Daily l obo
The history of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis
By Paloma Chapa @paloma_chapa88
The crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People has gained attention in recent years. However, it is not new. Violence against Indigenous women dates back 500 years to the start of European coloniza-
tion, according to a study by A. Skylar Joseph published in the “Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine.”
European colonists with patriarchal views took Indigenous women as slaves to men, leading to rape, violence and submission, according to Native Hope.
As of 2021, Albuquerque and Gallup had among the highest numbers of MMIP in the United States, according to a report by the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department. Native American women in New Mexico experienced the highest rate of homicide among all racial and ethnic groups at the time of the report.
Primary factors that have perpetuated the crisis include poor handling by law enforcement and the enactment of federal laws on tribal jurisdictions. Congress limited jurisdictional authority to the federal government by enacting laws like the Major Crimes Act of 1885, which granted jurisdiction to federal
courts – as opposed to tribes – for certain crimes, according to a 2020 report by the New Mexico Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force.
Deiandra Reid is the land and body violence coordinator at the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women. Reid’s sister Tiffany went missing in Shiprock in 2004 at the age of 16, according to Reid.
Reid works directly with families who have missing relatives and helps them navigate through the barriers she came across when her sister went missing, she said.
“I want to be able to help the families who are experiencing MMIP to have a better outcome for their loved one,” Reid said.
In March, the CSVANW launched a new law enforcement training program that uses a trauma-informed approach, according to Reid.
The way law enforcement handles missing person cases is not
Rooted in settler colonial violence and federal laws, expert says
trauma-informed and is often unethical, she said.
“A lot of the time, law enforcement will place judgment on the family member rather than trying to understand that this is another human being who has a family,” Reid said.
When Reid’s family first spoke to law enforcement the day her sister went missing, they were told to wait 72 hours before they could file a police report because police believed she had run away, according to Reid.
Reid recently spoke to a member of a family from Shiprock whose brother went missing two years ago. His skull was recovered last year. Earlier this month, law enforcement returned to where the skull was found to search for additional evidence for the case, Reid said.
After law enforcement officers finished the search, one of them asked the sister if just finding the skull would be acceptable, Reid said.
“She was so upset. And she told him, ‘If that was your family member, would you be okay with just a skull?’ And he was like, ‘No, I’d probably keep looking.’ And she was like, ‘Well, there’s your (expletive) answer,’” Reid said, citing this as one example of law enforcement not being trauma-informed.
In 2017, the Urban Indian Health Institute conducted a study to investigate the MMIP crisis in 71 U.S. cities. The findings showed similar law enforcement experiences among multiple families who had see MMIP page 14
‘A purloined possession’: The history of the Smith Family Totem Pole
By Marcela Johnson @DailyLobo
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.
“We know that the pole was taken illicitly,” McChesney said.
Hibben misidentified the pole as Tlingit, from Alaska. Because of this, the pole was able to bypass security at the United States-Canada border, according to anthropology professor Les Field.
The legal documents that showed
that Hibben could transport the pole were for a different one, McChesney said. At that time, no Canadian Indigenous items could be sold or bought, she said.
Chief Smith Sewid – or Sewidanaquilla – commissioned the pole from carver Charlie Yakuglas James in 1907 on Turnour Island, British Columbia, Field said.
The Smith family reported the pole missing to the Canadian Mounties as a theft when they returned to the Nation from a fishing trip, according to the UNM anthropology department. McChesney believes that Hibben would have known about the trip and taken ad-
vantage of their absence, she said.
“In the case of the totem pole, the acquisition of it was so reprehensible. It really is a purloined possession of the Tlowitsis people that was taken from them in a completely illegitimate way,” Field said.
When the pole first arrived at UNM, it stood in front of Scholes Hall. In 1973, it was moved to the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology’s courtyard, according to the UNM anthropology department.
“I came to UNM in 1994 and I saw the totem pole out in the courtyard of the Maxwell Museum — no plaque,
see Totem Pole page 14
Courtesy Photo / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Four children sit by a stream in Taos, New Mexico. Photographed by Edward Curtis in 1905. Courtesy of Picryl.
Courtesy Photo / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
The Smith Family Totem Pole, located at the Hibben Center at UNM.
Photo courtesy of UNM Newsroom.
LOBO SPORTS
OPINION: The 5 greatest Lobo men’s basketball players
By Rodney Prunty @Rprunty05
Since the University of New Mexico basketball program began in 1899, many great players have graced The Pit’s court to put on a gameday performance. However, five stand out from the rest.
An honorable mention goes to Jaelen House who had an incredible career with the Lobos, winning multiple accolades and leading his team to an NCAA tournament appearance.
5. Kenny Thomas
Thomas played all four years with the Lobos and showed out each season, always averaging double-digit points. In his senior season, he averaged a double-double. But in the whole of his career, Thomas averaged 15.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Thomas’ most impressive feat is that the Lobos made the NCAA tournament in each of his four seasons. Thomas was selected by the Houston Rockets in the 1999 NBA draft as the 22nd overall pick, according to Basketball Reference.
4. Luc Longley
Longley, a 7-foot tall player from Australia, also played all four seasons with the Lobos.
He came off the bench his freshman year averaging only 4 points and 2 rebounds per game. Longley made up for it in his next three years, as he consistently averaged doubledigit numbers with solid rebounding, while being a great rim protector.
