No More Normal

Former KUNM News Director and reporter, Hannah Colton, died by suicide at age 29 in November 2020. We have dedicated every episode of No More Normal to our dear friend and colleague since then, and now – for the last episode of the series – we memorialize her life, work and legacy.

Almost exactly one year ago former executive producer Marisa Demarco and host Khalil Ekulona were developing NoMoNo using what we learned from the previous four months of covering the pandemic with the show Your New Mexico Government. You might remember, YNMG was 5 days a week. First it was an hour, then a half hour then the schedule changed up a couple of times. The pandemic was new to all of us, to every human on the planet. It was the first of many changes to our collective reality and uncertainty was the word of the time. We think the word uncertainty has been said more times on this show than our nickname, NoMoNo. Yet in those uncertain times we knew that things would not be the same. No matter when our lives got back to some semblance of normality. We also knew that we had to answer the call. To ask questions. Questions to public officials about the direction and effectiveness of their response to covid. Questions to activists and organizations asking who is in need of help and

Music! It drives us to hit the dance floor and creates the landscape of our memorable moments in life. Seeing that music is so influential it is the perfect opportunity to inquire about the people who make the music we listen to. How are musicians faring after taking a year off from performing publicly? What about the venues where we gather to rock with our favorite bands or DJ's? Those that were able to stay afloat during the pandemic are gearing up to have the events that we've all missed so dearly. In episode 36 we talk to some of the people responsible for the music we listen to. GUESTS: Jerome Williams - DJ Jrock Vanessa Bowen - Tsidii Eddie Saenz - DJ Diamond Tip Anjo King James Black Roscoe Floyd - DJ Flo Fader Sydney Counce - Manager, Dust City Opera Jesus Gomez - Owner, Canvas Artistry Jeff Alberson - J azztone The Producer Cheo Melendez - Cheo Dominic Ruiz - Dahm Life Alexei Pacholuk - Business School Colin Botsford - Sun Dog Luz Allison - Sun Dog Jeremy Jasper - Owner, Oh

Sports has been a form of entertainment for humans since, well... humans. While not all of us get obsessed with our favorite teams and look to flip over police cars when our squad wins the title, we do find ourselves lost in a world of athletic prowess and skill. Sports serve as a great tool to teach lessons to the youth. They learn about teamwork, dedication, loyalty, setting goals, and hard work. They also learn how to have fun. What is life without a little fun? Even if you are not a heavy sports fan, episode 35 will give you something to cheer about. GUESTS : Santiago Cooper - Shortstop , Sandia Prep Varsity Baseball Scott Brandt - Head Coach, Sandia Prep Varsity Baseball Willie Owens - Athletic Director , Sandia Prep Mario Moccia- Athletic Director , New Mexico State University Natalia Chavez - Guard , Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball Jaelyn Bates - Guard , Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball Kennedy Brown - Guard , Volcano Vista High School Girls Basketball Lisa

We are officially a few days into New Mexico's reopening. Restaurants and venues are now at full capacity. Some people are eschewing their masks and are ready to have some summer fun. But what about people who are not ready to move on? What about the great losses we collectively and individually suffered? How are we supposed to move on, as if nothing happened? This week we continue our conversation on grief and transformation as we discover ways to process the events of the pandemic and its effects on families, friends, communities, and ourselves. GUESTS: Megan Devine - A uthor of “It's OK That You're Not OK”, psychotherapist, grief advocate, Dr. Froma Walsh - Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Chicago Center for Family Health Jade Richardson Bock - Executive Director, Children's Grief Center Noah Cochran - Clinical Social Worker, Covid Grief Network Kristin Urquiza - Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director, Chief Activist - Marked By Covid Nancy Mance - Trauma Consultant, Grief Counselor -

New Mexico will be fully reopened on July 1, and people are getting back to what some describe as normal activities. But h ow can we just get back to normal after we all went through—more than a year of heavy, powerful change? What about all the losses people suffered? Loved ones and friends are gone. Homes taken away. Careers and opportunities disappeared. The future you thought you were heading toward vanished. And your old self—who you thought you were—that person might be gone or different, too. How can we move ahead while honoring what has occurred? In episode 33. we search for clues about how to carry our freshly transformed selves forward into the future. We find some perspective about grief and transformation, in this new form of normal.

One hundred and fifty-eight years ago, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, putting an end to slavery in the United States. News traveled slowly in those days—no social media to spread the word. But this executive order took an especially long time to get to all corners of the country: two-and-a-half years, in fact. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, where the last enslaved people were told of their freedoms. From that moment on, African Americans have celebrated June 19 as the end of slavery in their communities, towns and cities. What do they celebrate? Freedom for one. There is also a theme of remembering our ancestors who survived almost unfathomable hardships so that we can be here, today.

