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Exploring New Mexico

  Pecos River A quick day trip up north from Albuquerque takes you to one of New Mexico’s most beautiful spots for fishing, hiking, camping and endless scenic views. The Pecos River is just about an hour and a half drive from Albuquerque.The Pecos has hiking spots, fishing spots, and places for picnics all alongside Highway 63. As an added bonus, the drive over is one of the more beautiful drives in the state. As you ride alongside the river, you become immersed in wildlife, cool temperatures and some of the natural beauty New Mexico has to offer.  

Into the Wild: Camping spots located off the beaten path

With the help of University of New Mexico outdoor recreation coordinator Charles Gwinn, the Daily Lobo team explored some incredible camping spots and compiled our favorites into this list for readers who want to give camping a try in their own backyard. Gwinn, along with recommendations for great camping spots, provided us with useful and important tips for new campers. Enjoy!

‘The new normal’: New Mexico’s clear and present climate crisis

As climate change continues to accelerate and manifest in the form of hotter summers, drier monsoons and ever more extreme weather, New Mexico’s complex ecosystem has borne witness to a hellfire of havoc disproportionate to that of other states in the union. But what grim reality should New Mexicans ...

UNM’s Mikaela ‘FlyBy’ Osler breaks thru-hiking record

Editor's note: Mikaela Osler and the Daily Lobo recognize and acknowledge the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Colorado and the diverse communities who have cared for and continue to preserve the land. Within ancestral Ute land, traversing eight sweeping mountain ranges, across five charging river systems and through the thickets and fields of six national forests, the 485-mile Colorado Trail asks hikers to set aside four to six weeks of backpacking to complete it. Mikaela Osler finished the trail in ten days, 12 hours and 36 minutes.

UNM’s desert oasis a costly endeavor

The seven hundred and sixty-nine acres that span the University of New Mexico campus are predominantly covered in grass — an odd sight, given the college’s high desert locale. Water, a precious commodity that is increasingly lacking in supply and high in demand, flows freely on UNM’s grounds — and according to the administration, isn’t a cost that is easily tabulated. Norma Allen, the director of the University’s budget operations, said that UNM’s Facilities Management department receives a $1.9 million budget for the grounds. Facilities Management said that its system isn’t currently set up to monitor the water usage on campus, and because of this isn’t able to peg down the exact cost.

Sept 14, 2020 Comics

Sept 9, 2020 Comics

UNM Athletics spared the brunt of COVID infections in college sporting scene

So far this semester, University of New Mexico Athletics has been spared any major COVID-19 outbreaks, as the program adheres to NCAA and Mountain West Conference guidelines. UNM Athletics director Eddie Nuñez told the Daily Lobo on Aug. 28 that the University is complying with the college sporting body’s stringent regulations, but that hasn’t prevented at least 11 UNM athletes, staffers and/or coaches from testing positive for the virus as of the end of August. These cases are not unique in the wider college athletics landscape. As of the beginning of August, “at least 800 college football players have tested positive for the virus nationwide,” according to Sports Illustrated. However, they warned that “the actual number is likely much higher.”

SHAC massages help relieve stress on campus

The University of New Mexico’s Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) has reopened its massage services, leaving licensed massage therapist (LMT) Eric Revels to find a way to safely meet with clients while simultaneously helping them release stresses often related to the ongoing pandemic. However, Revels has experienced some anxiety himself taking on new patients amid the continued spread of the coronavirus. “My worry wasn’t about particularly working at SHAC, but particularly with working on new people,” Revels said. “Whether that be in my private practice or (SHAC) and them being safe to follow the precautions.”

Brined, not stoned: ‘An American Pickle’ required viewing for Seth Rogen fans only

If you’re wondering what the science behind a man being preserved in pickle brine for 100 years is, you’re in luck! An unnamed reporter asks that very question in the first 15 minutes of the Seth Rogen vehicle “An American Pickle.” I won’t spoil the answer here. I can only say that, according to Herschel’s inner monologue, “The science was good, and everyone was satisfied.” The main highlights of the film include Rogen’s passable Russian accent as Herschel and a few not-so-subtle digs at social media. Fans of YouTube’s “Kalen Reacts” will be pleased to see Kalen Allen make several appearances as Herschel’s “fairy godmother” of the technological age and pickle-odor aficionado.

