Some residents are probably still recovering from a massive nerd hangover after the annual Geek Bowl made its first appearance in Albuquerque this weekend. One hundred and fifty team players from all over the United States vied for a chance to win $7,500 for useless knowledge at the Isleta Resort and Casino on Saturday.
The Revolutions International Theatre Festival is a whole lot of theater. Three solid weeks displaying a different show is a lot. Perhaps too much. And with tickets at $28 for general admission or, if you are lucky, $22 for students and seniors, it’s terribly difficult to see more than one or two at the most.
Every year teachers and administrators gather together to review hundreds of nominations for the Teacher of the Year Awards, but throughout the process student participation is lacking. In the 2013-14 academic year there was a total of 355 nominations, up from the previous year at 342. Most years there are repeated nominations for the same teacher and other bogus nominations, according to a CTE representative. As of Wednesday there were a total of 80 nominations. However, like every year, a large amount of nominations are submitted closer to the deadline, the representative said.
With many students preparing to graduate, the big question of what to do next is becoming more of a reality than ever. But the struggle to build a desirable resume can be curbed easily enough through internship opportunities. Jenna Crabb, director of Career Services at UNM, said internships are one of the easiest ways to get into the tough job market. It gives the students the ability to engage in a professional setting. The center works with more than 5,000 companies that offer internships and jobs, she said. There is a job for every degree program.
’m currently studying as an exchange student from England. This doesn’t mean I eat scones and drink tea with the Queen or I live with the Earl and Countess of Grantham at “Downton Abbey.” It just means I’m an English girl trying to get used to some unexpected language barriers. On a day-to-day basis, I say certain words that cause American students great confusion or embarrassment. To break this, I’ve come up with an U.S. English to U.K. English cheat sheet.
Jack White is a modern Renaissance man, imbued on a molecular level with the raw and gritty history of American music. Since his seminal, stripped down band The White Stripes began blowing up Detroit’s garage rock scene in the early ‘90s, White has been breathing new life into the blues with his vicious brand of guitar virtuosity. Last time Jack White was scheduled to grace the Duke City, the show was unexpectedly cancelled days before, due to “sister”/ex-wife/band mate Meg White’s “clinical exhaustion.” Thousands of devastated fans received full refunds, and were forced to wait.
In effort to promote cultural exchange, UNM’s Continuing Education department in collaboration with the Raindrop Foundation hosted the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi with Sufi music Friday evening. The Sema Ritual, a seven-century-old tradition inspired by the poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, is an essential part of the Sufi branch of Islam.
Books offer an experience different from reality. Victoria Salazar, a freshman nursing major, said she typically reads fantasy novels because she enjoys the magic and adventure in them.
Jack White is coming to Popejoy on Tuesday — arguably the biggest artist the venue has hosted in years — and the people who made it all happen couldn’t be more excited. Student Special Events booked White for a one-night concert in Popejoy Hall, a 2,000-capacity venue, only five days after the artist played a sold-out performance in New York’s Madison Square Garden, an 18,200-seat auditorium. “It brings Popejoy a whole new audience, it’s not a Broadway show at all,” said Emily Garrity, marketing director for Student Special Events.
When it comes to money, it’s a waiting game for Venezuelan students trying to get money out of their banks back home. Venezuela is struggling to fight its way out of an economic recession, and to aid the effort has placed strict controls on sending money out of the country – even when it belongs to someone living abroad. In order for students to receive their money from their Venezuelan bank accounts to pay for school, a difficult and time-consuming exchange process must be completed. And for some students, it’s making education almost impossible.
Credit cards can be a blessing or a curse for college students. Those little pieces of plastic could develop a student’s credit score or they might lead to early financial distress. The key to finding the benefits, experts say, is solid credit management. While credit is important, a recent study conducted by The Ohio State University shows younger Americans have higher debt and are paying it off at a slower rate.
German cuisine has always seemed, to me, to be the king of comfort food. Meat and potatoes, roasted, braised or fried; it’s great and warming for cold winter nights. There has been a dearth of good German food in Albuquerque for too long, but now the Heimat House is in the old Assets location on Montgomery. The food is terrific, as is the service. But how can we bring the flavors of Germany to our own tables?
It is an indispensable essence for communities and a valuable resource for the economy, but most of all, water is life. “Agua es Vida: Acequias in Northern New Mexico,” currently featured at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, highlights a hydro-social cycle that has come to embody New Mexican heritage among the farming community.
How does one make art and be socially conscious? Well, make socially conscientious art. Theatre of the Oppressed is style of socially conscious interactive improv created by Brazilian director, artist and activist Augusto Boal in the mid-twentieth century. Working Classroom, a non-profit corporation, has created a presentation of that work as a joint effort with El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, an organization which works to defend rights for Latino immigrants.
It’s tough to decide whether “American Sniper”, the latest directorial effort from Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, is a biopic or not. On one hand, the film’s main subject, Chris Kyle, (Bradley Cooper) —dubbed the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history — has an unwavering presence. This is his show for roughly two hours, from the southern boy to the cowboy to the soldier.
Divergent art is important, especially since you don’t have to like it. For the past 15 years, local Albuquerque theater company Tricklock has organized the Revolutions International Theater Festival, in which national and international performers of dance and theater come to our little desert town. It isn’t always the best stuff, but at least it’s different, and the fairly incestuous local Albuquerque community can always use some shaking up. I saw three performances over the weekend and there will be plenty more diverse events for the remainder of the month, including lots of stuff on weeknights.
Chicanismo at UNM is taking a definitive step toward the integration of heritage, identity and communal support through their efforts to create a department for the Chicano Studies Program. The CSP will soon know whether its request for departmentalization will be granted during the campus-wide faculty senate vote Jan. 27. CSP Director Irene Vasquez said that the creation of such a department will provide a structure and level of authority that the program currently lacks.
The glitz and glamour of movies are drawing students to a unique program at UNM. The Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media program has been gaining interest because of the growing movie industry in New Mexico and accomplished professors within the program. Miguel Gandert, director of the IFDM program, said the program began in 2005 and was created because there was a need to start an above-the-line program.
Lose weight: it’s one of the most common resolutions people make at the start of a new year. Sometimes it sticks. Sometimes it doesn’t. Vanessa Rodriguez, a first-year graduate student in public administration, said she started working out three years ago as a New Year’s resolution. There have definitely been times where she didn’t feel like working out, she said,but she dedicated herself all the same.
Many people who love to read find they have a hard time choosing their favorite books. With so many spectacular works to choose from, it can be a difficult decision. Some notice that while choosing a favorite novel seems impossible, choosing a favorite author comes much more naturally. Julie Shigekuni, director of Asian American studies and a creative writing professor, said that while she constantly changes her favorite books, she keeps going back to the same authors.
Solutions by The State News
