Hello Galaxy Cauldron World Fair attendees,
...and welcome to the exhibit of the Southwestern United States. I'm Mike D boy or Mike for short. I come from the Palm Springs area of California. I will discuss and display what this region has to offer and I hope you enjoy my presentation. The exhibit will be divided into four posts starting with the basic two categories. I'm providing a regional recipe, local lingo and a type of music originated in the Southwest region.

GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE and TERRAIN
The Southwestern United States is represented by seven or eight states: California (also identifies with the west coast), Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma (sometimes identified as a Plains state). Two of the nation's most populous and largest sized states are California: 38 million inhabitants and 163,696 square miles (423,970 sq km) area and Texas: 27 million people in a much larger expense of 268,581 sq miles (696,241 sq km), second widest of states after Alaska. Four states (CA, AZ, NM and TX) are along the US-Mexican border, while TX faces the Gulf of Mexico and CA has the 800-mile/1200 km long coast with the Pacific Ocean.

The climate of the Southwest is generally warm and dry with the Great American desert covering southern Arizona, large parts of New Mexico, portions of West Texas and Southern California, and the Great Basin of Nevada with the Great salt Lake Desert of Utah which has a large saltwater body, Great Salt Lake and least not forget, the saltwater Salton Sea in CA. They have hot summers with average high temps. over 100 degrees F* (over 35 C*) increase by lower elevation and southern location. CA esp. on its coast has a Mediterranean type of climate with mild winters and summers alike. Tornado activity is common in Texas and Oklahoma, as well eastern Colorado with the Front Range where the "Mile-high" city of Denver (elevation: 5,280 feet or 1,609 meters) is located, has an alpine climate with colder, more snowy weather in the Rocky Mountain portion of the state.

However, there are grasslands in Texas, Oklahoma and eastern Colorado, and mountainous forests of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, the Wasatch front of Utah, higher elevations of Arizona and Nevada, and the Sierra Nevada, Cascades and higher Coastal Ranges of California. Rich agricultural valleys are the Central Valley of CA (Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys), Imperial of CA, Phoenix of AZ, Salt Lake of UT, and Rio Grande valleys of NM and TX, plus the High Plains of CO, OK and TX. Earthquakes are common in California due to thousands of seismic fault lines, the most well-known is the San Andreas Fault, the boundary of two tectonic plates: Pacific to the west and North American to the east goes past near the city of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles.


POPULATION and CULTURE 
As mentioned earlier, California and Texas are the nation's two most populous states. The US' second largest city, Los Angeles (3.8 million) and six other cities with over a million people: San Diego and San Jose in CA, Phoenix in AZ, and Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in Texas. The cities experienced massive suburban growth and sprawl in the late 20th century continuing well into the 21st, especially the greater Los Angeles-Orange County-Inland Empire in southern CA and San Francisco Bay areas with San Francisco as the main center. About 85 million people out of 320 million in the US lives in the Southwest region.  

Culturally diverse, with a large Hispanic/Mexican cultural imprint found in geographical features bearing Spanish names, local arts, architecture, music and cuisine influenced by 400 years of Spanish and more recently, Mexican cultures. Immigrants from around the world: Europe and Asia, African-Americans and indigenous Native Americans contributed to the culture of the Southwestern United States. There's one of the largest nation's Chinatowns in San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, Indian reservations of Arizona (the Navajo), New Mexico (the Pueblos) and native American tribes like the Cherokee and Choctaw in Oklahoma, and Mormon settlement by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints form a demographic majority in Utah. Some Southern/Southeast cultural traits can be found in Texas, OK, NM, AZ and CO, but it's called the "Wild West" with some featured images of cowboys, ranches, barbeques, rodeos and country music.

We also have some amazing food! The largest cities are often hot spots for cultural diversity, so you can enjoy local cuisine and others from all over the world.

I've never lived in or been to califonia. my mom's been to the san fransico area with her friends once i think it was sometime last year. but nope i'm stuck where im stuck on the altlanic coast!

So do you guys ever get any snow?

Of course! ... Like every five years. We freak out and everything closes down. But, seriously, some parts of the southwest get regular, small amounts of snow.

I heard this year alot of south places got snow, 

i do know people in the North are all "That's not alot" when the south gets a few inches and stuff close down, but people forget up here we have an army of snow plows/salt truck as where the south dose not have as many. XD

The climate varies in this region like I said, from the more humid Texas to the very dry California. And Swifty, snow does fall in the mountains, the farthest south you go, the higher elevations during winter storms. I want to add Death Valley, CA in its lowest elevation of 282 feet (86 m) below sea level is among the hottest spots on earth where temps. can reach as high as 134F or 55C.

Plenty of Mexican restaurants in the Southwest, but there's a difference from food in Mexico. Mexican food in Texas and New Mexico differs from California. Same goes with Chinese food variations in Los Angeles vs. San Francisco, noting Chop Suey was invented in CA not China.  

