Reading is the one form of escapism that just about anyone can practice, regardless of income. Even so, roadblocks keep many folks from getting lost in a traditionally printed book. Thankfully for New Mexicans, staffers at the New Mexico State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled have committed themselves to remove those barriers.

Charlotte Jusinski chats with Tim Donahue, Reader Services and Outreach Librarian, and Berdina Nieto, Reader Advisor, both of whom work at LBPD, which is part of the New Mexico State Library system. They discuss LBPD's impressive list of services, the value of providing patrons access to physical readers and mobile apps, and what's to love about Santa Fe (spoiler alert: it's everything!)

LBPD programs are free and available to all who qualify with various impairments along the spectrum of sightedness. LBPD also extends its services to those with certain learning challenges, such as dyslexia.

Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD)

New Mexico State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled Facebook Group

National Federation for the Blind

New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired

The Seeing Eye

New Mexico Commission for the Blind

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Associate Producer: Alex Riegler

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

In the Summer of 2023, the New Mexico Museum of Art will open its highly anticipated exhibition space, Vladem Contemporary, in Santa Fe's Railyard District. There's a LEED-certified farmer's market building, retail and entertainment options, and ample green space to enjoy. As changes continue, so do debates about the area's rapid gentrification.

The Vladem enters this chat as a modern complement to the NMMA's historic location on the Plaza, featuring established and emerging contemporary artists. Most importantly, the space will deepen conversations between the institution and community regarding New Mexico's multicultural artistic heritage.

Encounter Culture host Charlotte Jusinski spoke with Katie Doyle, assistant curator at the New Mexico Museum of Art, and Cristina González, an artist whose work will adorn the Window Box gallery, an exterior-facing exhibition space at the corner of Montezuma Avenue and Guadalupe Street. The trio discuss what it means for NMMA to set up in the Railyard, what folks can expect from Vladem, and the ever-evolving nature of public art.

CORRECTION: The neighborhood around Santa Fe's Railyard was called the Barrio de Guadalupe, not the Barrio Analco, as mentioned in this episode. We apologize.

SITE Santa Fe

Gilberto Guzman mural

Leo Villareal

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Associate Producer: Alex Riegler

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

Take a trip through Santa Fe, and you'll undoubtedly notice that this city wears its design diversity with pride. Architectural storyteller Rachel Preston Prinz joins host Charlotte Jusinski to discuss the history of Museum Hill, Santa Fe's remarkable collection of museums just outside downtown.

The episode focuses on the Museum of International Folk Art, by engineer-turned-architect John Gaw Meem, and its Girard Wing, which currently displays over 10,000 pieces of folk art. Built in 1953, MOIFA is considered a revolutionary testament to Modernism in the city and an anomaly among New Mexico's museums.

As it approaches its 70th anniversary, MOIFA is preparing for the next wave of design conversations, scouring its archives for treasures that will inspire fresh stories.

EC0105: An Underground Love Affair, The Palace Seen and Unseen with Archaeologists Cordelia Snow & Stephen Post

First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque

St. John's College Santa Fe

La Reina Bar at El Ray Court

Compound Restaurant

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Associate Producer: Alex Riegler

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

What does the future hold? Apocalypse or idyll? Robots or retro tech? Artists have asked that question for millennia and responded with wildly inventive, often provocative works. Fronteras del Futuro: Art In New Mexico And Beyond at the art museum at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque brings several dozen cosmic possibilities together in one exciting, forward-focused exhibition.

Encounter Culture host Charlotte Jusinski peers into this thoroughly modern future with Jadira Gurulé, the exhibit's curator, and Augustine "Gus" Romero, one of its featured artists. They discuss what it means for people of color to interact with the science fiction genre and to finally see themselves in narratives that white voices have long dominated.

Fronteras del Futuro features its share of super-cool spaceship-like transport, beeping machinery, and alien figures from an arguably unnerving other world. Even so, the exhibit remains undeniably calm. That's due to an emphasis on optimism, humanity, and justice for all.

Fronteras del Futuro is on view at the art museum at the National Hispanic Cultural Center through March 12, 2023. Learn more about the NHCC and plan your visit at nhccnm.org.

