Below is the winning video I helped produce and edit for the 2013 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Film Festival. The film contest allowed groups two days to film and two days to produce, edit, and have a final two to four minute short film concerning the balloon fiesta.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Building a history: Architect reflects on a legacy at UNM
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| Former UNM architect Van Dorn Hooker said from his home on Monday that his upcoming book reflects on the people who played important roles in the history of UNM. (Aaron Sweet/Daily Lobo) |
When construction for the Duck Pond began in 1974, University architect Van Dorn Hooker said he shrugged off initial criticism of the project.
As Dorn Hooker wrote of the most vocal nay-sayers, the staff of the New Mexico Daily Lobo, in his book “Only in New Mexico: An Architectural History of the University of New Mexico,” the student paper “had a field day criticizing the whole idea of the pond … they called it the No-Name pond and said as each construction day went by, it reached new heights of tackiness.”
Dorn Hooker, who has since retired, said he knew the pond would make a great addition to the campus.
“I knew what we were planning was good, those people had the wrong impressions. I didn’t pay attention to it. I knew it was good,” Dorn Hooker said.
Today, there is rarely a time when students are not lounging beside the Duck Pond.
Dorn Hooker, 92, served as the University architect from 1963 to 1987, and was in charge of managing and planning architectural projects throughout the University. By the time Dorn Hooker retired, 75 major buildings, remodeling and additions were completed.
He also raked in 30 design awards for architecture and landscaping for the University. Of his many projects Hooker oversaw the work of the Duck Pond, The Pit, the Humanities Building, Farris Engineering, as well as new additions to Zimmerman Library.
Dorn Hooker has had several books published since his retirement, including “Only in New Mexico…” which won the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Award from the State Office of Cultural Affairs in 2001. Dorn Hooker is currently putting the final touches on his new book, an untitled work concerning the people behind the names of buildings, monuments and memorials on campus.
“I didn’t want these people to be forgotten, so many of them had so much to do with the history of the University,” Dorn Hooker said. “It is a question from many people I talk to; they say ‘I always wondered who Zimmerman was.’”
Dorn Hooker’s career in architecture first began after taking some advice from his doctor while living in Austin. Dorn Hooker had viral pneumonia and was advised to take life easy — he agreed and moved with his wife to California. There, he studied architectural design at the University of California, Berkeley, with the money awarded to him from his GI Bill.
A few years later, Dorn Hooker moved to Santa Fe to work in a partnership, where he worked on the first Santa Fe Opera.
On a morning coffee run, Dorn Hooker noticed an advertisement for an architecture position at UNM. He said he quickly applied for the position. UNM Director of Student Affairs Sherman Smith, who was impressed with his application, called then president Tom Popejoy.
Popejoy already decided to hire an applicant from the University of Iowa, but Smith got to him before the offer was extended, Dorn Hooker said.
“Sherman called Popejoy and asked him if he had made that call yet and he said ‘No, I’ll do it right now.’ Sherman said ‘No, wait, I’ve got somebody else,’” he said.
While serving as the University architect, Dorn Hooker said he focused on adding projects that continued the theme of the Southwest architecture already on campus.
“When we were doing a major building on main campus, I would have the architect make a model of the building, showing the facades of the buildings around it, how did it relate to the other buildings,” he said.
Geraldine Forbes Isais, dean of UNM School of Architecture and Planning, said Dorn Hooker’s work was both progressive and traditional.
“Dorn Hooker had a very strong vision for how a contemporary campus could serve the people of New Mexico, even if the architecture referred to traditional New Mexico architecture,” Forbes Isais said. “He tried to design and assemble buildings that spoke as much to the future as they did to the past. That’s what students are about, they’re our future.”
Forbes Isais said it’s important for people, whether students, faculty or staff, to remember that an architect like Dorn Hooker helped design the walkways and plazas throughout the University.
“Whether it’s walking around campus or walking around the city, we tend not to think that those environments were planned and designed by professionals that actually define the built environment,” she said. “When you turn a corner on campus, you see something that’s wonderful and inspiring, rather than get lost.”
Dorn Hooker said his work reflects the few words of advice from former president Popejoy.
“Tom Popejoy said one time; he thought the campus had an influence on the students, an aesthetic feeling that helped students,” he said. “I hope so.”
NM Board of Regents raises undergraduate tuition rates and student fees
(News story, originally published in the Daily Lobo)
In what GPSA President Marisa Silva called a “rogue” move, the Board of Regents Tuesday went against the Student Fee Review Board and approved an increase in student fees for Athletics.
The measure provides Athletics with a $900,000 increase in fee money for FY 2014, which begins in July. The increase per student is $33.45 more than what SFRB recommended for Athletics fees, and increased the total per-student fee for Athletics to $165.20.