Fast fashion out of style at Nob Hill’s NEO Thread

Nob Hill’s local upcycling store NEO Thread, also known as “New Life,” has been on hold since February 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but continues to keep a space for creativity for all of its dedicated shoppers. Sarah Holley, the owner, founder, seamstress and expert of upcycling, has been in the process of designing and drafting more creative activities for the “wonderfully misunderstood Albuquerque” since 2019. Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is “the process of changing something you already own into better quality or more valuable to your liking,” as explained previously in the Daily Lobo.

Former UNM football coach son's murder remains unsolved

Mike Locksley, whose brief tenure as the University of New Mexico’s head football coach ended in 2011, and his wife Kia held a joint press conference with the Howard County Police Department on Sept. 3 to announce renewed efforts in the pursuit of knowledge about the murder of Locksley’s son Meiko. The day marked the three-year anniversary of Meiko Locksley’s murder. The 25-year-old was shot once in the chest on the 5500 block of Harpers Farm Road in Columbia, Md. He was later pronounced dead at the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center.

UNM getting the bands back together

University of New Mexico bands haven’t practiced in person since August but are set to resume face-to-face rehearsals after Labor Day with the assistance of new, custom-made masks and socially distanced protocols. Associate professor Chad Simons, who is the associate director of bands and director ...

Right-wing Rio Rancho residents plan counter-demo to BLM protest

As right-wing violence continues to escalate across the country, a Black Lives Matter counter-protest is organizing online. Black New Mexico Movement (BNMM), a group that formed over the summer, is planning to hold a demonstration on the eve of the late rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder “to call for the same changes Tupac called for many years ago,” the Facebook event page states. Shakur was outspoken about systemic racism and police brutality, having himself been a victim of such violence.

‘Mulan’ divides and conquers

I had the privilege — after paying $30 on top of my Disney+ subscription — of watching the new live action version of Mulan over the Labor Day weekend. And, despite much vitriolic criticism and scathing reviews, I found it to be a gorgeous, uplifting brain break during a socially distanced pandemic that has been grinding on for far too long. Though the movie has garnered a number of angry, bitter commentaries about how the movie was “too politically correct” — for insisting on having an exclusively Chinese and Mongolian cast — and the dialog was” underwhelming,” I thought it was a gorgeous cinematic feat that had less cultural appropriation and more realism than the original animated version of the movie.

Zozobra gets roasted

SANTA FE — Zozobra and the shredded gloom of 2020 stuffed inside him burned away for the 96th time on Friday, Sept. 4, this year in front of a nearly empty field due to the coronavirus pandemic. “If there ever was a year that deserved to burn, it's 2020,” Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said as he kicked off the Zozobra live broadcast. “Old Man Gloom” — a 50-foot marionette of gloom incarnate — burns every year at Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe in a storm of fireworks and flames.

Sept 8, 2020 Comics

Moments Together supports pandemic parenting, early childhood development

Childhood education and care never ceases, especially during a pandemic. On Aug. 10, the Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD) launched Moments Together, a campaign intended to provide intellectual and developmental stimulus to children under five as well as support to their caregivers through free and easily accessible online resources. The campaign was adapted from the United Way of Central New Mexico and designed by the Early Literacy Strategy Group in collaboration with the University of New Mexico’s Family Development Program, MediaDesk and New Mexico PBS.

Sept 2, 2020 Comics

Sandia Labs employee rails against critical race theory in lab-wide email

Sandia National Laboratories employee Casey Petersen sent out a lab-wide email on Aug. 25 that contained a self-made YouTube video titled “Pushing Back on the Narrative of Modern Systemic Racism & White Privilege.” In the two weeks since the racist video was sent out, Petersen has drawn support from conservative commentators while Sandia Labs leadership have yet to publicly condemn the video. In the hour-long diatribe, Petersen makes a series of claims that anti-racism training doesn’t belong in the workplace and that systemic racism isn’t a major problem in the modern-day United States, among others.