Culture

Culture

Albuquerque High School celebrates mural restoration

Katie Monette | April 6

Last Friday, April 5, Albuquerque High School hosted Nuestra Juventud, a celebration of the mural adorning Albuquerque High School. The event was hosted by the Chicana and Chicano Studies Preparatory Program and Pathway to Careers, which is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and local high schools.  “Gracias por esa pelea,” one presenter said, thanking the audience for fighting for the mural. He called the mural an expression of New Mexican culture on the very walls of the school.  Several prominent New Mexicans were in attendance, including Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales, artist Francisco LeFebre, UNM Dean of Arts and Sciences Mark Peceny, UNM Chair of Chicana and Chicano Studies Irene Vasquez and several members of the Albuquerque Public School board.

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Culture

Review: 5th Annual Food Truck Festival

Cade Guerrero | April 5

Last Saturday the Food Truck Festival took over Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park. 27 food truck vendors, were lined up next to 26 beer vendors, for the public to enjoy. Cover band, SourPuss, entertained the hundreds of food truck fans in attendance.  My first stop at the festival was Cheesy Street, a food truck that ran off variations of grilled cheese sandwiches. I grabbed the “Yo Mamma’s” grilled cheese and the bread pudding. The sandwich was a bit underwhelming due to its basic ingredients, there was nothing special about it but the bread pudding made up for it with a blend of milk and cinnamon that melted in my mouth.

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Culture

SUB to host cannabis-related career fair

Amanda Britt | April 4

More than a dozen companies are signed up to be hiring at the medical cannabis and hemp focused career fair. It will be held in the Student Union Building Ballrooms this Friday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.  The companies hiring will vary from licensed non-profit producers and manufacturers, to CBD/hemp companies and medical card consultants.  Among those participating in the career fair is The Marijuana Show, or "Shark Tank Cannabis." This series, available on Amazon Prime, was created to help entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. 

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Culture

UNM readies for Fiestas

Shayla Cunico | April 4

This Saturday, Johnson field will be transformed into a gated performance space that will play host to DJ, Ookay and Boogie for Fiestas 2019. Every year the Associated Students of New Mexico Student Special Events (SSE) puts on Fiestas, an annual music festival held at the University of New Mexico. The festival starts at noon and will be lighting up the faces of attendees until around 9 p.m. 

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Culture

UNM community has mixed reactions to smelly trees

Danielle Prokop | April 4

The smell of spring is in the air at the University of New Mexico. The birds flutter and tweet, people and turtles alike sun themselves at the Duck Pond and the flowers are all a-bloom — some more noticeable than others. The Bradford Pear's flowers can be especially “pungent.” That’s how Alan Billau, the arboriculture supervisor for UNM, described the white blooms located around the Anthropology Annex, North Zimmerman and around the Student Resource Centers. 

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Culture

UNM researcher explores art through time

Katie Monette | April 3

This year, the University of New Mexico Art and Ecology Program's Researcher in Residence is Nina Elder. Her project “Deep Time Lab” currently resides in the University's Art Museum and features not only her own work, but submissions from UNM students, and friends around the world. “I created this project trying to help students at UNM and myself to find ways to say we’re in a time of incredible transition, and what are doing that attaches ourselves to time?” Elder said.

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Culture

Movie Review: Tim Burton's "Dumbo" fails to entertain

Justin Schatz | April 3

The latest of Disney’s corporate ordered live-action remakes, Tim Burton’s “Dumbo,” benefits from the director’s trademark aesthetic, but fails to rise above its uninspired predecessors. The only inspired element of this movie of outcasts is a director who has made a career turning outcasts into empathetic characters.   Despite its “play it safe” storytelling, “Dumbo” attempts, and largely fails to build on several themes presented within the first thirty minutes. “Dumbo” opens in 1919 with Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell), a former circus equestrian performer, returning home from the war to reunite with his two kids, Milly and Joe (Nico Parker and FInley Hobbins). A shaken and hollow Holt is without an arm and his kids are unsure of how to interact with their father. The relationship between a war-scarred father and his children never develops. The scars of both Holt and his children are immediately dismissed once Dumbo enters the story.

