Tag: Rene Thompson

Transportation Resources

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By Rene Thompson, Guest Writer

Sometimes it can be hellish to find one’s way around the city and sometimes it’s even harder to find one’s way around the seven campuses of CNM.

So here is a comprehensive list of, parking pass information, bus routes to and from campuses, as well as how to get a free bus pass from the school.

General Parking Passes

According to cnm.edu.

General parking passes are free and are required to park in the general free lots, so make sure you get one before trying to park your car, or parking enforcement might just ticket your vehicle without an up to date semester sticker.

Also, all vehicles have to be registered through the MyCNM website first, which is on the wel­come page under transportation, and once that is done, print it out and head down to the security office.

Security office locations are at:

Main Campus: PS-North Entrance Front Desk,

Montoya Campus: TW-107

Westside Campus: MJG-100B

Students can also get paid parking passes at $43 per semester, but those usually run out fast, so get on that if that is the route you would like to go.

But be warned though that just because it is a paid lot does not mean that there will be a free spaces there (the parking craziness usually subsides after the first couple of weeks…usually).

And most importantly, make sure you know which lots are paid and which are not, because parking enforcement knows, and they will not give you any slack for not knowing which lots are which.

STUDENT BUS PASSES

According to cnm.edu.

All current students and employees can qualify for a free ABQRide bus pass sticker that gives free rides all semester long and can be picked up at these locations.

Main Campus: SSC-111

Montoya Campus: TW-207

South Valley Campus: SV-40

Westside Campus: WSII 104-H

Advanced Technology Center: South Entrance Reception Desk

BUS ROUTES

According to myabqride.com and planyourride.cabq.gov.

ABQ Ride has a great online trip planning page at planyourride.cabq. gov and click on landmarks then higher institutions for a list of CNM campuses, or type in the address. Make sure the bus you need runs during the times you need to go, as many routes end before 5 p.m.

There is also an app for I-related product users, and can be found by searching for ABQ ride app through an I-phone, I-pad, or I-touch product, which has many features to include calculating trip times, fares and

There are bus schedule updates via text message as well, where students can find out the next two busses coming on a route by texting 27433 and providing the bus route number to get a text back within seconds (standard texting rates apply).

From the Main campus to Montoya students would have to take the 50 and the 5 bus routes to get back and forth. To get from Main campus to the Workforce Training Center there are more than five possible routes that can be taken and usually arrives within an hour and a half.

For more information on these services go to myabqride.com or planyourride.cabq.gov.

BIKING ROUTES

If you live in the area it can sometimes be less complicated to ride a bike, but there can be congested zones, so here are a few streets with lighter traffic and some decent bike lanes.

Nob Hill:

Coming from the or nob hill is a hop, skip and a jump really, but Silver Avenue, Garfield Avenue, or the one ways Lead or Coal are probably your best bet to staying away from high traffic areas like Central Avenue. The one ways have bike lanes but Silver and Garfield do not. Silver and the one ways can get a bit congested too sometimes, but at least most drivers abide by the 30 and 20 mile an hour speed limits during the day.

Downtown:

Again, the one ways Lead and Coal are good routes with bike lanes, also Mountain road on the other side of Central Avenue can be better to get to University Boulevard, as well as Avenida Cesar Chavez.

For any ways that you may take, just remember to give yourself more than enough time to get there, and above all else make sure you know where your classes are before you start.

Also try not to stress over the commuter blues, because within a couple weeks you should have it down and know exactly where you need to be and when.

Good luck finding your way Suncats and good luck with classes this semester.

Enter the Dojo’s Master Ken

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By Rene Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT PAGE The cast of Enter the Dojo exaggerates the Americanization of martial arts through Ameri-Do-Te.

 

The web based show Enter the Dojo has brought many viral videos to social network feeds, including ‘100 Ways to Attack the Groin,’ or ‘How to Block a Bitch Slap,’ but there is actually an entire series of Enter the Dojo in its third season, which is filmed right here in Albuquerque.

Creator of the show and owner of Riff Raff New Media, Matt Page sat down with the Chronicle to explain what this show is all about, as well as how he envisioned and brought to life the character Master Ken, who he plays on the YouTube series, he said.

