Culture – Pima Post

A Mariachi’s favorite weekend: Tucson International Mariachi Conference

9May

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

A Mariachi’s favorite weekend: Tucson International Mariachi Conference

By Natalia Serrano Mariachi Las Aguilitas de Davis, April 2025. Photo by Kevin Van Rensselaer. Tucson's weekend full of beautiful mariachi music has celebrated its 43rd consecutive year. Since 1983, the Tucson International Mariachi Conference (TIMC) has been one of the largest and longest-running Mariachi Conferences in the United States. The TIMC hosts four events for the general public to attend and enjoy mariachi. At the root, they offer rigorous courses for mariachis and folklorico dancers to take. These classes range from level one to master's and have been serving performing youth in the community since their beginning. Students in these courses are taught by professionals from Tucson and all over the world. Master's mariachi students get the chanc...

In the desert, poetry thrives: Tucson festival celebrates 43 years of resilience

6May

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Arts & Entertainment, Culture, Events, Pima Arts

In the desert, poetry thrives: Tucson festival celebrates 43 years of resilience

By Natalia Serrano Left to right: Catherine Strisik, Cyrus Cassells, Bryanna Botham, Logan Phillips and Amber McCrary at the Tucson Poetry Festival at PCC Downtown on April 25, 2026. Photo by Natalia Serrano. TUCSON — In a city known for its deep-rooted arts culture, the Tucson Poetry Festival (TPF) returned for its 43rd year with a new home at Pima Community College (PCC) and a theme that reflected the landscape itself: resilience. Set in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, this year’s festival challenged the idea of scarcity that is often associated with desert life, and instead celebrated the region and its artists, defining it by its abundance, endurance and creative vitality. This year’s festival, which commenced the weekend of April 25-26, received a grant from the Arizo...

27Apr

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Arts & Entertainment, Culture, Pima News

The Pima Post Playlist: Week 4

Check out this week's lineup! Listen to and follow our playlist here for new music added each week. Song 18: "Animals" by Coast Modern. "This whole album is very nostalgic for me. They were one of my first concerts that got me into small venue and garage band-style performances. They're a great vibe!" - Emma Peterson Song 19: "I Love It" by Kylie Minogue. "Lately this track has been in my head and its excellence is understated! Kylie Minogue’s “DISCO” album, released in 2020 amid the pandemic, had a sort of energy and fabulousness we all desperately needed during lockdown. “I Love It,” the sparkly album track, is one of the best representatives of the album, “DISCO.” Minogue fully commits to the bit and unleashes all the trademark disco instrumentals while keeping the vibe fresh. An...

Tucson Pride’s slow death and the void it left

6Mar

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Arizona News, Culture

Tucson Pride’s slow death and the void it left

By Quinn Smalley A fairground full of excited Tucson Pride festival goers in 2023. Photo taken from Gay Tucson’s website. Since 1977, Tucson has hosted its own annual Pride event, but in the wake of recent scandals, dwindling attendance and the challenging logistics of organizing such an event, Tucson Pride is officially cancelled. Originally, Tucson Pride was scheduled for Nov. 22, 2025, but was unceremoniously pushed back to Feb. 21, 2026, citing scheduling conflicts with Tour De Tucson, high outdoor temperatures and difficulty securing parade permits as the reason for the delay. Fast forward to Jan. 21, 2026, the Tucson Pride website changed, instead of information about their upcoming events, there’s notice of closure: “After thoughtful discussion and ca...

ChatGPT Warns: “You should not treat me like an inherently reliable authority”

2Mar

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Culture, News, Uncategorized

ChatGPT Warns: “You should not treat me like an inherently reliable authority”

By Diedra Eby By now, everyone using ChatGPT and other Large Language Model (LLM) artificial intelligences (AI) should be well aware that they can hallucinate. Essentially, a hallucination is a lie without the negative intent that humans generally have behind a lie. According to a conversation with ChatGPT on Jan. 31, 2026, an “AI hallucination = fluent nonsense delivered with confidence." A screenshot from the author's conversation with ChatGPT on Jan. 31, 2026. Why does it happen? Because LLMs (what we most commonly call AIs) - at least popular ones like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grammarly, Deepai (ChatGPT Alternative), Perplexity, Claude and Microsoft’s CoPilot (there are many more) - are programmed to predict the next word in a sentence. In its simp...

