Encounter Culture

Are you feeling the pull to be connected this winter? We have some opportunities for you to be a part of New Mexican culture featuring art, history, science, poetry, and live conversations. Plus find out who loves winter and who does not... Encounter Culture host Emily or producer Andrea? Learn more about the Folk Art Apprenticeship Program & Apply: https://bit.ly/nmartsfolk Get details about the reopening of the Museum of Natural History & Science: https://bit.ly/nmnathistory Join Us For An El Palacio Reading: January 11, 2026, 2pm @ FUSION, Albuquerque - https://bit.ly/elpaljan2026 February 22 at 2 pm in the Donnelly Library at New Mexico Highlands University - Details coming soon. Follow El Palacio on Instagram or Facebook for updates. Read more in El Palacio: Before the Famous Fossils: Ancient Life in the Paleozoic Era in New Mexico by Tamara Enz, Spring 2025 Winter 2025 issue! Your Encounter Culture Playlist: The American Mystique of the Cowboy Boot with Deana McGufin and Jes Márquez, Season 8 TIme Travel: From GIant Millipedes to Modern Landscapes with New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, Season 8 Ancient LIfe: There's No Shame in Extinction video on YouTube Big, Toothy, and Conveniently Dead: Why We Are Obsessed with Dinosaurs Featuring Anthony Fiorillo, Season 5 An Underground Love Affair, The Palace Seen and Unseen with Archaeologists Cordelia Snow & Stephen Post, Season 1 Everyone Wants to be Included in the Story of New Mexico: The Wonders on Wheels Mobile Museum, Season 9 Good Heart Work: Poetry as Medicine with Manuel González, New Mexico Poet Laureate, Season 9 Don't miss the upcoming issues of El Palacio - SUBSCRIBE NOW! *** We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. OR leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online! *** Encounter Culture is a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Recording Engineers: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D'Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

New Mexico has a new Poet Laureate! Although Manuel González is well known in the slam poetry circles in Albuquerque—where he also served as the city's poet laureate from 2016 to 2018—he is now stepping into a larger role with big visions about how to engage the entire state in the unique connection and expression inherent to poetry. Throughout his career, González has made it his mission to reach the most marginalized people in New Mexico, and now he plans to leverage his role as Poet Laureate heal hearts in as many communities as possible. Discover more: Manuel González Xicanopoet New Mexico Arts Manny and the Casanovas Al Hurricane Native American Community Academy Hear more on Encounter Culture: From Goatheads to Grand Canyons: A Love Letter to the Landscape with New Mexico State Poet Laureate, Lauren Camp, Season 6 Curanderismo, Poetry, and How to Heal a Broken Heart with Tommy Archuleta, Santa Fe Poet Laureate, Season 7 Read more in El Palacio: Art and Activism at Highlands University, by Myrriah Gόmez, Winter 2025 Don't miss the upcoming issues of El Palacio - SUBSCRIBE NOW! *** We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. OR leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online! *** Encounter Culture is a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineers: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound StudiosEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D'Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

New Mexico is the fifth largest state, making access to art, history, and culture at museums or historic site difficult for many. The Wonder on Wheels mobile museum traverses the state to bring art and history directly to small towns, villages, and Pueblos, ensuring everyone can participate in the rich cultural conversations so central to New Mexican identity. The exhibition inside the thirty-eight-foot RV changes annually and this year, the eight New Mexico State Historic Sites tell the state's story across centuries, from 1150 to the early twentieth century. The staff pack rich history into a small space, supported by oral narratives and dialogue. Plan your visit: Wonders on Wheels Wonders on Wheels Facebook Group New Mexico Historic Sites Hear more on Encounter Culture: Listen, and Speak the Truth: Collaborating Through Conversation on the Bosque Redondo Memorial with Manuelito Wheeler and Aaron Roth, Encounter Culture, Season 2 Listen to the Land: Art at Bosque Redondo with Dakota Mace, Daisy Trudell-Mills, and Kéyah Keenan Henry, Encounter Culture, Season 6 Everything Past is Present at Los Luceros Historic Site with Rebecca Ward and Carly Stewart, Encounter Culture, Season 3 The Land is Everything: Voting Rights vs Tribal Sovereignty with Dr. Maurice Crandall, Encounter Culture, Season 4 Read more in El Palacio: "The Man in the Sala," El Palacio Summer 2023 "Cathay Williams: In Search of Liberation with the Buffalo Soldiers," El Palacio Summer 2025 Don't miss the upcoming issues of El Palacio - SUBSCRIBE NOW! *** We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. OR leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online! *** Encounter Culture is a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio MagazineExecutive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. RuizRecording Engineers: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound StudiosEditor & Production Manager: Alex RieglerAssociate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D'Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

In anticipation of another rich season of New Mexico history, art, and culture, El Palacio editor and Encounter Culture host Emily Withnall and producer Andrea Klunder reflect on a year of award-winning storytelling. From earning national recognition for both the podcast and the magazine to the art of curating New Mexico's most compelling voices, Andrea and Emily share what it takes to craft stories that resonate across time and place. They also look ahead to a new season of conversations with artists, historians, and cultural stewards. Plus, tune in to hear about a few favorite winter traditions that make this time of year uniquely New Mexican! Join us for a window into the creative collaboration that continues to shape Encounter Culture. Read more in El Palacio: Father, I Hardly Knew Ye: A Nisei Daughter's Memories of Japanese American Incarceration Strike and Struggle: The National Miners' Union and The Great Gallup Coal War, 1933-1935 Hear more on Encounter Culture: From Goatheads to Grand Canyons: A Love Letter to the Landscape with New Mexico State Poet Laureate, Lauren Camp Don't miss the upcoming winter & spring issues of El Palacio - SUBSCRIBE NOW! *** We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. OR leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online! *** Encounter Culture is a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Recording Engineers: Collin Ungerleider & Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D'Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine

For as long as humans have been on this earth, we have looked to the cosmos for information and direction. The Indigenous people of North America used the skies to make sense of their environments and to guide them in planting crops, building villages, and conducting ceremonies. The new exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Makowa: The Worlds Above Us, showcases a wide range of art, photographs, videos, and more to center the wisdom and longevity of Native astronomy and to remind us that we are all interconnected. On this episode of Encounter Culture, guest consultants for the Makowa exhibition, Misha Pipe and Kaela Waldstein, join host Emily Withnall in the studio to talk about all of this and more. Mentioned in this Episode: Makowa: The Worlds Above Us exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture "Symphonies in the Skies": article about Makowa in Summer 2025 issue of El Palacio "Star Parties, Rim Blown Flutes, and Pueblo History at Jemez Historic Site with Marlon Magdalena," Encounter Culture podcast episode Lowell Observatory Jemez Historic Site (and summer Star Party events) We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you loved about the episode, share a personal story it made you think of, or ask us a question at [email protected]. You can write an email or record a short voice memo and attach it for us to listen to. Visit newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours, and more. Our favorite way to fully experience everything they have to offer is with the New Mexico CulturePass. Reserve yours online! If you love New Mexico, you'll love El Palacio Magazine! Subscribe to El Palacio today. 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 Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz Recording Engineer: Collin Ungerleider and Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler Associate Producer & Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota) Theme Music: D'Santi Nava Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine