Latest news with #AlbuquerqueAcademy
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Seth Meyers criticized for not helping wife with sick daughter during speech
Seth Meyers is praising his wife for a job well done. The 51-year-old comedian and late-night talk show host has been married to his wife, human rights attorney Alexi Ashe, for nearly 12 years since tying the knot in September 2013, per People. The pair have since welcomed two sons, Ashe Olson and Axel Strahl, and one daughter, Adelaide Ruth. On May 31, Meyers took to Instagram to praise his wife after she delivered her commencement address at the Albuquerque Academy — an independent college preparatory school she graduated from in 2002. But it wasn't just her speech that garnered Meyers' attention. 'So proud to watch Alexi crush her commencement address while also putting on a motherhood clinic without missing a beat,' Meyers wrote in the caption alongside photos of his wife at the ceremony. According to the post, the couple's daughter Adelaide, 3, wasn't feeling well that day. 'Our daughter was under the weather and not interested in being with anyone but her mom,' Meyers added. 'Instead of sending her home she let her join her on stage without ever losing her cool.' Adelaide spent time in her mother's arms and seated in a chair next to her mother during the event. 'Oh you can see it in Addie's eyes she's not her usual self. Superwoman!' fellow comedian Amy Schumer wrote in the comment section. But Adelaide wasn't the only one to crash her mother's speech. 'And then to top it all off her niece just wandered to stage mid speech to chill behind the podium,' Meyers continued in the caption. The moment was captured in the fifth slide of Meyers' post. Aside from Schumer, celebrities Chelsea Handler, Ali Wentworth and Kenan Thompson praised Ashe for her multi-tasking speech over the weekend. Fans were also quick to applaud the mother of three. 'Way to go! Love seeing an accomplished woman who isn't embarrassed to be a mom with a child who needs her,' one fan wrote, while another commented, 'And that's why women should rule the world!!' A third fan gave kudos to the school for allowing Ashe to be there for her daughter during the speech. But some fans were more shocked at the fact that Meyers didn't help. 'Am I the only one who thinks someone should have helped with the kiddo so she can focus on the task at hand?' one commenter asked. 'There's a whole meme about dads failing to let moms have their moments like this, and just letting kids do this. So uncool of you,' another fan argued. 'This is just sad,' a third commenter added. 'Jeez can she get one moment of her own?' Meyers met his future wife at actor Chris Kattan's 2008 wedding to Sunshine Tutt, per Today. As Meyers explained on a 2023 episode of the 'Strike Force Five' podcast, it didn't take long for the couple to build chemistry — and it wasn't just them that saw sparks flying. 'Alexi and I hit it off to the point on Friday night, that on Saturday, people kept asking us how long we'd been a couple,' he said. 'That's the level of flirty we were, the second day we knew each other.' In 2013, after five years of dating, Meyers proposed by tying a ring in a bow around their dog's collar. The couple tied the knot a few months later and have been married since. They welcomed their first son, Ashe Olson, in 2016, followed by a second son, Axel Strahl, two years later and their daughter, Adelaide Ruth, in 2021. The pair celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary in September 2023. 'Ten years ago today I married the brilliant and beautiful, Alexi Ashe,' Meyers wrote in an Instagram caption alongside a photo of his wife. 'Photographed here maintaining her grace while three children scream at her off camera and I ask if she's seen my wallet and right shoe,' he joked.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Youth pleads in 2022 shooting death of Albuquerque Academy student at a house party
Apr. 29—A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty to four felony charges Tuesday in the 2022 shooting death of an Albuquerque Academy student at a West Side house party. Jesse Florencio Parra faces six to 12 years in prison for his role in the shooting death of 18-year-old Jada Gonzales, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Parra pleaded guilty before 2nd Judicial District Judge Courtney Weaks to shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Two of Parra's co-defendants already have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Gonzales' killing. Prosecutors told a judge that Parra was one of several teenagers who showed up uninvited at a party in the 5200 block of La Bajada NW after learning about the party on Snapchat. The homeowners kicked out the group after they pulled out guns and posed for a video, prosecutor Jolanna Macias said at a hearing for a co-defendant. Angry about being expelled from the party, the group fired gunshots from an AR-15-style pistol out a car window at the house as they drove away, Macias said. One of the gunshots penetrated several walls and fatally struck Gonzales in the abdomen. Gonzales was a senior at Albuquerque Academy and had received a four-year scholarship to attend college at the time she was killed. One of Parra's co-defendants, Isaiah Espinosa, 18, was sentenced in September to 29 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to firing the fatal gunshot into the house from a car. Espinosa pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy in Gonzales' killing. A second co-defendant, Cruz Medina, 18, was sentenced in January to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, conspiracy and tampering with evidence in her killing.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Economic development officials tout business competitiveness to national site selectors
