Slideshows

Tome Hill Pilgrimage

Rays of sunlight cascade over Tomé Hill from the mountains to the west as people from across New Mexico gather for a pilgrimage to the top of hill on Good Friday. A seemingly endless line of devotees and pilgrims to Tomé Hill stretched along the trail, including Juan Maestas, who has carried a wooden cross up the hill for more than 30 years. Tomé Hill lies east of the Rio Grande, six miles south of Los Lunas, and is a popular site among Christians, who make prayers at the hilltop shrines.

Museum of Southwestern Biology

The Museum of Southwestern Biology, a place filled with biological specimens from all around the world, is considered one of the world’s best, according to visiting researchers.

Back in a bowl

For the first time since 2007, the New Mexico football team is going to a bowl game. The Lobos also locked up their first winning season since 2007 with a 7-5 mark. Upsets against Utah State, Boise State and Air Force led them to where they are now.Along the way the team suffered major highs and lows, from having the stadium roar during their comeback against Hawaii, to being knocked out of the Mountain West Championship game after playing Colorado State.

Season of lights

The New Mexico River of Lights is a revered tradition for many people living in and visiting the Land of Enchantment. Starting originally in 1997, it has become a special yearly occurrence that offers live music, arts and crafts, a Polar Bear Express train and, of course, a river of lights. Displays include running animals, snowmen, luminarias and Snoopy. This year’s presentation contains a total of 400 light sculptures. It will run from the end of November to the beginning of January.

Hindu Thanksgiving

Hinduism is a dominant religion in South Asia, most notably in Nepal and India. It is considered the world's third-largest religion by population after Christianity and Islam.On the occasion of the Thanksgiving festival Thursday, Nepali UNM students were invited into the home of Sunil Thapa, who is resident of Albuquerque of Nepalese origin.Although followers of Hinduism don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in a religious manner, most of the Nepali UNM students invited to the event enjoyed the celebration in a Nepali way. Participants enjoyed special Nepalese dishes, and the event concluded with dancing and playing cards.

Exhibition exhibit

UNM super senior Mo Elizabeth Fiebiger graduates in December with a bachelor of arts degree in studio arts and psychology. She decided to do an honors thesis for studio arts on the topic of vulnerabilities.“When I did my show, I really wanted to embody that through artwork,” Fiebiger said.She had two pieces for the project: “One was a wall of nails, and it was supposed to invoke the feeling of physical fear; and to add a participant component, I had individuals write down what makes them vulnerable,” Fiebiger said. “Then there was a second aspect in the Brazilian wax performance, so people would come and watch the performance and I wanted them to feel that they saw these people putting themselves out there.”She chose to use Brazilian wax because she considers it to be a profound experience with radical meaning.“It really allows people to put themselves out there, and it was different,” Fiebiger said. “I’ve never seen anything like that: a combination of being my own expression, and to stand out.

Warming up for the winter

The New Mexico Ballet Company held dress rehearsals at Popejoy Hall on Nov. 25 and 27 for its performance of “The Nutcracker Ballet”. The ballet follows a young girl, Clara, played by 10-year-old Emma Cilke, whose Nutcracker comes to life and takes her on an adventure in another world.American Ballet Theatre dancers Christine Shevchenko and Alexandre Hammoudi joined the production as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Upcoming performances are in Popejoy Hall on Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m.

UNM Football vs Air Force 11/28/15

COSAP

Campus Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP) is an on-campus program that supports UNM students with abuse prevention strategies, services, and gives information to ensure the well being of UNM students.On Wednesday night COSAP conducted an event “Paint your Heart Out” in the Student Union Building Atrium. Students painted a sunflower, which was the theme of the program. The art studio student, and COSAP’s graphic artist, Rachel Abeyta took the lead of the program and taught the participants different painting technique. This was COSAP’s second annual Diary of a Lady Lobo (DOLLS) event. An additional function of the event was also to educate how alcohol affects women’s bodies.

Tihar a Hindu Festival

Tihar is a Hindu festival celebrated every year during spring season. It is one of the largest and brightest festivals for Hindu devotees. This festival has spiritual significance, in that it celebrates the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance.A part-time UNM faculty member at the Department of Economics, Dr. Doleswar Bhandari is from Nepal. Bhandari and his wife hosted the Tihar program at his house on Friday.Nepalese students at UNM performed cultural dances and sang various Nepalese folk songs along with Deusi Rey, which is a traditional song performed during Tihar. At the end of these songs, Bhandari’s wife served Nepalese foods and gave money to the performers, which are also traditional acts.

