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Culture

Shayla Cunico discovers love of journalism at UNM

Danielle Prokop | May 6

Shayla Cunico isn’t fragmented, she’s kaleidoscopic. Cunico, the culture editor for the Daily Lobo has said her time at the University has helped to transform how she sees the world and carve out space for her authentic self. She’s learning now that despite how she has pulled in different directions, she could be a whole person and create something new. Graduation is looming but afterward she’s headed to Arizona State University, where orientation starts for her Masters in Visual Communication Design on May 28. Cunico said she feels she has one foot in two places as she finishes here but looks ahead to the program. “I’ve been trying to go through my head and see how I feel,” Cunico said. “But it’s difficult.”

Sports

NM United blanks San Antonio FC

Andrew Gunn/ @agunnwrites/ Daily Lobo | May 6

For the first time in their brief existence, New Mexico United stands alone at the top. The expansion club recorded an emphatic 3-0 win over visiting San Antonio FC (3-5-1) on a gorgeous Cinco de Mayo evening, playing in front of a record 15,023 at Isotopes Park. The result saw New Mexico (4-1-5) claim sole control of first place in the USL Championship's Western Conference with 17 points through 10 matches.

Culture

Milkweed and Monarchs

Makayla Grijalva and Shayla Cunico | May 5

Tatia Veltkamp, owner of Wings of Enchantment, has a home filled to the brim with butterflies — whether it’s decorations on the walls or breeding monarchs fluttering in their mesh enclosure. Wings of Enchantment is a butterfly farm in northeast Albuquerque that ships butterflies to consumers across the country. What once started out as a hobby 18 years ago, has grown into a business of Veltkamp farming butterflies for the last nine years. Her customers purchase the butterflies to release them at weddings and other events. After release, it is expected that the monarchs migrate with the Eastern population “When my kids were little, I read an article in a magazine about how to go find caterpillars and eggs, but I didn’t know what milkweed was, so we had to figure out what milkweed was first in order to go find them,” Veltkamp said.

News

UNM baseball player shot and killed

Cameron Goeldner | May 4

Jackson Weller, 23 years old and a University of New Mexico Baseball Player, is dead after a shooting outside Imbibe Nightclub in Nob Hill early Saturday morning. Weller was a transfer from Gateway Community College in Arizona. He had not yet appeared for the Lobos after joining the program in the fall of 2018 and was sitting out this season due to injury. He had plans to rejoin the program next fall, according to an Albuquerque Journal story.

School strike for climate marchers on Central Avenue.

News

ABQ students walk out for climate action, participate in global movement

Andrew Gunn | May 4

The youth have spoken on climate change, and their message is clear: inaction will no longer be tolerated. Over 200 students from the Albuquerque area walked out of class on Friday afternoon and converged on Johnson Field in protest of governmental failures to address climate change. The student-led demonstration, in lockstep with a growing worldwide movement known as the School Strike for Climate, demanded elected officials and businesses face the reality of human-caused climate change and take steps to mitigate it. It was organized by Fight For Our Lives, a student-activist group formed in response to the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February of last year. The protest ended in a march from Johnson Field to the intersection of Central and Carlisle, where the junction was blocked for the better part of an hour.

Culture

Heroes of Johnson Center

Sean Arguello | May 3

Johnson Center is a place on campus where students go to destress. However, it is the people who work at Johnson Center that make a difference. One student-employee at Johnson is University of New Mexico student Jaquan Franklin. Franklin worked his way up for six months to assistant supervisor at Johnson Center. Franklin said in order to work at Johnson, a person must have “hard work and dedication, a good attitude and the ability to focus on customers.”

News

Graduates protest for higher wages

Justin Garcia | May 3

“Who are we? Graduate Workers! What do we want? A living wage!” That was one of several chants shouted by around 200 (mostly) graduate workers during a march and protest for higher wages on Wednesday.

Culture

Business owner nurtures butterflies to maturity

Makayla Grijalva and Shayla Cunico | May 2

Tatia Veltkamp, owner of Wings of Enchantment, looked over her growing butterflies as a trio of breeding monarchs fluttered around their mesh enclosure. Wings of Enchantment is a butterfly farm in northeast Albuquerque that ships butterflies to consumers across the country. What once started out as a fun hobby 18 years ago, has grown into a business farming butterflies for the last nine years. “When my kids were little, I read an article in a magazine about how to go find caterpillars and eggs, but I didn’t know what milkweed was, so we had to figure out what milkweed was first in order to go find them,” Veltkamp said.

Culture

El Paisa showcases Mexican heritage

Aaron Mendoza | May 2

The Institute of Mexicans abroad reports there are more than 36 million people with Mexican heritage living in the United States. In addition they reported that there are more than 24 million people that are Mexican-born and living in the United States. The city of Albuquerque is one of the most diverse cities in the country. Hundreds of Mexican families have settled in the largest city in New Mexico. Southwest Albuquerque has become a point of concentration for the Mexican community. Bridge Boulevard is brimming with local restaurants that bring a bit of Mexico to the Duke City for those who have had to leave their country.

Culture

Local woman works to rescue dogs

Danielle Prokop | May 2

Veronica Garcia Ortega hadn’t had breakfast yet, because the motto in her home is that “the dogs eat first,” she said in Spanish. The dog food clatters into the baby swimming pool, and Garcia Ortega tries to step back as dogs scramble over each other to wolf it down. She scoops up the dogs for their photo shoot, navigating muddy paws and eager face-licks. They are under consideration for adoption in the United States, to be taken in shelters as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah. Mary Tovey from Albuquerque and Alma Morfin from Juárez are partners in the nonprofit Planned Pethood de Juárez — an organization which is mainly focused on animal welfare education and spay/neuter efforts in the city and surrounding area.

