On Saturday, May 2, Popejoy Hall invites the internationally-renowned Dance Theatre of Harlem to take the stage for a dynamic classical ballet performance. The program features “Donizetti Variations” by George Balanchine, Robert Garland’s “Higher Ground” — set to the music of Stevie Wonder — and “New Bach,” a fusion of neoclassical and modern styles, the Popejoy press release reads.
With Earth Month upon the University of New Mexico, some students have been reflecting on the importance of sustainability, as well as imagining how they could better serve our grassy plains and blue sky home. Political science student Alex St. Classis Brown said he often thinks of environmental sustainability. “When I think of sustainability, I think of more accountability for corporations primarily, and we all need to reduce our energy consumption,” St. Classis Brown said.
In an event featuring talented professionals standing by their glistening jewelry and clothing, the University of New Mexico has once again brought together Native American businesses, organizations and student entrepreneurs in this year’s Native American Business Showcase. Hosted by the American Indian Business Association, the Thursday, April 23 event marks the third annual showcase that has been held at UNM. Executive Director of the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of New Mexico Marvis Aragon opened the event, encouraging entrepreneurship and collaboration among Native small businesses.
In the morning sun of Friday, April 24, the University of New Mexico hosted a Campus Clean Up as part of the Office of Sustainability Earth Month celebration. After being served coffee and burritos, volunteers were sent to different locations around campus to pick up trash, pull weeds, spread mulch and plant trees. Office of Sustainability Director Anne Jakle said the event drew roughly 50 volunteers. “There is a place for everybody to help implement sustainability at UNM, and there’s so many different areas that people can help in,” Jakle said. “This helps people get out onto campus, to appreciate the trees, the grounds, the amazing wellness benefits that the community, that the campus environment brings, but also have ownership over it, too.”
The International Festival made its annual return to the University of New Mexico for the 21st time on Thursday, April 16, with food trucks and local vendors on Cornell Mall. The festival was hosted by a variety of University international programs and organizations where students and faculty created booths to teach visitors about different items of each culture, including food, crafts, jewelry, art and other souvenirs. This year featured a variety of food options made by student organizations, food trucks and local food vendors including Le Paris Bakery and Seoul Gimbap.
The University of New Mexico has its own aerospace research lab where Lobos touch the stars. Just a ten minute drive from Main Campus is the COSMIAC lab. COSMIAC, or Configurable Space Microsystems, Innovations and Application Center, is a Tier-2 Research Center that focuses on space exploration. Daniel Garcia, a research engineer with UNM COSMIAC, said COSMIAC is special because of the people involved. “Space is hard. Space is really hard. And the fact that we have a group, a cohort here at COSMIAC, that is almost singularly focused on trying to be a part of this really difficult challenge, is really special. And the kind of way we operate at the center here, it is evolving, and we’re trying to evolve with it. And in the midst of all of that, the thing that remains is these incredible people that are focused and interested and dedicated in the work,” Garcia said. “To come from this community, engaging in what is one of the rapidly growing industries, in this city and in the world, sort of centered here at this lab is really special.”
The black food truck with pink and white detailing that houses Bing Tea has become a common fixture at University of New Mexico events. Bing Tea is a mobile food truck selling drinks and desserts at various locations, including frequent appearances at Silent Lights and International Festival. Students often crowd around to enjoy classic flavors such as taro, matcha and more unique offerings including “Honeydew You Love Me,” a melon flavored tea with custard swirl. Bing Tea is a family-operated business, run by husband and wife David and Hieu Le.
Students from two different classes, “Introduction to Art and Ecology” and “Biodiversity, Creative Practice, Justice,” explored nature journaling as a practice of visual and literary skills, culminating in a showcase beginning last week. The exhibit, titled Nature Journaling as Environmental Pedagogy, featured spreads of pages from students’ nature journals that they worked on over the semester. Subhankar Banerjee, the University of New Mexico professor of both classes and founder and director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities, said that he felt the exercise was necessary in a time where students are living in “the digital space.”
The University of New Mexico is a campus shaded by trees and underscored by a commitment to a more sustainable future. One of its guiding forces in this mission is the UNM Office of Sustainability. Sustainability Engagement Coordinator Alejandría Lyons said the work of the office is largely two-fold, dealing on one side with University operations, changing the policies and practices of institutions to reflect sustainability goals. The other aspect is more student-facing, including “embedding sustainability culture at UNM,” Lyons said. “We help with the sustainability aspects such as food waste, such as recycling, use more sustainable practices and be in partnership to make UNM a greener campus, so on the whole, that’s what the Office of Sustainability does,” Lyons said.
