What is Arizona like? Here are 7 (sometimes offbeat) things to know about our state
It doesn’t take long to figure out that Arizona is unlike anywhere else.
And we mean that in a good way.
The Arizona Republic’s opinion writers and editors have brains filled with random bits of wisdom, after years of living in and covering this fine state.
Here are just a few to contemplate today as you make that turkey sandwich and do a little Christmas shopping:
As cities go, Phoenix is still a kid
The rest of the country is fooled by our appearance.
Google will tell you that Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the United States, but it’s really the nation’s biggest small town.
Like the rest of Arizona, Phoenix may look fully grown, but it’s still a kid. Phoenix has just started shaving. It doesn’t yet have its driver’s license. Phoenix hasn’t decided what it wants to be when it grows up.
In comic strip terms, if New York is Mr. Wilson (and it is), Phoenix is Dennis the Menace.
We’re part of the last state in the lower 48 to join the union.
It is a transitory place, a state and a city filled with migrants from other states who bring with them habits, traditions and loyalties from older, more well-established communities.
It is also the kind of place that manufactures homegrown iconoclasts, among them national powerhouses as varied as Barry Goldwater, Cesar Chavez and Sandra Day O’Connor. It also welcomes newcomers who transform themselves into Arizona icons, like John McCain.
Over my years in Arizona I’ve heard from friends, relatives and colleagues in other states who find it both obstinate and odd that Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time.
I tell them our pioneering, nonconformist state chooses not to spring forward. Period.
And when we fall back, which we do often, it’s to the Middle Ages.
— EJ Montini, columnist
Arizona, summed up in 4 words
Arizona is home to the jaw-dropping Grand Canyon and the saguaro cactus, the slow-growing plant that only sprouts arms with age.
That’s the tourist postcard.
What else is Arizona? A Reddit user recently asked to describe Arizona to non-Arizonans in four words.
The answers are hilarious and kind of true. A few examples:
“Cause of death: Dehydration.” Water is already scarce in this Sonoran Desert, and then you have foolish people who hike in 100-degree weather with no water or those houseless individuals who perish in the scorching heat. Truly sad.
“Cactus, nature, crackheads, Filibertos.” The fast-food joint is everywhere if you want to give those crunchy 5 rolled Tacos a go. I agree that Filibertos is much better than Taco Bell.
“Dusty hot dry scorpions.” These creatures are no joke. I swear I’ll move out of the state if I ever find one on my bed. I got stung by one a few months ago and ended up getting a truckload of shots. Scorpions could be deadly for people like me, so take them seriously.
“A guy called Rafi.” Never mind who Rafi is or that digital advertising is king nowadays. Suffice it to say that Arizona’s roads and freeways are blanketed with billboards. Gotta love them.
Arizona is that and much more. It’s a border state with Mexico, a mixing pot of cultures and traditions but also a place where people still segregate themselves either by choice or for economic reasons.
It’s a place where people can survive not speaking a word of English for years and where some still believe they must go to Texas to get pan dulce.
— Elvia Díaz, editorial page editor
This was the voice of Phoenix
If you were going to choose the voice synonymous with Phoenix or Arizona, you might have chosen something earthy and off the ranch, tobacco-cured with a wisp of mesquite.
We never thought to do that in Phoenix, so I will thank the Lord in his wisdom for the gift of Pat McMahon.
The most recognizable voice in Phoenix in its formative years — the latter half of the 20th century — was loud and sassy, a horn section unto itself. On the nasal scale, it registered somewhere between Ethel Merman and Liberace.
But it was signature McMahon. And anyone who grew up in Phoenix knew it instantly as the voice of Gerald — that glorious child character McMahon created as a young adult to delight children and shock their parents.
On the kids’ TV show “Wallace and Ladmo,” Gerald was mouthy and conniving, the most spankable little rat fink on the planet. And every kid in Phoenix loved him. This was not your typical children’s programming.
Later we would grow to love the man who had created Gerald on the theory that Jack the Ripper and Attila the Hun must have once been children, too.
— Phil Boas, columnist
Milk is different in Arizona
I’ve learned that milk has a “terroir,” similar to wine. Arizona milk has a distinct flavor, with a drier finish and more minerality than the sweeter, more herbaceous milk I grew up on in Indiana.