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Culture

March celebrates civil rights leader Cesar Chavez

Makayla Grijalva | April 1

The steady beating of drums echoed through the streets Saturday as a long line of people marched from the National Hispanic Cultural Center to downtown Albuquerque.  The march happens annually— it is now in its 26th year honoring the late civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez.   “I think it's important for our community and young folks to really appreciate whose shoulders we stand on,” said Emilio Huerta, son of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. “If not for the sacrifices of folks like Cesar, my mother and other labor and civil rights leaders, we would not have a lot of the rights we have today, that we enjoy today.”

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Culture

Student org helps Lobos showcase their art

Luisa Pennington | April 1

The University of New Mexico's Arts Entrepreneurship Club was originally started by faculty sponsor Regina Chavez Puccetti of the UNM College of Fine Arts and Anderson School of Management, in collaboration with former President, Miguel Lastra, a Fall 2018 UNM Graduate, to aide students looking to meet art-focused entrepreneurs and broaden their network.  "Students in all disciplines of the arts often don't take the time to develop solid entrepreneurial skills. In college, the focus tends to be only on developing their artistic talent,” Chavez Puccetti said. “The UNM Arts Entrepreneurship Club works to help all creative students build their network and find entrepreneurial opportunities... we want to help our graduates increase their chances of success as creative entrepreneurs." 

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Culture

UNM Department of Art celebrates 90th anniversary

Amanda Britt | April 1

The University of New Mexico’s Department of Art held Art90 last week in celebration of its 90-year anniversary on March 30, with a graduate art exhibition, refreshments and live entertainment in Hodgin Hall. The Art Department has evolved since it first began 90 years ago. In honoring the development of the arts, UNM’s Art alumni were welcomed back to reflect on the history and success of art at the University.  Associate Professor and Department Chair, Justine M. Andrews, said that in her experience working in the art department the last 15 years, she has as seen the department develop and grow.

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Culture

Five and Why: Psych professor shares favorite movies

Amanda Britt | March 31

Dr. Bruce Smith is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico, focusing his research on clinical and health psychology. His is interested in researching the study of resilience and the ability to bounce back from stress, including the development of interventions that increase happiness and well-being. This potential for stories is what Smith calls the “hero’s journey," something he outlines when sharing his five favorite movies, and why. "Just to briefly define the terms for everyone, positive psychology is about using the science of psychology to become our best self and make the most of our lives,” Smith said. “The ‘hero’s journey’ is a set of stages that Joseph Campbell identified that are common to many of our favorite stories and reflect what we go through in becoming our best self.”

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Culture

Food Truck Friday: Differential brewery and curbside pies food truck teams up

Cade Guerrero | March 29

Earlier this year, Curbside Pies and Differential Brewery began their partnership. Owner of Differential, Tino Nellos, and Curbside owner, Steve “Steve-O” Myers, with partners Richard Meyers and Rob Empante, started serving the public last February.  Inside each place had a vibe that every student can pick up on. Inside Differential you have an authentic cigarette machine from the 70’s, Wu-Tang Clan beating in your ears and a pool table surrounded with art and a colorful cast of employees ready to serve the brew.  On the left side of the building is Curbside, were they built in their own pizza oven inside an old school bus. Alongside Steve-O and Meyers was Meyers' son Raven who helped with taking orders and running food inside to customers. Surrounded by a mixture of pizza ingredients, the first thing that came to my mind was ordering a slice of New Mexico.

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Culture

Student org highlights farmworkers

Sophia Sambrano | March 28

Camperinos, a student organization at the University of New Mexico, held its 7th annual Farmworker Awareness Week (FAW) in the SUB Atrium. The three-day event held March 25, 26 and 27 was in support of farmworker justice, coinciding with National FAW and activist, Cesar Chavez’ birthday. The event featured themes on each of the three days, with Monday’s theme being Dia de la Mujer Campesina, Tuesday’s being Farmworker Student Appreciation Day and Wednesday's being Cesar Chavez’ birthday. FAW has a social justice mission, and the intersections of worker justice, gender justice and migrant justice. Their mission pertains to farmworker justice as a whole, something that was emphasized throughout the event.

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Culture

Movie Review: "Us" packages social commentary with thrills

Justin Schatz | March 28

It has now become an event whenever a new Jordan Peele movie is released. “Get Out” had resounding success, not only with its competent execution of thrills, but also its ability to incorporate social commentary, something Peele has perfected from his many years as a writer and producer on “Key and Peele.” His entertaining commentary on black and white relations within the U.S. was poignant and unflinching.   In “Us,” Peele continues his rise as one of America’s most talented filmmakers and social commentators. The film opens in 1986 at the Santa Clara fair, where we are introduced to a young Adelaide Thomas (played by Madison Curry). Adelaide is at the fair with her parents, before she wanders off and enters a dilapidated funhouse. From there we enter the mind of a director at the top of his game.