“I felt like there wasn’t a lot out there for this type of thing, and I feel like it addresses what’s funny about the martial arts world,” he said.

Page said that the show is mostly scripted, but at times, especially during the character interviews, that the actors sometimes go completely improv, which he said really adds to each of the characters identities.

The best formula for the show Page said is to write each episode and have them carefully scripted, and then the day they are filming the crew do as many scripted takes as possible.

“Most of the time when we are doing the inter­views in the show, we try to see if we can make the crew laugh, then we know we got what was needed,” Page said.

Page, who created Master Ken and Ameri-Do-Te; the fictional martial arts style in the series, said that he has been training in martial arts since he was 17-years-old.

He has also learned many styles, from Okinawan Kenpo and Kobudo, to Brazilian Jujitsu and American Kenpo as well.

In regards to his favorite martial artists he said “Ed Parker was very influential to me, and Bruce Lee’s book ‘Tao of Jeet Kune Do’ was a very important book that I have studied— both of their philosophical views of martial arts and how to apply it to real life helped me in many ways. I was probably the biggest fan of John Claude Van Dam as well at the height of his popu­larity, and his movies really made me want to learn martial arts, so it’s cool to see that he’s still around doing stuff.”

Page said he was able to create Master Ken because he had traveled a lot and went to many different types of dojos that were for a better term ‘Americanized,’ with instructors that made up their own styles of mar­tial arts from previous trainings.

“After years and years of having trained with people like Master Ken, I wanted to do a web-series because it was becoming popular and I didn’t know what subject matter to do it on, so I thought since I had been training in martial arts off and on for so long, why not just kind of sample my experiences from that,” he said.

Page’s favorite episode of the series so far is from season two titled ‘Thrust of Freedom,’ because he said that particular episode represents what they are striving to do with every episode they produce.

The techniques that are made-up in the show he said the fans seem to really latch onto, and that some actually make their own videos mimicking the fic­tional Ameri-Do-Te techniques.

“So the ‘Thrust of Freedom’ has been one of most popular techniques to mimic so far. It’s really encouraging when an episode resonates with all of the fans— it’s one we’re really are proud of, and when we see people are actually quoting the show, we are so thrilled,” he said.

Page has been in many other productions as well, including Breaking Bad, In Plain Sight, and The Lone Ranger, as well as many other locally made movies and television shows.

“I’ve had a good year and it’s been fun— I’ve met a lot of really cool people and worked on some big things. Since coming out with Enter the Dojo, people have taken notice of the actors, and we all seem to be going into auditions more often; it might have been happenstance, but it seems more like it’s because of the show,” Page said.

Page is a transplant to New Mexico since 2001 where he graduated from the College of Santa Fe, and said he loves living and working here in Albuquerque because of the great filming commu­nity that exists here.

Including on the movie Odd Thomas that Page said is being offered on Netflix this summer, where he plays a corky bad guy in the opening scenes of the movie.

“I got to do some really fun stunts on that one. When people message me and say ‘I just saw you in this film,’ that’s really exciting for me, and the thing that I would say is the coolest realization about it though, is that no matter how big or small a movie is, that ultimately the process is exactly the same, which is kind of reassuring,” he said.

Page said that there really are so many things that he loves about New Mexico, such as the landscape, food, and hiking in the Sandia mountains, but what he loves most is that there is a real filming community that is flourishing here in Albuquerque, which he is grateful for in many ways.

He said he likes the fact that he can work behind and in front of the camera here and that there are jobs available in the city for filming opportunities, which are not really anywhere else besides Los Angeles.

“The fact that I can live here and be able to do all of that is amazing. The timing was really fortuitous, because I graduated in 2005, and that was when things were really just gearing up; ever since I graduated I’ve had work in the industry and been able to enjoy living in a smaller place,” he said.

His advice to students out there that are trying to get in the same field is simple, as he said it is all about following your dreams and creativity right away, and to not wait one more second, but to just go for it.

Page also said that sometimes what a person thinks may give them a break, ends up being noth­ing, and that experiences that did not seem like much at the time for him, actually shaped the person he is today and changed his life in so many positive ways, so going all into whatever projects are going to make a person happy is what the work should be all about.

