Culture - The Daily Lobo

Culture

Annual fashion show pays homage to Black History Month

Joseph McKee | March 5

SUB — The Powerful Movement of Educated Sisters (PMES) hosted their annual fashion show on Friday, Feb. 28. This year the fashion show emphasized a focus on Black History Month and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Africana Studies department. PMES is a women's student group at the University of New Mexico under the Black Student Alliance (BSA). The event opened with a performance from the Explosive Dancers, a local Albuquerque group of young hip-hop dancers. Then a brief history was given discussing the origins of the Africana Studies department, which opened in 1970.

Culture

Lobo Village casino night: a non-consequential night of fun

Noah Parra | March 2

Although the new year just started, the roaring twenties came to full effect at the Lobo Village. The student housing apartments hosted a roaring twenties themed casino night for all students to experience a fun eventful night and an opportunity to see what Lobo village has to offer. On ...

Culture

Fresco painting stands at center of first annual Mundos de Mestizaje

Cameron Ward | March 2

National Hispanic Culture Center (NHCC) brought a more than 3,000-year-old Hispanic history to life at the first annual History Festival, Mundos de Mestizaje. Mundos de Mestizaje or worlds of cultural mixing, created by Frederico Vigil inspired the National Hispanic Culture Center to use the artwork ...

Culture

The Aux: UNM's Department of Theatre and Dance challenges assumptions through 'Meta/Physical'

Kara Olguin | March 1

CENTER FOR THE ARTS — On Friday, Feb. 28 the Department of Theatre and Dance opened their annual faculty dance concert in Rodey Theatre at the University of New Mexico. This year the concert, entitled "Meta/Physical," held space for six choreographic works that showcase the vast capabilities of present-day dance in the theatre setting. "The show is very diverse," Donna Jewell, the artistic director of "Meta/Physical" said. "I really believe that the student(s) ... should be exposed to different ways of making work. (The dance faculty) have hard discussions about what we value on the stage and what we value in process." "Meta/Physical" is generous in its offering.

Culture

Students explore SUB resources through scavenger hunt

Loreena Cain | March 1

STUDENT UNION BUILDING —Students explored the SUB and competed for prizes in a scavenger hunt during the third Uni Night event of the semester on Friday, Feb. 28. The scavenger hunt had six different stations, each in a different location of the SUB. At each station, competitors completed a task in order to get a signature from the attendant running the station as well as a clue for where the next station would be. When students had collected all six signatures, they won their choice of a hat or a flashlight. "We wanted to have an activity that was through the entire SUB that let students know the different resources available, specifically in the SUB," Program Manager Anders Flagstad said.

Culture

UNM turns 131 and celebrates 100 years of Lobo Louie

Daniel Ward | March 1

STUDENT UNION BUILDING — The line trailed and twisted from the SUB atrium to the Southwest Film Center. Some 300 students waited anxiously for one thing — T-shirts. The University of New Mexico celebrated its 131st birthday, Lobo Day, on Feb. 28. The celebration featured a few speeches and a couple of video games. In addition to UNM's birthday, organized by Lobo Spirit and University Communications and Marketing (UCAM), the day also marked 100 years since the founding of Lobo Louie as the school's mascot. The theme of the celebration was all about games with an 8-bit design of Lobo Louie printed on the shirts.

Culture

Larry Casuse's legacy lives on after 47 years

Liam Debonis | March 1

On March 1, 1973, an activist's kidnapping of the Gallup mayor rocked the small New Mexican town and drew national attention to Native American activism in the state. Carried out by Larry Casuse, then-president of the University of New Mexico KIVA Club, the dramatic event would cement itself in the timeline of Native American struggles in the region. Larry Wayne Casuse had long been known as a political activist within the Gallup community. By the time he was 19 years old, he was a key figure in the KIVA Club, an organization dedicated to providing support for Native American students at UNM, as well as raising awareness for Native American issues and events.