Longley also helped the Lobos
make an NCAA tournament appearance in his final year. He finished his career with the Lobos averaging 13.4 points, 7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Longley’s success with the Lobos followed him to the NBA as he won three championships with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls as the starting center on the 1996, 1997 and 1999 championship teams.
3. Danny Granger
Despite only playing two seasons for the Lobos, Granger brought lights-out shooting to New Mexico, shooting 52% from the field and 43% from 3. Granger’s achievements with the Lobos in such a short time are nothing short of impressive.
Granger was an all-Mountain West Conference player twice, leading New Mexico to win the Mountain West Tournament where he earned tournament MVP. Granger also helped lead New Mexico to an NCAA tournament appearance.
Granger averaged 19.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game with the Lobos. Success followed Granger, too, as he was selected 17th overall by the Indiana Pacers in the 2005 NBA draft. Granger played 10 seasons in the NBA, his best and most impactful being with the Pacers.
2. Michael Cooper
Cooper, like Granger, only played two seasons for New Mexico and balled out in both. While being a solid offensive contributor, Cooper’s calling card was on the defensive side, as he played tremendous lock-down defense.
Cooper received many acco-
lades. His most impressive was being named a first team all-American.
Cooper averaged 15.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game with the Lobos. He also helped them to an NCAA tournament appearance.
Cooper’s efforts with the Lobos didn’t go unseen, as he was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1978 NBA draft, where he was a vital piece of the “Showtime era.” With Cooper, the Lakers won five championships. He became a hall-of-famer in 2024.
1. Mel Daniels
Daniels played three seasons for the Lobos and was a physical beast in the paint. All three seasons, Daniels averaged a double-double and helped the Lobos make an appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Daniels finished his three seasons averaging 20 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Daniels was so dominant that he had 44 career double-doubles with the Lobos — a school record that has yet to be broken.
Daniels entered the 1967 NBA draft after his time with the Lobos and was selected 9th overall, according to Basketball Reference. His ABA career was similar to his college one, as he earned seven all-star appearances, two MVPs and three championships. He became a hallof-famer in 2012.
Rodney Prunty is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Rprunty05
The origin of Lobo Louie
By Addison Fulton @DailyLobo
Across the United States, over 172 sports teams – from high school to college to professional – have a wolf as their mascot, according to the Mascot Database. While the University of New Mexico’s mascot is also a wolf, the Lobo has a unique history and connection to New Mexico.
UNM was founded in 1889, but for its first 30 years, the University had no official mascot. The sports teams were known only as “The University Boys” or “Varsities,” according to the UNM Traditions website.
In the fall of 1920, George S. Bryan, the student manager of the football team and editor of UNM Weekly –which would later become the Daily Lobo – suggested “Lobo” as the name and mascot of the teams.
The following issue of UNM Weekly read, “The Lobo is respected for his cunning, feared for his prowess,
and is the leader of the pack. It is the ideal name for the Varsity boys who go forth to battle for the glory of the school. All together now; 15 rahs for the LOBOS.”
In his first appearances, Lobo Louie was a live wolf pup, according to the UNM Traditions website. Bruno Dieckmann, a member of the class of 1902, allegedly acquired a gray wolf pup from a government trapper named Jim Young. Young caught the wolf pup on the Floyd Lee Ranch in western New Mexico.
Lobo Louie was taken care of by the cheerleading squad and brought to games in a harness and leash, according to the UNM Traditions website.
In the late 1920s, a child approached and provoked the wolf, prompting it to bite. The University was forced to “dispose of” Lobo Louie, “for fear other ill-bred brats might become tempted to play with the wolf and bring a damage suit,” as one unnamed historian said according to the UNM Traditions website.
Lobo Louie is not the only live ani-
mal mascot used by college sports teams. Some live mascots include domestic pets or livestock animals, such as “Smokey the Hound” at the University of Tennessee or “CAM the Ram,” a Rambouillet sheep, at Colorado State University.
Other schools use wild or exotic animals, like Louisiana State University’s “Mike the Tiger.” All eight of the tigers who have played Mike have died due to complications caused by their captivity, according to College Avenue.
After the live Lobo Louie was euthanized, UNM stopped using live animal mascots, according to the UNM Traditions website. In 1960, UNM introduced the Lobo Louie mascot suit. In the 1980s, the University introduced Louie’s counterpart in the red bow: Lobo Lucy.
The relationship between Louie and Lucy has long been a source of debate and confusion. Louie’s official X account states that he and Lucy are siblings, however, from 1999 to 2002, a baby Lobo mascot appeared, which some may have perceived as the
duo’s child. Little record of the baby wolf character exists.
The situation of the real gray wolf has also changed since the 1920s. Five years prior to the adoption of the Lobo Louie pup as a mascot, private landowners in the southwestern United States, including New Mexico, began a concerted campaign to cull the Mexican gray wolf population using trapping and poisoning, as landowners feared wolves may disrupt cattle, according to the UNM Museum of Southwestern Biology.
In 1973, the U.S. passed the Endangered Species Act, which included Mexican gray wolves on the list of protected endangered species. By the late 70s, due to the culling measures of earlier decades, there were no Mexican gray wolves left in New Mexico, according to the UNM Museum of Southwestern Biology.
By 1982, a plan was approved to reintroduce Mexican gray wolves by utilizing captive breeding and re-releasing. As of 2023, at least 144 Mexican gray wolves lived in New
Mexico, according to the U.S.
and Wildlife Service.
