Collection: The best of Big Jim Griffith's blog, “Our Storied Desert Land”
If there is a Tucson tale to be written or a Southwest fable to tell, chances are Jim Griffith has covered it in his Arizona Daily Star blog, “Our Storied Desert Land.” And today it hits a big milestone — 100.
In one year, 100 blog entries and more than 125,000 web-page clicks, Big Jim Griffith’s blog has entertained readers with Southwest folklore, Sonoran food and the wonder of diversity in our region.
Jim Griffith is the former director of the Southwest Folklore Center at the University of Arizona, and co-founder of Tucson Meet Yourself. He’s also the author of seven books on the folklore and folklife of our region, most recently “A Border Runs Through It.”
Here is a look at 10 of the best Big Jim stories so far, according to our readers.
Go to any Mexican restaurant in Tucson and look over the menu. Breakfast and sweets aside, you’d be hard put to find many dishes that don’t in…
It all began when the Sonoran Desert started drying up, to become what it is today.
You see them all over town, and in the surrounding countryside on both sides of the border. Their numbers are growing, and they've been here f…
Chiltepines are tiny, red, fiery-hot chiles. In Sonora, some farmers cultivate them, but they also grow wild in the hills of Arizona and north…
A remarkable historical project is developing at the foot of Sentinel Peak (or “A” Mountain, if you prefer) — The Mission Garden. It’s a wonde…
I’ve got a wonderful word for you – péchita. That’s the purely regional name for mesquite beans, and it comes from the Opata language. In Texa…
Let’s start with a river – The Santa Cruz River. We have to start there, because that’s where human settlement in this area started.
Tamales (the singular in Spanish is “tamal,” not “tamale”) are a link with Mexico’s ancient past. Tamales were made (and eaten!) in Mesoameric…
La Llorona is alive and well locally, even though we lack running water. I have known teenaged Chicanas who wouldn’t ride their horses in the …
November 2 is All Souls’ Day in the Catholic Church — the day set aside for remembrance of the dead. In Mexico it is “el día de los muertos,” …
It’s been a while since we’re touched on one of my favorite subjects – food, so let’s take a look at a true regional specialty: enchiladas chatas sonorenses or Sonoran flat enchiladas.