“I used to think the most important thing was preparation, but the longer I waited, the more it seemed like I just needed to do more, so my advice would be to not wait in expressing your creativity, because the only way you are going to get better at this stuff is to just to do it; do it often, and to not be afraid to fail,” Page said.

To check out the seasons of the Enter the Dojo local web series, go to youtube.com/enterthedojoshow.

Ace Costume Contest’s Best And Brightest

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief | Photos By Rene Thompson

ACE’s contest winners, Jessica Sarabina and J.G. Perrish, how off their award-winning costumes.
Completely hand-made costumed group in the ACE costume contest.

One of the most anticipated events of the Albuquerque Comic Expo is the costume contest, where cos-players flock from all over, even from out of state to win the convention’s contest for the coveted prize of $500 in gift cards.

The third and second place prizes were $100 and $200 worth of gift cards to be spent at the convention, according to acecomic­expo.com.

Contest organizers capped the entries to 50 people on a first come, first served basis, and cut out the pre-judging portion, which had taken the majority of the day during previous years.

Participants were judged by their originality, presenta­tion, craftsmanship, hair and make-up, as well as how simi­lar their costumes were to the sources that they were inspired by to enter the contest.

Such as with contest winners and couple, J.G. Perrish and Jessica Sarabia who said they had worked a total of 156 hours on creating and perfecting their costumes of the Rhino and Black Cat from the Spiderman comics series.

“We like to cos-play from the same genre as a couple,” Sarabia said, while Perrish added “We usually like to do more obscure characters.”

Both costumes were completely home-made from head-to-toe, and little details were added throughout both costumes to include hade-made claw gloves and a realistic looking rhino horn.

Sarabia and Perrish both agreed that the costume contest is their favorite part of the convention and that they liked the new format for how the contest was ran this year.

“I had some doubts at first, but it ran really smooth and I like the format that they came up with,” Perrish said.

Although the winners were honored to win the best in show first place prize, they were humble about their win, explaining that’s it really about meeting like-minded people and build­ing a better community.

“It’s about having that mutual respect for each other, and wanting to be there to cheer everyone else on— it doesn’t matter who wins. The whole idea of the cons is to be able to meet people with the same passions as you,” Sarabia said.

Perrish said that while standing in line to get on stage they could tell that everyone was pretty nervous, but that they also got to learn how much effort and time the other contestants put into their costumes as well.

“They inspire you just as much as you inspire them,” he said.

Perrish, who owns a production company called Piggs-Filth Productions, said that he hopes to get local cos-players together for other local events, as his company delves into an array of artistic media to include costume making.

Perish said that he hopes to teach how to make quality costumes to people who want to learn about costume-making.

“I want to teach this and help people learn, so that the competition can get better; cause that’s what it is all about, is showing people your beautiful art,” he said.

For more information on help with cos­tumes for next year’s ACE convention or to see what Piggs-Filth Productions is all about, go to facebook.com/ PiggsFilthProductions.

Culinary makes it on Kasa

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief

Culinary instructors Kerry Logan and Amanda Scott got to share some of their favorite reci­pes for homemade ice cream and sorbet treats in the wee hours of the morning on a segment for 2 Kasa This Morning.

Wednesday, June 11 these chefs, as well as Culinary major and reporter for the Chronicle Daniel Johnson educated early bird audiences on easy to make frozen treats.

It was the first time a stu­dent joined instructors on a local segment, which Scott and Logan said they do for the culinary pro­gram from time to time to pro­mote what culinary has to offer to prospective students.

“A lot of people don’t know we exist, so it’s nice to get on there,” Logan said.

The instructors made coco­nut lime sorbet and vanilla bean ice cream, which students will be learning about in the coming weeks, Scott said.

“It was pretty neat; it was a challenge to work in some­what of a fake kitchen, so you kind of have to (adapt),” she said.

Logan said that there are many different types of frozen desserts and that the classifi­cations are usually based on where they originated, the type of ingredients, and the process that they go through when being made.