Rodeo 101: This ain’t my first rodeo, but if it’s yours, here are some things to know

27Feb

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Arizona News, Arts & Entertainment, Culture, Events

Rodeo 101: This ain’t my first rodeo, but if it’s yours, here are some things to know

By Natalia Serrano A "bucking bronco" at the Tucson Rodeo. Photo by Justin Doherty. La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros, otherwise known as the Tucson Rodeo, turns 101 this year. The rodeo began in 1925 during the prohibition era, and serves as a Tucson timestamp. The rodeo is a celebrated event in town, with Tucson schools having Thursday and Friday off before the finals. The event is considered one of the top 25 rodeo events in the country. The event is so large that it has brought in $17 million to the Tucson economy in recent years. Now, if you are planning to attend the main rodeo events at the rodeo fairgrounds, it's important to know a couple of things. For starters, official parking is cash only and is right next to the grounds. There is parking at some surrounding busine...

18Dec

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Culture

Native myths: Windagos, continued

Trigo Jose Marroquin The popularized version of the Wendigo vs an illustration of the original Wendigo. Courtesy of David J. Jo. With the topic of skinwalkers we've talked about, I've mentioned Windago. With Hollywood’s depiction of Windagos, you probably see them as moose or deer and/or a monster on two legs with antlers on their head with a deer skull and/or deer shape. But in the myths, they are said to be a spirit or perhaps a walking skeleton. There are three of the Windago. The first one is from the movies. We all know about it. We love them, we know them, and they aren't that far from the truth. The modern-day "Wendigo" is said to have control over the cold, with the ability to mimic human voices, leading people to the forest to kill and eat them. It is probably the mos...

Learning Native History, Part Two: Skinwalker myths

17Dec

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Culture

Learning Native History, Part Two: Skinwalker myths

By Trigo Jose Marroquin Skinwalker art by DoubleOurEfforts on Reddit. A lot of native myths have been changed from their original stories due to the movie industry. Many people in the Navajo population don’t like to speak of these stories or tales due to the fact they’re rumored to be haunted and call the spirits to be stalkers of you. When we think of skinwalkers, we think of monsters that have no meat on their bones that Hollywood sold us like in the movie skinwalker ranch. But in reality, they look like any other human. They are Navajo witches who use animal pelts. While they may look like us, they use a magic called “bad medicine” to harm people. They are similar to curses that are placed on someone. There was a skinwalker by the name of Tall Man. He lived in an old Na...

Learning Native History Part Three: The Myth of Windagos

16Dec

By Ambur WilkersonNo Comments

Culture

Learning Native History Part Three: The Myth of Windagos

By Trigo Jose Marroquin Photo from Scott Cooper’s “Antlers” Though skinwalkers are a popular myth in native culture, especially in Arizona, there is another creature of legend that would make your skin crawl: the windago. Hollywood’s depiction of windagos shows them as moose or deer, or a monster on two legs carrying antlers on their head with a deer skull and/or deer shape. But in the original native myths, they are said to be a spirit and/or a walking skeleton. You might also recognize them from movies like “Wendigo”, a game on Roblox called “99 Nights in the Forest” and a horror game called “The Cabin.”There are three versions of the windago. The first one is from the movies. We love them, we know them and they aren’t that far from the truth. The modern-day windago is...

13Nov

By Emma PetersonNo Comments

Culture, Features, Health

Flower Power

By Jackson Melin A hemp flower. Courtesy of Secret Nature blog. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabinol) are the two main compounds found in cannabis. THC is psychoactive, while CBD has pain relief properties. Marijuana can be used medicinally or recreationally. Forty states have legalized medicinal usage, while 24 states have legalized it recreationally. Three popular strains of cannabis include indica, sativa and hybrid. It can be molded in many forms: edibles, flowers, concentrates, topicals and oils. I myself started using medicinal marijuana in 2024 for chronic pain. It has worked great for managing the pain, reducing anxiety and improving my creativity. I asked two of my classmates (Rory Archer, 19, and Quinn Smalley, 32) about their THC and CBD ...