I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The question of whether or not the annual Gathering of Nations Pow Wow has become overly commercialized was taken up by the University of New Mexico’s Daily Lobo this week, after the conclusion of the event Saturday. The piece contrasts the powwow, which is one of the largest tourist events in Albuquerque, with another pow wow held Sunday by the UNM KIVA club, a Native American student organization.
The president of the KIVA club, Wyndsor Yazzie, criticized the Gathering of Nations event as “too commercialized,” and said, “It’s a cultural appropriation and cultural commoditization.”
The KIVA club event began in 2006, and is free of charge without competitions. Vendors pay a $50 booth fee to assist the club.
The Independent examined the commercial nature as well as the sole ownership of the event by one family in a piece last week.
The owner of the Gathering of Nations powwow, Derek Mathews, justified to The Daily Lobo the high admission and participation charges for his event as necessary to cover costs. Ninety percent of the funds raised go toward paying expenses, he said, which can be close to $1 million.
The Daily Lobo piece includes commentary from a vendor, Artist Stan Natchez, as well as the announcer of the dances and competitions at the event, Dennis Bowen St., acknowledging both the commercialism of the event and the community nature of the event.
