New Mexico People Places and Ideas

Fri. 11/1 8a: Albuquerque based Scott Miller, of Circles USA (formerly, “Move the Mountain”), says no, and believes we can totally end poverty by simply focusing on one family at a time. Absurd, you might say, but Miller counters that this standard reaction is part of the reason the US have had so little success in alleviating poverty.

Our guest is the most famous comedian you have never seen and didnt even believe existed. His name is Jack Handey (yes thats his real name), and the name is undoubtedly familiar to fans of Saturday Night Live. Jack Handey , a long time resident of Santa Fe, is the person responsible for SNLs consistently hilarious series, Deep Thoughts, along with many other sketches. On SNL Deep Thoughts was an interstitial segment between sketches that was introduced by Phil Hartman and read live by Handey

In June of this year, the National Mall in Washington D.C. was the site of a huge art installation. One million bones , crafted by students, educators, artists and activists from around the world, were laid out across this iconic space in the nation's capital. The idea was to make a powerful visual call for action against ongoing genocide and mass atrocities in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma, Somalia and Syria. The project was conceived by New Mexico artist and

Fri. 7/5 8a: Our water supply is shrinking, we are in the midst of a seemingly endless drought and our groundwater buffer is gone. In the shadow of global climate change and under constant pressure from population growth, agriculture and a struggling Rio Grande ecosystem, something has to change.

Fri. 6/7 8a . :What is going on in the mind of a school shooter, a mass murderer, or a serial rapist? Is that mind different from a mass fraudster like Bernie Madoff ? We summarily dismiss these criminals as pure “evil” but are they? Often they are psychopaths – wrongdoers who repeatedly act impulsively, and lack of empathy, guilt and remorse for the harm caused; they know right from wrong cognitively, but don't have a feeling for what's right and wrong. Our guest, UNM professor, Kent Kiehl is

Fri. 4/5 8a: Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union are American icons, and the UFW is a prime example of a union that fought for higher wages and better working conditions against impossible odds.

Fri. 3/1 8a: Can anything really be done to improve K – 12 Education in New Mexico? Improve education is the answer you usually get to New Mexico’s seemingly intractable problems. But, how do you do that?

This month’s guest is New York Times writer and Pulitzer Prize winner author Timothy Egan whose latest work is a biography, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher . Shadow catcher was the name given to acclaimed photographer Edward Curtis by American Indians as he traveled the country taking their photos and documenting their tradions, language and culture in the early 20 th Century. Curtis, a famed photographer of the high and mighty, such as President Teddy Roosevelt and JP Morgan, forswore all

Last month we talked with Paul Tough, the author of "How Children Succeed", about scientific studies showing that a baby’s early “attachment” to a parent promotes long term character skills such as perseverance, curiosity, and self-control. These character traits have been shown in randomized trials to lead to success in school and later in life. This month we look at a large, scale Albuquerque program designed to encourage early attachment, develop a baby’s cognitive skills, and promote good

Fri. 10/5 8 am: Ruben Martinez is a journalist, author, musician, and professor of literature and writing at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In Desert America he writes of his time in Northern New Mexico - a world of "outrageous wealth and devastating poverty, sublime beauty and ecological ruin". His wife to be, a medical anthropologist was preparing her dissertation on the social and historical dimensions of heroin addiction, suggested the move. It’s therefore understandable that

Fri. 3/09 8a: Our guest is Dr. Rex Jung, MD and Ph.D. Dr. Jung is a Professor of Neurosurgery at UNMH, a Research Scientist at Albuquerques Mind Research Network, and a practicing clinical neuropsychologist.

Fri. 9/8 8a: When people ask author Jim Kristofic, who is blue-eyed and brown haired, where he is from, and learn that he grew up on an Indian Reservation, they usually ask, “So are you an Indian?”  In his memoir,Navajos Wear Nikes, Kristofic writes that he tries to answer this question the way his Navajo friends would, not with a simple yes or no, but with stories.

Fri. 4/8 at 8am: Many continue to question the benefits of the Health Reform Act passed under President Obama. To address these questions, Stephen Spitz is joined by Dr. Paul Cochran, the former Medical Director and head of Cardiology for Presbyterian Healthcare Services.

Fri. 5/13 at 8am: Although known as the vacation home for many a movie and media star, New Mexico's climate has also pulled in many other amazing transplants such as our guest this month, Dr. Laurence H. Lattman. Dr. Lattman, who, among other things, is the Past President and Professor Emeritus of Geology of New Mexico Tech, will sketch for us the development of Western science.

Fri. 6/10 at 8am: Both President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan say that the biggest and best change we can make to education is to provide all children with access to universal pre-kindergarten (UPK). One of the most intensive, comprehensive UPK programs in the country is being carried out right here in New Mexico by St. Joseph Community Health.