Today, the original Lobo Louie is preserved in the UNM Museum of Southwestern Biology in its mammals department. He is available for the public to view via an appointment with divisional staff.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
Fish
Nick Layman / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Colton Newman / @cnewman101 / @Daily Lobo
Sundi Kjenstad / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Nick Layman / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Aaron Martinez / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Lobo fans surround senior forward Danny Granger after UNM’s upset win over 13th ranked Utah. Originally published on February 23, 2005.
Lobo Louie poses for a photo in The Pit on April 3, 2018.
Luc Longley battles
Hawaii’s Tim Shepard in the Lobos’ Western Athletic Conference Tournament game in Laramie, Wyoming. Originally published on March 8, 1990.
Danny Granger dunks over Air Force during the second half of a game at The Pit. Originally published on February 15, 2005.
Danny Granger dunks on Brigham Young in the second half of a game at The Pit. Originally published on February 21, 2005.
Mel Daniels, a star UNM center. Originally published in 1966; photographer not listed.
Pedestrians & motorists share responsibility, it’s the law
Sec - Dri v NM Stat §66-7-337
Drivers to exercise due care.
[...] Every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway and shall give warning by sounding the horn when neccesary and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any confused or incapacitated person upon a roadway.
pedestrians yield
When crossing a road where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided.
Pedestrians cross only in crosswalk at immediately adjacent adjacent intersections at which traffic-control signals are in operation.
It is not illegal in every circumstance when a pedestrian crosses midblock. Pedestrians may not impede the flow of traffic when crossing midblock.
Unpacking UNM’s divestment from South Africa in 1985
By Lily Alexander & Nate Bernard @llilyalexander & @natebernard14
On June 11, 1985, the University of New Mexico Board of Regents unanimously voted to divest from gold mines and other investments in apartheid South Africa. This move has been referenced regularly in current pro-Palestine protesters’ calls for University divestment from Israel.
Prior to 1994, South Africa held long-standing policies of racial segregation and the exclusion of all non-white South Africans, according to the African Union. This included forcefully removing Black citizens from their homes and illegalizing interracial marriage, according to South African History Online.
Throughout the 1980s, internal and external pressures to end apartheid in South Africa mounted — as well as the nation’s brutal tactics to suppress the movement, according to AU.
In the United States, the movement to end South African apartheid occurred partially through universities that sought to end their investments
in South Africa.
At UNM, activists from the Black Student Union organized anti-apartheid protests in solidarity with other universities, according to an April 25, 1985 Daily Lobo article.
Michael Smith – then-president of the Black Student Union – and other student leaders distributed red armbands outside of the Student Union Building. The armbands represented the protest movement against UNM’s investments in South Africa, according to the article.
“ASUNM President John Schoeppner, wearing an armband, said of the protest, ‘I personally feel that with the urgency of this situation, the students should be more concerned. This is the least we can do,” the article reads.
The Regents first publicly discussed the concept of divestment at a meeting on May 7, 1985. UNM invested in multiple South African gold mining companies, granted to the University through the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, according to the meeting minutes.
“(The stocks) have been held over the years without any conscious decision being made about them,” the meeting minutes read.
An anti-apartheid group at the time estimated UNM’s holdings in South Africa were $1.23 million, according to a June 13, 1985 Daily Lobo article.
The Regents directed what was then called the Finance and Audit Committee to develop a policy statement about the divestment and reinvestment of funds held in South Africa, as well as policies for UNM’s future investments, according to the meeting minutes.
At the following Regents meeting on June 11, Regent Robert Sanchez moved that the Board adopt a divestment resolution. The resolution cited the South African government’s system of racial oppression that violated international law and human rights, according to the meeting minutes.
“The Regents of the University of New Mexico hereby resolve to dissociate the University from any activities which reasonably appear to lend direct or indirect support or assistance to the perpetuation of that country’s racist political order,” the resolution reads.
Marty Esquivel, ASUNM president at the time of the June 11 Regents meeting, acted as a non-voting member on the resolution.
“The ASUNM senate voted on a resolution calling on the Regents to take action in the spring of 1985 and I recall a few campus protests. The administration and Regents were hesitant to endorse the policy, but the movement had reached a critical mass at universities across the country,” Esquivel wrote in a statement to the Daily Lobo.
The Regents would then begin a process of divestment of UNM holdings in companies that invest-
ed directly or indirectly in South Africa, according to the resolution. Divestment would be maintained unless and until the South African government brought its policies into compliance with international law, the resolution reads.
The Israel divestment resolution, drafted by the UNM Divestment Coalition – composed of UNM College Democrats, Law Students Against Imperialism and 37 other student organizations and advocacy groups not affiliated with UNM – was modeled after the one adopted in 1985.
“(UNM Secretary-Treasurer John Paez) noted that South Africa is not the only country where human rights are being violated, and he urged that future University policy take into consideration the investments in these countries also,” the June 11, 1985 Regents meeting minutes read.
Lily Alexander is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @llilyalexander
Nate Bernard is a beat reporter with the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @natebernard14
Sandra Tatum / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
New Mexico Rainbow Coalition
members Dan Gips (left) and Charles Rudolph (right) protest in front of the PNM building to express dissatisfaction with the New Mexico State Investment Council’s decision to continue investing state funds in South Africa. Originally published on April 24, 1985.
