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For us, moving from San Francisco/Silicon Valley to Albuquerque has been transformative. We highly recommend it for downshifting professionals from places like the Bay Area or Manhattan/Brooklyn seeking a simpler, nonmaterialistic way of life.
With their extreme politics and varying degrees of cowboy macho, Texas and Arizona are just not on our radar. New Mexico is not extremist. Native Americans and descendants of European Spaniards have a fascinating and unique history here in ABQ, and are both numerous to the present day, exerting as large an effect on the culture here as Anglo or Mexican culture.
Take it from me,Texas is Texas. It's not a Southern state, nor is it a Southwestern state. It's the West. I've lived in several cities in Texas, and others I have talked to that have lived there say the same thing. We're talking politics and culture here, not necessarily ethnicity, and certainly not history. I'm talking about what its like today.
Arizona, where I have also lived, is far too conservative, right wing and Anglo for me to ever, ever consider it a Southwestern state as well. It just doesn't have that feeling.
New Mexico and Colorado are Southwestern states, and in my mind New Mexico is the epitome of what the Southwest is about. There really is no sense in describing why, because it isn't a verbal thing. Go there and live, and you will know exactly what I'm talking about. Of course, it depends on where you're talking about in New Mexico too. Las Cruces, where we lived for four years before moving here to Florida (which is NOT a Southern state by any stretch of the term), didn't have that Southwest feeling, but that may be because I lived in Albuquerque for so long before we moved to LC. It could also be because LC is so close to Mexico. There is almost no Native American culture or peoples in LC., just as there are very few similarities between Albuq and LC, especially the food. We considered the food in LC to be peasant Mexican food, w/ lots of lard in the beans, lots of cheese slathered on the burritos, etc. The food in Albuq was some of the best food I ever ate in my life outside of New Orleans, and I miss it a lot. If not for the crime and the cold winters, it would be someplace I might like to return to. When we left LC, we were done w/ it.
Geography dictates whether or not a state is southwestern or southern not "feel". Florida is the southernmost state in the United states. How can you say that Florida is not southern?
Geography dictates whether or not a state is southwestern or southern not "feel". Florida is the southernmost state in the United states. How can you say that Florida is not southern?
For us, moving from San Francisco/Silicon Valley to Albuquerque has been transformative. We highly recommend it for downshifting professionals from places like the Bay Area or Manhattan/Brooklyn seeking a simpler, nonmaterialistic way of life.
With their extreme politics and varying degrees of cowboy macho, Texas and Arizona are just not on our radar. New Mexico is not extremist. Native Americans and descendants of European Spaniards have a fascinating and unique history here in ABQ, and are both numerous to the present day, exerting as large an effect on the culture here as Anglo or Mexican culture.
That's quite subjective. San Francisco embraces extreme politics.
For us, moving from San Francisco/Silicon Valley to Albuquerque has been transformative. We highly recommend it for downshifting professionals from places like the Bay Area or Manhattan/Brooklyn seeking a simpler, nonmaterialistic way of life.
With their extreme politics and varying degrees of cowboy macho, Texas and Arizona are just not on our radar. New Mexico is not extremist. Native Americans and descendants of European Spaniards have a fascinating and unique history here in ABQ, and are both numerous to the present day, exerting as large an effect on the culture here as Anglo or Mexican culture.
Excellent post, couldn't have said it better.
Nicer weather too, less extreme heat too.
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