As the mode of transportation changed from wagons to trains to the affordable automobile and roads were built across the country, families began a process of “leisure travel” that the automobile could provide. The “new tourist” was no longer restricted by a train’s timetable or its set route. The wide open spaces and the off-the-beaten […]

Once your family arrived in the west often there was not a doctor within miles. The medical care of the family landed in the hands of the family. Luckily, it was soon learned that the plants held many secrets for someone who was ill. Chew a little willow bark for a headache, pine needles are […]

For a state that has been home to Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, César Chavez and Wonder Women, you would think Arizona earned some respect. Yet achieving statehood was a 50-year struggle, which finally ended on February 14, 1912. Jana borrows from both her work for True West Magazine and her work for Phoenix Magazine to put […]

Dressed in a Mexican huipil with her face painted in a traditional calavera (skull), Elena Díaz Bjorkquist answers the questions of what Día de los Muertos is, where it came from, its roots, and how it’s celebrated. Día los Muertos is a significant and highly celebrated holiday in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Many […]

During WWII a select group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines with a unique weapon. Using the Navajo language, they devised a secret code that the enemy never deciphered.  For over 40 years a cloak of secrecy hung over the Code Talker’s service until the code was declassified and they were finally honored […]