of derby are not relevant on the track. Official rosters are submitted only with the players’ derby names.
“You think about the parts of you that you want to foster that can handle the intensity, the eyes on you, the attention, the strength, the perseverance and determination,” Sure, man said. “You give that a name and it becomes this kind of alter ego that then you’re allowing it to blossom and grow in this space.”
Roller Derby’s history
Roller derby was officially born on Aug.13, 1935, when promoter Leo Seltzer debuted the first Transcontinental Roller Derby event at the Chicago Coliseum. Initially created as endurance marathons during the Great Depression, the event evolved into the full-contact sport we know today.
After peaking in popularity on television in the 1950s and 60s, the sport largely faded out, but in 2001, a modern revival took place in Austin, Texas, which popularized the grassroots, flat-track format that is played globally today.
“We (will) hit our 25th season in 2028, which is pretty significant,” MaryMorphosis said, “We’re hoping to go out huge.”
Arizona Roller Derby is older than the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which was founded in 2004 as the United Leagues Coalition and formally changed its name to the WFTDA in 2005. WFTDA is the international governing body of the sport. Today, it has over 400 member leagues on six continents.
Arizona Roller Derby doesn’t compete on a bank track. They can play on any flat surface if they have a way to lay down track boundaries.
A bank track is a raised and curved surface, like a NASCAR track. It’s the kind of roller derby played in the 2009 movie with Elliot Page, “Whip it.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona Roller Derby lost the warehouse space it rented full-time and the participation numbers dwindled. Now the group rents temporary spaces across the East Valley to accommodate practices and competitions, like Saturday’s doubleheader.
“I would hope that we would have our own space again, “ MaryMorphosis said. “We need to double our membership to do that.”
On a Saturday afternoon in June, players began arriving at the Broadway Recreation Center in Mesa. The same people that would be competing on track in a few hours used thin rope and white electrical tape to lay down the track borders on top of the gymnasium hardwood.
The rules
The Saturday doubleheader featured two Arizona Roller Derby home teams, and two travel teams from California.
Bad News Beaters are the first home team. They go against the West Coast Derby Knockouts.
Derby games last one hour. Two 30-minute halves are broken up by a 15-minute intermission. The intensity on the track lasts for two-minute jams before lines switch off and new players sub in for the next jam.
Mecca, a jammer on Bad News Beaters, points out that “there’s four blockers from each team that get on the track and one jammer from each team.”
A jammer’s helmet cover, a large polyester cap with stars on both sides, indicates they are the one person on the track who can score points for their team.
One blocker is known as the pivot. They wear a similar, bright-colored cap, but theirs has a line running through the center. At any point, a jammer can remove their star and pass it to the pivot. For the remainder of the jam, the pivot acts as the Jammer to score points.
“I’m a pushy jammer, and I like being strong,” MaryMorphosis said, “and I like breaking people apart.”
The jammers line up behind a jam line while the eight blockers stand anywhere in the box in front of the jam line but behind the pivot line.
Waiting in the box is Californian blocker Brooklyn Dodge-her, and her daughter, Rocky Bye Baby. They are there to throw their bodies into the Bad News Beaters jammer to stop them from scoring points.
Brooklyn Dodge-her was recruited to derby 12 years ago. She volunteers as a coach for the West Coast Derby youth travel team on top of training and competing herself.
“Mondays for the kids, Tuesday for myself. Wednesday I get a break,” Brooklyn said. “Thursday for myself. Friday for the kids. Saturday if we don’t have a game, I get free. And Sunday in the morning it’s the kids and in the evening it’s the adults.”
At 51, she is competing in her last season of roller derby.
“I became a grandmother,” Brooklyn said. “I have to start spending some time with a grandbaby. I’ll probably get bored and be like, ‘Y’all want me back?’”
The officials blow the whistle to signal the start of a jam and the jammers push off their line straight into the bodies in front of them.
“If I get through the pack first I get what’s called lead jammer,” Mecca said. “On the second time through, they get one point for every blocker from the opposite team that they pass legally with their hips. That can go for two minutes.”
The lead jammer can call off the jam at any point, especially if it prevents the other jammer from scoring any points for the opposing team.