Apr. 17—Real estate expert Mark Urbanowicz's first impressions of Albuquerque? Good infrastructure, a beautiful environment offering balanced quality of life and a unique place to do business. He and three other commercial real estate officials from outside of New Mexico joined a Thursday luncheon hosted by the economic development organization Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance, or AREA, at Albuquerque Academy to learn more about the metro area's investment potential from local executives. This week, AREA drove the out-of-state visitors around town to tout the city's business competitiveness. AREA CEO and President Danielle Casey at the luncheon described the tour as letting the visitors "get to know what's going on and kind of look under all the rocks and learn about the market and understand what we're doing to really advance our economic development ecosystem." AREA also took the real estate officials to local events like an Isotopes game and golfing, which Urbanowicz said is an important factor business leaders consider when setting up shop somewhere. "What's going to be more important in attracting business and attracting talent in the future will be quality of life," said Urbanowicz, an executive managing director with Vestian. Chad Matheson, senior vice president for AREA, broke down some state and metro-area economic and jobs statistics for the visitors at the luncheon, particularly highlighting the growing market for research and development. In terms of job count in the Southwest, New Mexico has the fourth-largest R&D market and it grew 23% from 2018-2023, he said. "From a research and development perspective, really honing our core competencies and material sciences is one that I feel we have a tremendous potential in," Matheson said. In addition to science and technology-related fields, the state has a demand for professionals in health care, manufacturing and construction, finance and insurance, and education, Matheson added. Officials with Central New Mexico Community College, Presbyterian Healthcare Services and Sandia National Laboratories attended the Thursday event as well to explain some of their program offerings to the visitors, from quantum computing partnerships to health care simulation labs. "There's likely some way that we can work with just about anybody," said David Kistin, manager of technology and economic development at Sandia Labs. This was site selector Jeffrey Garza Walker's fourth tour of Albuquerque, initially coming to the state six years ago to consider its business opportunities. He's the executive vice president and managing principal of SRS Real Estate Partners and lives in Phoenix. It's exciting to see New Mexico "starting to move forward with your initiative" to become a hub of economic development, Garza Walker said. He said it's important for an area to be ready for big companies to move in to, pointing to site readiness and a strong labor force as being key. "One company can change the whole dynamic. And I believe you've got the right people in the room that are trying to get you ready for that," Garza Walker said of AREA.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eighth grader wins New Mexico State Spelling Bee for second time in three years
Mar. 29—For hours, they fought hard and, with the ding of the bell, dropped like flies — bested by words most people won't hear in a lifetime. It ended in dramatic fashion as two eighth graders, barely tall enough to see over the microphone, went back and forth misspelling words until one of them got it right. In the end, Keith Lee, 13, bested Joshua Bala, 14, for first place by correctly spelling puparium, a rigid outer shell formed from larval skin, and verbigerate, the action of repeating a word or sentence endlessly and meaninglessly. It marked Lee's second time earning the title of champion in the New Mexico State Spelling Bee, having also won in 2023. "It's just so many emotions... It just really showed to me how much I can achieve just by working hard," Lee, a second language English speaker from Albuquerque Academy, told the Journal. Lee's parents, Po-Hsuen Lee and Yi-Hsuan Chang, said it's been impressive to watch him juggle baseball practices and math contests while studying for the bee. "But that's Keith," Po-Hsuen Lee said, "always pushing himself." In late May, Lee will head to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Bala, from Mandela International Magnet School in Santa Fe, took second place after misspelling graveolent, while Hanna Li, a seventh grader at Los Alamos Middle School, took third after correctly spelling mediatrix in an elimination round. Bala said he was "really unsure" of himself when they reached the dictionary words but was proud to take second place — especially after briefly forgetting how to spell quattrocento much earlier, in round 10. "I was really close to getting it wrong, but I remembered it at the last minute," he said. Devi Bala, Bala's mother, said with a laugh, "I just wanted to leave the room because I couldn't handle the stress." Li, who won second place in the 2023 state bee, said you can't really prepare for the dictionary words, of which there are 470,000. "You just have to ask for the origin and then guess," she said. Buzz words The contest began at 9 a.m. in an upstairs auditorium at the headquarters of the Albuquerque Journal, which sponsors the bee. Twenty-five students from 245 schools in the state went head-to-head. By round 25, only four remained after several