How do you define "southwestern?" (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: moving, park)
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Southern California before Worlld War II was Southwestern but got overrun by Easterna and Midwestern Americans and really isn't that anymore. I think NM and AZ are still "Southwestern" because they've stayed truer to their Indian and Spanish roots.
To me the heart of what's Southwestern is in it's unique blend of cultures. I think each culture that's touched this land has had an impact, and the resultant blend is tolerable because there were some basic facts that each culture had to come to grips with: Lack of resources, geographic isolation, dependence on water sources. The answers may have different flavors, but they're to the same questions. If I had to come up with touch stones of what is Southwestern, I'd consider:
To me the heart of what's Southwestern is in it's unique blend of cultures. I think each culture that's touched this land has had an impact, and the resultant blend is tolerable because there were some basic facts that each culture had to come to grips with: Lack of resources, geographic isolation, dependence on water sources. The answers may have different flavors, but they're to the same questions. If I had to come up with touch stones of what is Southwestern, I'd consider:
big skies
arid, wide landscapes
earth tones (for art)
Natural materials
hand crafted
adventuresome spirit
open mind
faith
connection to the land.
what does faith,open mind and adventuresome spirit have to do with being Southewestern?
I think many of the cultural events that are celebrated, photographed and shared as southwestern are rooted in faith. Why do we have farolitos? Because we enjoy filling endless bags with sand, lighting them by candlelight and balancing them precipitously on rounded adobe walls? Why do Native Americans have dances? As a social exercise, like modern day clubbers? Many of the forms in Native American art have deep spiritual meanings. Is Kokopelli just a fun, stylized image of a musician? Is a hand painted retablo just a caricature of a symbolic figure? Why do southwest homes have random holes or 'niches' in the walls? To give people a place to rest their keys, sunglasses and iphones at the end of the day? I think faith is inexorably intertwined with what is southwestern.
As for an open mind and adventuresome spirit, I think people have traditionally looked west for 'wide open spaces.'. I think it attracts people who feel closed in in other places. Not everyone comes, but those that do have that adventuresome spirit. That curiosity about trading traditional east coast success for something different. I don't think of the early Native Americans, the Spanish Colonials or the early white settlers as couch potatoes. I think getting out here was work. Real work. So when I think of southwest I think of those values as being part of it.
Other than man-made boundries, how do you typically define the term "southwestsern" in your mind? It it the culture, landscape, lifestyle? I am curious to hear your opinions? Much Thanks!!
Oh jeez, I have to tell about what I recently discovered just going for a liesurely drive to the Spaceport.
El Camino Real, "the kings highway"
Someone said the along this trail, it is know that there are 13 human graves to every mile of it. It's awesome thinking about the human sacrifices made many, many years ago.
What constitutes the SW really depends on where you live. People in Houston are of the opinion that the southwest begins at San Antonio and Austin and extends through NM and AZ.
What constitutes the SW really depends on where you live. People in Houston are of the opinion that the southwest begins at San Antonio and Austin and extends through NM and AZ.
That's not a bad geographic description, but I'd move the line a bit west to the Pecos river as it runs through Texas.
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The Southwest's unique blend