‘I was number 11 of the people that were bayoneted’
A Daily Lobo photographer’s experience covering
Vietnam War protests at UNM
By Lily Alexander & Nate Bernard @llilyalexander & @natebernard14
On May 8, 1970, 11 individuals at the University of New Mexico were injured by National Guard members armed with bayonets during a Vietnam War protest. One of these individuals was Daily Lobo photographer and reporter Stephen Part, who was stabbed with a bayonet in his back as he leaned over to help a fellow student.
Now a retired history and government teacher, Part said he was carrying his press badge and wearing a helmet labeled “press” when he was stabbed.
“I felt something like pressure — it wasn’t immediate pain. I stood up and my belt slid up over the puncture … I put my hand back there and there was blood,” Part said.
The bayonettings took place amid nationwide demonstrations on college campuses, prompted both by the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War and the Ohio National Guard shooting and killing four student protesters at Kent State University.
At UNM, protests began after U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia on April 31, 1970, according to a UNM timeline. They further ramped up after the Kent State shootings, Part said.
“With all that was going on, it was basically all hands on deck. And if you weren’t on campus that day, one of the editors or assistant editors would call you up and say, ‘We need you to bring your camera along,’” Part said.
By May 8 that year, over 100 protesters had occupied the UNM Student Union Building for three days. Early that day, Part, with Kent State in mind and a hunch that the University wanted the protesters gone before the weekend, said he waited in a parking lot across the
street from the Albuquerque National Guard location. He told Daily Lobo editors he would find a payphone and call if he saw any indication guardsmen were headed toward UNM.
After a few hours with no developments, Part returned to campus. Because of concerns that potentially biased UNM students and alumni were members of the Albuquerque National Guard, Martin Vigil – the New Mexico State Police Chief – had called in guardsmen from elsewhere in the state, Part said.
On campus, Part photographed the guardsmen armed with their bayonets. Near the Student Health and Counseling building, Part encountered a colleague who had been stabbed in the arm. The last photo Part took before he was stabbed was of the sidewalk covered in blood.
Part bent over at the waist to help his colleague, and a guardsman stabbed Part in the back.
“I didn’t think I was going to get (stabbed). I had a press pass, which I was holding out from the elbow. I had a football helmet I borrowed from one of my friends – or a motorcycle helmet – and I taped on there ‘press,’”
Part said.
Part’s belt acted as a tourniquet, mitigating the rapid blood loss seen in puncture wounds. Part, believing the wound could be treated with a bandaid, walked to a nearby table to receive medical treatment, he said. There, his orthopedist –who had traveled to campus after hearing about the National Guard involvement – said Part needed to get to a hospital.
Part took an ambulance to what is now known as UNM Hospital to have his wound stitched and bandaged, he said. There, doctors revealed the wound was about 4 inches deep.
Guardsmen also stabbed thenKOB-TV cameraman Bill Norlander, who had been filming the scene near the SUB, according to a May 11, 1970 Daily Lobo article.
“(Three guardsmen) closed in,
Bruce Krause / Daily Lobo
On May 8, 1970, 11 individuals were bayoneted on the UNM campus. Those stabbed received medical care from a student unit set up in front of Zimmerman Library and many were later sent to the hospital. Originally published on May 11, 1970.
stabbing (Norlander) with the bayonets and shoving him back. Eventually he had to turn and run, leaving a trail of blood that shows he jumped off the porch about 40 feet further on, landing in a rosebush,” the article reads.
The next day, Part walked from his house on Gold Avenue to the Daily Lobo office – then just south of Marron Hall – to develop his photos.
“It felt like it was our mission to get this recorded,” Part said.
The darkroom was located up two flights of stairs, and Part said he had to stop for breaks as he climbed. He developed the film, then showed the photos to fellow Daily Lobo staff who later printed them in the paper, according to Part.
“We did a great job, if I do say so ourselves,” Part said.
Lily Alexander is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @llilyalexander
Nate Bernard is a beat reporter with the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @natebernard14
/ @DailyLobo
PHOTO STORY: The oldest buildings on UNM’s campus
By Noah Laffler
The history of incumbent presidents dropping out of races
By Lauren Lifke @lauren_lifke
On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he will not seek reelection in November. This is the closest to an election that a United States incumbent president has ever dropped out of a race for reelection, and the first time it has happened since 1968.
Only six other U.S. presidents have not sought a second term, according to Britannica. Out of those, two dropped out of the race within a year of the end of their terms, according to the Kansas City Star.
Lyndon B. Johnson
On March 31, 1968, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson announced on television that he was stepping down as the Democratic nominee for that year’s election.
Just three weeks before the announcement, Johnson’s approval
rating had dropped to 36% following his involvement in the Vietnam War. When he stepped down, Johnson also announced that he would partially halt the U.S. bombing of Vietnam, saying, “There is division in the American house now,” according to History.
Harry S. Truman
On March 29, 1952, then-President Harry S. Truman announced that he would not seek reelection that year as the Democratic nominee. His approval rating had dipped to 22% the month before, according to the American Presidency Project. In part, this was the result of “the Korean War, accusations of corruption in his administration and the anticommunist red-baiting of McCarthy,” according to the Miller Center.
Lauren Lifke is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @lauren_lifke
Noah Laffler / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Noah Laffler / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Noah Laffler / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Noah Laffler / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo Noah Laffler / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Noah Laffler / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
The exterior view of UNM’s Estufa building constructed 1907-08, designed by architect Charles Lembke. Taken on Friday, July 19.
The exterior view of UNM’s Art Annex building, constructed in 1926 and designed by architects Henry Charles Trost and Elson H. Norris. Taken on Friday, July 19.
