Category: Editorials

Hats off to 7,000 B.C.

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By: The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

It is so good to hear that local comic artists have an opportunity to thrive here in Albuquerque, with the locally made comic book nonprofit organization 7,000 B.C.

Many artists go through the hoops of getting an art degree, only to become starving artists without much opportunity. New Mexico is full of great artists, and because there are not many companies they can go to for work, there really are no pros­pects to for them to shine.

Many art graduates go from school to minimum wage or intern jobs that want massive amounts of experience, but do not offer any incentives. Local businesses know that there are a large number of unemployed art­ists to take advantage of because there are no real opportunities for art graduates in New Mexico.

It is refreshing and encourag­ing to see that there are organiza­tions such as 7,000 B.C. to help striving and talented comic book artists get a step up and for artists to have a place where their art can be seen and appreciated.

The Chronicle salutes organiza­tions that care about the employees and artists who make their products better and worth reading or seeing.

Where are we, Arizona?

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By: the CNM Chronicle Edi­torial Board

One of the best things about the state of New Mexico is the cultural diversity, including the cultures that take pride in their native tongues and regional dialects.

In the article, “Student speaks out about Whole Foods incident” the Chronicle talked to student Bryan Baldizan about his experience with cul­tural and lingustic discrimina­tion in the workplace.

Baldizan is a bilingual citizen, offering more than many people can in the form of commu­nication. Speaking in English and Spanish, he uses his ability to com­municate with dif­ferent people, and to remember who he is and where he comes from, which would usually be considered a benefit to most employers.

Whole Foods has disappointed many with this complete disregard for a cul­ture so important to New Mexican history.

New Mexico respects and recog­nizes Spanish as a big part of our estab­lishment as a state. Schools offer bilingual classes, we hold events and activities centered on cultural history, and many families know the importance of keeping these tradi­tions alive.

English is not the only American way. The American way is full of dif­ferent paths and different success stories. Embracing diversity makes our nation stron­ger, and encour­ages people from all backgrounds to rise up to success, in the work place and out­side of it.

Our country does not have an “official” language, at least not at the federal level. The contention here is that these work­ers are not allowed to casually speak Spanish to one another. It’s not as if they don’t know English; they do. The importance of heritage, tradition and diversity needs to be recognized, especially in the workplace.

Mental health needs to be addressed in this country

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By: CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

Yet another random act of multiple killings has occurred, this time in Santa Monica, Ca. on June 7. Six people were shot and killed on a rampage that began with the gunman killing two male family members and ended at the Santa Monica Community College library, with the shooter using what police have confirmed was an AR-15 assault rifle.

It is disturbing to contemplate that it could have been here; it could have been our school library where this carnage ended, or at any community college campus, for that matter. In August of 2005, five victims, including two police officers, were killed in a senseless rampage by John Hyde on Central Avenue in Albuquerque, and just this April when 24-year-old Lawrence Carpener stabbed four people at a Catholic church in NW Albuquerque in an unprovoked attack. This is becoming a widespread epidemic and nothing is being done about it; the incidence of mass killings keeps going up.

When the Reagan administration shut down all public and state run mental institutions in the 80s, the result was complete pandemonium. The skyrocketing petty and violent crimes even caused the state of California to consider involuntary commitment laws after this massive change by our government.

The courts incarcerated mentally ill people in our country in the prison systems instead, similar to the pro­cess in the early 1900s when these public institutions were first estab­lished. The gross conditions that the mentally ill have suffered throughout history have been rife with negligence and downright cruel.

These people are now placed in the general popu­lation of prisons and don’t receive the care they need, making the problems worse than when the afflicted had originally been incarcerated. Unless people can afford counseling and med­ication, there are no real resources to take care of this problem, which has gotten out of control as mass killings have become a more common occur­rence throughout the country.

No one wants to care or pay for the proper attention of people who are mentally ill. State, federal government and prison systems have all been neglect­ful of this ever growing issue. It truly is a travesty that no one is seeing the bigger problem here: mental health is an issue that has been ignored for far too long.

Want to share your opinion on
a recent article?
Send a Letter to the Editor:
renetchronicle@gmail.com
*All letters subject to editing for
length, spelling and grammar.