“It depends on where it comes from in the world, like gelato, Italian (ice), and granitase, so it just depends on where you are at,” adding, “Americans— we love our ice cream!”

Logan said the trio did two different segments with recipes and explained the vari­ances of some frozen desserts.

“We talked about the differ­ences first between sorbet and sherbet, and then the second segment was on ice cream and gelato,” Logan said.

Scott said they would love to keep doing different seg­ments as long as they are invited back, and that she hopes to get the Street Food Institute food truck on the show, as 2 Kasa This Morning has a food truck Fridays segment where they showcase local food trucks on the program.

Scott is also a supervi­sor and shift manager on the food truck, she said.

“It’s to get more CNM culi­nary exposure, and that we have a culinary school here. I like that the food truck is consistent work experience for our students and it’s a paid internship,” Scott said.

The experience that stu­dents get from the food truck is much like real restaurant expe­rience, so that students learn how fast-paced it really can be serving people and that chefs really have to think on their feet, she said.

The truck also changes the menu, sometimes even day to day, depending on if a student’s new recipes are being incorpo­rated, or if there are leftover supplies not used by students in culinary classes, she said.

“We are trying to be sus­tainable, so if we have a whole bunch of berries left­over, we might just do a smoothie day and the students are making new menu items that we are slowly putting on the truck,” Scott said.

Logan said that even Johnson’s can­died bacon recipe was in the segment as a topping for the vanilla bean ice cream, which she said that the group­ing of sweet and salty is a dynamite combination.

For more infor­mation on these recipes or to watch the 2 Kasa This Morning clips, go here

Albuquerque Rail Yards Market quickly becoming a Sunday tradition

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief

The new Albuquerque Rail Yards Market offers an eclectic and different type of marketplace that deals an array of sights, sounds and smells to give market goers an accurate local experience of home-grown vendors, music and food, located at a time honored historical site near and dear to the heart of Burque.

Located at 777 First street NW in one of the oldest Albuquerque neigh­borhoods of Barelas, there are dozens of local booths at the rail yards, from arti­san bakers, to local farm­ers, artists, food trucks, retailers, and music that give an impression of what Albuquerque has to offer, as well as giving market goers a look into the historic Albuquerque rail yards.

The blacksmith shop of the rail yards was re-purposed for the market, which opened its doors on May 4, with hopes of emulating a large and open Spanish style market, which can hold up to 999 people, according to cabq.gov.

This review is about some of the vendors at the market, but also what type of stuff to expect from this new community-driven initiative that will be going on until Nov. 2, every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Not only do most vendors have a square reader (mobile credit card app.) to accept most credit cards, but tokens are also usually available to be purchased from market organizers to make purchasing easier and more convenient.

There is a kid’s zone for educational arts and crafts, bands playing throughout the day on two separate stages, live art, massage therapists, belly dancers, face painting, and sample selections, just to name a few of the activi­ties provided at the market throughout the day.

Patrons can also peek into surrounding build­ings of the market to get a look into the history of the Albuquerque rail yards, but what would have been really cool, was if some­one was there explaining the buildings, or at least had some signs set up about the history of each structure that could be accessed from the market.

Here is a short list of some of the vendors and what they had to offer, which could change from week to week.

Zendo

It is suggested by this reporter that upon arrival market-goers must make their way to the Zendo booth that sells fresh, strong and delicious iced coffees served in massive 20 ounce mason jars, which customers get to keep.

The coffee also includes espresso ice cubes and an array of flavorings to choose from that will keep anyone going for the whole day, guaranteed.

These home-style treats are made by Zendo Art Gallery and Espresso Bar, with coffee mason jars costing $6 and only $4 in a regular cup.

Food Street Institute

At the rail yards there are a variety of food ven­dors, but for CNM stu­dents, there is the Street Food Institute that gives students a 10 percent dis­count with ID, and had an assortment of spicy and fla­vorful tacos as well as sand­wiches, sweets and infused teas offered on the food truck monthly menu, which changes periodically.

The Oaxacan Memelitas tacos were mouth-wateringly excep­tional, with pork shoul­der, quesillo, black bean spread, and mole sauce.

