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Senate Bill 53 blocks federal Nuclear waste storage facility in Southeast New Mexico

Gillian Barkhurst | March 27

  Legislation that blocks the proposed construction of a storage facility for the nation’s nuclear waste in Southeast New Mexico passed into law Friday, March 17 at the New Mexico State Legislature. The bill, formally known as Senate Bill 53, was passed 35-28 and was signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham the same day. The company Holtec International had planned to construct and operate the site that would have housed nuclear waste from commercial power plants around the United States, transported by railway into New Mexico. The bill states that no disposal facilities can be created without the state’s consent and creates a radioactive waste consultation task force to negotiate on behalf of the state on such issues with the federal goverment.

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News

Local gallery partners with Domestic Violence Resource Center to raise funds

Annya Loya | March 27

  Weems Gallery & Framing, a local art gallery, has partnered up with the Albuquerque Domestic Violence Resource Center to host a private fundraiser and raise funds to increase resources at the center. The event will take place in April, according to a press release. In the United States, almost 20 people are physically abused by their intimate partner every minute. In New Mexico, “37.6% of New Mexican women and 33.3% of New Mexican men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes,” according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

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Opinion

OPINION: Isotopes unveil tasty new menu for upcoming season

Elizabeth Secor | March 27

  The Albuquerque Isotopes unveiled their new concessions items for the upcoming 2023 season on Friday, March 24. Hungry fans can rest easy: almost everything sampled was a homerun. The executive chef of the ballpark, Jim Griego, crafted these new food creations; his inspiration came from wanting to give fans variety. “I wanted fans to feel like when they came to the park, there was choices. There were not just, a hot dog or a hamburger,” Griego said. “I wanted them to feel like they could come here and have a food destination.”

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Sports

Bull riding stampedes into The Pit

Thomas Bulger | March 27

  The most dangerous 8 seconds in sports came to Albuquerque with the Ty Murray Invitational as part of the Professional Bull Riding "Unleash The Beast" tour. It was a near sold out crowd all three days of the event. In PBR riders have to stay on their bull for 8 seconds to receive a score. If the rider is able to do so he receives a score for how well he rode out of 50. The bull also receives a score out of 50 depending on how hard they bucked. These scores are added together for the ride's total score.

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Culture

Capturing an era through film photography

Addison Key | March 27

  The use of film photography has soared since 2015, according to The New York Times. Film photography has been matched with certain aesthetics that overwhelm social media feeds with grainy, lower quality “photo dumps.” Curating posts that strive for perfection have become “cringe,” according to an article from Vogue that explains how photo dumps have answered “overly-manicured” aesthetics with the “moodiness of Tumblr-era emo sensibilities.” Social media platform Tumblr could have had an effect on the resurgence of film, according to Emma Ressel, a first year photography graduate student at the University of New Mexico.

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Opinion

LETTER: Revision cuts most of UNM Mission Statement

Victoriano Cárdenas | March 27

 When I taught expository writing at the University of New Mexico in 2018, my students read “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. A staple of most high school English classes in the U.S., a lot of students dismiss the book as being just “a fairy story.” A few students asked me why they had to read it again in college, and I asked them to be patient and see if they could glean anything new. Once you understand a story’s plot, you can focus on dialogue, setting, characterization, theme, historical context — all elements of a good story that point a reader toward its deeper ideas. 

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Culture

REVIEW: Fall Out Boy makes heartbreak feel good on ‘So Much (For) Stardust’

Marcela Johnson | March 27

  The newest album by Fall Out Boy, titled “So Much (For) Stardust,” proves it was never just a phase, mom. The eighth album sees the band going back to their earlier work in more ways than one without feeling played out. The album feels like a reaffirmation by the band of what made them great with the intent to move forward. This album balances long ballads with shorter pieces of spoken poetry and monologues. This album is longer than the band's previous three albums with 13 tracks coming in at a total of 44 minutes and 20 seconds. Fall Out Boy makes good use of the time, repeating themes of moving on — but still holding on — throughout the album.

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Culture

Fusion Theatre Company production mixes up life 3 times

Gabriel Garcia | March 23

 Oscar Wilde famously said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Yet, “Life x 3,” the latest show to be put on by the Fusion Theatre Company in Albuquerque, takes inspiration from the nature of the universe itself, according to Jacqueline Reid, the director of Fusion’s expansive production of the show. Written by Yasmina Reza, “Life x 3” presents the same raucous dinner party from three different possible universes, which the press release describes as “a time/space continuum of repetition, redundancy, and revelation within the most intimate of relationships and their elemental ties to the universe.”