Athletics received $131.75 per student for FY 2013 and the SFRBrecommended that it receive the same amount for FY 2014.
This is the second year in a row the board has gone against the SFRB’s recommendations and approved a fee increase for Athletics. Last year, regents approved a $50 per-student fee increase to fund the Athletics Department.
The proposed increase was a surprise to Silva and ASUNM President Caroline Muraida.
“Students, all 23,471 that Marisa and I represent between the two of us, do not support this increase in Athletics at this time,” Muraida said.
After the regents approved the increase, Silva told the Daily Lobo that neither she nor Muraida was aware of the proposed Athletics increase. Silva and Muraida sit on the SFRB and the Strategic Budget Leadership Team.
“President Muraida and I were surprised to see that the two bodies that we’ve sat on, both with considerable legitimacy who have put in a great deal of work, had the recommendations changed,” Silva said.
Silva said the decision goes against work that both the SFRB and theSBLT have made to communicate to Director of Athletics Tim Cass how much student fee money should be allotted to the department.
“This was a very rogue move and it flies in the face of our processes and how responsible we have been in the good faith in the way we’ve been acting the entire year. Students were betrayed by that vote today,” Silva said.
The board passed the rest of the student fee recommendations with no further discussion.
Restructured tuition
The Board of Regents approved a motion Tuesday that changes the definition of a full-time student as well as student tuition structure.
UNM President Robert Frank presented a restructured body of tuition to the board early that provides new incentives for students to graduate in four years.
Frank said 15 percent of students graduate in four years and 46 percent of students graduate in six years.
Before the regents approved the measure, students who took 12 credit hours at the University were considered full-time students and all credit hours between 12 and 18 were the same price.
Frank’s new motion requires students to pay for individual credit hours up until 15 credit hours. Students who take 15 to 18 credit hours a semester will see a 6.6 percent increase in tuition and fees, whereas students taking fewer than 15 credit hours will see a 13.2 percent increase in tuition and fees.
Essentially, students taking between 15 and 18 credits will receive about a $400 tuition increase while students taking 12 credits will receive about an $800 increase.
“We’re asking a lot of you today, we’re asking a lot of our students today, we believe this is the right time to ask a lot,” Frank said, as he spoke to the Board of Regents. “This is the right moment to try to make a big step.”
Frank said the restructured tuition will help retain faculty members and staff, as it provides a 3 percent pay increase for faculty and a 1 percent pay increase for staff, graduate assistants and teacher assistants. Those are in addition to the 1 percent pay increase Gov. Susana Martinez approved on Friday for all state employees.
Wildcats whip Lobos in singles
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| UNM freshman Riaan Du Toit sets up for a forehand on Sunday at the UNM Tennis Complex. The game against Northwestern ended 5-2 and was the first time the Lobos lost a home game this season. (William Aranda/Daily Lobo) |
Senior men’s tennis player Jadon Phillips was just as concerned with his stomach Sunday afternoon as his upcoming doubles and singles match against Northwestern University.
Phillips was feeling ill that afternoon, throwing up before he asked head coach Alan Dils if he could play. After Dils approved, Phillips went on to win both his doubles and singles matches, standing as the only player to garner a singles win against the Wildcats on Sunday.
The Lobos endured their first home loss of the season as Northwestern swiped away a 5-2 win. UNM is now 5-6-0.
Phillips won his doubles match with freshman Riaan Du Toit against Alex Pasareanu and Mihir Kumar 8-5. Phillips then met Sidarth Balaji for his singles match. Balaji entered the match with seven straight wins under his belt before Phillips broke his streak 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
For Sunday’s match, Phillips said he channeled his experience playing Balaji last year.
“I knew his game a little bit and how he was going to come out and play. This year I did a few things differently,” Phillips said. “I was a little more aggressive and kept the balls deeper, I expected his best shots this year, I tried to stand my ground and serve better, just be more ready and aware.”
Dils said Phillips’ two wins are indicative of the way he has been playing on the court and during practice.
“Jadon lost to this guy last year at Northwestern pretty badly, and to turn around and beat him when he’s not feeling well tells you where Jadon is playing,” he said.
The afternoon matchup with the Wildcats began with a slow start for the Lobos, as the Wildcats took an early lead with the first doubles match. Number one doubles senior Conor Berg and freshman Andrew Van Der Vyver were beaten by Wildcats Balaji and Raleigh Smith, losing 5-8. By the third doubles match, with one win tallied for both teams, the allotted doubles point came down to the Lobos’ junior Mads Hegelund and sophomore James Hignett and the Wildcats Spencer Wolf and Fedor Baev. Hegelund and Hignett pulled through after a long match, winning the match’s tie break 9-8 (7-4).