The tacos were a recipe inspired by a trip made to Oaxaca by CNM student employees of the food truck in the 2014 spring semester.

If some people do not get a chance to check out the market, the Food Street Institute food truck is at Main campus every Tuesday and Thursday in the Ted Chavez hall park­ing lot until 3 p.m.

Tortilleria Cuauhtemoc

The splendid smell of fresh tortillas made on site along with pack­aged tortillas sold at the Tortilleria Cuauhtemoc booth giving a true Albuquerque feel and aroma to the market atmosphere.

Tortillas were sold in a variety of quantities and are worth the invest­ment for making burritos or tacos with traditional Mexican style tortillas.

111 Media Collective

There was also a screen printing booth making merchandise on site with 111 Media Collective, who produce a variety of Albuquerque themed shirts, jackets, bags, or any other garment provided by patrons.

111 Media Collective will either provide cus­tomers merchandise to get printed, or patrons can bring their own merch and choose from an assortment of Albuquerque-related prints put on right on site while cus­tomers can watch and wait for their custom-made stuff.

Cost of a t-shirt pro­vided with print is just $10 and only $5 when custom­ers bring their own.

Guerrilla Graphix

Guerrilla Graphix of New Mexico has not for­gotten its Burque roots, with providing an assort­ment of Santa Fe Railway logo memorabilia from the Santa Fe Railway Company that helped New Mexico to thrive when the rail yards were open, and is much like a tribute to the old Santa Fe Railway shops that existed from the 1880s to 1920s.

Guerrilla Graphix Santa Fe Railway souve­nirs consist of ashtrays to aprons, t-shirts, and coffee mugs, and they pro­vide a range of Breaking Bad and Zia symbol mer­chandise, which are sold at surprisingly decent prices, with shirts ranging from $10 to $20.

These are only a hand­ful of vendors that the Albuquerque Rail Yards has showcased since the beginning of May, and will hopefully bring more events and revitalization of the Barelas neighborhood.

The rail yards had been closed to the public since the 1990s, and were once considered an eye­sore to some people in the community, but then had its potential seen, once again, by the movie indus­try with many movies filmed there, such as Terminator, The Avengers and Transformers.

The city of Albuquerque bought the rail yards in 2007 for $2.8 million for renovating and repurposing the historical site, according cabq.gov.

This market is such an exciting idea because of the dedicated volunteers of this new and innovative market­place, who have given the community a chance to see a bit of Albuquerque’s historical roots, while making a place that is giving a much needed boost to the local economy.

Overall the Albuquerque rail yards market is definitely worth enjoying a Sunday afternoon with family and friends.

The market adds some­what of a hip new twist on the conventional flea market or swap meet, that provides a truly great vibe of what Albuquerque needed and was seemingly lacking up until now, which was a place to see what the local community is really all about now, and to revitalize and show­case one of the best parts of Albuquerque’s history.

For more infor­mation on the market, other events, or to volunteer at the rail yards, go to rail­yardsmarket.org.

All the colors of the rainbow at the 2014 Pride Parade

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief

Pride and all colors of the rainbow were abundant at the third largest parade in the state of New Mexico on Saturday, May 31, with floats and fairies as far the eye could see down Central Avenue.

Pridefest not only brings thousands of New Mexico resi­dents to Albuquerque to celebrate pride month each year, accord­ing to abqpride.com, but also has vendors, politicians, and local businesses in attendance that sup­port the LGBTQ community here in New Mexico.

Rey Garduno, City Councilman for the Nob Hill and International areas of district 6 said that the Pride parade not only brings locals together in a great way, but also brings a better understanding of the community.

Garduno, who was in the parade and at the post family pride event at Morningside Park, said that the best part of the parade for him is when people of all cultures and diversities come together and the sense of antici­pation in the crowd when the parade starts at Girard Boulevard.

“I think this is a good and easy non-confrontational way of learning about each other, so that’s one of the things I enjoy about it, and besides it’s a lot of fun,” Garduno said.

He said the community has started to understand why these types of events are important and why the community needs to get together to support everyone.

