The University of New Mexico football team will begin to get back on track after a 2 - 10 season last year. This year on their schedule, six of the teams they played against went to bowl games, two were last season division winners and three are teams that go by the nickname “Aggies.”
The New Mexico United’s 22nd match of the season took place on Aug. 12 against the current second ranked team in the Western Division – San Antonio FC. The game went long with minute before half time and an extra seven minutes additional by the end – still not enough time for the boys in black and gold. United lost to San Antonio 3 - 0; all three goals were made in the first half, the first made within the two minute mark.
Over the past two years, several trans and non-binary University of New Mexico students have reported mistreatment and lack of access to hormone therapy at Student Health and Counseling (SHAC), according to Juniper Reimagined’s outreach coordinator, Ophelia Aragon. This has resulted in a delay of medically necessary gender-affirming care. Juniper Reimagined is a Queer and trans student alliance at UNM amongst several LGBTQ student organizations on campus. Five student members of Juniper Reimagined have said they had a poor experience with SHAC, including trans and non-binary individuals who said they have dealt with being misgendered, Aragon said.
For those of you who might also reminisce on days spent reading in middle school entranced by some make-believe world but haven't been able to fall head over heels for a paperback since – this is a list of four books that I feel will help you take the jump. I’ve spent the past six months attempting to get back into reading fiction – never able to convince myself to open a book, much less finish one. Halfway through the year, I’ve compiled a list of four of my favorite summer reads – ones I’ve felt have been a good reintroduction to reading for pleasure.
With 6 new people on staff and summer classes in full swing, the Daily Lobo has spent the summer in the newsroom writing stories. Below is a sampling of some of the work that has gone out in the Daily Lobo email newsletter this summer.
For Queer students, finding out who your college roommate is can cause anxiety, Mara Cox – the president of Juniper Reimagined – said. While having roommates is a common practice at the University of New Mexico, for trans students it could possibly create an unsafe living environment. “One of the biggest anxieties I personally had to face with getting a roommate you don’t know is wondering if you’ll have to hide yourself. If you do have to hide your identity, the best case scenario is just not interacting with the roommate at all – basically having to purposefully avoid them, which is hard when you live with them,” Cox said.
Queer people of color created house music, Justin Cristofer said – a Queer DJ, promoter and producer in Albuquerque. Cristofer aims to take the idea of a Queer DJ and expand it beyond pop music as well as highlight the history of house. House is a music genre characterized by having four-to-the-floor musical patterns and the tempo of 120 beats per minute, according to Harper’s Bazaar. Bringing house music to Queer Albuquerque spaces, Cristofer said, honors the history of the genre.
The playlist “Pride Bangers” was created by the editorial staff of the Daily Lobo and hopes to celebrate a couple of certified bangers, specifically songs that elevate and express Queerness. Additions like “Call Me Maybe” capture catchy pop perfection and excitement on the dance floor, while “Fast Car” exemplifies yearning for something bigger with a tender chosen partnership. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and “G.U.Y.” answer Queer anxieties with captivating beats, lyrics and messaging that display confidence and pride.
In pursuit of activism and pride, The Association for Jotería Arts, Activism and Scholarship at the University of New Mexico meets twice a month to organize events to create a space for Queer Latine, Chicanx and Indigenous students. AJAAS – a national collective of artists, activists and scholars – has existed since 2005. Their name and organization reclaims a Spanish slur against Queer folk, focusing on activism and community, AJAAS member Lama Quiroz said. “It's a way to reclaim that word in order to empower ourselves,” Quiroz said. The UNM chapter has been centered around education on the histroy and culture of the chicano power movement, Quiroz said. AJAAS attended the Latinx Visions conference along with hosting book club meetings this past year.
Pandora Torres, a Queer tattoo artist, works with her father at The Divine Eye Tattoo shop in Albuquerque. Torres’ presence as a Queer artist has helped her queer and feminine clients feel more open and comfortable while getting tattooed in her space. Tattooing for the last three years, Torres said that the majority of her clients are Queer. Her top priority, she said, is to ensure her clients feel safe and comfortable. “Spiritually speaking, I feel as though tattooing is a huge exchange of energy and it would be irresponsible of me to go into such an intimate procedure without making sure that everyone is happy, feels safe, comfortable and – above all – comfortable communicating with me,” said Torres.
During the summer and with the current heat wave, tension and stress can be higher. This can cause more aggressive and confrontational drivers on the road, according to Associate Professor of Urban Design, Moises Gonzales. The heat and amount of time we spend in the car may play a role when it comes to road rage, Gonzales said. “There are some studies on specific human behavior … Even heat affects how people engage or how it affects mood,” Gonzales said. “Based on your commute trend, you may have an obvious higher probability of expecting road rage.”