The exterior view of UNM’s Estufa building constructed 1907-08, designed by architect Charles Lembke. Taken on Friday, July 19.
The exterior view of UNM’s Engineering and Science Computer Pod, emphasizing the ornamentation on the side of the building. The building was erected in 1917 and designed by architect Francis Barry Byrne a year prior. Taken on Friday, July 19.
The exterior view of UNM’s Hodgin Hall constructed in 1892 and remodeled in 1908, designed by architects Jesse M. Wheelock and Edward B. Christy. Taken on Friday, July 19.
The exterior view of UNM’s Hodgin Hall constructed in 1892 and remodeled in 1908, designed by architects Jesse M. Wheelock and Edward B. Christy. Taken on Friday, July 19.
The history of paleontology in New Mexico
By Leila Chapa @DailyLobo
New Mexico, once a place of flood plains and swamps, has been home to many dinosaur fossil discoveries. This is largely due to the state’s geographical history, according to three experts.
One dinosaur was identified in January as a new subspecies of Tyrannosaurus that predates the T. Rex by up to 7 million years.
The discovery of T. mcraeensis resulted from a study of a jaw and partial skull fossil that were found in the 1980s-90s by boaters and museum staff in southern New Mexico, according to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
Spencer Lucas, curator of paleontology at NMMNHS, was a contributor to the research and an author of the study.
The fossil was first thought to be a T. rex, but the research — conducted in part by NMMNHS — identified the fossil as larger and more primitive than a T. rex’s. The discovery of T. mcraeensis suggests that Tyrannosaurus species existed in North America much earlier than previously thought, according to Lucas.
“There’s been a lot of debate about where T. rex came from. One possibility is that it originated in Asia and emigrated across the Bering land bridge to get to western North America. But the other idea is that T. rex originated in North America, and this fossil supports that idea,” Lucas said.
T. mcraeensis existed during the Cretaceous period — 145 to 66 million years ago — when North America was divided by the Western Interior Seaway. The WIS was created by subducting plates and globally rising sea levels that resulted in ocean waters filling up a basin that started in the North Pole and emptied into the Gulf of Mexico.
Most of the fossil discoveries made in New Mexico are from the Cretaceous period, according to Phil Gensler, a regional paleontologist for the New Mexico Bureau of
Land Management.
Paleontology is one of the many areas the New Mexico BLM is supposed to manage and protect, according to Gensler.
“What gets preserved here (are) the animals and the dinosaurs that lived along the Western Interior Seaway. So where New Mexico sits would have been on the western shoreline of that seaway. There were a lot of flood plains and swamps … and that also helped a lot in preserving (animals and dinosaurs) once they died,” Gensler said.
Many aquatic species swam through the WIS, including mosasaurs, large carnivorous fish like xiphactinus, and sharks, according to Gensler.
The main ranges of the Rocky Mountains began to form in North America 70-40 million years ago, according to the National Park Service.
Robert Villa, president of the Tucson Herpetological Society, has studied and experienced the natural environment of the southwestern desert through his work in the Sonoran Desert and surrounding areas, he said.
“The Rocky Mountains are really the geological formation that (is) responsible for the climate of the Southwest,” Villa said.
The Rocky Mountains play a role in creating the southwestern desert climate through what is called a rain shadow, according to Wild Earth Lab.
The mountains act as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and inland.
When warm Pacific air rises, it has to travel high over the Rocky Mountains, where it cools, condenses and falls as precipitation. The air that travels over the mountains is hence cool and dry, creating the desert climate on the other side, according to Wild Earth Lab.
After the formation of the Rocky Mountains, the familiar southwestern desert climate began to take shape, Villa said. Formerly tropical flora and fauna either moved south over time to warmer and wetter climates or adapted to the new cold, dry climate. Those that couldn’t handle the change went extinct, ac-
Leila Chapa / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo An ink pen drawing of T. mcraeensis and prehistoric tropical cactus plants. Illustrated by Leila Chapa.
cording to Villa.
“The uplift of those mountains had a big effect on the biodiversity in North America. You had just as much extinction and just as many new species evolving,” Villa said.
New Mexico ranks fourth in the country for dinosaur fossil discovery, with 935 fossils found, according to a December 2023 USA Today article.
“New Mexico is a big dinosaur state. The state fossil, Coelophysis, is one of the earliest dinosaurs and it’s a very well known early dinosaur … If you look at the history of dinosaur collecting in New Mexico, it’s been quite extensive … a lot of the big museums used to come here and collect dinosaurs, and it’s a magnet to paleontologists,” Lucas said.
The earliest fossils brought to scientific attention in New Mexico emerged in the 1840s, but local Indigenous groups collected fossils before then, Lucas said.
Part of Villa’s work and exploration is bridging Indigenous and Western science, which applies to understanding the Southwest’s geological history, Villa said.
“My frontier of exploration is figuring out how to bring academic science and Indigenous science to learn from each other and create questions together … Exploration is getting people from diverse lived experiences and knowledge sets to create better questions that will help us get through into the future, whether it’s about climate change, or whether it’s understanding the biodiversity of the desert,” Villa said.
Leila Chapa is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@daily.com.
The history of the newspaper arts and culture section
By Addison Fulton & Dannely Verduzco @DailyLobo
The arts and culture section is a mainstay of many established newspapers. The Daily Lobo is no exception. The New York Times, the Washington Post and Fox News all have arts and culture desks that go by various names.
