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News

Changing of the guard: Q&A with Richard Wood

Kyle Land | May 7

Richard Wood has been a sociology professor at the University of New Mexico since 2002. However, in the past couple of years that he has served in his biggest role yet — Interim Provost & Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs. During nearly one year in the position, Wood has faced a host of issues at UNM, including budget cuts, decreasing enrollment and struggling to retain faculty. He recently sat down with the Daily Lobo , just before his replacement, James Holloway, fills his position in July.

News

UNM Baseball mourns Jackson Weller's death

Cameron Goeldner and Justin Garcia | May 6

“Jackson Weller was one of the classiest kids I’ve ever coached,” Lobo Baseball Head Coach Ray Birmingham said as he held back tears. “This was the first time in 42 years I’ve lost one of the players on my watch.” Birmingham, Athletics Director Eddie Nuñez and outfielder Brayden Merritt spoke with members of the media about Weller, who was shot and killed outside of a Nob Hill nightclub early Saturday morning. During the press conference, Birmingham and Merritt reflected on how Weller came to play for the Lobos and what he meant to the team, despite never throwing a pitch in a series game.

News

Three Protests, Two days, One Union

The Daily Lobo Editorial Board | May 6

Last week there were three unrelated demonstrations at the University of New Mexico — each one larger than the last. On Tuesday, the UNM faculty marched to Scholes Hall chanting and using an airhorn. The march followed a meeting discussing the agreement between United Academics of UNM (UA-UNM) and the University to allow a vote on the existence of a faculty union. UNM President Garnett Stokes has promised to honor the outcome of the vote. The group of about 30 faculty dispersed after an hour. On Wednesday, graduate workers walked out in order to advocate for “living wages.” That protest swelled to around 200 people and lasted over two hours. On Friday, hundreds of Albuquerque students walked out of class to bring attention to human-caused climate change. This in conjunction with the worldwide movement, School Strike for Climate.

News

Becka Myers says farewell to UNM

Justin Garcia | May 6

Few students will ever have the ability to impact the University of New Mexico like Becka Myers has. Myers has served as a coordinator, a senator, a chairwomen and, most recently, as the president of the Associated Students of UNM, undergraduate student government. While many students disregard ASUNM, which has been expressed multiple times by senators during meetings, all students are affected by their decisions. When administrators need student input on a decision, like raising tuition, they go to ASUNM. If they can, they go to Myers. Myers was born in Texas but sees Anchorage, Alaska as one of her homes. She went to South Anchorage High School, one of eight high schools in a city with a population of less than 300,000. “We got super excited when the Target opened,” Myers said. “We couldn’t get into Olive Garden for months.” Alaska was the

Culture

Adrian Abeyta's 'unpredictable' college experience

Makayla Grijalva | May 6

“Unpredictable,” is how graduating senior Adrian Abeyta describes his overall college experience at the University of New Mexico. “In my brain I always have steps of things I want to get done,” Abeyta said. “I am probably a totally different person than I was when I started, and I really could never have predicted that I’d be a mechanical engineer.” Although he is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering this month, it wasn’t always Abeyta’s chosen degree path. He first started out as an Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media (IFDM) major and even did a semester-long stint in Pre-Pharmacy before settling on engineering. Abeyta’s younger brother, Esteban, 22, was not as surprised when Abeyta decided to pursue mechanical engineering.

Sports

D'Andra DeFlora works through changes to graduate

Robert Maler | May 6

People who compete in athletics are often creatures of habit — prisoners of preparation and routine, even though it is often by design. Maybe they take the same amount of practice swings, bounce the basketball a certain number of times before attempting a free throw, or any number of other things that feel like things are in the proper place and resemble what they have prepared for. "I'm not one for change."

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.”

Culture

The art of student-photography

Luisa Pennington | May 6

Last Friday seniors in Associate Professor of Photography Patrick Manning’s advanced photography class, presented their final projects in their art show: “If you don’t know the population of rats in an area, you don’t know anything…” The show showcased artwork exploring themes of technology, identity and familial ties. The Daily Lobo had the opportunity to get to know five of the ten seniors that presented their work at the show. Manning said that the students in his class made him feel like a passenger for the semester. "I guess for this particular group of students, the thing I was very impressed by was that they were all very self driven," Manning said. "It felt like I was a passenger. They were all very good about working together to produce the show."

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.