Venus, CA is among the most culturally places on Earth. Los Angeles and southern CA has large Mexican, Salvadoran, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Iranian, Armenian and Samoan communities. There's a Thai town, Little Saigon, Little Bangladesh, Little Ethiopia and Little Moscow. The San Francisco Bay area is similarly diverse and so does other major cities in the Southwest.

In the southwest, there is a sizable Spanish-speaking population whom are generally bilingual with English. Parts of the Southwest like some South Texas, northern New Mexico and southern California cities are more Spanish-speaking than English. But, a hybrid language developed by the merger of English and Spanish words known as "Spanglish" in Hispanic communities across the US. Spanglish can be heard somewhat here and is a form of pop cultural expression. The hybrid language is said to date back to the late 19th century after the US annexed the Southwest from Mexico. Spanglish words are appearing across Latin America. 

Examples of Spanglish:
1. Machar or machear – to match
Spanish alternative: combinar
2. Janguear – to hang out
Spanish alternative: pasar el rato
3. El parking- parking lot
Spanish alternative: el estacionamiento
4. Parquear – To park
Spanish alternative: estacionar
5. ¿Estás ready?- Are you ready?
Spanish alternative: ¿Estás listo?
6. Chequear – To check
Spanish alternative: comprobar, revisar, verificar
7. Roofo or rufo – Roof
Spanish alternative: techo, tejado
8. Creepear or cripi- To creep on someone (often used when talking about looking over someone’s Facebook page)
Spanish alternative: horripilante
9. A full – to be done with great intensity, for example, trabajando a full means “working really hard”
Spanish alternative: al máximo
10. El top – This is used to mean the best of something.
Spanish alternative: lo mejor
11. Heavy – heavy, as in food or a situation.
Spanish alternative: fuerte, pesado
12. El shopping – The mall
Spanish alternative: el centro comercial, las tiendas
get this#Spanglish #Jambelger #Hambuguer #Joldog #Hotdog #PuertoRicoSpeaking Latino & Jared RomeySpanglish
13. Frizz or frizar – Frizz or to get frizzy
Spanish alternative: encrespar

14. Frizar – To freeze (in the freezer)
Spanish alternative: congelar

15. El locker – locker
Spanish alternative: el casillero

16. Ver un show – To see a show, such as a play or a concert
Spanish alternative: ver un espectáculo, ver un concierto, ver una obra, ver un recital

17. El ticket – A ticket, though only some places will understand this, which makes it tricky when you need to travel in places that use the proper words, entrada (for a show/event) and boleto (for travel)
Spanish alternative: el boleto, la entrada

18. Jamberger – Hamburger
Spanish alternative: hamburguesa

19. Mandar un inbox – To send a Facebook message
Spanish alternative: mandar un mensaje

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Ooooh I lived in California four four months and it's my favourite place. Well, Orange County, where I stayed, is. It was beautiful. I'd love to go back, and visit other states in that area. You sure do seem to have a lot of kinda natural disaster type things out your way tho. o.o

In regards to Southwest cuisine, I can think of the Frito pie recipe thought to originated in New Mexico sometime in the 1930's. You gotta try it!

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Description:
Need something to keep you warm during the winter season? Look no further than the classic, FRITOS® Chili Pie.
Ingredients:
1 large bag of FRITOS® Original Corn Chips
1 15-ounce can of chili with beef (with or without beans), heated
1 8-ounce bag of shredded cheese
Optional: chopped onion, tomatoes, lettuce, jalapeños and/or sour cream
Instructions:
In an oven-safe serving dish, pour in FRITOS® Original Corn Chips and spread evenly. Heat chili and pour evenly over corn chips. Add additional ingredients like onion, tomato, lettuce, and jalapeño as desired. Sprinkle cheese all over and pop into the oven at 350 degrees till the cheese is a little melted. Serve immediately.

Other variations:
There are many variations of the FRITOS® Chili Pie. For instance, the Walking Taco uses the same ingredients as the FRITOS® Chili Pie. However, as a fun and easy snack (usually served at fairs or sports events), the ingredients are mixed together in a small bag of FRITOS® Original Corn Chips instead of a dish. Don’t forget the spoon!

And finally, about music developed in the Southwest. One example Tejano is a variation of Mexican music but came out of Texas (known as "Tex-Mex"). The music goes back 200 years in southern parts of the state, Tejano combines Mexican Norteno or Conjunto with some country-western from Anglo-Americans; rock, soul and R&B from African-Americans; and accordion-based French-Cajun, German, Polish and Czech immigrant sounds that came to Northern Mexico and south Texas.

Here is an example of Tejano, the band's name is Little Joe y La Familia. Many songs usually have accordions, others appear more country-ish and the rest would sound more Mexican.

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And another song by the band with an accordion: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

  As someone who lives in South-East Texas (seriously about only 30-45 minutes from the beach) - I understand the horrid heat and pains.