Editorial: Why student involvement in the community is beneficial

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

The Chronicle salutes people like Stephany Olivas, See Story titled “Community garden sprouts unity” on page 8, Project Feed the Hood, and growing awareness urban farming, who work hard to make sure children in underprivileged communities have the information to make better choices with the foods they consume, which will hopefully have a lasting effect on future generations.

Nutritional education has not been a priority in the American education system since the simplifying and changing of the national food pyramid.

It is such a great thing to see that organizations such as Project Feed the Hood are helping to educate children in school and community gardens on the nutritional value of fresh whole organic foods.

Families and children are empowered when they are taught how to plant and care for organic fruits and vegetables. Giving the community a chance to learn about genetically modified foods and the importance of proper nutrition is truly invaluable.

Unfortunately, only prosperous American schools teach or explain the differences between GM foods and organic whole foods, and it is commendable that non-profits are going out into deprived communities and teaching these children about proper sustenance.

Editorial: Volume 19 Issue 2

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

It is a right and not a privilege to know exactly what is being put into foods and how they are made. Most people do not know that the majority of food being consumed in America contains some ingredients that are genetically modified in some way.

Monsanto has been in the news a great deal lately because of the bill passed in March deemed the “Monsanto Protection Act” or HR 933; section 735. This controversial bill bars federal courts from being able to stop the sale or planting of genetically modified or genetically engineered seeds, and many Americans are upset at these privileges given to GM and GE seed corporations.

New Mexico has joined with other states to make it a law to label these so called “Frankenfoods” in order to know what is really in our food with the SB18 bill, introduced by Senator Wirth (D-Santa Fe). Unfortunately this bill was affirmed “dead” on January 31 by Senator Wirth and Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez.

Many other countries have outright banned GM and GE seeds and pesticides for many reasons such as the devastation caused by chemicals and pesticides to insect populations, the damage to regular crops unable to grow near any GM crops, as well as making farmers sick from chemical and pesticide use, and has also been proven to cause tumors and shorten life spans of lab animals.

When is our country going to open its eyes to what GM and GE foods really can do to people, as well as understanding that we need to fight for our rights to know what exactly is in the foods we are all consuming. If we let our government pass laws that protect these companies and let them deny bills designed to inform people that some foods are truly manmade and manufactured, then we are a part of the problem.

Editorial: New Beginings

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

My name is Rene Thompson and as the new Editor-in-Chief I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself and clarify the new direction of the Chronicle in the coming year. Our goals are to work with the CNM community in sharing views, opinions and ideas of how CNM can be a better place for everyone.

The Chronicle encourages our readers to give us feedback and let us know how you feel about our stories and the issues that really matter to you. Students faculty or staff who feel they might have a good idea or an issue they feel should be in the paper, please email us and let us know about it, because we want your feedback and ideas.

As employees of the Chronicle, we are all students learning the profession of journalism. In order for us to succeed, our focus will be in the best interest of students and faculty.

We want to move forward with a new perspective in helping to solve problems on campus and helping to make our school the best it can be.

The standards met at the paper have exceeded expectations, including winning third place in a national journalism competition, and this coming year we hope to go above and beyond in a whole new direction with our readers in mind.

We look forward to gaining feedback from you and we hope to make the Chronicle an even more important part of the CNM community.

Editorial: Let’s take a collective breath

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By: The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

Something is very wrong.

A sort of decay is spreading throughout our society, rotting good people from the inside.

On Monday, an unknown assail­ant placed four explosive devices near the finish line of a marathon in Boston, killing two people at the time this edi­torial went to print.

On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary.

On Aug. 5, 2012, a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple, killing 10 people in Oak Creek, Wisc.

On July 20, 2012, a gunman walked into a theater and killed 12 people in Aurora, Colo.

Why?

Why do people kill people?

These events have driven a conversation about gun violence. One side claims more guns are needed to protect ourselves. The other is certain that we need to ban guns.

We have to face the fact: the genie is out of the bottle. We can no more ban guns than we could ban alcohol in the 1920s.

However, violence begets violence. More guns will not cure violence any more than bloodletting cured disease more than 200 years ago.

