Culture

Culture

Annual ‘International Festival’ celebrates culture with food, song, dance

Lexis Lovato | April 20

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.

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Culture

Meet the Lobos asking ‘What’s out there?’

Addison Fulton | April 20

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.”

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Culture

‘Bing Tea’ brings boba for ‘Bos

Addison Fulton | April 20

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.

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Culture

Exhibit showcases students’ expressions of nature, culture

Leila Chapa | April 13

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.” 

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Culture

Sustainability office looks to engage students

Addison Fulton | April 13

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. 

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Culture

Popejoy welcomes Pilobolus, human movement, dance, storytelling

Leila Chapa | April 10

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.

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Culture

UNM hosts ‘Venezuela After Maduro’ talk with NYT journalist

Maria Fernandez | April 6

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.

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Culture

Alum shares story of cerebral palsy, self-advocacy, success

Addison Fulton | April 6

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.”

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Culture

Natural History Museum makes roaring return

Elizabeth Bolke | April 6

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.

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Culture

Students react to Albuquerque record heatwave

Leila Chapa | April 6

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.

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Culture

Documentary celebrates first southern Black woman to join Congress

Addison Fulton | March 23

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.”

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Culture

Bugs and backyard refuge

Camillo Cretara | March 23

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.

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Culture

Popejoy highlights roots in early folk and country music

Leila Chapa | March 20

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.

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Culture

Lobolition destroys students’ anger and stress

Alex Joe | March 9

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.

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Culture

‘The Mighty Colorado’ river flows to Zimmerman

Camillo Cretara | March 9

The Colorado River is the sixth longest river in the United States and one of very few “wild” rivers in the lower 48 states. Running through New Mexico, it is one of the most important natural features to maintain in the West for conservation photographer Dave Showalter. On Friday, March 6, University of New Mexico’s Zimmerman Library hosted Showalter with a panel discussion and presented works from his new book “Living River: The Promise of the Mighty Colorado.” Showalter doesn’t refer to the river as a resource, but rather a life force. 

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Culture

Tamarind Institute remembers artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Camillo Cretara | March 2

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was a Native American visual artist known for her striking colors and strong shapes. On Feb. 12, Smith posthumously celebrated 46 years featured at the University of New Mexico’s artistic printmaking workshop, the Tamarind Institute. Originally opening its doors in 1960 in California, Tamarind moved to Albuquerque in 1970, with Smith starting her residence in 1980. Tamarind Institute Director Diana Gaston said Smith has made approximately 40 editions. “Our former director saw her work and invited her to come work with us, and that was about 40 years ago, so we’ve had this really long arc of time with her,” Gaston said.

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Culture

UNM turns 137 years young with ‘build-a-bo’ and cupcakes

Lexis Lovato | March 2

While confetti fell, students celebrated 137 years of the University of New Mexico with cupcakes, free merchandise and a class photo to commemorate the University’s birthday on Friday, Feb. 27. This year, Lobo Day was Route 66 themed with a free T-shirt for students picturing Lobo Louie and Lucy riding through the desert in a lowrider headed for the Sandia Mountains, framed in an interstate route sign. Colorful posters and stickers of the same graphic on the Lobo Day T-shirts were available to take while students waited to take the group photo.

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Culture

UNM gallops into year of the fire horse

Addison Fulton | February 23

Tuesday, Feb. 17 marked the Chinese New Year, ushering in the year of the fire horse. To celebrate and share good wishes for the coming year, University of New Mexico students gathered to make red paper crafts in the Language Learning Center. Peng Yu, a professor of Chinese at UNM, led the workshop. Chinese Lunar New Year is a celebration of the new year as well as the coming of spring, and in many Asian nations, one of their biggest celebrations, he said.  “It’s like Christmas in the Western world. People get together with their family; a lot of people travel thousands of miles to be back home and get together with their elders and their family members to celebrate this cultural event,” Peng said. “It’s very, very important for them. The spring festival is not only celebrated in mainland China. Taiwan also celebrates, and in Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and many East Asian countries.”

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Culture

Trisha Paytas brings amusement and advice to students

Elizabeth Bolke | February 18

“A Conversation with Trisha Paytas,” featuring the American internet personality, podcaster and singer known for her long-running presence on YouTube was an event of kindness, love and authenticity. Paytas rose to prominence in the late 2000s with lifestyle, beauty and personal vlog content, later expanding into music, podcasting and reality television appearances. The conversation, held on Thursday, Feb. 12, at Popejoy Hall, featured topics including living your 20s rather than fearing them and being your true self. The event was organized by The Associated Students at the University of New Mexico Student Special Events team.

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Culture

Heritage of hair: AFRO brings braiding services to campus

Lexis Lovato | February 16

For generations, students have done hair for other students on campus — in dorm rooms, lounges, staff offices or anywhere else they could set up. The University of  New Mexico African American Student Services, also known as AFRO, recently unveiled a new addition to their building: a hair shop that will serve as a designated safe space for students to get their hair done by fellow students who perform cosmetic services on campus. The space adds a sense of security for both stylists and clients, said Kaelyn Moon, a Student Success Specialist at AASS.