EC0204: Rooted in Tradition, Focused on the Future: Celebrating The National Hispanic Cultural Center with Dr. Margie Huerta and Noël Bella Merriam

Bless Me, Última

Marion C. Martinez

The End Is Nye

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Associate Producer: Alex Riegler

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

October may reign supreme as the spookiest season, but ghosts roam the picturesque grounds of Los Luceros all year round––or so say Carly Stewart, Site Manager, and Rebecca Ward, Instructional Coordinator, of the culturally significant and geographically secluded property. In part one, Encounter Culture host Charlotte Jusinski and her guests introduced audiences to the epic history of New Mexico's newest historic site. In part two, the trio invites curious minds to set aside plausible explanations in favor of a "spirited" trip around Los Luceros' atmospheric acreage.

Otherworldly encounters at Los Luceros include heavy windows mysteriously opening on their own and broken clocks suddenly ticking the time. Haunted though it may be, Rebecca's quick to point out that Los Luceros and its invisible inhabitants are welcoming. "I've never felt like it's malicious or malevolent or anything like that."

Learn more about this fascinating historical site and plan your visit at Los Luceros. Dawn-til-dusk days are the first Sunday of every month.

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

HORNS Paranormal

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Associate Producer: Alex Riegler

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

Everything past is always present in New Mexico, especially the stories embedded in its land and architecture. People here are as passionate about the state's hard-working historical buildings as they are about a modest 150-year-old neighborhood adobe. At Los Luceros, New Mexico's newest historic site, "now" and "then" mingle on 140+ bucolic acres stretching along the Rio Grande's banks about 20 minutes north of Española, on Highway 68. While only open to the public since 2019, the history of this culturally significant (and possibly haunted) place dates back to at least the 1400s.

Two of Los Luceros's most knowledgeable staffers, Site Manager Carly Stewart and Instructional Coordinator Rebecca Ward share its fascinating history and preview its contemporary contributions.

The stories unfold across the site's fertile, farmed fields, its replica fruit orchard, paddocks full of livestock, and numerous historic buildings: the 18th-century capilla (or chapel), a Victorian cottage, the river house built (but never used) to accommodate the Dalai Lama, a small art gallery — and the highlight, its grand hacienda.

Learn more about this fascinating historical site and plan your visit at Los Luceros. Dawn-til-dusk days are the first Sunday of every month.

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

The official podcast of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs returns this fall for Season 3!

We've toured the museums of Santa Fe and ventured out to engage with the hidden histories of our state.

And now...

Flamenco, pottery, architecture, design, ghosts!

From Fronteras del Futuro to local local lore at Los Luceros, we're inviting you to catch a glimpse of what lies just beneath the surface at our cultural institutions and historic sites. You'll be ready for your next happy hour with more than your fair share of state trivia!

Follow us today on your favorite podcast app, so you'll be the first to hear when our new season begins!

For now, catch up on the episodes you missed in seasons 1 and 2, and visit our website: podcast.nmculture.org. Thanks for listening. We're excited to have you along for the ride as we encounter culture together.

Visit http://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Additional Production & Editing Support: Alex Riegler and Helen King

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

Word nerds and punctuation perfectionists rejoice! Encounter Culture host Charlotte Jusinski ends the season in grand, grammatically correct fashion with Dr. Maggie DePond, exhibition copy editor for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Maggie also lends her talents to El Palacio magazine, casting a last, learned glance over every issue before it goes live.

The pair geek out over the intricacies of language, style guide rivalries, and challenges associated with distilling eons of information into 100-word captions. Buckle in for syntax shenanigans, a touch of ASMR, and permission to end sentences with a preposition.

Ever wondered who edits all the text accompanying every exhibition in the four state museums of Santa Fe (the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Museum of International Folk Art, the New Mexico History Museum, and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture)?

The answer is Dr. Maggie DePond.

The work, which is often tedious, requires a tenacious character and plenty of red pencils. For all its old-fashioned aspects, copy editing is a revolutionary profession. Who else but a copy editor could refer to medieval usage of the singular "they/them" to support our modern personal pronoun debate? "I feel that by doing that," Maggie says, "I'm also teaching other writers what language is, the spectrum of language, and how language can evoke feelings." And, by extension, every lucky museum goer in the state.