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Culture

Food Truck Friday: Street Food Institute

Cade Guerrero | March 27

Food trucks are a common characteristic when visiting a brewery, varying in different fares such as Mexican food, Asian cuisine, you can even find brewery patrons grubbing on fresh pizza. Each truck has a staple specialty and target certain demographics.  At the Street Food Institute (SFI), they provide hands on training for people to learn how to run food trucks. A non-profit organization that has developed a partnership with Central New Mexico Community College, SFI gives a curriculum that provides food facilities to students of CNM and to the general public. Lead instructor of SFI, Julian Griego, has a deep background in the culinary arts graduating from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada leading to work in fine dining. As a chef in New Mexico Griego has helped student achieve their passion working in the food truck industry.

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Culture

Adam Biederwolf's five favorite albums

Shayla Cunico | March 27

As the election for president of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico gets closer, the Daily Lobo wanted to get to know presidential candidate Adam Biederwolf, and his taste in music a little bit better.  Biederwolf said music plays a huge role in his life and considers himself a fan of Hip Hop. He said he is drawn to the conceptual side of the genre, naming artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z and Kanye West as some of his favorites. This was reflected in his answers when asked what his five favorite albums are, and why.

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Culture

UNM holds talk on sustainability

Elisabetta Mackin | March 25

Last Thursday, a talk focused on climate change was held at the University of New Mexico in an effort to encourage students and the University community to acknowledge their collective carbon footprint and learn how to engage in constructive conversations. “The most important thing we can do is talk about it,” said Holly Olivarez, the coordinator of the event. “Even if we are confused and even if we are unsure.”  Olivarez, a senior undergraduate student majoring in Earth and Planetary Sciences. She is an aspiring climate scientist, and plans to attend graduate school in the fall specializing in climate change communication.

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Culture

El Centro de la Raza celebrates 50th birthday

Shayla Cunico | March 21

Since its founding in 1969, El Centro de la Raza has helped Latino and underrepresented students at the University of New Mexico. This year El Centro is celebrating their 50th anniversary, titled50 Años de Excelencia y Justicia Social.  The celebration acts as more of a family reunion, said El Centro's Director, Rosa Isela Cervantes.  "We have students coming, (as well as) alumni that haven't seen each other in years," Cervantes said.  As El Centro comes up on 50 years at UNM, they wanted to celebrate the milestone in a way that would allow them to continue to support students the way El Centro always has. El Centro provides resources to students, helping them to reach their fullest potential during their years at UNM.

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Culture

Luann McConnell shares love of spinning wool

Anthony Jackson | March 5

A spinning wheel here, some fossils there and chunks of rich tradition was found in the halls of the New Mexico State Legislature on Monday, March 4.  With wool in her hand undergoing a simple transformation, Luann McConnell traveled as far as Las Cruces, New Mexico to share her values of spinning wool.  “I have been spinning for over thirty years and it is so much fun. It’s relaxing and it’s productive,” McConnell said. “It’s also a connection to the past because spinning is as old as civilization — to me, spinning links us to our past.”  McConnell said she has volunteered spinning at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum in Las Cruces for more than a year. She said her husband also volunteers there as a blacksmith. 

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Culture

Prominent sculpture on campus receives refurbishing

Sophia Sambrano | March 5

One of the University of New Mexico’s most visible displays of public art, Luis Jimenez’ “Fiesta Jarabe,” was recently restored, and is a vibrant part of UNM’s large art collection from world-class artists.  The sculpture is more commonly known as “Fiesta Dancers” and sits on UNM’s Cornell Mall. It’s bright colors and distinctive style is one of the first public art pieces greeting UNM visitors.  Luis Jimenez’ work depicts a strong couple in a jarabe dance, which is traditional to Mexico. The sculpture was installed in 1993 and is an example of one of the many world-class art pieces available for the UNM community to enjoy.  Jimenez is known for his fiberglass sculptures that deal with his hispanic and Southwestern cultural heritage that draws on his experience as the son of working-class Mexican migrants. An active artist from the 1960s until his death in 2006, Jimenez’ work is showcased throughout the United States, but his catalog contains a notable presence in New Mexico.