Marcela Johnson - The Daily Lobo

Culture

First-year fast track: Advice from around campus

Marcela Johnson | August 12

New Mexico students. This is what the community said first-years need to know to get started right. “Trust your own pace and trust yourself,” Kaycee Stine, a sophomore majoring in theatre, said. Although it can be cool to be part of clubs, starting the college experience is something completely unique and it is important to protect your peace and stress levels, she said. Sophie Anderson-Haynie, a junior majoring in English-Philosophy, emphasized the importance of exploring in college. She said it is unrealistic to expect first-year students to know exactly what they want to do.

News

‘A purloined possession’: The history of the Smith Family Totem Pole

Marcela Johnson | July 22

The Smith Family Totem Pole, located at the Hibben Center on the University of New Mexico campus, has not always been represented or respected as the sacred item that it is. In 1941, then-assistant anthropology professor Frank Hibben took the pole from the Smith family of the Tlowitsis Nation in British Columbia, but said that he had bought it for two cases of whiskey, according to the UNM Department of Anthropology. Hibben took the pole after he was told he could not have it, according to Lea McChesney, curator of ethnology at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.

News

UNM researchers discover new species, answer Darwinian question

Marcela Johnson | June 17

Previously considered all one species, the giant hummingbird group is actually made up of two distinct species, according to a study published last month. The study, published in the journal “PNAS” in collaboration with the University of New Mexico and the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB), answered centuries-old questions about giant hummingbirds. In 1834, naturalist Charles Darwin wrote about not knowing where the birds went after they bred, according to lead researcher Jessie Williamson. “This has been a question that has been outstanding in the literature for a very, very long time,” Williamson said. “Darwin was the first person to actually note it in a publication.”

Culture

What do you want for dinner?

Marcela Johnson | May 13

Food is one of life’s most basic necessities. For students attending the University of New Mexico, the campus and surrounding areas offer different dining options. UNM has one dining hall, La Posada (LaPo), located in the residence area of campus. There are also four on-campus markets, located in the Student Union Building (SUB), Student Residence Center Commons (SRC), Dane Smith Hall and the UNM Bookstore. Angel Baca, student success leader for the Associated Students at UNM’s Emerging Lobo Leaders and spring 2024 graduate, shared his advice for incoming students who will dine on campus.

Culture

Pride Convocation brings campus LGBTQ community together

Marcela Johnson | May 6

The Unviersity of New Mexico LGBTQ Resource Center’s 13th annual Pride Convocation honored graduates and awardees on Friday, May 3. Attendees and speakers paraded into the Honors College forum to Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” to begin the evening’s festivities. The celebration included speeches from LGBTQRC Director Frankie Flores, UNM President Garnett Stokes and UNM Division for Equity and Inclusion President Assata Zerai. Madison Otero, UNM senior and co-chair of Juniper Reimagined – UNM’s Queer and Trans student alliance – served as the student speaker for the event. In her speech, she thanked the center and spoke to her fellow graduates about what to hold on to and what to let go.

Satire

A million dollars worth of Pistol Pete art found

Marcela Johnson | April 1

The University of New Mexico Art Museum (UNMAM) has created a scandal for the Art Department after a Center for the Arts janitor, Henry Robinson, stumbled upon millions of dollars worth of Pistol Pete art last Monday. “I was looking for some old supplies that we used to keep in a shared space, and when I opened that door, all this Pistol Pete crap came falling on me,” Robinson said. “That’s gotta be a safety violation.” The UNMAM has denied any involvement with the storage closet and its contents. UNMAM Director Anna Lyre has said that she does not believe it exists.

Culture

Can I have some FRIES? Affirmative Consent at UNM

Marcela Johnson | February 19

Affirmative consent at the University of New Mexico is not a new topic. Several resources around campus contribute to the conversation around consent. Women’s Resource Center Director Áine McCarthy said that affirmative consent is freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic and specific, remembered by the acronym - FRIES. The University requires that consent is affirmative, according to UNM policy. Title IX Coordinator Angela Catena explained that coercion is not consent. “One of the myths is around, ‘well if I eventually get a yes that means I have consent,’” Catena said. “But that might not necessarily be the case.”

Culture

Barrier Necessities, the simple bare necessities

Marcela Johnson | February 12

Student Health and Counseling’s (SHAC) Barrier Necessities program aims to make condoms, dental dams and lubricant accessible to students while simultaneously providing education around safer sex practices. “The mission for this program (is) to help provide students with free prophylactics and to make it as convenient as possible, really meeting the students where they’re at,” Lianna Maldonado said – SHAC Health Promotion and Education Coordinator. Currently, the program has 29 locations, along with latex-free materials available at SHAC’s Health Promotion office. The program tries to be accessible and comprehensible to students, Maldonado said.

Culture

‘Twilight’ comes to campus in double feature

Marcela Johnson | February 5

The Southwest Film Center (SWFC) held a double feature on Saturday, Feb. 3 of “Twilight: Breaking Dawn” parts 1 and 2, showing that community that can be found both in movies and in a movie theater. The Student Union Building theater was decorated with “Twilight” references and filled with “Twilight”-inspired outfits. The event included “blood bags” – fake blood bags filled with Sprite, red food coloring and sparkles, which were reserved for the first ten attendees. Theatre manager Stefan Rossell explained that the blood bags were meant to be an incentive to movie-goers to come early, and it worked. Over ten people were at the doors before they opened officially.

Culture

WRC Fundraises for Survivor Funds

Marcela Johnson | October 10

The NAT – Nurture and Thrive – Fund is a newly established scholarship at the Women’s Resource Center in honor of former Daily Lobo culture editor and film student, Natalie Jude. On Friday, Sept. 30, the WRC hosted a Cuban BBQ fundraiser in support of the NAT Fund and the ongoing Sabrina Single Parent Scholarship. “It’s not a formal memorial scholarship fund, but it’s named with a wink in remembrance to Natalie Jude Johnson. Natalie’s friends came up with Nurture and Thrive, NAT,” Áine McCarthy – WRC director – said.