Lantern Fest 2015

Albuquerque held it's first lantern festival Saturday Nov. 14, 2015. The event took place at Sandia Speedway where it ran from 1pm to 8pm with live music. The people gather around bonfire pits across the field. Each person received a box with materials to make s'mores and to light the lanterns that lit up the sky, sending their wishes, and hopes. At the end of the event, Fire Muse Circus performed.

2015 Bacon Fest

Bacon Fest was on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Balloon Fiesta Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beer bacon, blues and Harley-Davidson motorcycles brought out Albuquerque’s fall fashion of sunglasses and blue jeans. Eliza Trujillo, a Bacon Fest participant, said that she noticed a large number of breweries, but did not see anywhere to get a piece of bacon by itself.Bosque Blues, Alex Maryol, Raven and the Sweet Potato Pie Band, and Soul Kitchen serenaded feasts with blues/funk fusion. Of the eighty food vendors present, eighteen were brewing companies or sold alcoholic beverages. Among the brewing vendors was Abbey Brewing Co., Left Turn Distilling and La Cumbre Brewing Co.Among the vendors that sold gourmet bacon dishes were Old Pecos foods, Kimo’s Hawaiian BBQ, Rebel Doughnut and Teri’s Sweet Garden. The second bacon eating contest winner was Diedra Quintana.~Imani Lambert

Students Shine Light on Physics

The laws of Sir Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday are things people live by every day but they are also what seven students displayed to a filled lecture hall Wednesday night.Dave Dunlap is a professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the person who put together the physics and astronomy demo at Regener Hall. Members from the Society of Physics Students UNM chapter, taught the hour-long demonstration with a little assistance from DunlapThe students presented physics tricks that ranged from showing how fiber optics works to making a cube float by superconductivity. The year 2015 is the International Year of Light and many of the demonstrations based themselves on that premise. With the lights dimmed, green laser-lit water flowed into buckets, and an array of other demonstrations lit up the hall.

Every afternoon, one corner of the Duck Pond park makes a transformation into what looks like a giant web of ropes strung between the trees. UNM students and the occasional curious passerby arrive at the spot to “slackline,” an activity based upon traversing these lines on foot above the ground."To do so requires an incredible amount of balance and focus," said David Bray, a UNM student studying geology. “But it feels incredible when you finally get it -- like you’re floating. You have to be totally relaxed.”For many of the students who come to slackline, the sport is a way of relieving stress and unwinding at the end of the day. However, there’s more to the gathering than slacklining: each day students do yoga, meditate, play music, study and socialize in the middle of “The Web.”As the sun goes down, slacklining gives way to music as people pull out instruments and sing songs together before packing up the lines and heading for home. On the weekends they make excursions to set up lines over rivers and harness themselves to lines high over canyons in the mountains. 

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, martials arts are “one of several forms of fighting and self-defense (such as karate and judo) that are widely practiced as sports.”Daniel Melcor Chavez, a karate instructor in the Health, Exercise and Sports Science Department, said that martial arts aren’t about fighting, they’re about developing a way of life.“Martial arts isn’t just kicking and punching. There is a lot more respect and self-esteem involved,” he said.Andrew Mooneyhan, program specialist for Health, Exercise, and Sports Science, said that structure is important for students who lack discipline.“We have it so that students can take these physical activity classes to be able to experience a structured activity or sport,” he said. ~ Imani Lambert

Zozobra

This past Friday at Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe, Will Shuster’s Zozobra burned for the 91st time in front of 40,000 people. The annual event hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe consists of the burning of a giant puppet nicknamed “Old Man Gloom.” The burning of Zozobra, the 50-foot mobile statue made of muslin and then stuffed with shredded paper, is said on the event’s website to be based on the belief that “as fire consumes the beast, so go the feelings of gloom and doom from the past year.” Being that the centennial of the Zozobra event is now only nine years away, the decade leading up to 2024 is going to reflect on the designs of previous decades, last year’s being the 20s and this year’s being the 30s.

UNM's 7 new distinguished professors

All Star Game

Pole Fitness

By: Diana Cervantes

Memorial Day Weekend 2015