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Culture

Lobo Gardens cultivate community and sustainability on campus

Zara Roy | March 23

  For 12 years, the University of New Mexico’s Lobo Gardens have been growing as a University mainstay for the creation of community, environmental awareness and, of course, delicious produce. Tucked behind a building on the corner of Vassar Drive NE and Campus Boulevard NE, this quiet growing space and “living laboratory” teems with life, according to volunteer coordinator Amara Szrom. The Gardens are an open space for students to help, learn and grow their own plants. In addition to being a volunteer space open on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m., classes, workshops and guest speakers are hosted out of the garden as a part of its role as an outdoor classroom, according to Szrom.

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos upset at home with 2-0 loss to Aggies

Thomas Bulger | March 21

  On March 21 the University of New Mexico baseball team faced rival New Mexico State University and lost 2-0. The Lobos will face the Aggies four times this season; the series will resume in Las Cruces in April. Through March 20, the Lobos led the nation in batting average with a team average of .349, but had an uncharacteristic offensive performance Tuseday night despite being just a few hits away from stealing the game. Overall, the team had five hits: Kyle Smith led the team with two.

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News

Speculative works take center stage at Latinx Visions Conference

Miyawni Curtis | March 20

  From March 9 to 11, the University of New Mexico hosted a three-day conference where a diverse group of people enjoyed performances, art and panels created by around 70 scholars and artists at the Latinx Visions Conference. The primary focus of the conference was to highlight speculative works of art in all forms, according to Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, event coordinator from the UNM Department of Spanish and Portuguese. The Latinx Visions Conference was free for the public to join the all-day panels, art displays and performances. The conference gathered people from the public, professors and students from around the globe.

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News

Protesters’ viewpoints clash during anti-war rally

Bella Frasco | March 20

  Protesters’ viewpoints clashed at the corner of San Mateo and Gibson Boulevards on Saturday, March 18 during an anti-war rally that called for an immediate end to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The event was attended by over 100 people, many of whom opposed the rally’s message. This was not surprising to Jeanne Pahls, co-founder of Stop the War Machine and one of the rally’s organizers, said. “I was anticipating it. I’m not surprised to see that some people are here to say the opposite of what we’re saying,” Pahls said. “This is the U.S. People have different opinions. People have a right to stand up for what they believe in.”

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Sports

UNM student and pro rock climber seeks second national title

Gillian Barkhurst | March 20

  19-year-old competitive rock climber and University of New Mexico Lobo Isis Rothfork will represent New Mexico in Chicago at the Youth National Championships, hosted by USA Climbing, in July. With two landmark seasons under her harness, Rothfork remarked that she has a different mentality going into competition. “It’s like a different game, going in when you're not really chasing. You're kind of being chased.” Rothfork said.

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Sports

Roadrunner Curling Club focuses on education and community

Maddie Pukite | March 20

  Curling since 2015, James Brickey brought the sport to the desert in 2017 with the formation of the Roadrunner Curling Club, aiming to introduce more people to the sport while forming a community in the process. The club meets at least three times per week, which includes lessons on Thursday nights and opportunities to compete. However, learning is a crucial principle of the club even when competing, according to Brandon Wichman, a club member.

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos look strong in series win at start of conference play

Thomas Bulger | March 20

  The University of New Mexico baseball team played their first series of conference play on March 10-12 against the Air Force Academy Falcons. The Lobos won two of the three games. The Lobos lost 9-7 in 10 innings in the first game on March 10: UNM rallied late to tie the game in the ninth inning, but fell short in the 10th. The Lobos would go on to win the second game 15-0 on March 11, and won the third game 11-4 on March 12.

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Culture

UNM's Arita porcelain studio honors process and history

Maddie Pukite | March 20

  Students at the Arita Porcelain Studio, located in the art annex at the University of New Mexico, are unique in their study of the traditional 400-year-old Japanese art of Arita porcelain; UNM is the only university in the United States with faculty authorized to instruct in this art form outside of Japan. Arita porcelain is moreso about the practice and tradition that goes into the process rather than the final product, according to Kathy Cyman, the professor of practice who leads the program. Arita porcelain is a practice out of Arita, Japan, a town in the Saga prefecture, where Izumiyama Kaolin Quarry was founded, the first source in Japan for the raw material that goes into making porcelain clay. 

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Culture

Magic: The Gathering Club offers unique gaming experience to UNM students

Elizabeth Secor | March 20

  On Monday evenings from 5-10 p.m., University of New Mexico students can immerse themselves in a different magical world at “Magic: The Gathering Club,” which focuses on building a community at UNM centered around the card game. “Magic: The Gathering” is a collectable trading card game by Wizards of the Coast built around deck-building, where players can cast spells and summon different creatures to try to eliminate their opponents, according to Daniel Kinghorn, club member. “There are many different ways to play, but they all allow a lot of creativity to build decks that are fun and exciting for all kinds of players,” Kinghorn wrote to the Daily Lobo. “It’s one of the only places where 15 birds can fight an eldritch monster and win.”