Megan Kamerick

  Friday, 9/18, 8a: On this episode we talk about the history of Art1 with art historian and author Patrick Frank. In the late 1960s, the University of New Mexico played a key role in bringing together creativity and technology in what was then the nascent field of computer art. Now a new book from Museum of New Mexico Press offers the first in depth account of this early digital creativity -- “Sharing Code: Art1, Frederick Hammersley, and the Dawn of Computer Art.” 

  Tuesday 8/25, 8a: It's been 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment assured women the right to vote in New Mexico and the rest of the United States, and it's been more 70 years since a lawsuit ensured the franchise for Native Americans. But what is the work left undone?

University Showcase, Friday 8/21 8a: COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the Navajo Nation, which only this week began a cautious re-opening. Not long ago, the vast reservation had one of the highest infection rates per capita in the United States. 

  Tuesday 8/18, 8a: August 2020 marks 100 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote in the United States. But there was another part of the population that would have to wait decades to earn that same right to participate in the democratic process: Native Americans. Host Megan Kamerick explores this part of the state's history in this episode, including why so many Native Americans were actually skeptical of voting in general.

Millions of Americans face losing their homes after the federal moratorium on evictions expired last month, and Congress adjourned this week without passing a new one. President Trump signed an executive order this week addressing evictions, but housing experts say it provides no real protection for most tenants. New Mexico’s moratorium on evictions is still in effect, but as University of New Mexico law professor Serge Martinez tells KUNM’s Megan Kamerick, it doesn’t apply to every situation.

  Tuesday 8/11, 8a: We continue our look at the history of women's suffrage in New Mexico and the ultimate ratification of the 19th Amendment, including an intriguing corrido about women and the vote.

Tuesday, 8/4, 8a: The American Southwest played a key role in the woman suffrage battle, as Western states led the charge to ratify the 19th Amendment. New Mexico’s fight to ensure women the right to vote, however, had a much different trajectory. 

Let’s Talk New Mexico 7/30, 8a: The Trump administration announced last week that it’s sending 35 federal agents to Albuquerque, saying they’ll fight violent crime as part of Operation Legend. But exactly what that means is unclear, and many people fear the agents will crack down on protestors, or target immigrants or low-income, largely Brown and Black communities that have borne the brunt of some past police operations. This week on Let’s Talk New Mexico we’ll talk with elected officials and community organizers about this deployment of federal agents, and we want to hear from you.

University Showcase 7/17 8a: On this episode we talk with Associate Professor Finnie Coleman about the origins and the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement and how Afrofuturism can inform the creation of a more just society. 

  Two years after he defeated the so-called “Great White Hope,” legendary boxer Jack Johnson fought another white challenger determined to topple him as heavyweight champion of the world. It took place on July 4, 1912 in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and is the subject of the book “Crazy Fourth: How Jack Johnson Kept His Title and Put Las Vegas New Mexico on the Map,”  just published by University of New Mexico Press.

With thousands of people in the streets for Black Lives Matter demonstrations in recent weeks, there’s been a movement across the country for theaters shuttered by the pandemic to open their lobby areas to support protestors. One space in downtown Albuquerque has answered that call. 

George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston this week, and protests calling for an end to racist police violence are continuing around the country and here in New Mexico. These are usually pretty loud, but one that took place in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill  on Wednesday, June 10 was quite different.

Restaurants in New Mexico can reopen at 50% capacity starting June 1, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced this week. Myra Ghattas, the owner of Slate Street Cafe, Slate at the Museum and Sixty-Six Acres in Albuquerque, has spent years in the restaurant industry. Her three restaurants have been closed for seven weeks and Ghattas had to lay off 79 employees, although she’s brought some back to handle takeout orders. She told KUNM’s Megan Kamerick that she welcomes reopening plans, but that reduced capacities for onsite dining are not workable in the long term.