Our society has an undiagnosed illness that goes far beyond a single individual.

We are a sad, angry, powerless bunch. We hurt the people around us because we need to feel better than someone, anyone.

Punishment is not the answer. Of the seven mass shootings documented by the mass media in 2012, five of the shooters committed suicide.

These are acts of desperate defiance.

We need to stop talking about gun laws, about mental illness, about religious extrem­ism, about terrorists.

We need to listen to each other. We need to stop worrying about being right, and start worrying about rebuilding what is left.

Editorial: Thank you to part-time faculty

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By: The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

Part-time faculty members seem to be getting a raw deal here on campus.

As mentioned in this week’s front page story “Suvery say! Part-time instructors dissat­isfied with work condi­tions,” many of those community members feel undervalued and poorly treated.

What was not included in the story was a comment from one of the respondents: “I do this for the students, not the pay.”

After reading through the results of the 29-question survey, we can only assume that most part-time instruc­tors feel the same.

Instructors have little say in changes to their job, almost no job security and feel that they get no respect.

And yet, most of those who responded to the survey have been here for more than six years.

Thank you for caring. Thank you for putting up with what seem to be deplorable working conditions to continue teaching those who want to learn.

We hope that all of you receive the respect, pay and working condi­tions you deserve in the next contract.

Until then, remember that the students appreciate all of the things you do on their behalf.

Editorial: One staff to help them all

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

By The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

It is not surprising that most students do not know about the many services offered at CNM, as mentioned in the front page article “Student counseling needs increase, Health Center staff size does not.”

There is but one counselor on Main campus to serve a population of 30,000 people and even that service is not well advertised.

It is not a viable solution to the alarming number of students that have diagnosable and treatable issues, such as depression or anxiety.

One out of four college students suf­fers from some form of diagnosable mental illness and 44 percent of American col­lege students reported feeling symptoms of depression at some point in their college careers, according to psychcentral.com.

Measures need to be taken to expand the mental health services pro­vided on campus.

CNM should expand its services and aim to put a counselor on each of its cam­puses, so that students can get the help they need without a long wait or overtaxing a lone therapist.

Editorial: Preventing rape starts with education

cnmchronicleLeave a comment

Editorial By: The CNM Chronicle Editorial Board

Rape culture needs to end and it must start with education.

Questioning what a victim wore or what the victim had to drink seems natural. Jokes about rape — such as the line sung by the men in “Summer Nights” from “Grease” — are so common in media that most people hardly notice.

Rape culture will not go away over­night. We need education on the subject, without judgment, spin or propaganda.

We need institutions like CNM to add rape culture to the list of cultural studies classes.

We need professionals to tell us how to handle situations where rape culture is happening. We need classes on preventing rape culture like the active shooter train­ing mentioned in “Active shooter training offered on Montoya, Westside Campuses” on the front page of this issue.

We need this because victims should not be afraid to come forward after a rape. We need this because teenagers think it is ok to video tape a rape, but do nothing to stop it.

The problem with rape culture is that it blurs the line. It can make people forget that we live in a world where actions have consequences.

Major news outlets like CNN have made comment about the recent guilty decision in the Stubenville rape case that lament the loss of promising careers – of the rapists, and of their lifelong labels as sex offenders.

What the national news media failed to acknowledge is the struggle the victim will have.

Images and video of her rape are on the internet forever. Her memory loss of the night will leave her with lifelong questions about how things got so out of control.

This case, from start to finish, is the product of a culture that embraces rape as funny or the victims fault or a common­place thing that happens all the time.

This is not ok.

Last spring, the CNM Chronicle wrote a special edition paper on sex and violence which included the story of a male rape victim.

He said his attackers were never brought to justice because the respond­ing officers did not believe a man could be raped.

His story can be read at thecnmchron­icle.wordpress.com/overcoming-stigma.

If the police can be taken in by rape culture, we must be educated in order to combat it.

So CNM, give us the option to learn.

There are so many instances where people tells us it is ok to think rape jokes are funny, that a person’s sexual history is relevant to a sexual assault and that a forceful or violent man is somehow sexy.

We need a place to that will help us examine the problem.