Thank you for joining Encounter Culture this season. Season three coming soon!

The Chicago Manual Of Style

Associated Press Style Guide

Elements Of Indigenous Style

Merriam-Webster Twitter

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.

Walk into any library, and the world is revealed, from tall tales and vital truths to oral histories and picture books. It's no wonder that these magical repositories of imagination and knowledge also contain some of the coolest, most subversive, and most innovative people on the planet: librarians.

Encounter Culture host Charlotte Jusinski goes directly to the source. She chats with Eli Guinnee, New Mexico State Librarian, and the incomparable Jean Whitehorse, Outreach Librarian, Tribal Libraries Program in Crownpoint, NM, on the Navajo Nation. Eli provides background on the state library's programs and initiatives while Jean educates listeners on everything else. That's not hyperbole; Jean is an astonishing font of information, determination, and wisdom behind the circulation desk.

The New Mexico State Library is a vital hub, offering career training, financial literacy, computer competency, and infrastructure advocacy programs. Jean's approach to librarianship mirrors her approach to life––examine systems, identify the inequities, and take action. "There's always another way," she says, referencing the creative problem-solving spirit that her father passed down to her.

Jean's macro-micro sensibility has garnered her invitations to speak around the world. She's even addressed The United Nations' Permanent Committee on Indigenous Issues. But no matter how far afield she travels, Jean remains rooted in Navajo Nation. "I grew up in a hogan with a dirt floor. I'm the daughter of a Navajo Code Talker," she says, pride mingling with a bit of impatience. There's still so much she wants to accomplish.

Here's hoping we'll find Jean behind the circulation desk for another 25 years.

Visit the New Mexico State Library to learn more about its programs and initiatives. If you're in Santa Fe, drop by the library at 209 Camino Carlos Rey for research and browsing. Don't live in Santa Fe? Submit your questions to a librarian via the New Mexico State Library reference desk! All inquiries receive a response within two business days.

You can view a trailer for Amá, the film featuring Jean Whitehorse's story of forced sterilization, at dartmouthfilms.com/ama.

Visit https://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org

For a podcast that boasts so many fascinating guests, State Historic Preservation Officer Jeff Pappas, PhD stands out as a favorite. Beyond the paperwork and rule-making that naturally accompany any federal job, his day-to-day at the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division is more interesting than one might expect.

Charlotte Jusinski chats with Jeff about what historic preservation means in a state like New Mexico, a place with a visible, tangible, touchable history dating back 17,000+ years. How does his office preserve the past and plan to tell this sprawling story in the future, in a place where the tri-cultural myth and a history of colonialism make everything that much more intricate and complicated?

"If you look at the preamble of the National Historic Preservation Act (signed into law in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson), a democratic society has a right to understand its history," says Jeff, formally explaining the gubernatorial-appointed role he currently holds. Informally, "I'm basically the eyes and ears of the governor's office," he jokes.

What, exactly, is a historian looking out for in an office that's primarily concerned with the architecture or archeology of New Mexico? Story.

"It's not just about the architecture or the empirical building itself. It's really about the story that building tells over time." That narrative rings hollow without input from a diverse compilation of voices from the past (culled from research), present (captured in real-time), and future (via anticipatory analysis). Jeff centers this commitment to community when making recommendations. He must do so as the department is constantly updating the state's historical context to help folks understand its evolving history.

As with any issues addressed by the state, decisions on historic preservation aren't made in a vacuum. Managing expectations, interests, and tax dollars requires patience. Jeff applies a deliberate approach to the societal and cultural cost of each project, tempered with an awareness that everything his department does is political. Ultimately, he returns to the story embedded in each location, a history waiting to be told for the first time or reviewed through a more modern lens.

"I do feel that story absolutely matters, however cliche that may be," he says. "You get to the root of engaging and enfranchising disadvantaged communities, marginalized communities that have not had a voice in the historic narrative for eons."

Learn more about the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, including a full list of its duties and how the public can nominate sites for historic consideration.

Visit http://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski, Editor at El Palacio Magazine

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Associate Editor: Helen King

Theme Music: D'Santi Nava

Instagram: @newmexicanculture

For more, visit podcast.nmculture.org.