The Spitz Report

Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union are American icons, and the UFW is a prime example of a union that fought hard for higher wages and better working conditions against impossible odds. Although the National Labor Relations Act does not cover farm workers, and migrant labor is particularly difficult to organize, at its height the UFW represented almost 1/3 of all California lettuce workers. And then, on the verge of success, the UFW imploded and “la causa” was no more. Frank Bardacke’s 836 page book, Trampling Out the Vintage, is the inside story of this history.  Bardacke was a young Berkeley radical who in 1971 took a job cutting celery in the Salinas Valley, working in the fields as part of an otherwise Mexican work force.  He joined the UFW, rose in its ranks, and, in the off-season, taught agricultural history at the University of California. Please join host Stephen Spitz and special guest Frank Bardacke for an eyewitness account of the rise and fall of Cesar Chavez and UFW. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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Improve education is the answer you usually get to New Mexico’s seemingly intractable problems. But, how do you do that? Last year more than 70% of our births were covered by Medicaid and only Mississippi fares worse on key indicators of child welfare such as high school dropouts, concentrated childhood poverty, teen pregnancy and teen drug abuse. Given this discouraging reality, is it any wonder that our schools have failed to achieve even “average” results. Can anything be done?  This is the big question and one we will put to former New Mexico Education Secretary Dr. Veronica Garcia and Dr. Andrew Hsi, who heads a unique program at UNM Hospital which provides medical, social and psychological support to families with at risk children. Please join host Stephen Spitz as we ask where education reform should place its emphasis? Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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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 riches to instead shoot individual portraits and document the everyday life of nearly 80 Indian tribes. He photographed Chief Joseph, Geronimo and 40,000 other Indians engaged in fishing, net-making, cooking and never-before-photographed tribal ceremonies. He traveled to our pueblos in New Mexico and to remote areas of Arizona, Montana, Oklahoma and California. The story of how and why he accomplished this is perfectly encapsulated in the sub-title of this biography: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward S Curtis. So please join host Stephen Spitz, and author Timothy Egan as we explore one of the most amazing accomplishments of the 20th Century. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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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 health in the mother. In St. Joseph Community Health pre-natal to 3 home visiting program, first time pregnant women receive weekly home visits by a trained health educator. The goal is to make sure children reach kindergarten with the health and family support necessary for learning. However, only 3.1% of New Mexico infants on Medicaid receive home visiting services. As our guest, St. Joseph CEO Allen Sanchez will explain, this is why he supports a bill that would extend early childhood home visiting programs to all New Mexico babies through an additional 11/2 % distribution from New Mexico’s Permanent Fund. So please join host Stephen Spitz and Allen Sanchez, to learn more about St. Joseph’s home visiting program and a proposed Constitutional Amendment to expand early childhood programs state-wide. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green.

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Paul Tough, who has written extensively about education, child development and poverty, is the author of the just published book, How Children Succeed. There could not be a more important subject for New Mexico, which just fell from 46^th to 49^th in overall child welfare – only Mississippi fares worse on indicators such as high school dropouts, concentrated childhood poverty, and teen drug abuse. So, in our first of 2 related shows, we ask something you may have wondered about, why do some children succeed while others fail? The school system’s answer seems to be “test scores”.  But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control. Remarkably, the key to developing these character traits is secure attachment to one’s parent(s) in the first year of life.  Paul will then introduce listeners to a new generation of researchers and educators who rely on scientific studies to develop innovative interventions that allow children who grow up in the most painful circumstances to achieve amazing things. So please join host Stephen Spitz as we explore how and why children succeed. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green

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With the Nov, 2012 election only days away host Stephen Spitz sits down with UNM political science professor Gabriel Sanchez who also provides election analysis for Albuquerque TV stations, Latino Decisions, and NPR. We will try answer to the questions on your mind such as: Are the traditionally close New Mexico US Senate and CD 1 House races safely in the Democrat’s hands as pollsters now say?  Which State legislative races should be watching Tuesday night and what are the chances of a Republican take-over of the New Mexico House? And, finally, why are Hispanics said to be the key to electoral success in Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona and what is their likely turnout? All these questions and much, much more will be discussed this Friday with our expert analyst, Dr. Gabriel Sanchez. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green

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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 they chose the Espanola Valley, which leads the nation in the rate of heroin addiction and death by overdose. What Martinez’ wife did not know was that Martinez himself, was a heroin addict who went along with her suggestion in order to “get clean”.  Please join host Stephen Spitz as we talk about Hispanos of Northern New Mexico along with history, poverty and drug addiction in the Espanola Valley.  Produced with the assistance of Joe Green

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Mable Dodge Luhan changed Taos into a center for artists and utopians when she moved there in 1917. Among other things, Luhan brought to Taos some of the most gifted writers and artists of her time, such as DH Lawrence and Georgia O’Keeffe, and was, herself, a prominent advocate for Indian rights and culture. But, what don’t we know about Luhan? Santa Fe resident, Dr. Lois Rudnick, has spent much of her academic life studying Luhan, and has just edited a fourth volume of Luhan’s autobiography, The Suppressed Memoirs of Mabel Dodge Luhan, Sex, Syphilis and Psychoanalysis in the Making of American Culture. How much of Luhan’s life is explained by these long suppressed aspects of her life? Host Stephen Spitz will ask Lois Rudnick, professor emerita of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, these very questions. Produced with the assistance of Joe Green

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The President-elect of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, pledged to focus more on reducing street violence and less on catching cartel leaders and blocking drugs from reaching the United States. How significant was this pledge to Peña Nieto’s winning campaign and what is the likely effect at New Mexico’s border? Joining host Stephen Spitz to discuss the role violence played in the Mexican election is Monica Ortiz Uribe, who regularly reports from nearby Juarez, Mexico for NPR. Also joining in the discussion will be NMSU Professor Molly Molloy, who is the author of the Frontera List- a daily record of Juarez’s murder victims including their name, age, and gender and where they were killed. Please joint us to learn how and why Juarez became the deadliest city in the world and where border violence is headed. Produced with the assistance of John Burgund and Joe Green.

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Our guest this month, Charlie Carrillo, is uniquely steeped in New Mexico art, culture, and history.  Carrillo is a santero, an artist who carves, draws, and paints santos (images of saints). But, Carrillo is no ordinary santero; his works, for example, are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of American History, and the Denver Museum of Art. Carrillo is also a recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Remarkably, all of this occurred only after Carrillo received a doctorate from UNM in anthropology/archaeology and he became intrigued by the work of the original santeros of 18 C. New Mexico. So please join host Stephen Spitz as we discuss the transition of Charles Carrillo from studying santeros to becoming the most prominent such artist in the US. Produced with the assistance of John Burgund and Joe Green.

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