Culture

New Mexicans trek miles for pilgrimage

Danielle Prokop and Anthony Jackson | May 2

There are many traditions in New Mexico -- green chile harvesting, lighting luminarias -- but there is nothing that attracts people from all over the world like the pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayo. Located at an elevation of more than 6000 feet and east of Espanola, thousands of people visit a Spanish mission tucked away in the mountains during Holy Week. Most walkers start near the village of Nambe, others start in Santa Fe and a select few begin their trek in Albuquerque, more than 80 miles away. Along the way people carry crosses with the names of loved ones. Some walk their dogs and others push their loved ones in a wheelchair through the pastel colored desert and the rising hills. Some people carry their burdens for their God to absolve them.

Culture

Lopez Farms thrives despite the heat

Justin Schatz | May 2

Dry soil cracked beneath worn soles. The sun was still behind the mountains to the east. Dew clung to wheatgrass. Chris Lopez surveyed his farm with a look of pride and concern before climbing into his Ford to start the day. Lopez has been farming this piece of land his entire life. His grandfather left behind mining in Magdalena and purchased the original piece of land over fifty years ago. Despite the increasing aridity of the southwest and risks of ranching, Chris’ grandfather relocated his family to the fertile middle Rio Grande valley. From an original few acres, Lopez Farms expanded to encompass nearly 700 acres. They grow expansive fields of winter wheat and the hottest green chile in Central New Mexico.Several acres are designated wildlife habitat.

Culture

Faces in the crowd at Fiestas

Justin Garcia | May 2

The mass of human bodies swayed back and forth to blaring electronic beats below a flashy stage. Heat generated from those bodies rose into a damp night sky flooded by pulsing yellow, blue and green lights. The crowd moves as one unit, pushing itself closer to the stage like a child yearning for its mother. This is Fiestas, an annual music festival hosted by organizations within the University of New Mexico. It’s attended by thousands of people including students and community members from around main campus and Albuquerque. While the mass around the stage seems to be homogeneous, it is actually a motley collection of individuals moving as one. Each person, swaying and turning to the music, is lost in themselves and obsessed with the one foot of space there bodies have occupied.

Sports

Women's Basketball: Lobos add two more to 2019 recruiting class

Cameron Goeldner | May 1

Mike Bradbury wasted no time filling his two newly vacated scholarships, replacing guards Madi Washington and Quincy Noble with graduate transfer Ciani Cryor and freshman Celine Dupont. Cryor will wear her third Division I jersey when she suits up for the Lobos in the fall, joining the program after a season at Georgia Tech and the last two at Rutgers. Last year for Rutgers she averaged 8.1 points, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Cryor will provide the Lobos with extra insurance at point guard with Aisia Robertson expected to miss at least the first half of the season recovering from a torn ACL she suffered in the regular season final.

Opinion

Column: How seaweed could save the ocean from climate change

Cole Space | April 30

The late 1700s welcomed the Industrial Revolution, and while no one can undermine the importance of this cultural shift within every economic sector, it also planted the toxic seeds of humanity’s death. The enormous increase of production due to coal powered machines in the late 19th century, also enormously increased the amount of greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere. Forward thinkers within the late 1800s started to notice, and document, changes seen within the climate, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that scientists saw an unusual increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Fast forward to today, an even a blind jester can see the effects of climate change. From the icecaps melting, to droughts intensifying, these events are new and undeniably caused by our own avarice of production resulting in pollution.

Opinion

Column: Four ways to contribute to sustainability without breaking the bank

Sophia Sambrano | April 30

Sometimes going green is seen as something that is expensive and elitist, and while this can be true in some cases, I am a firm believer that we all can contribute to the earth in meaningful ways. Below are four free ways you can contribute to sustaining our environment.

Culture

KIVA Club wraps up week-long celebration on Johnson Field

Anthony Jackson | April 30

The 64th Annual Nizhoni Days Powwow wrapped up their week-long event with a gathering on Johnson Field at the University of New Mexico on Sunday, April 28. Crowds formed a circle under the sun around indigenous dancers, drummers and singers. A small market of more than 70 bright blue, white and red tents sold clothes, food and provided information on Native American causes and programs among others, under the shade. Some dancers were local to Albuquerque, but Dan Nanamkin came as far as Washington from the Colville Indian Reservation. He heard about Nizhoni Days through a relative.

News

UNM, Union reach agreement (updated)

Kyle Land | April 30

The University of New Mexico and United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM), the proposed faculty union for the state’s flagship university, reached an agreement late Monday night, according to multiple sources close to the matter. The compromise reached between the University and the union includes two bargaining units organized under UA-UNM. One bargaining team will represent full-time faculty and a separate unit will represent part-time faculty, according to Associate Professor Matías Fontenla, a member of the union’s organizing committee. He also said faculty from branch campuses will be included in the full-time bargaining team — which was a sticking point in negotiations. Both Fontenla and James Montalbano, an attorney representing the union, said the exact language of the agreement would be publicized Tuesday morning, sometime before a meeting of the general faculty at Popejoy Hall at 10 a.m.

Undergraduate and graduate student tuition increases

News

What students pay for tuition increase

Danielle Prokop and Justin Garcia | April 29

The cost of attendance at the University of New Mexico is going up. That much is clear. However, it’s not a simple student fee increase, base tuition increase or some additional fees; it’s all that and more.

Music

Concert Review: Superorganism visits Meow Wolf, rocks the stage

Luisa Pennington | April 29

Meow Wolf welcomed English indie-pop band Superorganism last Thursday to their flashy stage. With a colorful set decorated by the band in glitter face paint, hooded cloaks and projections of prawns, they brought an engaging and entertaining show. Though the eight-person group seemed organic on stage, they did not always preform together. In fact, the band is an amalgamation of musicians from across the world.