Why? Well, think of that famous saying: You are what you eat. The taste of Arizona milk, much like the grapes we grow into award-winning wines, is heavily influenced by the environment in which it is grown.
You might say our milk helps give Arizona a sense of place.
Oh, and another fun fact about milk? The majority of what is produced in Arizona stays in state, so to fully understand the difference, you have to taste it here.
— Joanna Allhands, digital opinions editor
Don't miss Fall League baseball
Baseball fans in metro Phoenix welcome the fall preferably with a postseason appearance, like this year’s miraculous run to the World Series.
Even when not, we usher it in with the Arizona Fall League.
Six squads, representing the top prospects of all 30 Major League Baseball teams, play in the league around the Valley.
The Arizona Diamondbacks help field the Salt River Rafters, whose stadium is in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community outside Scottsdale.
Not only do we get to see future Major Leaguers in action — Ronald Acuña Jr., Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts and a host of others played in the league — but we get to do so at a bargain. Especially when you consider young’uns under 12 get in for free (with a paying adult).
Not even Florida, which hosts the other half of spring training, can lay claim to what Arizona has in the Fall League.
It is an ultimate treat for the (truly) fair weather fan.
— Abe Kwok, deputy opinions editor
The good work that happens here
As you gather ‘round the Thanksgiving table with relatives and friends who aren’t from around here, be prepared for The Question:
What is wrong with Arizona?
OK, our politics are wacky. That’s been our way for lo’ the last 40 years. And social media? It’s a mine field.
But here in the real world inhabited by regular folks, Arizona has so much to offer beyond politics and sunshine.
Yes, we’re probably best known these days for being the birthplace of Turning Point USA. But did you know that ChildHelp was founded by a pair of Arizonans? So was the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Yes, Arizona gave the world Kari Lake. But we also claim Alice Cooper, who recently opened his third Solid Rock Teen Center, giving kids a free place to find inspiration through art, music and dance.
Sure, we’re the home of Kyrsten Sinema. But we’re also the home of Derek Brown. He’s a fifth-grade teacher at Alhambra Traditional School, where he and his students have launched Operation Secret Santa.
They hope to raise $5,000, then hit the streets to give it to people who need help.
“The goal is simple. It’s to teach the kids to appreciate the art of giving and to make a difference in the lives of others … ,” Brown recently told 3TV/CBS5. “We’re going to make as many lives better this holiday season as we possibly can.”
All across the state, you will find good people going out of their way to make life just a little better for those around them.
What’s wrong with Arizona, your family might ask?
Tell them, absolutely nothing.
— Laurie Roberts, columnist
Why we talk about survival
Phoenix is the one place in the world I’ve been where perfect strangers talk to newcomers about survival as soon as they hit town.
“Drink water,” they say.
“Does the AC work on your car?” they ask.
“The heat sneaks up on you, don’t go out if you don’t have to,” they say.
They’re right, of course.
Newcomers tend to underestimate the heat, especially the first time the temperature hits 100 degrees, which can happen in April.
“This ain’t so bad,” they’ll say, probably wearing pants or long sleeves.
Newcomers soon learn that it’s not the first 100-degree day that causes problems but the 10th, 15th or 20th — in a row.
The sidewalks hold heat, turning the city and its suburbs into a giant oven, baking from the sun above and the ground below.
People get cranky. Dogs need little shoes to go do their business. And car tires explode like the overinflated balloons they become in these conditions.
Then people start getting airlifted off Camelback Mountain. (My guess is that they’re nearly ALL Midwesterners who don’t realize what a bad idea it is to hike when it’s so hot that rattlesnakes shed their skin just to put on tank tops and short shorts.)
In 2023, we had about five months of 100-degree days, including a brutal string of 31 days in a row where the temperature hit 110. The heat wave came with deaths and hospitalizations.
And it’s why Phoenix is the one place where perfect strangers talk to newcomers about survival as soon as they hit town.
— Greg Moore, columnist
What bits of random wisdom have you collected about Arizona? Share your stories at opinions@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What is Arizona like? 7 things to know about our beloved state