People have been discussing and commenting on culture for as long as it has existed, but the prominence of the culture desk has not always been so universal.
There is a delay between the advent of journalism and when journalistic publications began to dedicate print space to arts and culture. Journalism began as far back as 3400 B.C.E., when early civilizations used hieroglyphics in clay to transmit news, according to the Science Survey.
The rise of American journalism began in 1690 with the publication of Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestic, according to “Social
and Economic Networks in Early Massachusetts” by Marsha Hamilton. Early dedicated arts sections emerged in the 1770s in several London newspapers like the Morning Chronicle, according to Pearson.
Specifically, entertainment journalism started in the 1920s alongside the early days of Hollywood, according to a mini review published in the “Journal of Journalism and Mass Communication.”
“As the film industry rapidly expanded, there was an increasing demand for information about actors, directors and movie productions,” the mini review reads. “Newspapers and magazines began to feature columns and articles dedicated to the lives of celebrities and the latest developments in the entertainment world.”
The Daily Lobo began in 1898 under the name The Mirage, according to the University of New Mexico Digital Repository. The Mirage featured University and national news, as well as short fiction stories, advertisements and letters.
Around the late 1910s and early 1920s, the Daily Lobo – then known
as the New Mexico Weekly – began to feature a section labeled “Society” near the end of the paper.
An issue from February 4, 1920 featured an article in the “Society” section about an on-campus dance.
One article covered a renowned author visiting UNM.
“The co-eds looked decidedly charming in their midwest togs, their dress suits and all the brother’s, father’s and friend’s borrowed clothes,” the article about the dance reads.
Around 100 years ago, the Daily Lobo “Society” section reported on the thriving membership of the Varsity Glee Club, and the freshly elected president of the newly self-governing Associated Student Body — an early version of the Associated Students at UNM.
In July, 50 years ago, Karl Vera wrote a review of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s latest poetry collection, and the Lobo listed entertainment options for students over the summer in a section titled “Bored Walk.”
The arts and culture section continues to change as arts and culture change. Apps like Goodreads and Let-
terboxd allow more people to share their thoughts with their friends and online audiences, which has its own value — especially because critics are often seen as pretentious, according to Pure Wow.
But the work of entertainment journalists and critics still has value in the digital era. Often, people have similar tastes as their friends, and social media algorithms tend to feed viewers content they already like. A professional critic can be integral to highlight something new, according to Pure Wow.
Today, the Daily Lobo’s arts and culture section is simply penned “Culture,” but reporters cover similar topics as their predecessors — reviews, music and the occasional dance performance.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
Dannely Verduzco is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
‘Return to Reason’ returns to the silver screen
By Addison Fulton @DailyLobo
From July 13-15, the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque showed newly remastered and restored versions of four films by 1920s avant-garde filmmaker Man Ray. Ray – or Emmanuel Radnitzky –was a Dadaist-Surrealist filmmaker, painter and photographer, according to manray.net. He was born in Philadelphia but preferred to live and make his art in Paris, where he moved in 1921, according to the website.
Ray was initially best-known for his photography. He developed art pieces known as Rayogrammes. Ray created Rayogrammes without a camera by
exposing an image that was placed directly on photo paper and exposed to light, according to manray.net.
The restorations and current showings of his films may draw interest to his cinematographic work. The restorations shown at the Guild were led by production companies Womanray and Cinenovo, in partnership with the Library of Congress, various French organizations and an Italian film archive, according to an Instagram post by the Guild.
The four films shown at the Guild were “L’Étoile de mer,” “Emak Bakia,” “Les Mystères du Château du Dé” and “Le Retour à la raison.”
“L’Étoile de mer,” which translates to “The Starfish,” is a surrealist film based on a poem by Robert Des-
HAPS
nos. It follows a man and a woman through a story of love, eroticism, loss and betrayal.
The film utilizes two major types of camera shots: one is a standard, relatively clear shot, while the others are wavy and distorted as though the film was wet and smeared. The central images are starfish and flowers. Starfish can regenerate lost and damaged limbs, prolonging their life, while flowers die quickly.
“Emak Bakia,” or “Leave me in peace,” is disorienting yet intriguing — featuring high-contrast spinning shots of nails, clocks and marquee lights. It is occasionally intercut with footage of waves, fish, farm animals and young women dancing to banjo music.
On-screen text reads, “The reason for all this extravagance.” Then, viewers see a man shredding a box full of starched, white shirt collars with his hands.
The film closes with a shot of a woman with eyes painted on her eyelids. She opens her eyes, revealing her real eyes to the camera, before closing them, showing the false eyes again.
“Les Mystères du Château du Dé,” or “The Mysteries of the Castle of the Dice,” opens with a shot of dice being placed in the hand of a wooden mannequin. The film follows two masked men playing a dice game in a bar.
see Return to Reason page 17
The Entertainment Guide
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A portion of the cast from Bob Fosse’s musical Broadway hit, “Dancin,” which was performed at UNM. Originally published on January 23, 1981; photographer not listed.
Courtesy Photo / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
The cover image for “Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray” (2023). Photo courtesy of IMDB.
MMIP from page 2
missing relatives and long-standing complaints about failed responses from law enforcement agencies.
In 1956, Walcie Rae Downing, a mother of five, went missing at the age of 32 in Gallup. In 2016, author and historian Marilyn Hudson spoke with one of Downing’s family members.