“Does it matter if the jammer is behind me? Do I have two or more blockers in the box? Then don’t call it,” MaryMorphosis said, “because it might be worth losing the points just to have your teammates out.”
A player in the penalty box at the end of a jam will remain in the box during the start of the next jam.
The ways to receive penalties include hitting someone in the head, hitting someone in the back, or getting back on the track in front of somebody that was in front of you when you left. All penalties must be served for 30 seconds.
A game requires a whopping seven skating referees and even more non-skating officials. Those positions are entirely filled by volunteers.
Robert Cushman began 17 years ago in Nebraska when his wife started competing in roller derby. Years after their divorce, he continues to enjoy participating in the sport while living in Tucson.
“Most of us don’t get paid anything,” Cushman said. “Usually Phoenix will give us like a gas stipend.”
Even as an official he uses a derby name. He goes by Manosaur, a reference to the animated series “Venture Bros.”
“I usually go once a week to the scrimmage down in Tucson, and then I usually come up here for whatever games they have,” Cushman said.
During jams, Manosaur skates around the inside of the track, monitoring the action to keep the play fair.
“Watch the pack,” Mecca said. “Don’t worry too much about the jammer when they’re by themselves. But once we enter the pack again, then it gets crazy.”
Mecca is a mom of five who started playing roller derby in North Carolina. She said she retired for six years as she finished up her military career and went back to school. Eventually she began coaching the ASU derby team. Two years ago, she began playing again.
The West Coast Derby Knockouts dominated, 223-53.
“They were taking the pivot line constantly instead of the jam line,” MaryMorphosis said after the game. “They were just really big. And both our blockers and our jammers were thrown off.”
Game two
Morph sits in the stands after the early afternoon loss and watches the second match of the day. The home team, Skate Riot Project, took on Orange County Roller Derby.
She became executive director in January and takes on the administrative responsibilities on top of competing and working full time.
“I love building and growing community,” MaryMorphosis said. “It was an opportunity to do that and step into just a significant leadership role.”
She began playing derby in 2022 when she still lived in upstate New York.
“I broke my leg three months in,” MaryMorphosis said, “like shattered it. Recovery was rough.”
After two surgeries and a cross-country move to start a new job as a project manager at Arizona State’s School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, MaryMorphosis had her first uninterrupted derby season in 2025.
“I don’t know what kept me coming back,” she said. “I guess it was the community.”
Meanwhile, Elaina Bryan, or Squeezer, is another recent Arizona transplant and a blocker on Skate Riot Project.
“My mom started playing back in 2008, actually, and we went to practices with her,” Squeezer said. “Eventually, they had enough kids’ interest that they started a kids team.”
She was 9 when she started playing in Bakersfield, California. She played on her college team and then moved to Arizona in October. Now she plays on a travel team as well as the home team.
“I was just kind of trying to see where I fit in and started to find people at that same level to start connecting with,” Squeezer said, “and just kind of started building up my social circle.”
Teams are comprised of players of all ages, but everyone is connected to the community that exists in Derby. It’s more everlasting than the final scores.
“I went to a yard sale,” Brooklyn Dodge-her said. “We didn’t even get across the street and they were like, ‘You want to play roller derby? It was a West Coast yard sale.”
MaryMorphosis did not hearing back from one roller league before she stumbled on the practice of another team.
“I was literally in the mall because my old league had taken over an Old Navy, and they were skating in the mall,” MaryMorphosis said. “I was buying yarn at Michael’s, and I was like, ‘OK, that’s the sign.’”
When Skate Riot Project lost to Orange County Roller Derby 125-100, the teams shook hands and huddled together. Orange County picked its MVP Jammer, blocker and MVP overall from SRP, and SRP picked its players from Orange County. They hugged each other as they presented the awards.
“We’re playing the game against another team, and it’s really intense and like we’re very serious and focused with our team,” Squeezer said. “But afterwards, we all hang out and we goof around.”
With the games over, the players begin clearing out the temporary space. The track gets peeled off the gymnasium floor and the tape is put into trash bags.
The four teams get in their cars and head to the after-party together.
“If the only thing we do for the next five years is become the place for people to be themselves, that’s a win,” MaryMorphosis said.
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