“Oh it’s wonderful. Every year I think that it not only grows, but that it gets better and people seem to have a sense of what it is and that they can learn about it, including myself,” Garduno said.

Former CNM student and Social services major, Dawn Shores said that she thought that the parade turned out very well this year and that her organi­zations float from the United Church of Christ stood out this year among the rest.

“They’re (United Church of Christ) open and affirming, and actually my partner and I are getting married there next week with the church,” Shores said.

Shores did also comment on the amount of corporations that were in attendance at the parade, when she said that the parade was a bit heavy on floats having noth­ing really to do with the LGBTQ community.

“There are too many corpo­rations that are getting in the parade and it’s just advertising for them— it’s great that they want to support the community, but they weren’t here 20 years ago,” she said.

Psychology major, Daniel Gonzales, who attended the parade with his family, said that it is important for families to support the community any way they can, and by coming to the parade it shows that the people of Albuquerque really do care about the LGBTQ community.

“It was awesome, I liked it all —I like the people, I like watch­ing the parade, I like the diversity, it’s just everyone supporting the people,” he said.

Gonzales and his wife were at the family pride event doing children’s face painting with his wife’s company, Luna Sirena face painting, and said that they both love to be an active part of the community.

“I support all kinds of rela­tionships; it’s not my business who someone wants to love,” Gonzales said.

For photos of the pride parade, go to the CNM Chronicle website at thecnmchronicleword­press.com.

Mentors making a difference

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief
New students anticipated to come in for the fall semester will have an added advantage to their educations and will get a leg up more so than other new students of the past, and will be that incoming students will get more comprehensive orientation sessions with current student mentor orientation leaders and on campus tours, said Katie Boyle, Student Orientation Manager in the Media and Communications office.
Not only will incoming students benefit from this new program initiative, but current students who have become mentor leaders for the program will qualify for up to $1000 in scholarships for the fall semester after completing orientations with the school this summer, Boyle said.
“It’s an exciting time for new students at CNM I feel because we’re really creating a program designed around what students feel like they need to be successful in their first year,” she said.
Boyle said that the school has been working with the presidential fellows for curriculum development since January to improve the curriculum for the orientation sessions, which includes developing learning outcomes and including what students really want to get out of the orientation.
The presidential fellows who made the curriculum for orientations are Josh Krause and Kelly Peters, who are both instructors in teacher education, she said.
“From that we’ve identified that we need some help, we needed a number of people who could be able to help with small group activities, and we did a bunch of focus groups with high school seniors, current CNM students, and staff and faculty to kind of figure out what our needs were for orientation and what people really wanted to see from it,” she said.
A couple of years ago the school did a pilot orientation program with in person orientations and Boyle said that students were more likely to be successful in their first year of attendance at CNM.
“What we’re doing differently this year with new student orientation is that we are working toward offering more in person orientations so students can actually come to campus and get to know the campus in person, and kind of get a better feel for what it will be like to be a student here,” she said.
When new students arrive at the orientations they will be split into small groups, then orientation leaders will lead them on a campus tour and will help with orientation set up and tear down, Boyle said.
Orientation mentor leaders will also be in charge leading some small group activities in helping students engage with the content of the orientation session, she said.
For students to qualify to be become orientation mentors they had to have at least a 2.5 GPA or higher, had to have completed at least one full term, which is 12 credit hours, and planned to come back in the fall term, as well as being available for all orientation sessions and training over the summer semester, she said.
“Our final team has just been chosen, and they’ll do a two day training next, and we’ll start the orientation sessions on June 6— it’s going to be awesome,” Boyle said.
The program had been granted the scholarship money from student services which are supporting this new initiative, and the scholarships will be applied in the beginning of the fall semester to students who volunteer as mentor orientation leaders, she said.
Students can earn up $1,000 each in scholarship money, which will be determined by a number of factors and will be assessed individually to decide the amount each student will get from these scholarships, she said.
“We had a very large pool of applicants— I was really pleased, and the final team that we’ve selected are really great enthusiastic students and I’m really looking forward to working with them— I think it’s going to be really fun,” Boyle said.
For more information on orientations go to CNM’s new online student orientation at cnm.edu.