The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. This week, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced they can re-open at 50% capacity on June 1. But New Mexico Restaurant Association Executive Director Carol Wight says as many as 6% of restaurants in the state have likely closed for good, and those that remain open will struggle to make it with only half their seating available. She spoke with KUNM’s Megan Kamerick.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended normal food distribution networks, especially for meat. It has also left ranchers struggling, unable to get their cattle to market as the virus sickens workers in processing plants around the country and slows production. New Mexico ranchers are working on ways around these problems by going directly to consumers, and they’re hoping it will spark long-term change in the industry. 

University Showcase 5/15 8a: The coronavirus pandemic has not only created a public health crisis, but also an economic one. New Mexico has been particularly hard hit because of the plunge in global oil prices and the complete shutdown in travel and tourism. Small businesses, who make up much of the state’s economy, are also being hit hard. We’ll explore what to expect in coming months.

Hospital workers around the U.S. have been speaking up about concerns over working conditions and the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). Former UNM Hospital nurse Hunter Marshall says he was threatened with discipline after speaking to the media about staff concerns at the hospital. So he decided to resign, he says, and look for another hospital to work in during the pandemic. Your New Mexico Government spoke with a nurse, a union representatives and doctors at UNMH about PPE and workers' rights to speak out.

Let's Talk New Mexico 4/23, 8a: More health care workers in New Mexico are testing positive for COVID-19 as the state approaches an expected peak in cases later this spring. Hospitals are laying off workers as the ban on elective surgeries and other procedures slams their bottom lines. On this week’s call-in show, we’ll hear about how prepared the state’s health care system is for a surge of coronavirus patients. Are workers getting the protective equipment they need? How would hospitals handle potential shortages of intensive care beds and ventilators? To join in the conversation, email letstalks@kunm.org or call in live during the show on Thursday morning.

  University Showcase 4/17, 8a: During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, people from all over our community are stepping up to help. That’s true as well at the University of New Mexico. On this episode we hear about efforts to create personal protective equipment for medical workers and others.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidelines in March that cities should not break up homeless encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic, because that can cause people to disperse and increase the spread of the coronavirus. But some advocates say police and city officials in Albuquerque have been clearing encampments as recently as Friday, April 3.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered museums and galleries, leaving artists without income and audiences without artistic inspiration.  But a nonprofit in Albuquerque is finding ways around the shutdown.

The popcorn machine is silent in the lobby of the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill. Owner Keif Henley was supposed to show the movie “Phoenix Oregon” over the weekend. But for now, he’s closed.

Movie theaters around New Mexico have shut down in response to a public health order by the governor to halt the spread of coronavirus. For small, independently owned venues, and the films they show, this could be economically devastating.

“Oh, it's terrible like you'd expect it to be,” Henley says. “You know, we're not really making much revenue.”

University Showcase 3/20, 8a: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote in the United States.

But for women in the Wyoming Territory that right came in 1869. On this episode, we explore the history of women's suffrage in the West and in New Mexico.

  University Showcase 2/21 8a: Alzheimer’s and dementia represent a growing crisis around the world and New Mexico faces many challenges in addressing these illnesses.

A nonpartisan statewide think tank is warning the high rate of seniors living in poverty in New Mexico could grow without significant changes. Think New Mexico is supporting legislation to curtail what policy experts there call a crisis in retirement security that is quietly growing throughout the state. KUNM spoke with Executive Director Fred Nathan about reforms he says are necessary to protect the state’s seniors, now and in the future.

University Showcase, Friday 01/17 8a: First responders undergo enormous stress on their jobs. They run into burning buildings, pull people from mangled cars, respond to mass shootings, help people overdosing on drugs and treat patients in emergency rooms. Many struggle at times with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and thoughts of suicide.

We are awash in data and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it or even ignore it, but Andrea Polli’s work strives to make that data visually compelling and even beautiful. 

Women's Focus Sat. 11/23 Noon:  When Peggy Langenwalter, Trish Comer and Jennifer Cox-Horak joined the ranks of 11 million widows in the U.S., they realized the lessons they learned from supporting one another and sharing their stories could help other women, and those who want to support people who have lost partners. So together they wrote “Wonder Widows: Three Grieving Widows Coming Together To Empower Women To Break The Silence of Widowhood.”