Culture

Chicana detective fiction blends folklore and myth to challenge the reader

Spencer Butler | February 26

MESA VISTA HALL — As individuals lined the chairs in common room 1104, Jana Koehler's presentation began about 10 minutes later than expected, so people that were stuck in class could arrive at the presentation. If a murder were to occur, those at Koehler's presentation focused on Chicana detective fiction would be ready. Koehler presented to a small group at the University of New Mexico's Mesa Vista Hall on Feb. 21 about Chicana detective fiction in the Southwest. The Feminist Research Institute organized the presentation introducing Koehler, a UNM-Valencia English part-time instructor, whose presentation explored the writing of Lucha Corpi and her contribution to literature.

Culture

Presentation highlights new side of Orwell — food critic

Daniel Ward | February 26

ZIMMERMAN — Food is not normally associated with the writings of George Orwell, but his controversial way of offending people with the truth can even be found in his British cooking reviews. Caleb Richardson, a British history professor, gave a "George Orwell and Food" presentation Thursday, Feb. 20 as part of the New Mexico People and Places series in Zimmerman Library. The lecture was held in the Frank Waters room in conjunction with the "George Orwell, His Enduring Legacy" exhibit. The exhibit includes over 600 works of Orwell's donated by retired University of New Mexico professor and curator emeritus Russ Davidson. Before the lecture series was organized last fall, Davidson created a catalog for the English writer Orwell. He asked Richardson to write an essay about something related to Orwell's written works, and Richardson said he was happy to work on the project. However, in an effort to tread unresearched territory, he fell upon the topic of food.

Culture

Langston Hughes Project celebrates Black History Month

Loreena Cain | February 23

POPEJOY HALL — "The Langston Hughes Project" visited the University of New Mexico in honor of Black History Month and to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance. The project included one workshop led by Ron McCurdy called "The Poets, Dancers and Musicians of the Harlem Renaissance" and two multimedia concerts by the Ron McCurdy Quartet. The concerts also featured three local spoken word poets. The first concert on Feb. 21 was free to the public. The audience was primarily high school students on field trips from across the state. Event organizer Finnie Coleman told the crowd on Friday the concert was the first University-wide Black History Month event.

Culture

Zimmerman exhibit spotlights New Mexican women

Loreena Cain | February 19

Program Specialists Amy Winter and Mary Wise conceived and curated the digital exhibit "And Yet She Persisted: Women at UNM and Across New Mexico" for the Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications (DISC) office in Zimmerman Library. "And Yet She Persisted" is a web-based assemblage of nearly 1,000 records housed in Zimmerman. It highlights the accomplishments of women from the University of New Mexico and across the state. The digital exhibit uses sources such as graduation records, historical documents, biographies and interpretive essays from the library to show the role women have historically played in New Mexico.

Culture

Native American Studies turns 50

Beatrice Nisoli | February 19

University of New Mexico students and faculty gathered on Wednesday, Feb. 19 in the Student Union Building Ballrooms to celebrate 50 years since the Native American Studies (NAS) department's founding. In honor of its anniversary, NAS hosted its 16th annual Viola F. Cordova Symposium, which informed on the historical development of NAS, honored indigenous students and staff and promoted the cultural significance of Native American education. Tiffany Lee, the department chair with affiliations to the Diné and Lakota tribes, emceed the event.

Culture

Spring welcomes new edition of BSE

Annya Loya | February 19

Best Student Essays (BSE) returns to the University of New Mexico this April with their 2019-2020 spring edition. BSE is a nonfiction magazine student review of UNM and is published annually. It solicits nonfiction work including essays, photo essays, research, criticism, memoirs, foreign language with English translation, journalism, articles and more from UNM undergraduates and graduate students. The magazine, which has been part of UNM since the early 1980s, is meant to give students a platform to not only share their work but share new and different perspectives.

