What does a University of New Mexico student do when that final class is done before spring break starts? Do they fly home? Do they stay on campus? No. If you are two foreign exchange students from England, you find two American students that love to road trip and tag along.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of alumni profiles of former Daily Lobo contributors, created in an effort to connect current readers and contributors to the past and present. Continue to follow the Daily Lobo for more. Just one month before he was set to graduate from the University of New Mexico, Russ Parsons said he discovered he still needed six credit hours and was “schooled out.” He already had a job waiting for him and decided to leave the University in 1978. In 1973, he had just graduated from high school and was looking for something to do over the summer, he said. He lost his job at Der Wienerschnitzel, “lasted a half a day selling vacuums” and was doing phone solicitations — but he knew he wanted to be a journalist.
I will get right to the point — “Love, Simon” tops my list as my favorite movie I have seen all year, and I see a lot of movies. Now it probably is not Oscar-worthy, but it was happy, funny, sad and devastating all at the same time. Directed by Greg Berlanti, “Love, Simon” was released on March 16 and is a teenage romantic comedy.
Much like the current socio-political climate of Mexico, “Gringo” is enormously messy. The “dark comedy” film directed by Nash Edgerton and starring the — wasted — talents of David Oyelowo, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried and Charlize Theron never follows through on its promises of humor or drama and is instead an utter chore to sit through. The premise is simple. After he learns he’s being stabbed in the back by his best friend and boss, Richard (Joel Edgerton), Harold Soyinka (Oyelowo) fakes his own kidnapping following a shady exchange with a Mexican pharmaceutical company. When Richard calls in his brother, an ex-special-ops soldier (Copley), to help rescue Harold, shenanigans ensue.
Female Voices in Music Composition is an ongoing course this semester, taught by Ana Alonso-Minutti, Ph.D., an associate professor of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at the University of New Mexico. This course, offered through UNM’s Department of Music, focuses on female composers throughout various genres of music, encouraging students to engage with content through readings, listening selections and films.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of five profiles on women associated with the University of New Mexico, who have been recognized by Albuquerque Business First as women of influence in New Mexico. Doris Careaga, Ph.D. is a professor in the Chicano and Chicana Studies Department, where she teaches classes that focus on Afro-Mexican culture and heritage. “Afro-Mexican studies is not only my subject in a professional way, but it is a huge part of my life,” she said.
The University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum is showcasing a temporary exhibit that demonstrates the negative effects of processed foods in modern diets, titled “Last Supper.” Over the next two weeks students will have the chance to experience the conceptual installation by C. Maxx Stevens. The exhibit displays monotone-painted processed food placed on a large white table dusted with glitter to represent the commercialism and the addiction of sugar, Stevens said.
As part of the John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium, Annie Merrill received the Scott Wilkinson Student Composer Award and her recent piece, “Torusot,” for flute, clarinet, percussion and cello. Born is Colorado, Merrill attended the University of New Mexico initially to study French horn performance, she said. “I’ve been a musician for as long as I can remember,” Merrill said.
Stand-up comedian, Beth Stelling, performed a one-hour comedy show Thursday night for a full audience of students and community members at the University of New Mexico’s Student Union Building. Stelling was introduced to the crowd by Student Special Events member Victoria Pena-Parr who spent the day showing Stelling around Albuquerque, letting her see some of Albuquerque’s most famous locations and taking her to eat at the city’s Frontier Restaurant.
After being unanimously selected last November, the University of New Mexico’s first female President Garnett S. Stokes had her historic moment during the 31st anniversary of Women’s History Month, as she began her term on March 1. Stokes has been a “first” several times, she said. A: I’m happy to be in that role. It’s such a great message to say to women that these opportunities are available. It’s not the first time that I’ve been “the first.” I was the first woman head of psychology at the University of Georgia and the first woman dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia, the first woman provost at Florida State University (and) the first interim president at Florida State.
The University of New Mexico Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications Program, or DISC, created an online exhibit entitled “And Yet She Persisted: Documenting Women’s Lives in New Mexico.” This exhibit is in celebration of Women’s History Month and seeks to recognize the achievements of women who have graduated from UNM, said Mary Wise, digital humanities librarian and assistant professor. Wise collaborated with Amy Winter, DISC program specialist, to create the online exhibit. According to Wise, “And Yet She Persisted” will be an ongoing project and will be available even after Women’s History Month ends.