“I had been touched, in my own research of other unsolved (cases), at how these women were so often ignored by police, forgotten by the public, and killers were allowed to go on to live their own life without consequence to their crimes,” Hudson wrote in a statement to the Daily Lobo.
Hudson recalled the family’s des-
Totem Pole from page 2
no information,” Field said.
In 2015, a student in a class on Native American art taught by Beverly Singer reached out to Field to gain the anthropology department’s support to research the pole, Field said.
Field had heard “off-color, nasty stories about how Frank Hibben and his buddies used to take potshots at it,” and personally wondered about the pole’s origins, he said.
The research led to a relationship with the Smith family – the pole’s rightful owners – in 2016, which then led to a discussion about what to do with the pole, Field said.
Representatives of the Tlowitsis Nation and representatives of
peration to find closure.
“Their heartache at not knowing the fate of the woman they loved was heartbreaking,” Hudson wrote.
Reid shares a similar sentiment with her sister’s case.
“Good or bad, as long as she’s home where she belongs. All I want is just that closure,” Reid said.
Tiffany loved to sing and write songs and poetry, Reid said.
“She would record herself and then she’d rewind it back and listen and re-sing it over, so I could just hear her pushing the buttons in the other room,” Reid said.
Reid said Tiffany wanted to become
the Maxwell Museum reached an agreement after discussing and piecing together the pole’s true history, McChesney said. This agreement can be altered by either party.
The Maxwell Museum developed a plan to relocate the pole into the Hibben Center, just south of the museum, according to McChesney.
“It would be restored by carvers of the Nation’s choice,” McChesney said. “We also agreed that we would recognize that the pole did belong to the Tlowitsis Nation and we would serve as stewards of it.”
Other factors went into moving the pole from the location in the courtyard, according to McChesney.
a veterinarian because she loves animals and always tried to rescue them.
In addition to colonialism and ambiguous prosecution laws around MMIP cases, natural resource exploitation is directly linked with the crisis.
The influx of mostly white males in poor working conditions in rural and predominantly Indigenous communities has caused “increased rates of violence, sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases, prostitution, sex trafficking and an increased presence of illicit drugs,” according to Joseph’s study.
At fracking sites, people come from
“The concern then was, because of its condition, it might represent a potential danger to visitors,” McChesney said. “It was very much exposed to different elements here than there would be in the climate where those poles are typically raised.”
A team, led in 2017 by Kwakwaka’wakw artist and lead carver Tom Hunt Jr. with his apprentice Bertram Smith, restored the pole and placed it in the Hibben Center atrium, according to the UNM anthropology department. The team received permission to include turquoise in the color scheme to honor the Indigenous people of New Mexico, McChesney said.
different parts of the country to set up camp for employees, Reid said. She refers to these sites as “man camps.”
“These men from different places come out into the communities, and then they start victimizing the women and the girls within that community. Especially because I know New Mexico had a big oil boom a few years ago, and there were man camps everywhere,” Reid said.
This year, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez launched a public, online MMIP portal that shows active MMIP cases across the state. The database allows people to report and search for missing
Then-department chair Field and then-Maxwell Museum Interim Director David Phillips Jr. wrote and signed an apology letter to thenTlowitsis Nation Chief Danial Smith in 2017. The letter includes a brief history of the pole at UNM, as well as goals to address the damages done to the pole.
Funding for the pole’s restoration came from both the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies and the Hibben Trust for Anthropological Research, McChesney said.
During the restoration, the Maxwell Museum team took lidar scans – which act as a form of penetrating photography – and three-dimensional
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persons, including the cases of Reid and Downing.
“Sometimes people call it an epidemic, which doesn’t make any sense to me, because this has been ongoing since the settlers came. And it’s a crisis. It’s a crisis that has started way back and it’s still going on today,” Reid said. “And there is still very little being done about it.”
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo. com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
photography of the pole. The team then gave copies to the Tlowitsis Nation, McChesney said. The information could help the same carvers create a new pole in front of a community house in the Tlowitsis Nation, she said.
McChesney’s organization is working on providing some of the funding for the new pole, she said.
The Smith Family Totem Pole can be viewed at the Maxwell Museum from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Marcela Johnson is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com
The history of presidential assassination attempts
By Addison Fulton & Shin Thant Hlaing @DailyLobo
The history of successful and unsuccessful presidential assassination attempts is tied together by threads of lone gunmen and conspiracy theories. The phenomenon, though highlighted by the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail, isn’t new.
Donald Trump
On July 13, gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally, killing Pennsylvania resident Corey Comperatore and clipping the former president in the ear.
Crooks fired from the top of a nearby building, which was allegedly outside of the security perimeter set up by the Secret Service, according to a statement the Secret Service gave NBC. The building was meant to be guarded by local police.
The motives of the shooter are still unknown — a notable difference from historical presidential assassination attempts. Those close to Crooks knew of no strong political leanings, according to CNN. However, Crooks was a registered Republican, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Attempted assassinations have mixed impacts on presidential approval ratings and electability.
Thus far, the attempt on Trump’s life has had no significant impact on his polling numbers. President Joe Biden was in a statistical tie with former President Trump among registered voters following
the shooting and Trump’s selection of running mate Republican Senator J.D. Vance, as of July 16 research by Ipsos and Reuters.