For more than a year now, this show has been keeping pace with changes large and small, noting them and documenting them. It's about looking closely and creating a record of this historic year in human history. It's also been an unusual time for journalists themselves. Today, we're talking about the behind-the-scenes thinking and decision-making that goes into telling stories.

Young people in the last decades have had to study more than academics—they've had to learn what to do when a person shows up to your school with a gun and starts shooting. And unfortunately those types of skills could help you anywhere these days—even on Capitol Hill. As the American pandemic of gun violence grows, so do the arguments about what can be done about it. Often those arguments are about the Second Amendment, but do we have the right to bear arms ... right? Or are we arguing about it wrong? NoMoNo hits part two of our look at gun violence.

As of Friday, May 14, there have been nearly 16,000 deaths due to guns so far this year in the United States, according to data from Gun Violence Archive . Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic, protests about racial equity, and the general election dominated our attention, but that doesn't mean that other serious matters like gun violence disappeared. Data from the archive shows that nearly 20,000 Americans died by guns last year—the highest total number of deaths in at least the last two decades. The problem didn't go away. Our attention did. In episode 29 we take a look at the problem of gun violence in America, where we stand and what can be done about it.

Humans are peculiar. We are capable thoughts, feelings, and expressions ranging from unconditional love to insidious hate. It begs the question: where do we learn those concepts? And then: How do we unlearn them? Here is a good one: How does someone who has been a member of a group that professes hatred of other humans leave that community and ideology behind? What are the steps? What's the process like? Who are the people that can help them?

After many attempts over what seems like forever, New Mexico has finally passed a law making recreational cannabis use legal for adults. But the rollout is not as simple as lighting a match as special considerations for how this new law will impact New Mexicans must be addressed. It raises a lot of questions: What happens to people with prior cannabis convictions? Who will have access to the emerging industry? How will equity be enacted? And how will this affect you if you don't have citizenship status?

The illness of racism was here long before Covid-19, but the pandemic brought it out into a brighter focus. It is too blinding not to see it. It is too loud to be silent in its presence. So we are going to make some noise of our own—the kind of noise you can dance to. On Episode 26, we highlight the dialogues we've had over the past year with anti-racist educators and leaders. A s the country loops back through a national call to self-destruct on Sunday, April 11, NoMoNo spins remixes of conversations and wall-to-wall beats.

2020 was a long year. We don't have to tell you. It was a constant barrage of reality-shaping events, and it hasn't stopped. What is different for us now that we are on the verge of—maybe, knock on wood—coming out of the pandemic? How are the leaders we elected approaching their duties now? How are activists applying what they've learned to push their causes forward? How are the people who experienced hardship pre-pandemic adapting to a possible post-pandemic life? No More Normal reflects on last year while keeping our focus on the future.

Storefront lenders offering payday loans or title loans are a quick way to get money for people who are often in dire straits financially. And it can be a slippery slope when the interest rate on these loans can be as high as 175 percent in New Mexico. Around the country, other states have passed laws to make those rates lower. But a bill that would have capped that rate at 36 percent here didn't make it through the legislative session. KUNM's Khalil Ekulona spoke to Fred Nathan, a proponent of the bill and the executive director of Think New Mexico. FRED NATHAN : We were very disappointed. The good news is we got it through the Senate at 36 percent by a 25-to-14 vote. And we really just had that one committee, the House Judiciary, where we got tripped up, and they amended the bill to make it 99 percent, which would still be one of the highest rates in the country. That's really where things got off the rails. KUNM: Many people who get storefront loans are in financial trouble. They're

The 2021 Legislative Session is now over... or is it? Lawmakers ended a whirlwind couple of months by passing 158 bills, but as always the time ran out on dozens of other measures. In today's update we run down the big bills that made it across the finish line, and the ones that will have to wait for another year. One of those bills was the adult-use cannabis legalization measure, which just ran out of time and oxygen in the last hours of the session. But, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham thinks the proposal is close enough, she has already announced a special session to finish the work on what was House Bill 12. She says the framework is there and New Mexicans shouldn't have to wait another year to see this happen. That Special Session will happen around March 31st and will cost taxpayers roughly $50,000 a day. We'll be back to break it all down once the final details ahve been released. We will also have much more on the cannabis legalization debate, this week on our podcast