World renowned dance company Pilobolus, known for its storytelling through movement and human expression, will take the stage at Popejoy Hall this Saturday, April 11. Since its founding by students at Dartmouth College in 1971, Pilobolus has claimed its title in performing arts, exploring dance, physicality and the human body. The company has performed on Broadway, at the Oscars and the Olympic Games, and created over 160 dance works, according to Popejoy press release.
Native New Mexican and international correspondent for the New York Times, Simon Romero, has spent most of his career writing for Bloomberg and the New York Times in Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico. On Thursday, April 2, the University of New Mexico Latin American and Iberian Institute hosted “Venezuela After Maduro,” a talk with Romero discussing the political and socioeconomic changes in the country in the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s capture by the United States in January.
Travis Davis is a University of New Mexico alum, having graduated in 2016 with a master’s degree in adapted physical education. Since completing his degrees, Davis has worked as a disability advocate, consultant, coach and public speaker. He said that what he wanted to impart to students was the importance of thinking big and not limiting oneself. “Having a visible disability or using crutches or a wheelchair, it just adds extra attention,” Davis said. “In order for me to be a self advocate, in order for me to get the things that I want as a person with a disability, I have to be vocal. In order for me to be vocal, I have to communicate, and that really pushed me out of my comfort zone, because if you’re not vocal about what you want and what your needs are, you’re never gonna get them.”
Once again inspiring the imaginations of all, the Natural History Museum has reopened its doors to the public after seven months of renovation. The Saturday, April 4, grand reopening had been a long-awaited event for a museum that has long been a staple in Albuquerque. The day started with the ribbon-cutting to open the museum. Outside the event, guests enjoyed performances of lion dancers as they ate food from food trucks, and then were guided in by staff wearing dinosaur costumes. Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Anthony Fiorillo said 1,600 tickets were sold online prior to the reopening.
As Spring began, many in the Southwest experienced a heat wave, sweeping through Albuquerque, which hit daily new record high temperatures. Temperatures in March reached 91 degrees Fahrenheit, while normally averaging with highs in the lower 60 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Extreme Weather Watch. The warm weather caused vegetation to wake from hibernation and bloom early. Some University of New Mexico students have noticed the shifting weather patterns and associated impacts.
Film enthusiasts, artists and advocates joined together to learn and take inspiration from Barbara Jordan, the nation’s first southern Black female Congressional representative. After her election, in 1972 to Texas’ 18th district, Jordan played a key role in the impeachment of then-President Richard Nixon. During her testimony she said of herself, “Today I am an inquisitor. And hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now. My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.”
On Saturday, March 21, the Gutiérrez-Hubbell House put on their annual Backyard Refuge Day fair in tandem with Bernalillo County where at least 20 organizations and groups came together with one common goal in mind: Make Albuquerque a safer place for pollinators. New Mexico is home to around 1,000 of the 3,600 bee species native to the U.S. and over 300 species of butterflies, according to New Mexico Soil Working Group.As bee populations worldwide dwindle, the event sought to bring attention to strategies for taking care of and nurturing environments in our backyards for not only the bees, but also butterflies, bats and hummingbirds.
Vocalists and instrumentalists Cristina Vane and Brennen Leigh will take the stage at Popejoy Hall on Sunday, March 22 with an acoustic performance showcasing the expansive music genre with their show “Women of Americana.” Leigh is one of the lead musicians for the show, playing acoustic guitar and mandolin. Vane is a singer-songwriter; she also plays slide guitar and clawhammer banjo. Leigh said that Americana as a genre has a deep but sometimes overlooked history.
To take their minds off the stress of the semester, University of New Mexico students wreaked havoc with sledgehammers on a white junkyard car near the Student Union Building. The event was hosted by the UNM Student Activities Center in anticipation of the finale of college basketball season. In solidarity with the Lobo women’s basketball team’s March 8 Mountain West Conference Tournament game, and the men’s game soon after, the junkyard car was spray painted with logos of Mountain West foes. Britten Ratcliff said he had a lot of fun at the event.
Solutions by The State News
