WASHINGTON, DC — Who needs New Orleans when Mardi Gras comes to you? Hundreds of people flocked to District Pier in southern Washington, D.C. Tuesday night to celebrate Mardi Gras. French for “Fat Tuesday,” Mardi Gras is a yearly celebration before Ash Wednesday — the commencement of the Lent, a Christian fasting period lasting 40 days.
Thousands of people gathered to watch the first Mass Ascension of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta on Oct. 7. Excited but sleepy-eyed children, families, friends, lovers and the balloons’ pilots and crews dispersed across the park in the early morning silence. The quiet didn't last long — the sky soon began to light up with the occasional burst of light from the propane fire under a balloon as it drifted up, up and away. Pilots and their crews woke up hours before the sun rose to drive their balloons to the field and start filling them with hot air before lighting them up for all to see. The first wave of balloons starts on the north end of the field, and the launch moves south in rows, doubling back to the north and starting the pattern all over again until all of the balloons are in the air.
Daniel “Dan” Lewis and Timothy “Tim” Keller will now go head to head in a runoff election for Mayor of Albuquerque after citizens crowded polling places Tuesday to cast their vote for the next leader of the city. The University of New Mexico’s polling location in the Student Union Building saw a line across the top floor of the building all day, at times trailing down the stairs. There were three candidates polling ahead when voting opened Tuesday morning; Keller, Lewis and Brian Colón. The final results of Tuesday’s election showed Keller winning 39.35 percent of votes, Lewis winning 22.93 percent of votes and Colón winning 16.55 percent of votes.
University of New Mexico student group Young Americans for Liberty held a free speech event Sept. 27 on the University’s Main Campus. Several members of the group rolled a roughly 5-foot wide beach ball across the north side of campus, inviting anyone walking by to sign the ball and support free speech. “Free speech to me is being able to say whatever you want to say but in your own limits,” said Jess Ceron, UNM junior and YAL state chair. “A lot of people get that confused with, ‘Oh, I can say whatever I want to say.’ Yeah, you can, but also you have the right to free speech with the responsibility of it as well.”
“Shoot us in the arm, shoot us in the leg, not in the heart and not in the head.” Dozens of signs and the voices of hundreds rang out over a Black Lives Matter march on Central Avenue Friday, organized by Albuquerque native and University of New Mexico graduate Nikki Archuleta. After the crowd gathered outside the Cinemark 14 Theater in Downtown Albuquerque, the march took off down Central Avenue, united in chants of: “Hands up, don't shoot,” “Whose streets? Our streets,” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police.” Marchers carried a slew of signs sporting slogans such as: “De-militarize the Police,” “#BLM,” and “End Police Brutality,” as they traveled west.
Laundry baskets filled with 6,276 socks were on display Friday at the University of New Mexico’s Main Campus as part of a tabling event held by Students for Life of America. “That’s how many abortions happen at Planned Parenthood each week, Monday through Saturday,” said Jessica Roseman, one of the event’s hosts. The UNM branch of the national group set up under the Alumni Presidents' Clock on the south side of the Duck Pond to “educate and inform” people about what abortion really is.
One month after Hurricane Harvey struck southern Texas, a local business is planning a second trip to Houston with trucks loaded with supplies for the victims. The Tuesday after the Category 4 hurricane hit Houston, Chris Brahs, president of Brahs Solutions, realized he needed to do something to help the people suffering in Texas. “I couldn’t sleep,” Brahs said.
“The University of New Mexico supports DACA students, supports everyone who is on this campus,” said Chaouki Abdallah, University interim president at a Defend DACA walkout on UNM campus Tuesday. Several hundred students joined together Tuesday morning to show their support for immigrants, specifically those benefitting from the Deferred Actions For Childhood Arrivals program. Many students did not attend class, walked out early or were released by instructors who also wanted to show their support.
Stuffed with worries and fears, the burning of Old Man Gloom lets participants in the annual event watch their worries go up in smoke. Santa Fe celebrated the 93rd annual burning of Zozobra Sept 1. Last year, more than 55,000 people attended the event, and this year’s crowd seemed to rival that record-breaking number.
“Everyone was horrified, and none of us knew what to do,” said Lisa Chavez, associate professor at the University of New Mexico, after witnessing a UNM Police officer punch a woman while taking her into custody. A video originally posted to Snaphat using the UNM geotag seems to show a woman being punched and thrown to the ground by a UNMPD officer. The incident occurred around 12:40 p.m. near the bus circle on the north side of the Duck Pond on Aug. 25. UNMPD issued a statement Friday describing the progression of events.
Elizabeth Laydon sitis in the Student Union Building on Dec. 8, 2017. She is graduating after five years, some of which she worked for the Southwest Film Center for mid-week movies.
Elizabeth Laydon sitis in the Student Union Building on Dec. 8, 2017. She is graduating after five years, some of which she worked for the Southwest Film Center for mid-week movies.
Raneen Khweis, UNM junior (left), and Grace Fontenot of the group Justice for All discuss women?s rights and the legality of abortion at a Students for Life of America event near the Duck Pond on Oct. 24, 2017 as part of UNM?s annual Sex Week.
Solutions by The State News
