For some, mariachi is a way of life in Tucson. Los Changuitos Feos, the most famous mariachi youth group here, express their Mexican pride through folk songs.
It’s purple, egg-shaped and spiny: It’s the prickly pear, a fruit that grows abundantly in Tucson. Locals use the fruit to create items such as lip balm, soap and taffy.
Lisa Frank is the creator of a line of vibrantly colored school supplies covered in hearts, stars and rainbows that reigned supreme in the 80s and 90s. Now, Frank’s namesake company is a fraction of what it was, and she has essentially disappeared.
Tucson’s dog racing industry is dwindling, possibly toward extinction. Facing a host of allegations of animal abuse from animal rights groups, Tucson Greyhound Park, the last operational dog track in Arizona, is trying to keep business afloat and its culture alive.
After a failed infamous two-year experiment in the 1990s, Biosphere 2 is now a leader in geological research for the University of Arizona in climate change.
An important astronomy project to reach an asteroid depends in part on the dark night skies that are a result of cooperation between science and industry in Tucson.
The small town of Sonoita, Ariz., about 30 miles north of the Mexican border, has become an unlikely destination for stargazers, wine lovers and motorcycle enthusiasts. Visitors are drawn to the natural surroundings, winemakers and well-regarded chefs who are relocating there.
Bang! Bang! You look the part! The daily spectacle of Tombstone, where the Old West has a showdown with international tourism and cowboy street theater.
Atop a desert mountain where the stars shine brightly, astronomers gaze deeply into the universe. But at Kitt Peak, as elsewhere, astronomers rarely put eye to telescope any more. Advances in technology have taken astronomers from behind the lens to the world of digital images.
The remains of migrants found in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona help match unidentified bodies with reports of people who are missing. From clothing to wallets to items as mundane as nail clippers, Pima County’s Missing Migrant Project hopes to solve the mysteries of 800 unidentified bodies.
A husband and wife started the Crossroads Rescue Mission in Nogales, Ariz., in 1995 with a budget of $900. Over a decade later, the mission has grown and dozens of Mexicans cross the border on Saturdays to obtain meals and groceries, something they are not helped with back home.
Bisbee, a city southeast of Tucson known for its colorful mining history, artists and visitors, hopes a a proposed same-sex civil union ordinance will help it grow.
The annual Space Fest V conference met Memorial Day weekend in Tucson, Ariz., to celebrate human space flight and its future. However, some at the conference were disillusioned with NASA’s budget cuts and shorter-term goals.
At a remote desert outpost two hours from Tucson, sheriff’s deputies deal with a grinding daily routine amid the harsh desperation of drug-smuggling and illegal border crossings.
Old soldiers, and sailors, fade away, and on Memorial Day, a buglar plays Taps. But as the soldiers fade away, so are the buglers able to play Taps at the funerals.
Hundreds of commercial and private planes are flown to Evergreen Air Center at Pinal Air Park every year, but most do not carry passengers. They are flown to the airfield to be repaired or overhauled, or grounded for months on end by budget cuts.
Tucson has risen to become America’s most bike-friendly area, according to The Atlantic. Hundreds of bikers meet during the weekends to ride Arizona’s trails despite the temperatures, which can reach close to 100 degrees during May.
Slideshow: The local premiere of “The Hangover Part III” brought out many residents of Nogalez, Ariz., some of whom were cast as extras in the movie.
The red carpet was unrolled in Nogales for a local premiere of “The Hangover III.” But this time, it was the locals, not the stars, who got the attention: Parts of the movie were shot there.
It was May 22, and in the blistering heat of the Sonoran Desert, people in Tucson feigned dismay but harbored excitement as they wondered if it would be Ice Break Day.
The New York Times Student Journalism Institute for 2013 in Tucson, Ariz., is now closed. While this website will remain posted there will be no new reporting.
During the Institute, students are working journalists supervised by reporters and editors from The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Opportunities for students include reporting, copy editing, photography, Web production, print and Web design, and video journalism. Institute graduates now work at major news organizations, including The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times itself, and dozens of midsize news organizations. More information »
