How do you define "southwestern?" (Clovis, Silver City: live, oil)
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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!!
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!!
As it pertains to New Mexico, some might mistakenly identify the entire state as southwestern. In reality, I would venture to say that the eastern 1/4 of the state is more closely aligned with the Great Plains. As a matter of criteria, the obvious definitions are associated with a combination of flora/fauna, terrain, and land use. Clovis has way more in common with a place like Hereford Texas than it does with Silver City. There is still more access to water to raise cows in feedlots in these places. The clear border is probably west of Llano Estacado and the Pecos River valley. Places such as Eddy County, Curry County, Union County, etc, are in a steppe climate, which translates into about 20 inches of rain per year. You have extraction of oil in the southeast part of the state, which hints at vegetation being present during prehistoric times. Finally, the area in which you begin to witness sustain topographic relief in diversity doesn't begin in earnest until after the caprock, and where the mountain ranges start, such as the Sacramento Mountains in the southern part of the state, and the beginning of the Sangre De Cristo, in the northern part of the state. When you begin to penetrate these ranges, you begin your transition into the southwest.
Attitude and food. And decor, but the decor gets bastardized into pseudo-southwestern junk sometimes, so it's hard to pin down.
Search 'southwestern' on ebay and you will come up with all kinds of interpretations!
The first thing I think of when the term "southwestern" is thrown around is turqoise jewlery. I also believe that adobe architecture is very much part of the equation.
Ironically, some individuals may automatically associate "southwestern" with hot, dry, desserts. However the high desert terrain, laced with the rocky mountain backdrop of the northern third of the state seems to associate more with humanistic southwestern cultures than that of the Arizona desert. The north is just full of color, and various shades that seem to suggest regional distinctiveness.
Since southern California is as far southwest as one can get in the USA, why isn't it thought of as part of the Southwest? Or is it? I never think of it that way. Nor do people who live there, I suspect.
Since southern California is as far southwest as one can get in the USA, why isn't it thought of as part of the Southwest? Or is it? I never think of it that way. Nor do people who live there, I suspect.
maybe for the same reason most people dont consider Miami to be Southern,
CA dosent fit the norm of "Southwestern" which I think everyone on here have gave good examples of what it is.
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