Culture

Vegans advocate for more vegans

Amanda Britt | February 18

Students don't often expect to see dead animals on campus sidewalks, but animal rights activists shocked passersby by displaying graphic footage of animals in the food industry last Thursday at the University of New Mexico. A vegan advocacy chapter, Anonymous for the Voiceless, set up two tents outside of Zimmerman Library — one with informational pamphlets and organizers giving information, the other with volunteers holding television screens depicting the horrors of animal cruelty, such as decapitating and skinning live chickens. "If I had known sooner what happens I would have gone vegan a lot earlier, but I wasn't exposed to this kind of footage," said Camille Severson, a recent graduate from Eldorado High School and vegan of seven months.

Culture

UNM MFA student showcases new play 'Summertime'

Beatrice Nisoli | February 17

"Summertime | an interlude" chronicles the aftermath of a fatal store robbery through the tangled tales of four tormented characters grappling with the tragedy of individual circumstances coupled with a yearning to escape structural oppression. The urban stagnancy of a boiling summer day is punctured with a gunshot wound that leaves Red, an affable shopkeeper and mentor, fighting for his life. This cruel incident emotionally rocks the city to its core and proves an effective backdrop for four damaged characters' introspection. The plot unfolds through the deliberate actions and snippets of dialogue of two radio hosts, a convicted felon (David) recently released from prison and his sister (Windy), an anxious neighbor who bears the responsibility of owning Red’s shop (Syd) and a young father (Vince) struggling to satisfy the demands of hospital bills for his daughter, who is battling cancer.

Culture

Professor emeritus writes series on German dialects

Daniel Ward | February 17

The University of New Mexico is now home to the first worldwide collection of research in German dialect literature in Zimmerman Library. UNM Professor Emeritus of German Peter Pabisch began writing his book "The History of German Dialect Literature Since the Middle of the 18th Century" in 2012. What originally was only supposed to be one book on the research of dialect turned out to be a six volume collection that took eight years to be published. One reason why Pabisch said he wrote the books was because the German language has such a deep background of sub-languages, and communicating between different regions is very difficult with the several different dialects of German.

Culture

Esports student club gains space in Johnson Gym expansion

Caitlin Scott | February 12

The University of New Mexico Esports Club recently expanded in both its physical space and online presence after receiving a gaming room in the new Johnson Center. The two-year-old club was designed to be a fun and safe place for friends to play video games on a competitive level. With the recent remodel of the Johnson Center, the UNM Esports Club will receive a gaming space once construction is complete. The room will serve as a space for players and club members to congregate. Computers for people to play video games as well as engage in other club activities will also be available. Tyler Vencil, a UNM junior studying computer science, joined the esports club right around the time the club was first formed. League of Legends is his game of choice for competitive play and the reason he joined the student club.

Culture

Belen hosts world's largest matanza

Michael Sandoval / @msandovalphotos / Daily Lobo | February 11

Matanza translated to English means “Slaughter,” but for many New Mexicans, it’s synonymous with togetherness and family. As one of the oldest traditions practiced in the United States, the Matanza holds a special place in the hearts of many New Mexicans. What started out 20 years ago, as a way to bring the community together and raise money for local students, has grown from its humble beginnings in front of the Sheriff’s Posse to encompass most of Belen’s Eagle Park. As the years have gone on, not only has the venue changed but so has the number of guests, making it the World’s Largest Matanza with over 10,000 visitors.

Culture

Thrifting with consciousness: Gen Z fashion at UNM

Alyssa Martinez and Joseph McKee | February 11

Fashion fads, polarized politics and the digital documentation of Generation Z are establishing the social atmosphere of the 2020s. These four University of New Mexico undergraduates spoke about their thoughts on what the commencement of the decade means to them.

Culture

The Aux: Broadway’s 'The Book of Mormon' visits Popejoy

Loreena Cain | February 11

Popejoy Hall welcomed the raucous musical "The Book of Mormon" for the third time from Feb. 4 to Feb. 9. The show, which keeps audiences laughing for the entirety of its two-and a half-hour run time, has garnered praise nationally for its catchy songs, elaborate group dance numbers and the humorous way it deals with themes such as racism, religion and poverty. "The Book of Mormon" won nine Tony Awards — including Best Musical in 2011 — and has been running on Broadway for nearly nine years since March of 2011.