Utilizing a variety of mediums and the color pink, Carmen Selam – a Queer Indigenous artist – uses pop-culture references and specific colors to amplify themes of Indigeneity and Queerness in her artwork. Currently, she is experimenting with risograph printmaking to create a zine titled “Resbians,” a combination of the words “lesbians” and “reservation.” Selam is Yakama and Comanche, and said she finds herself incorporating those two identities throughout her artwork. She calls herself “Yakamanche” – a combination of the two.
Phamily Tea House opened across central from campus last December, out of California. The restaurant has begun selling entrees at their Albuquerque location, Jerry Pham, restaurant manager, said. The entrees range in price from $8.99 - $15.99. The recipes were crafted by Chef Vu Pham. With over 30 years in the restaurant industry, Pham developed the recipes and spice mixes with his family and said that they continue to change and develop as they cook them in order to combine Vietnamese and Taiwanese cooking.
Moving from their first location on Broadway Blvd., Off-Broadway is located on Central Ave. near campus and sells vintage clothing. While they do sell costumes, the shop is primarily a vintage store with clothing from before the 1980s. However, the two work hand in hand, storeowner Susan Ricker said. Her goal is to find ways to mix vintage with contemporary fashion. “It's transformative to wear a costume,” Ricker said. “If you were all vintage from one period, like all 50s, (you are) in a costume because that's not what I call contemporary dressing. I sell vintage clothing primarily as contemporary fashion. So, you mix eras.”
Marina Perez, a contemporary Indigenous arts PhD student at the University of New Mexico, struggles with the concept of the art world. The art world often creates barriers for communities of color, which makes it harder for them to enter it, Perez said. It produces a binary between fine arts and community arts, contemporary arts and ancient arts. The separation, they said, often makes it hard for people of color to participate in the art world. “The art world is a colonial construct. To even think that we need to construct a completely different world away from our everyday lives … Communities of color don’t have access to be able to enter the art world,” Perez said. “Our knowledge is not embraced or acknowledged.”
Last Monday, students were notified via email that UNM Resident Life and Student Housing would convert multiple double rooms to a three-person capacity in order to meet housing demands. The halls with rooms that can be converted into triple capacity dorms include Coronado, Hokona, Santa Clara and Alvarado. The exact cost of the rooms were not given by Megan Chibanga – Director of UNM Resident Life and Student Housing. However, students in these rooms will have a reduced rate compared to traditional double rooms, according to Chibanga.
Moving from their first location on Broadway Blvd, Off-Broadway is located on Central Avenue near campus and sells vintage clothing. While they do sell costumes, the shop is primarily a vintage store with clothing from before the 1980s. However, the two work hand in hand, storeowner Susan Ricker said. Her goal is to find ways to mix vintage with contemporary fashion. “It's transformative to wear a costume,” Ricker said. “If you were all vintage from one period, like all 50s, (you are) in a costume because that's not what I call contemporary dressing. I sell vintage clothing primarily as contemporary fashion. So, you mix eras.”
Duke City Championship Wrestling was an all-ages event, action-packed with dramatic confrontations that kept the crowd cheering. Held at the Historic El Rey Theater on July 15, Fred Slow, co-owner of DCCW and promoter, said there were over 400 people in attendance. Mosh Pit Mike started professionally wrestling in Albuquerque 22 years ago with his best friend, Hobo Hank. He said his favorite part about wrestling for the DCCW is the reactions during the matches. “I get to wrestle here for the people I love and the city I love. It’s awesome. I think Albuquerque is ready to be a wrestling town again,” Mosh Pit Mike said.
Facing a lack of basic needs affects university students year-round, however during the summer when temperatures are higher, campuses aren’t fully open and the availability of resources are lower for many. 67% of college students surveyed across New Mexico campuses have experienced some form of insecurity, according to the 2023 Basic Needs Project. The survey completed by the UNM Basic Needs Project is a group that UNM’s Basic Needs Specialist, Amanda Martinez, put together to gain insight on data about student needs. The Lobo Food Pantry is a resource available to students that operates four days a week and allows any UNM student with a student ID to come and pick up a basket of donated food.
María Dolores Gonzales said that her book, written in Spanish, English and Spanglish, was put on the shelves independent of publishing firms. The literary community in Albuquerque is very rich, Gonzales said, but the community often lacks diverse representation. Gonzales – a retired UNM professor – attended Books on the Bosque’s local author palooza on July 15. She taught within the Spanish and Portuguese department before authoring “Atop the Windmill I Could See Forever” – a bilingual memoir that details her childhood in the southwest. “I’m trying to see – where is the Hispanic community? Where are the Hispanic writers? Where are the Latino writers? I think that is a big void in the literary world,” Gonzales said.
Solutions by The State News