A lot of fireworks throughout the night and into the wee hours of the morning. All of that means we are in for a wild ride in the last day and a half of the 2021 legislative session. Some of the big highlights and takeaways of the last 24 hours: the Land Grant Permanent Fund Amendment (HJR 1) made it through the Senate and appears to be headed to a ballot near you, after years of effort. Also, the Healthy Workplaces Act (HB 20), which was changed back early this morning to only affect private sector employers, who would have to give their employees paid sick leave. That was where the fireworks really started as you can discover more in Dan Boyd's article, out this morning in the Albuquerque Journal. As for today, all eyes will be on the Senate once again, for the debate and potential vote on cannabis legalization in New Mexico. The Senate is set to reconvene again at about noon today. The legislative session ends tomorrow at 12pm noon, so the clock begins to officially speed up from

A late night/early morning helps push cannabis legalization legislation one step closer to the finish line. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 to advance House Bill 12 to the full Senate just after 1:30am this morning. That was after hours of amendments and debate, which will no doubt foreshadow an epic showdown when and if the bill comes up for a vote of the full chamber. Read more about it all , and another bill that would limit reciprocity practices within the medical cannabis program in this morning's New Mexico Political Report. Andy Lyman is always right on top of these issues, and he just also happens to be co-host of our collaborative podcast project "Growing Forward." We also have updates for you this morning on predatory lending reform, the Civil Rights Bill and also the status of priority #1, the state budget (House Bill 2). And, we encourage you to read more about some of the internal dynamics of the Senate Judiciary Committee and chairman Joe Cervantes, from reporter

A lot of the activity here in the last days of the session, not surprisingly, is focused on money matters. The first order of business each year is of course the budget ( HB 2 ), and that seems to be nearing the finish line with just three and a half days left to go. Also, lawmakers in the House yesterday unanimously approved a Capital Outlay package ( HB 285 ). Now it's up to the Senate to pick up the baton. A measure to tap more money from the Land Grant Permanent Fund is also moving forward to the full Senate, after a historic vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. A staple of recent legislative sessions, the measure has never made it this far before. All that stands between it and the Governor's desk is a full Senate vote. If all of that happens, it would still end up n the November 2022 ballot for voters to ultimately decide. Also in today's YNMG update: Progress on HB 20 which would require private employees earn paid sick leave. It passed out of Senate Judiciary

Things are definitely moving fast and furious in the Roundhouse, as you would expect with only 4 and half days left in this year's session. One of the fastest moving bills is House Bill 47 , which is the Medical Aid in Dying Measure that recently passed through the full House. It followed suit yesterday in the Senate after more than two and a half hours of emotional debate and discussion. Three democrats joined the republicans in opposing the bill, which now heads back to the House for concurrence on the changes made in the Senate. From there, it is headed to the Governor's desk, where she is expected to sign it. The Senate Judiciary Committee is once again the center of a lot of attention in the legislative session. That's because chairman of the committee Joe Cervantes asked for the chance to consider the paid sick leave measure ( House Bill 20 ). Originally scheduled for discussion yesterday on the Senate Floor, it has now been assigned to Senate Judiciary, with a hearing

A busy weekend in the Roundhouse, capped off by yes votes for Medical Aid in Dying and Mandatory Paid Sick Leave measures. But, the big news of the weekend was the lack of action on cannabis legalization, as both of the remaining bills did not come up for discussion in the Senate Judiciary Committee. One of those bills was actually pulled from consideration just minutes before the meeting. And, of course, all of the proposed measures are up against the clock, with time set to run out on this year's session at noon on Saturday. We'll be back with more updates tomorrow, and as always, let us know what issues you are tracking in this busy 60-day session. ***** No More Normal is brought to you by Your New Mexico Government, a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS , and the Santa Fe Reporter . Funding for our coverage comes from the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.

Twelve months ago, team NoMoNo was busy having conversations about how we were going to make a show that covered the response to a global pandemic. What did we want to talk about? What was not being talked about? What was the vital info? What were the nuances? What life-and-death decisions were being made by public officials? Who needed help—and where is the help? We've worked hard over the last year to provide those answers.

If you are interested in the most inner workings of state government, today's Your NM Government update is just for you! The work Wednesday in the Roundhouse was somewhat overshadowed by technical problems with the virtual proceedings. But a lot of the business that was considered had to do with how the sausage is made, so to speak. Here's a quick rundown of what we talked about in today's update: Senate Bill 74 - This is a measure designed to curb the Governor's powers during a public emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. This is something Republican lawmakers have been critical of nearly throughout the past year, but it has languished in the Senate for nearly three weeks. Bottom line, there was a push to take a vote in the full Senate, but it failed 14-24. It does not seem likely to get that vote, either, before the session ends, as Governor Lujan Grisham has indicated she would likely veto it if approved by lawmakers. House Bill 4 – This is the New Mexico Civil Rights Act that came