ARTICLE IV, SECTION 3: One hundred years ago today, the Arizona Territory was admitted to the Union as the forty-eighth state. From the Public Enemy song to the Glen Campbell, from Raising Arizona to the 1970s sitcom Alice, I hope I haven't exhausted the list of things from or regarding Arizona worth listing when we do lists like this.
[Bonus! Okay, so I totally missed that on January 6, New Mexico celebrated its centennial of becoming the 47th state -- not that they got an official 47-star flag out of it. But since we're not slated to do another state centennial blog post for another 47 years (coincidence!), and given that we appreciate both our New Mexican commenters and the whole green chili thing, you should list your Pop Culture and Other Things We Like About New Mexico as well.]
My favorite things about New Mexico are my two older siblings.
ReplyDeleteThing I like about both Arizona and New Mexico: Four Corners. (Or is it Five?)
ReplyDeleteThere are so many songs that come to mind with passing references (Take It Easy, King Tut, Keep on Rockin' Me), but for better or worse, this is the song that comes to mind (along with memories of sitting in the back rear facing seats of my mom's station wagon)...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/yhdiSqt6sXE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
Breaking Bad. Albaquerque represent!
ReplyDeleteNew Mexico gave us NPH, Demi Moore, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jay Roach, and Mike Judge. It also gave us Adrien Grenier but, as we learned from The Facts of Life, you take the good, you take the bad.
ReplyDeleteArizona gave us Barbara Eden, Emma Stone, Ted Danson, Lynda Carter, Sandra Bernhard, and Garry Shandling. Toss-ups include David Spade and Gregg Proops. For reasons that would clearl violate The Rule, I will focs only on the positives listed above.
Focs = focus
ReplyDeleteGeorgia O'Keefe and yonic art?
ReplyDeleteWhen Frank Costanza describes an epiphany as being like a Phoenix rising out of Arizona.
ReplyDeleteThe Grand Canyon.
The World War II - winning Windtalkers and Ira Hayes.
Arizona Bay?
ReplyDeleteBugs Bunny always regretting that he shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque.
ReplyDeleteWhat I love -- is Benson, Arizona.
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Roger's restaurant in RENT.
ReplyDeleteThe Hoover Family drove their VW Microbus from Albuquerque through Arizona to California for the beauty pageant. I like to think Dwayne broke his silence in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteThe National Museum of Nuclear Science and History has a lot of cool stuff, even if they're due for a renovation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my mom's brother and sister and their families live in Albuquerque, so that's fun. (At my cousin's graduation party my mom was the only one of her siblings (all over 55 years old at the time) who didn't do a kegstand.)
AND Albuquerque has one of the best-named minor league franchises. Some of you would particularly like to visit Isotopes Park to sit with these two.
Arizona makes me think of Little Fluffy Clouds
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New Mexico is one of three states I have not visited. Next week, it will be one of two.
ReplyDeleteArizona- I've been there a bunch of times; mostly to Tucson, which is a pretty neat town. Too arid for my taste but I enjoy visiting.
Which one are you picking off?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to either state in years but can say from a childhood trip that nighttime thunderstorms in New Mexico are stunning -- it was the first time I had seen lightning actually flash across the sky in a bolt. The images have stayed with me. I have no idea if they always look like that but I like to think they do.
ReplyDeleteEggs Christmas, baby. You buy the coyote art, Dad. I'll eat the eggs christmas. Everybody's happy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, St. John's College in Santa Fe. I'll never forget getting outclassed on Aristotle by two guys on acid. A singular experience in a singular place.
This is one of those songs, from artists I was not that into, from a genre that I'm hot and cold on, that I come back to again and again and again. Utterly transporting.
ReplyDeleteThen this might be the best (and only) New Mexico song...
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I grew up in Phoenix; my family lives there; I got married in Carefree. I think the high desert is gorgeous. I miss, especially, monsoon season and the smell of the creosote plant, which is the smell of rain. I love the dry heat and 300 days of sunshine. Purple mountains, saguaro, and a real commitment to the desert.
ReplyDeleteArizona: U2 Live at Red Rocks. New Mexico: Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes.
ReplyDeleteAre you ready for the movie?
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks, Tori!
ReplyDeleteRed Rocks is in Colorado. The outdoor concert in Rattle & Hum was in Arizona.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteUm, hello? High School Musical was set in Albuquerque!!
ReplyDeleteOops! Standing corrected.
ReplyDeleteUnder A Blood Red Sky - Red Rocks Amphitheater
ReplyDeleteRattle & Hum - McNichols' Arena
On that basis alone which is the superior album should come as no surprise.
NM and AZ are both very special places to me - I grew up in the mountains (AZ) then the desert (NM), and love them both.
ReplyDelete1. Arizona - spring training - watch the original Major League - the spring training scenes there are what I remember from my childhood, when we would spend every spring break visiting family and going to many many games (hardly anyone in the stands, you could walk up and talk to the players)
2. New Mexico - the Hatch Valley, home of the world's best chile and the all-important question to any true New Mexican - green or red? Related, my alma mater is home to the Chile Pepper Institute http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/
1. NM - Sugarite ski resort that was located on a ranch outside of Raton which was owned by my father's family. Sadly, the family eventually sold the land but I remember watching my older cousins innertubing down the slopes. And seeing the fence that my father and his brother built (for payment of 25 cents/day) on the way up the mountain.
ReplyDeleteAnd, KarenNM, both Mom and Dad went to New Mexico State. That's where they met. :-)
2. AZ - I was born there but moved 6 months later. I need to go back there one of these days...
Hawaii. I'm heading there for my birthday. Which leaves....NM and OK.
ReplyDeleteI wished my great home state a happy birthday yesterday, but am a day late to this post. So many great things about Arizona have been listed above already. The longer I am away from it, the more I miss it. The Arizona Republic has had some great coverage this year in preparation for the centennial. For fans of the state, here is a link to several top 10 lists as voted on by readers. Many items in the above comments are included. Happy birthday, Arizona! http://www.azcentral.com/centennial/top100/top100-index.php
ReplyDeleteWilla Holland. I can see that!
ReplyDelete