Editor, I originally found the Barack Obama concert to be inconsequential. I believed bringing up memories and feelings of old grudges and betrayals could only bring more hate and angst into the world. People there spoke with phrases like "minority" and "long-awaited.
Editor, Enough is enough. As an eight-year employee of UNM, I'm sick and tired of the people at the top skimming off the money and then once in a great while flipping us a scrap or two off the end of their middle finger. President David Schmidly is the worst of the lot.
WASHINGTON - About one million people braved the 31 degree weather and crushing crowds to see the inauguration of Barack Obama, America's first black president. They flocked to the National Mall in droves as early as 5 a.m., waving banners and flags, contending for a front-row seat to watch a pivotal moment in American history.
Good news, raw foodists: the group Your Radical Health Albuquerque meets once or twice a month at ever-changing locations. You can keep up with their meeting places at Meetup.com/abqraw to share raw food recipes and eat raw food dishes together. Raw foods are classified as uncooked and unprocessed foods.
Tattoo artist Jeff Hayes named his shop Rival because he said it excels over the competition with a wide variety of media beyond skin ink. Rival Tattoo Art Studios has a photography room, a screen-printing press and a clothing line called M80. The 3,000 square-foot shop doubles as an art gallery, Hayes said, and he rotates the artists every two months.
It was lucky No. 7 for the Lobos and senior Daniel Faris at The Pit on Saturday. UNM secured its first win, 81-62, in seven tries over the David Rose-led BYU Cougars. And Faris scored the first seven points of the game against conference rival BYU to give UNM a quick 7-3 lead in a game the Lobos would ultimately win.
Editor, I was not at the protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza on Jan. 10, but I was there in spirit with the other Jews, and I commend and fully support council member Isaac Benton for speaking out against the Israeli government's actions. I am a 52-year-old disabled Jewish woman, and I absolutely do not back Israel's murderous policies.
If Amy Beggin wasn't playing basketball at UNM, she might be a world-renowned escape artist. Including Saturday's game against BYU, the UNM women's basketball team has beat teams by an average of 20 points per contest in its 14 wins. Saturday's 61-57 escape marks only the third game of the season for the Lobos that's been decided by five points or fewer.
Divide and conquer. The UNM men's basketball team conquered Mountain West Conference-kingpin BYU 81-62 on Saturday, and on Wednesday, the Lobos will look to divide the 12-4 Aztecs from Spain - Kyle Spain (14.9 points per game), that is. "This is our first big road trip," head coach Steve Alford said.
Happy New Year! Welcome back to school. I hope you got some rest and had fun over the break. It's that time of year again: time to polish up the old resolutions or pick up some bright and shiny new ones. Are you bursting with resolve? All revved up to lose 40 pounds, quit smoking, get in tip-top shape and stop drinking coffee all by the end of January? Many of us have these or other lofty and impossible goals.
Staff Report Judge Judith Nakamura ruled last week that some evidence against Kevin Boyar, the student accused of bringing weapons on campus last year, will not be used when his case goes to court. Nakamura said statements Boyar made after his arrest will be suppressed and that the weapons police recovered also won't be used as evidence.
A parade celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day stretched nearly half a mile from University Boulevard to I-25 on Sunday. About 500 people with signs honoring the human rights activist marched from UNM to Civic Plaza to the beat of Highland High School's marching band.
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good; sometimes it's better to be good than lucky. And sometimes it's best to be lucky and good. With The Pit stuffed with 15,277 fans, the UNM men's basketball team was good enough, and fortunate enough - as in Fortune 500 fortunate - to ring up an 81-62 win over BYU on Saturday.
Editor, This letter is directed at the stumblebums who seem to think they are better qualified to run the University than President David Schmidly - someone who has actual experience as a university president. You think that athletics, a self-sustaining economic endeavor that allows student athletes to attend universities, some of whom might not have such opportunities were it not for the athletics scholarships that support their studies, is somehow taking precious resources away from academic programs? You think that bond funds voted for in elections for athletic buildings can just be diverted to your programs because some people just really want it that way? You think Schmidly has done a poor job because the state faces a budget shortfall that forced UNM to go on a hiring freeze? You think eliminating an indeterminable number of vice president positions could make up those millions of dollars? Weren't you the same group of people clamoring for greater diversity and equality so then UNM created a position to demonstrate the University's commitment to meeting those aims? And didn't you also want better student support so UNM might raise its anemic graduation rate to within spitting distance of its peers? Didn't you want the vice president for enrollment management because the basis for UNM's funding is driven by student credit hours? And you really thought that these things would magically get accomplished by qualified people with relevant experience without paying market rates? Do you think that you are better qualified, better informed and more capable of leading UNM? You think you have all of the solutions to all of the issues facing UNM, and you think Schmidly is either choosing to ignore good solutions or is incapable of reaching the same solutions? Do you think Loyola Chastain serves the best interests of UNM's staff when all she has demonstrated is her ability to frustrate any real dialogue about the challenges the University faces? You really don't think you deserve a better representative, one who's willing to be frank with staff members about the issues facing the University? Maybe you should collectively apply Ockham's razor to the current problems the University faces and acknowledge that there are no magic bullets to fix these problems.
As Israeli troops marched farther into Gaza, about 300 people marched through the streets of Albuquerque's Old Town on Saturday, protesting Israel's advance. The protesters began at the plaza and walked to the Museum of Natural History and Science, where speakers called for Israel's immediate withdrawal from Gaza.
Saturday's game against BYU is a bit like those "Looney Tunes" episodes featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. The UNM men's basketball team is the Coyote, and the Cougars are the Roadrunner. Try as they might, the Lobos can never get their hands on the Cougars.
Editor, Even though I wasn't surprised, my jaw still dropped when I saw how much UNM is forking out for a football coach: $750,000 a year. All the while, our professors are struggling to keep their heads above water with the freezes on hiring, the standstill on raises and the overload of work on poorly staffed departments.
Solutions by The State News