students were thwarted by Gallic, boudin and velouté. In Round 31, organizers announced they were switching from the Scripps list of words to Merriam-Webster, eliciting a nervous smile from Li to her father in the audience. When it came down to Bala and Lee, the pair couldn't get a word right to catch an edge, misspelling pallescent, canasta, panforte, rubrofugal, banket, gaffsail, xeric, pipit, chancel and Sochi. Lee said he learned to calm himself in such moments by meditation, taking deep breaths and "force a smile, because that just makes you feel less stressed, and it also puts you in a positive mood." Heading into this bee, Lee said he learned to not set too high of expectations, something he will carry through life. "Like, I could say I want to graduate from college at 13, and I want to earn whatever amount of money and send the first human to Neptune," Lee said. "But really ... to just set your expectations low, not low to where you just feel lazy and don't really try hard enough, but not to the point where you feel overwhelmed ... and doubt how well you can do in these situations." Last year's state champion who reached the national quarterfinals, Juliette Anderson, was on the other side of the table this time around, as an audio recorder. She said she found it funny to "not be nervous" at a bee, but she was still spelling the words in her head the whole time. Anderson said she misses studying words and preparing for the state bee, saying there's "a hole" in her life where that once was. A poet, she said she has written many poems about how much she misses the competition and community. The national bee was one of the best experiences of her life, she said, adding, "I just really felt like I belonged there." Anderson still relishes the tough words, and she easily rattles off one of her favorites: Makgadikgadi Pans, a salt pan in the dry savanna of Botswana.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Suspenseful sounds: Live film concert of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Lodger' comes to Albuquerque Academy
Mar. 28—Some talented New Mexico musicians, including an Albuquerque Academy alumnus, are returning to their roots for a one-night film concert of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog." Austin, Texas based composer, Joseph V. Williams II, who is originally from Belen, was commissioned by the Austin Classical Guitar Society to write a score for the silent film released in 1927. The piece, which was written for cello, guitar and bass, was designed to be performed live to accompany Hitchcock's film. The inaugural performance of the 90-minute score, in sync with the classic thriller, premiered at the legendary Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, in 2016. The production will be performed for the first time in Albuquerque on Saturday, April 5, at the Simms Center for the Performing Arts on the Albuquerque Academy campus. Williams, who is a University of New Mexico graduate, will conduct and play bass on stage with renowned cellist Michal Shein and acclaimed guitarists Scott Borg, Adam Levin, 2002 Albuquerque Academy alumnus Matthew Rohde and Jeremy Mayne, who is an Albuquerque Academy faculty member. "'The Lodger' is a murder mystery, as one would expect with Hitchcock, loosely inspired by Jack the Ripper," said Mickey Jones, director of Levanta Institute for Music and Creativity at Albuquerque Academy. "It's not like 'Silence of the Lambs.' It's accessible and palatable and teens could come and they wouldn't be afraid. It's an amazing movie." One of the things that struck Jones about Williams' composition for the silent film is the approach he took in creating the piece. "Joe is a composer who is really humorous," Jones said. "He writes a lot of music that's very charming and funny, and Hitchcock actually, for making movies that were predominantly mysteries — murder mysteries, suspense thrillers and that kind of thing — he had a sense of humor in his movies, too. People are going to be surprised at the number of laugh-out-loud moments that they will experience along with the suspense and scariness as well." Levanta Institute at Albuquerque Academy is responsible for bringing the production to Albuquerque. "I didn't want to just host a conventional concert, because we have a lot of amazing shows and venues in Albuquerque," Jones said. "An event like this where you see this amazing classic movie, which one wouldn't typically see very often, combined with live musicians sitting on stage playing this incredible piece of music, it's just a really unique experience." Along with presenting distinctive performances, Levanta Institute, founded almost two years ago, offers music and arts courses to the general public on the Albuquerque Academy campus. It also offers private lessons for beginning and experienced musicians and vocalists in woodwinds, classical guitar, Flamenco guitar, voice, strings, songwriting and jazz improvisation. "From the outset, I didn't want Levanta to be only a music conservatory," Jones explained. "I really wanted it to be about the arts in general and creative pursuits in general. A place and an opportunity for people to come and do all kinds of really interesting creative and artistic things." Though spring 2025 class registration has concluded, people interested in Levanta Institute programming can learn more by visiting "We want people at any stage of life, from all over Albuquerque, to know that the Levanta Institute at Albuquerque Academy is a place where they can come and do really fun stuff and learn a lot in a very low-pressure environment, whether it's music, art, or a whole host of other creative activities," Jones said.
