Karen Francis is a reporter for the Gallup (N.M.) Independent, her Spring 2009 Chips Quinn internship newspaper. She is also a graduate student in public administration at the University of New Mexico-Gallup, where she earned a journalism and philosophy degree. Since 2007, Francis has been a staff writer for the Gallup Independent, a daily newspaper that covers northwest New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. She also has been the public information officer for the Navajo Nation Office of the Speaker (2003-2007) and administrative coordinator for Apache County (2007), and has volunteered as a spokeswoman for the Navajo Nation Exceptional Children’s Rodeo (2005-2008). Francis is a 2001 graduate of the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute in Vermillion, S.D.

Francis worked on this Soundslides project about Drazil, a metal band from Gallup, N.M. The Gallup Independent, where she works, is the only newspaper that covers the local music scene, she says. “Metal is big in our area and Drazil is one of the best (metal bands) around here,” she adds.