One UNM student, with the deck stacked against her, will graduate this semester and chase her dreams farther than she ever imagined. Daniela Romero was born in New Mexico and grew up in a one-parent home, she said. However, it wasn’t her parent who raised her, but her great grandmother.
Setting goals is often considered the first step when working toward achieving something in life. For one student, the goal of graduating college was apparent early on, posted on the bulletin board in her bedroom while she was still attending Rio Rancho High School. Even after switching majors, Jocelyn Fafard will graduate with a Bachelor of Applied Science in family studies in just three and a half years on Saturday. Fafard said college was on her mind early, and she was fortunate to have parents that provided strong support along the way.
After a long journey fighting numerous physical disabilities, Christmas is coming early for one UNM senior, and it’s in the form of a bachelor’s degree in economics. Ian Christmas will graduate from UNM this month, finishing his undergraduate studies with a 3.51 GPA. The road to graduation has been a challenging one: Christmas said he suffered a life-changing knee injury two weeks before graduating from One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Georgia as a U.S. Army infantryman in 1997.
Maria Andrea Aguilar is graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences this month, and she took a not-so-traditional path to her Spanish degree, completing the requirements in just two and a half years. Aguilar said that she has always known what is she capable of, and she always try to meet her goals. “I knew it would be possible for me to obtain my degree in less than four years, and therefore I had to do my best to do it,” she said.
Albuquerque residents sporting red AIDS ribbons and clothing gathered at the Old Town Plaza Tuesday night for the second annual candlelight vigil in honor of World AIDS Day. Candles were lit in honor of loved ones who lost their lives to the disease while the Highland High School Choir and the New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus sang songs of love and peace and listeners shielded their flames from the cold wind.
It’s been years since a literary series took the world by storm. Harry Potter concluded in 2007, a year before the final installment of the Twilight saga. Two years later, the Hunger Games trilogy gave fans an epilogue they still argue about. While it’s not yet over, book six in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series won’t be out until sometime next year. But now that the semester is ending, what’s a reader to do? For your holiday break enjoyment, the Daily Lobo presents three underrated books series, all of which are totally complete, absolutely amazing and easily finished before the spring semester begins.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which in today’s consumer-centric society means Christmas is right around the corner. But in 2015 this time of year demands the question: Have you bought your “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” tickets yet? Thanks to the impending return of one of the most well-known franchises of all time, there are enough Star Wars products out there to fill the craving for the Star Wars fan in your life -- even if it’s you.
Kalei Heartland greets the volunteers who walk into the UNM Continuing Education building with homemade cards, wrapping paper and a desire to do something positive for the community. As families enjoy free pizza and each other’s company, she smiles at the rows of tote bags filled with the presents she is going to hand out come Christmastime. What Heartland really wanted to do was inspire people to pay it forward, so she founded Gift Givers Anonymous six years ago. The program began as a small project and has since gone viral.
One of the best ways to spend the holidays is to watch some of the better Christmas movies and specials. The wide range of what defines a "holiday movie" is another reason to sit down and spend some quality time with the family.
It's that time of year again, ladies and gentlemen. The holiday season is upon us. Now, regardless of what everyone believes, this time of the year is definitely the best time to pick something up. There are deals galore, especially with Black Friday right around the corner. It's getting cold outside ... so what's there better to do than sit down inside and play some video games?
With Thanksgiving just a day away, the Roadrunner Food Bank is working to distribute food to a variety of organizations around Albuquerque in the hope that no one goes hungry. Here are some places welcoming the homeless and anyone else in need of a meal.
Imagine eating a small lava cake from a mason jar while enjoying a fizzy scented bath and drinking hot chocolate from a personalized mug. How does one achieve this awesome fantasy? Simple: Make all of this year’s Christmas/Hanukkah/Gift-Giving-Holiday gifts yourself, and then keep the leftover gift materials to make your own.
New businesses often have a higher likelihood of failing, especially in their first year, but that didn’t stop a local entrepreneur and UNM instructor from taking that chance. Kristelle Siarza, a communication and journalism instructor, recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of her company, Siarza Social Digital.
Snow, rain, finals week and love hang in the air as the semester takes a slow bow. Tabitha Endriguez decided to add some Shakespeare to the table. Endriguez, coordinator of the book club Sex and Shakespeare, said she began the literary group to bring together people who have a passion for Shakespeare's more intimate works. From Nov. 22 through Nov. 25, Endriguez will expand her love of Shakespeare to include a Sex and Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis workshop. “I’ve read Venus and Adonis seven times. I fell in love with the poem,” she said.
American indie rock band The Good Life will hit the stage in Albuquerque at Sister Bar on Sunday. The band is touring to promote their newest album, “Everybody’s Coming Down,” which was released in August. It is their first new album in eight years. Tim Kasher, front man of The Good Life, spoke with the Daily Lobo about the experience of touring with the band again and the new album.
Despite reports to the contrary, the Lantern Fest did happen in Albuquerque on Saturday, and thousands of lanterns were successfully launched to light up the night sky. The NAPA Speedway, aka Sandia Speedway, saw almost the entire track covered with s’mores kits, fire pits, hula hoops, limbo bars, pie-eating and Sprite-chugging contests, face painting, princesses, a bouncy house, live music and, of course, lanterns. And if that wasn’t enough to keep everyone entertained, fire dancers performed after the lantern launch to cap the event.
Now through Dec. 12, the exhibit titled “Vernacular in Place: Old and New Topographic Photography”, will be on view in the Van Deren Coke Gallery. The exhibit ties past and current photography styles together. According to the University of New Mexico Art Museum website, “The first half of Vernacular in Place samples the canon of landscape photography as taught and collected at UNM by historian Beaumont Newhall and founding director of the Art Museum, Van Deren Coke, in the 1960s and 70s—decades when UNM was arguably the leading international center of photo history and studio photography.”
Meet Liliana. She likes helping people, sarcasm and killing bad guys. She's also around 230 years old. Liliana and I have spent a lot of time together in the last few days, exploring the world of “Fallout 4.” That's one of the things I like most about the newest edition of Bethesda's “Fallout” franchise: the highly customizable avatars. I spent about an hour getting Liliana's look and stats just right.
Imagine a world where people could choose whether or not they have nipples. This may sound like a bizarre subject to many people, but for breast cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomies and other surgeries to their breasts, this choice is a liberating relief. Knitters and crocheters in Albuquerque can now join the cause to offer this choice by joining the newly formed Knitted Knockers volunteer group at The Yarn Store at Nob Hill. Knitted Knockers is a national organization based in Bellingham, Washington that strives to provide free and accessible knitted breast prosthesis, called knitted knockers, to breast cancer survivors.
Bond, James Bond. Ever since his first onscreen incarnation in the early ‘60s, audiences have been collectively fascinated by the now-iconic super-spy and his fancy cars, dry martinis and even dryer wit. Oh, and let’s not forget his many sordid, sexy love affairs. “Spectre,” the newest Bond film in which Daniel Craig makes his fourth outing as 007, is a frustrating and fascinating examination of the character and his legacy, the correct filmic execution of which has been at the forefront of the franchise for quite some time now.
Solutions by The State News