Aviation students want their teacher back

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief | Photo by Rene Thompson
Aviation
The day after spring break, students in the Aviation Department wondered where their instructor Jason Manzanares had gone to, especially when a substitute teacher came in and told them that he would be taking over their class without any real explanation as to why, and have yet to still get answers on whether these students will get their aviation instructor back or not.
More than a dozen of the aviation students stormed President Winograd’s office on April 24 to get their teacher back or at least find out if he is still going to be their teacher, but were turned away.
These students were later given a meeting with the Applied Technologies Assistant Dean, Michael Cranny later that day where students said that they were able to voice their concerns, but also said that their issues were still not addressed and had hope to hear more from administration on this situation.
Most of these student said they felt they are still being left in the dark about their instructor, or the fate of the aviation program.
Such as student Jasmine Vasquez who said, “It’s kind of confusing, because we don’t know what’s going on— I mean one day he was here and the next he wasn’t, so I feel like we were left in the dark, because we don’t even know who our instructor is going to be next semester.”
Students Paul Romero and Laura Brandon said that Manzanares developed the Aviation program at CNM six years ago and has created the majority of the curriculum, had planes donated to the program for students to get hands on knowledge, and showed students real world experience outside of the program with field trips.
Romero said “he even spends off time with us, and we’re invited to go help him work on planes, or he goes out of his way to get us field trips to places that these other teachers probably won’t do. We’ve had him for so long that we got used to him and all of a sudden just to take him away, and not giving us a reason as to why really sucks. We want him back —he’s a good instructor and we get along with him well, so we are trying to get him back in any way we can.”
Students said they turned in a petition to the Dean of Students office during the second week of April, but have yet to hear back from anyone willing to let them know anything.
Media and Communications Director Brad Moore was not willing divulge the nature of the suspension, but said that “Jason Manzanares is on paid administrative leave. CNM will not comment further on ongoing personnel matters.”
Aviation student Travis Cline said that school officials came to the class and were willing to tell the students that Manzanares was put on paid leave and that it was a human resources issue as to why.
“It comes down to violation of school policy. He can’t even talk to us or let us know what’s going on, and we’re the ones who are suffering,” Cline said.
Not only were students fighting to get their instructor back, but also addressed concerns of the quality of the aviation program in the April 24 meeting.
Student Justin Lester said that he feels the quality of the aviation class has been lacking since his instructor has been suspended.
“I feel like now I am struggling more because he isn’t here anymore,” he said.
Lester said that Manzanares had his own way of teaching, and that he got his way of doing things, because Manazanares was able to go into detail about difficult concepts and that he would explain things to be true to real life situations.
“He would take the time to sit down with us and make sure that we are doing it right, and when we did something wrong he would tell us how to correct it. I feel like we’re hanging in with the program, we’re getting the grades, and doing what we have to do, so I feel like we have a right know what’s going on with our teacher,” Lester said.
Student Mary Bowers said the classes taken for an aviation certification can be brutal at times, so to her it was good to have an instructor that made the students want to learn.
“We have really long lectures, like five hour days, so it was really good to have somebody who was colorful and could explain things in ways that were crazy, but just made sense. The substitute is trying and doing a pretty good job, but it could be better,” Bowers said.
Cline said Manzanares is a really good teacher, he’s been around and he understands students, explaining that the quality of the class has gone down since Manzanares was put on leave.
“The temporary instructor is just not up to that skill level —he gives presentations in PowerPoint and that’s it. When our instructor showed a PowerPoint he would elaborate on a real life situation. His presentation and mannerisms (is what makes him a good teacher), and he has the ability to lighten the moment a little bit when students are drifting off, and come back and divert it,” Cline said.
Vasquez said it would be beneficial to the class and program if the school was at least willing to give them a time frame of exactly when this issue should be resolved.
“That is really what is so upsetting, because the students don’t even know if Jason is going to come back or not,” she said.
Manzanares also makes a great family type atmosphere for these students who spend the majority of two-years with one another, she said.
“He was really big on community, and is why we have barbecues, because he wants us all to kind of be like a family since we’re all going to be with each other over the next two years,” Vasquez said.
Romero said that no one has contacted their class in regards to wanting back their instructor or the changes in program quality, so student do not know what instructor they will end up having for the summer semester.
As of the date of this publication the aviation students are still waiting to find out if their instructor will be coming back, and if the quality of curriculum will be up to par with Manzanares’ teaching.
The Chronicle does plan to do a follow up when this situation has come to a resolution.