“In the tie breaker, we got down early and we told each other, ‘James, if we’re going to lose this, let’s lose it going for it,’” Hegelund said.
Hegelund faced Chris Jackman in the singles category, coming up short after taking the match to a third set 1-6, 6-4, 4-6.
“I think I was still mentally on the court in the doubles match, I wasn’t quite focused on the singles as I wanted to be and I started slow,” he said.
The Lobos lost momentum as the day went on. No. 1 seed sophomore Samir Iftikhar lost his early lead in the second set against Wolf, losing in the third set 6-4, 2-6, 5-7. No. 2 seed Berg lost to Smith 4-6, 6-7 (0-7).
Dils said that while the Lobos suffered a loss, the team held its own better than it did in its previous encounter with the Wildcats.
“They’re a very good team (Northwestern), probably better than their ranking, but we sunk our team in the match, won a great doubles point and gave ourselves a chance to win,” Dils said. “Now we have to learn a little bit from Northwestern — how we can win two or three more points under crunch time and do a couple things better, and we can turn those matches in our favor.”
Peter White's violin-making class teaches UNM students craft, music and tradition
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| Student Ben Wild double-checks the measurements on his violin. Professor Peter White said it takes most students close to three years to craft a violin in the course. (Juan Lebreche/Daily Lobo) |
One week before spring classes started, Klarissa Petti sat in the corner of a classroom in the Communication and Journalism building, whittling away at her handmade cello. As Petti smoothed out a deep curve in the thin piece of wood, she thought of the first piece of music she would play on the hand-carved instrument.
“Bach, his cello suites, they’re some of the greatest music ever written for a cello, or any instrument,” Petti said. “I think Bach is a kind of spiritual experience, it’s so perfect. To play it really takes your entire life experience.”
Petti is a student in professor Peter White’s New Mexico Musical Heritage Project, a cultural preservation course taught at UNM.
The course, which began in 2009, tries to bring back the once-thriving New Mexican violin-making culture. Students must apply to take the course, and interested students should contact the professor at plwhite@unm.edu.
In the 17th century, when European settlers first reached what would become New Mexico, Franciscan priests and Mexican artisans taught Pueblo people how to make violins, White said. The first European violin ever crafted in America was made by Pueblo New Mexicans, White said. From that point forward, violins were integrated into American-Indian culture, and Matachines dances were accompanied with violins.
“This program is to teach more New Mexicans how to make violins, particularly Hispanics and Native-American students, and how to play the folk music of their culture, to keep it alive,” he said. “Most of the musicians and violin makers are dead, but it used to be a big thing in New Mexico.”
White said his career as a violin maker began when he was a graduate student in the late ’70s and the craft caught his eye at a nearby arts and crafts fair.
“I was a grad student and I used to see Pennsylvania woodworkers and instrument workers, and I thought ‘My dad has a fiddle, I’m going to go fix that up and go play fiddle tunes as a hippy,’” he said.
White sold his first handmade violin shortly thereafter for $35 — his violins today cost on average $10,000. White went on to work as an apprentice in Poland in 1980.
The apprenticeship shapes how White teaches his classes today. His students use traditional European tools to craft their instruments, including a number of chisels, knives, scrapers and dividers. There’s no course fee for the class, and every tool students use was donated to the class.
White, called “Doc” by his students, said the course takes an average of three years to complete. Students work for years crafting their own violin while also learning how to play Native American, Spanish and Appalachian tunes.
Petti, who has played the cello for eight years, said she first heard of White’s course when searching for a university to attend. Petti said her past work with her father, a house painter, helped influence her decision to take the course.
“The thing I most enjoy is making a product of my own, especially of my own cello that I get to play,” she said. “It’s so satisfying to work hard and look back at what you’ve done. This cello is something I’m going to use for the rest of my life.”
Student Sam Irons said he decided to take the course after taking a history class from White.
“Doc told me I could leave college not just with a piece of paper but with an instrument,” Irons said.
Irons graduated last fall and decided to re-enroll to continue his work with White. Irons is working on his second violin, and said he plans on pursuing an apprenticeship in Poland similar to the one White did.
“I love the idea that you have to work with your hands to truly understand things. You have to engage both your physical body and mental abilities to actually learn,” he said.
Senior Giselle Montoya said her years of work in the course led to an award last fall for her first completed violin. Montoya entered the competition held by Violin Makers Association of Arizona International last October and received fourth place in tone.
Montoya, who is from the Santa Domingo Pueblo, said the course has helped her connect with her cultural roots.
“Since it’s with my heritage and we still do the Matachines dances in the pueblo, I get to take that back to my home. Actually I don’t think there’s anyone who’s made a violin in my pueblo, so as Doc said, I’m the first violin maker for the pueblos,” she said.
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