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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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.
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San Antonio's Centro Cultural Aztlan presents the 47th annual "Segundo de Febrero" exhibit to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This year's exhibition, "Seguimos" or "we go on," explores themes of migration, adaptation, and the duality of the Mexican American identity.
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Seventeen students and 10 teachers under the CAST Schools network in San Antonio visited Mexico City last month as part of a diplomacy program that aims to strengthen the cultural and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Mexico. Some of those students joined Fronteras to talk about their experiences.
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The drug war in Mexico has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the span of three presidents. Alexander Aviña — an expert on immigration and state violence in Mexico — discusses the drug war, the 2024 Mexican presidency, and the ongoing militarization of both Mexico and the Texas-Mexico border.
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Alexander Aviña, associate professor of history at Arizona State University, discusses the historical precedent of drug violence in Mexico, the United State's role, and possible solutions moving forward.
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Our Lady of the Lake University associate professors Christopher Carmona and Valerie Martínez take Fronteras on a tour of the panel exhibit "Life & Death on the Border: 1910-1920." The exhibit explores topics ranging from the militarization of the border, to Juan Crow laws, to artistic and literary contributions to the Latino civil rights movement.