Ronald Reagan
On March 31, 1981, John W. Hinckley Jr. shot then-President Ronald Reagan in Washington. Hinckley Jr.’s motivations were not political; he was driven by a desire to impress actress Jodie Foster, according to the University of Missouri - Kansas City. Hinckley Jr. had developed a fixation on the movie “Taxi Driver,” the plot of which revolves around an assassination attempt.
In archival footage from NBC, reporters described the scene as chilling and frantic. Reporters said that Reagan’s condition was good, and as he was being wheeled into the hospital, Reagan said to the doctors, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.”
The doctor, a liberal Democrat, responded: “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans” — a show of solidarity and support not always seen in the aftermath of presidential assassination attempts.
The Daily Lobo ran an article about the incident the same day.
“The shooting stunned the world and a nation whose citizens seem unable to shake the stigma of seemingly mindless murder of public figures,” the article reads.
The event garnered public sympathy for Reagan, with his ratings rising eight points, according to GZERO.
Theodore Roosevelt
On October 14, 1912, John Schrank shot former President Theodore Roosevelt in the chest in Milwaukee.
The bullet was slowed by a folded manuscript, a steel-enforced eyeglass case and an overcoat, ac-
cording to History.
“I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot,” Roosevelt said before holding up the bullet-riddled manuscript, as described by History.
He then continued to give an hour-long speech, reading from the same manuscript.
When his supporters swarmed the shooter, Roosevelt stopped them from harming him.
Schrank’s principal motive was to prevent Roosevelt from winning a third term, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Schrank was concerned by a dream he had in which President William McKinley — who preceded Roosevelt and was assassinated in 1901 – told him Roosevelt was responsible for his death.
Like in Trump’s case, this assassination attempt may have helped project a “tough guy image” for Roosevelt, as described by U.S. News & World Report.
Both attempts were also catalysts for backlash toward the media.
Supporters of Trump blamed the media for portraying the former president as a threat to democracy, according to CNN.
After Roosevelt’s assassination attempt, he said, “It is a very natural thing that weak and vicious minds should be inflamed to acts of violence by the kind of awful mendacity and abuse that have been heaped upon me for the last three months by the papers.”
Roosevelt eventually lost the election to Woodrow Wilson.
John F. Kennedy
On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald fired at then-President John F. Kennedy while he was in a presidential motorcade in Dallas. Kennedy was hit by two bullets and later died in the hospital. The assassination followed a failed attempt three years earlier, according to Politico.
Oswald hit three other victims that day: a police officer, who was killed, and two other bystanders, who were
injured, according to History.
Kennedy’s assassination was the first time people witnessed a president being killed on television, which, as Encyclopedia Britannica explained, “made it a uniquely immediate and shocking experience for many Americans.”
The killing of Kennedy also helped “fuel a climate of mistrust in the 1960s,” according to Time Magazine. It was followed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
The Daily Lobo ran an article five days after Kennedy’s death in which Oswald was described as “a self-professed Marxist.”
Oswald’s motive is still unknown, according to Time Magazine. And
though the Warren Commission revealed that Oswald acted alone, many Americans believe there were other parties involved. In October 2023, 57% of college graduates believed that there was a conspiracy involved in the Kennedy assassination, according to a Gallup Poll.
Similarly, as Vox reported, the Trump assassination attempt has drawn suspicion toward the Secret Service.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
Shin Thant Hlaing is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com
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A silhouetted profile of president John F. Kennedy. Originally published on November 27, 1963; creator not listed.
The men briefly argue over whether or not they’re leaving, then eventually decide that they are. They arrive at a large castle which they explore, seeing odd statues and beautiful gardens. They stay the night, and when they wake up, four people are playing dice.
On-screen text reads, “A throw of the dice will never abolish chance.”
The four then frolic around the castle’s garden and pool. Then, two more guests arrive at the castle, apparently
looking for the other four.
The two new arrivals also resolve to stay the night. The closing shot is a pair of dice, once again being placed in a wooden hand.
The titular “Le Retour à la raison,” or “Return to Reason,” is another largely dialogue-free and non-narrative film. It features more spinning industrial materials such as nails, clocks, marquee lights and a page covered in redacted text.
The film concludes with a shot of
a fully nude woman’s torso, her face out of the shot, as she turns between the window and the viewer.
Ray’s work has long been described as surreal, dark and sensual, and “Return to Reason” embodies every adjective.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
PHOTO STORY: The history of the land at Petroglyph National Monument
By Leila Chapa
Leila Chapa / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Leila Chapa / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
Leila Chapa / Daily Lobo / @DailyLobo
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Petroglyphs carved on boulders of volcanic rock at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque’s West Mesa. Over 100,000 years ago, active volcanoes erupted and created the West Mesa. The dark-colored basalt rocks that fell from the eruptions became an ideal surface for creating designs, as Native Americans and Spanish settlers did up to 700 years ago. Taken on February 3.
Hills with volcanic rock at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque’s West Mesa. The symbols on these rocks still hold cultural significance today, according to the National Park Service. Taken on February 3.
A petroglyph carved on a boulder of volcanic rock at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque’s West Mesa. Taken on February 3.
Petroglyphs carved on boulders of volcanic rock at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque’s West Mesa. Taken on February 3.
A plane drops fire retardant on a forest fire. New Mexico’s has a history of damaging wildfires, including the recent South Fork and Salt fires in Ruidoso. The largest wildfire in recorded New Mexico history was the Calf Canyon/Hermit Peak fire in 2022, which was triggered by prescribed burns and destroyed over 300,000 acres. Illustrated by Hannah Cerne.
