Norma Martinez
Morning Edition / Fronteras Hostnorma@tpr.org
Twitter: @NormDog1
Norma Martinez is a native of El Paso and a veteran of public broadcasting. She began volunteering at the El Paso public radio station KTEP as a college student in 1989. She spent a year as a Morning Edition host and reporter at KRWG-FM in Las Cruces, New Mexico, before returning to KTEP as a full-time employee in 1995. At KTEP, Norma served as Morning Edition host, chief announcer, Traffic Director, PSA Director, and host and producer of various local shows.
Norma also voiced numerous commercials and worked part-time as a DJ at country, adult contemporary, and classic rock stations in El Paso.
Norma is a 1993 graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, earning a BA in Music Performance. She spent 23 years as a cellist with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, and currently plays with the all-volunteer Symphony Viva.
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The United Farm Workers of America became a target of FBI surveillance during the communist scare of the 1960s and '70s. Arturo Rodriguez spent over 50 years with the UFW. He talks about working alongside civil rights leader Cesar Chávez and about government surveillance of their movement.
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Musician Lisa Morales has released six albums as part of the duo Sisters Morales and three as a solo artist. She discusses her introduction to music growing up in Tucson, Arizona, the death of her sister Roberta in 2021, and more about her influences ahead of her April 13th Creekside Sessions Concert at TPR.
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Thirty Talks Weird Love confronts mental health issues, the growing pains of young adulthood, and the ongoing violence against women in Cuidad Juárez. Author Alessandra Narváez Varela discusses her inspiration behind the book and what she hopes readers take away.
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Todos Agua is a three-day celebration at San Antonio's Esperanza Peace & Justice Center that honors the community's spiritual and cultural connections to water. Three of its featured artists include poet Carmen Tafolla, musician Azul Barrientos, and activist María Berriozábal.
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Howard Campbell spent over three decades in Cuidad Juárez speaking to victims and perpetrators of ongoing violence in the city. He includes their stories and an analysis of the violence in the book, "Downtown Juárez: Underworlds of Violence & Abuse."
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Cuidad Juárez — a sister city to El Paso, Texas — had once been dubbed the "murder capital of the world." Anthropologist Howard Campbell breaks down the complex causes of the violence in the book "Downtown Juárez: Underworlds of Violence & Abuse."
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The Jan. 24 panel discussion used the reissue of the book "West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio" as a launching point for a broader conversation about the importance — and misconceptions — of San Antonio's historic West Side.
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Texas Public Radio and Trinity University Press hosted a book club discussion on the reissue of "West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio." Local activists, historians, and writers used the book as a launching point to a broader conversation about the significance of San Antonio's West Side.
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The massive multidisciplinary project stemmed from a large-scale painting of the same name by New Mexico-based artist, James Drake. The performance features themes of conflict, suffering, and healing.
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A recent analysis from the MPI examines Biden's presidency at its three-year mark. Two of its co-writers discuss how despite accusations of inaction at the border, legal immigration numbers have gone back to Pre-Trump and pre-COVID normal.