Arly Garcia - The Daily Lobo

Opinion

OPINION: Activities to help curb summertime boredom in Albuquerque

Arly Garcia | June 12

Summer is, for many people, the best part of the year. It offers a respite from our chaotic university lives. Research articles and 8 a.m. classes have no place here unless we want them to. Summer provides time for freedom – sometimes a little too much. If you’re anything like me, then you may begin to grow a little stir crazy after the first few weeks of summer. When that happens, it is imperative to get out and find something to occupy your time. What that something is varies widely depending on your preferences, but here are some of my favorites.

Culture

Student activity fees: What are they and what do they do?

Arly Garcia | May 13

University of New Mexico student activity fees can be a little daunting when you first spot them on your bill, but they don’t have to be a mystery. “Revenue generated by the student activity fee is used to support a variety of student activities that enhance the academic and intellectual environment at UNM,” UNM Policy 1310 reads. There are three fees students pay, which include “a facility/information technology debt service fee, student activity fee and student government fee,” according to the policy.

Culture

Daily Lobo twins for the win

Arly Garcia | May 6

Paloma and Leila Chapa, Daily Lobo staff members and Women’s Soccer Club founders, are graduating from the University of New Mexico this spring with degrees in environmental planning and design. The twins started at UNM in 2019 and quickly became involved with the campus community. In September 2023, Paloma became multimedia editor for the Lobo and helped build the video desk. Leila joined the Lobo as a videographer in February 2024. The two were excited to create videos together – a longtime passion of theirs – and gain new experiences at the Lobo, they said.

Daily Lobo-Social Media Effect On Mental Health

News

The impact of social media use on college student mental health

Arly Garcia | April 22

Nine University of New Mexico students reported various effects to an anonymous survey conducted by the Daily Lobo on social media use and mental health. Whether these effects are negative or positive could depend on how people use social media, according to a UNM psychology professor. Of nine UNM students who responded to the survey, 100% said they use some type of social media every day. Of those students, seven believe social media has an impact on their mental health. The nature of that impact ranged from somewhat negative (with four respondents) to somewhat positive (with two respondents). Three students rated the impact as neutral.

Opinion

Opinion: Our professors should play music during exams

Arly Garcia | April 22

When discussing mental health at the university level, there is one topic that consistently comes up: test anxiety. Numerous studies have shown that test anxiety negatively affects college students, but how do we combat it? Maybe with the magic of music. About 25-40% of U.S. students suffer from test anxiety and for 10-35% of college students, it impairs their function, according to a study on test anxiety published in Advances in Medical Education and Practice. Music has been proven useful in calming the mind and body in other areas, so why don’t we use it at the University of New Mexico too?

News

Sex ratio: a social indicator of body image

Arly Garcia | April 15

A 2023 study by a University of New Mexico psychology professor states that women’s environments can have an impact on their self-esteem. The study had a few limitations in the form of its methods and theoretical framework per UNM professor analysis. The study, titled “A Slim Majority: The Influence of Sex Ratio on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Weight Loss Motivations,” was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior by Tania Reynolds and four professors at other universities. Reynolds hypothesized that when women are around more women than men in their environment, they respond with increased competition, which might correlate with more dissatisfaction with their bodies.

News

APD releases crime statistics for 2023

Arly Garcia | March 29

In recent crime statistics, the Albuquerque Police Department cited proactive enforcement as the reason they saw increased drug possession and shootings in 2023; the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico is critical of this method of policing because of the way it treats drug offenses. APD released preliminary crime statistics for 2023 on Feb. 29. The report includes comparisons to crime numbers from 2018 onward. In 2023, APD saw a total of 65,960 reported crimes. While most of the numbers represented small changes, there was a 49% increase in Crimes Against Society, including prostitution, drug offenses and weapons law violations, according to the report.

News

ASUNM Presidential elections: Julián Ángel

Arly Garcia | March 18

Associated Students at the University of New Mexico presidential candidate Julián Ángel (ballot #1) is a junior studying Chicanx and Latin American Studies. Ángel was inspired to run for ASUNM President because he believes the ASUNM President's positions to UNM’s diversity, student support services and connection to state legislation provides tools to improve the Lobo experience through a community effort, he said.

Representation in Comic Books/ Superhero realms

Culture

Black superheroes and representation in comics

Arly Garcia | February 26

The Marvel versus DC debate is as old as time, but when it comes to Black representation, scholars suggest independent publishers, writers and artists are the best source. “Marvel and DC both pale in comparison to the independent, alternative and creator-owned comics scenes,” Jesús Costantino said – an associate professor of English at the University of New Mexico. For a comic to have good Black representation, it needs to feature a Black character in a storyline written by Black writers that speaks to Black readers. This is not yet the norm in the industry, Costantino said.

Opinion

Opinion: Love at first sight: fact or fairytale?

Arly Garcia | February 12

Does love at first sight exist? People who have experienced it would encourage you to believe that it does, but the research is not in their favor. Of course, if we are going to discuss love, we need to first define the feeling. Merriam-Webster gives nine separate definitions for love as a noun. Most commonly employed are: “a strong affection for another” and an “attachment, enthusiasm or devotion” to something or someone.