APD protests spark controversy among community

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By Rene Thompson, Editor in Chief | Photos by Rene Thompson

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Demonstrators took to the streets on Tuesday, March 25 and Sunday, March 30 to protest against the Albuquerque Police Department’s use of force and killing of Albuquerque citizens.

Specifically James Boyd, who was shot and killed while squatting in the Northeast Heights Foot Hills at Copper Trailhead, on March 16, and protests eventually ended in people being dispersed by tear gas at Girard Blvd and Central Avenue and at APD head­quarters twelve hours after protests began on Sunday.

Since the first protest on Tuesday that brought more than 1,000 people to the event, there has been a massive media frenzy online and many took to the internet on social media sites to voice their concerns, whether people were in support of APD or against APD’s use of force.

Former student and Activist with the ANSWER Coalition, Joel Gallegos said that this whole situation had blown up because it had been a long time coming and that the city should not be surprised by the blowback that occurred in the pro­test event on Sunday.

ANSWER stands for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, but also helps with organizing many protest events through­out Albuquerque, and Gallegos said that is why the ANSWER coalition is around, to give people the opportunity to participate in a safe way that is organized.

“The police were wrong to escalate the situation with a paramilitary response,” Gallegos said.

Gallegos said that whether it is direct action, civil disobedience, or politi­cal action, that the coalition wants to encourage folks to get involved.

History major, Zachary Case, who was at the Sunday event earlier in the day to observe protesters, said that he never saw protesting as a real way to change anything.

Case said that there were many touching stories at the event from people who had lost loved ones to police violence.

“I love freedom of speech and freedom of assembly; it’s just not exactly certain what will happen from all this,” he said.

Former President of ECOs, Stephen Martos said he believes people should be supporting APD instead of protesting them, because the police force is an essen­tial part of the community.

Martos said that APD is necessary to serve and pro­tect, but that there are times when that does not always ring true, as in the recent officer involved shooting.

“You cannot improve the situations by creating enemies, but instead by making partners. We are partners with our police force and are responsible for bringing our community together,” Martos said.

The Department of Justice has had an ongoing investigation of APD since Nov. 2012, after numerous misconduct lawsuits had cost Albuquerque taxpayers more than 24 million dollars in 2010 alone, according to a justice.gov D.O.J. press release and the Albuquerque Journal.

APD has been dealing with threats and personal infor­mation of officers being leaked from the activist and hacking group Anonymous, as APD’s website was attacked on Sunday which kept their site down for most of the day, Police Spokesman, Simon Drobik said in a statement.

Gallegos said that politicians do not start talking about prob­lems until the people make it a problem.

He also said there is a city ordinance that allows protesters to march in the streets without a specific permit.

“We can’t control what others do, and we might not agree with the tactics used Sunday night but we fully support and stand with the people involved,” he said.

Case said that police should not be militarized— period, and that the city is just trying to control the population instead of pro­tecting them.

Case said that he believes that if a cop is going to assault someone, then that person should have the right to defend themselves.

“This has been going on in Albuquerque since I was a little kid, and I remember there being issues of police brutality in our city since then,” he said.

Martos said that he believes that there are two camps of people protesting, with those that are truly interested in improving the APD, and those who are only interested in stirring the waters, because they are only focused on negativity.

It is necessary to alert our lawmakers and those administering training in order to improve in the ways we are failing, but Martos said that some of these pro­testers have lost sight of what the real issue is, which is the excessive force of APD.

“What is sad is they have done this in the name of James Boyd whom nobody worried about before he died. If the community cared so much, then they would have been out there helping him with food, water, shelter and healthcare,” Martos said.

According to justice.org, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 prohibits state and local governments from engaging in a pattern or practice of misconduct by law enforce­ment officers that deprives individuals of federally-pro­tected rights.