The University of New Mexico Graduate Art Association is having its 24th Annual Juried Art Exhibition at the UNM Art Museum now through May 5. The graduate students in the art and art history department at UNM have an opportunity to have their work on display every year in this exhibit. The exhibit is put on and run by the GAA. The GAA chooses the juror and oversees the jurying process, according to Mary Statzer, the UNM Art Museum curator of prints and photographs and this year’s juror for the art exhibit. Statzer is new to the UNM Art Museum and collaborated with Steven Hurley, the UNM Art Museum coordinator of exhibitions to put up this year’s exhibit.
The University of New Mexico music department will host the 47th Annual John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium from March 23 to 29. The symposium brings distinguished composers from around the world to campus. This year it is hosting a larger-than-usual number of composers, including Betsy Jolas, Cort Lippe, Hilda Paredes, Augusta Read Thomas, Hans Tutschku and Hildegard Westerkamp. To get an idea of the individual voices of these composers the Symposium has put together a YouTube playlist.
The mysterious Meow Wolf played host to a night of rock ‘n’ roll fun, with the indie rock band, Tigers Jaw. The band is currently touring its new album, “Spin,” and is joined by the female-led bands, Looming and Yowler. Looming proved to be a lot — like four electric guitars at once a lot.
Released on March 9, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” hit theaters 10 years after the original film, “The Strangers, ” which in all honesty is tremendously better. “The Strangers: Prey at Night” was still scary, don’t get me wrong, but it was also predictable and lacked a complex plot. Where “The Strangers” originally followed a couple's fight to survive in a secluded cabin in the woods, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” takes place at a trailer park and features a family of four.
Unlike what seems to be the majority, I was not at all impressed by director Alex Garland’s previous film, “Ex Machina.” It’s a trite, boring piece regurgitating the dangers of AI — and the humans that make it, ooh — for the umpteenth time. I just didn’t get it I suppose. Regardless, I went in giving “Annihilation” and Garland another fair chance. Natalie Portman leads as Lena — a cellular biologist who, after the mysterious reemergence and near-death of her missing husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), joins an investigative team to explore a spreading alien anomaly dubbed “the Shimmer” in hopes of curing him.
There’s an unsettling air of control hovering over Cory Finley’s directorial debut, “Thoroughbreds.” Lily’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) strict stepfather, Mark (Paul Sparks), lurks in the background of their enormous, empty mansion almost omnisciently. Her mentally unstable friend, Amanda (Olivia Cooke), effortlessly feigns emotion and can cry on command. Even the claustrophobic locations and camerawork are overbearingly oppressive. The film becomes a wonderfully tense ride of unpredictability when this control is lost as Lily and Amanda incapably hatch a plan to kill Mark.
Sister Bar hosted the tour kick-off party for local Albuquerque band Red Light Cameras and their guest performers, the Timewreckers and Jared and The Mill. Despite a disrespectfully low amount of monthly listens on Spotify, Red Light Cameras was able to gather a huge amount of fans for their opening tour performance. The opening band that stood out the most was, by far, the Arizona band, Jared and The Mill. Led by ultra-skinny-jean-wearing Jared Kolesar, Jared and The Mill ramped up the audience with a strong folk rock performance only topped by genre giants Mumford & Sons.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of five profiles on women associated with the University of New Mexico, who have been recognized by Albuquerque Business First as women of influence in New Mexico. Originally from Spain, Assistant Professor of Architecture Ane Gonzalez Lara has been teaching at the University of New Mexico for the past two years. Gonzalez Lara is passionate about teaching, designing buildings and understanding architecture as an interdisciplinary topic, she said.
No. 1 New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Marissa Meyer plunged me, along with many others, into a thrilling adventure when she published her first book in her “Lunar Chronicles” series, titled “Cinder” back in 2012. Then, she left her readers equally breathless when the series wrapped up with the book “Winter” in 2015. Meyer hasn’t left the world she meticulously set up in her “Lunar Chronicles” behind however. Readers were given another glimpse through “Wires and Nerves,” a graphic novel sequel series written by Meyer and illustrated by Douglas Holgate, the second part of which was released Jan. 30 of this year.
Solutions by The State News
