This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Antonia Gonzales catches up with the newly crowned Miss Indian New Mexico. Alysia Coriz explains how she plans to use her role to inspire and engage young people to be more active in their communities.  

Senior Producer Lou DiVizio sits down with New Mexico Secretary of Indian Affairs Lynn Trujillo to talk about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force, and its state response plan drafted to address the crisis of missing indigenous people.   

De Haven Solimon Chaffins grew up living with her grandparents on the Laguna Pueblo. The landscape there shaped her view of the world, the natural landscape and the Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine. This week, Chaffins speaks with Our Land Correspondent Laura Paskus to explain how her artwork explores the story of the mine and its impacts, including cancer-causing contamination.  

Correspondent Antonia Gonzales sits down with a Diné novelist to talk about her new book ‘Shutter,’ which follows a young woman from the Navajo Nation who becomes a forensic photographer. Author Ramona Emerson also explains why she thinks it’s so important for indigenous people to tell indigenous stories.   

Finally, on this Thanksgiving weekend, New Mexico in Focus offers its appreciation to one of Albuquerque’s living treasures -- the Bosque. This Emmy-nominated Our Land piece is a visual celebration of one of the country’s most unique and diverse public spaces.   

New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 27 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app. 

NMiF Segments

2022 Miss Indian New Mexico  Correspondent
Antonia Gonzales 

Guest
Alysia Coriz, 2022 Miss Indian New Mexico 

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons 
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio 

Guest
Lynn Trujillo, Secretary of Indian Affairs 

First Native American Woman in Space 
Correspondent
Antonia Gonzales 

Guest
Nicole Mann, NASA Astronaut, Crew Commander: SpaceX Crew-5 

Radon Daughter 
Correspondent
Laura Paskus 

Guest
De Haven Solimon Chaffins (Laguna/Zuni), artist   

'Shutter’: Behind Navajo Novelist’s Debut Book  Correspondent
Antonia Gonzales 

Guest
Ramona Emerson, author, filmmaker, Diné 

Albuquerque’s Bosque in Autumn 
Correspondent
Laura Paskus 

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people that are shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues, and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment." 

New Mexico in Focus Senior Producer for Public Affairs is Lou DiVizio. "Our Land" Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. Co-producer of New Mexico in Focus is Kathy Wimmer. Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.

Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.

Funding for Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present & Future, is provided in part by the Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV. 

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