TEX-MEX SOUNDS. Accordion great Flaco Jiménez inspired Max Baca to play conjunto when he was just a kid. Years later, they formed Los Texmaniacs. The award-winning group released their second album with Smithsonian Folkways this year: Texas Towns & Tex-Mex Sounds, blending polka, boleros, ballads, and Western swing. This special holiday edition includes exclusive interviews with both Flaco and Max.

Guests: Flaco Jimenez, Celebrated conjunto accordion master, Los Texmaniacs, San Antonio, TX; Max Baca, Founder, Singer, and Bajo-Sexto player, Los Texmaniacs, San Antonio, TX, http://www.texmaniacs.com/index2.html

STOPPING HUNGER. Nearly one in three Latinos does not have enough to eat from day to day. Some of them go hungry because they don’t know how to apply for emergency food services or food stamps. Hunger relief advocates, community leaders, and government officials meet this week at the No Más Hambre Summit to discuss a Latino anti-hunger agenda.

Guest: Alfredo Estrada, Editor in Chief, Latino Magazine, Washington, DC, www.latinomagazine.com , www.facebook.com/NoMasHambreForum ; Maritza Kelley, Senior Director, Advocacy and Legislative Affairs, First Focus Campaign for Children, Washington, D.C., www.firstfocus.net

MAYAN PROPHECY. The Mayan calendar shows December 21, 2012 as a significant day in history. Some say it’s the Mayan apocalypse, the end of the world. This edition offers an exclusive interview with a Mayan spiritual guide who has been holding ceremonies leading up to the big day, about its true meaning.

Guest: Don Pascual Yaxon, Mayan spiritual guide and advisor, Promoter of Mayan culture, Oakland, CA.

ALSO, LOW POWER OPPORTUNITY. After years of pressure by media justice groups, the Local Community Radio Act was finally passed, giving organizations an opportunity to apply for and own low-power FM radio stations. Advocates are encouraging Latino organizations to apply, to bring more Latino voices to the airwaves.

Guest: Alex Nogales, President and CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Pasadena, CA, www.nhmc.org

TANIA LIBERTAD. Peruvian-born singer Tania Libertad celebrates 50 years of her musical career. Celebrated throughout the world, the acclaimed singer began her professional career at age 9. This edition offers an extensive interview with her, recorded on a tour to San Francisco.

Guest: Tania Libertad, Internationally acclaimed singer, Mexico City, Mexico, www.tanialibertad.com

ALSO, HAVE YOU SEEN MARIE? Internationally acclaimed author Sandra Cisneros’ latest book is a picture book for grownups that explores loss, grief, and healing. It is the story of a woman searching for a cat in the wake of her mother’s death, and how that journey brings her to discover other things and people in her neighborhood.

Guest: Sandra Cisneros, Award-winning author and poet, San Antonio, TX, www.sandracisneros.com

HARVEST OF EMPIRE. How does the U.S. reap what it sowed in Latin America? A new documentary explores the direct correlation between centuries of U.S. armed intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean and today’s immigration crisis. This is an interview with one of the film’s producer’s, on the day of its screening in San Francisco.

Guests: Juan González, Author of book *Harvest of Empire*, Co-host of Democracy Now!, and columnist at New York Daily News, New York, NY; Wendy Thompson-Marquez, Co-producer, Empire of Harvest, San Francisco, CA, www.harvestofempiremovie.com

DESERT AMERICA. In his most recent book, Desert America, award-winning journalist Rubén Martínez explores the West in our times of upheaval and recession. Juxtaposing the extreme disparities of poverty and wealth, beauty and ecological devastation, Martínez tells stories of epidemics of drug addiction, race wars, and people's displacement through gentrification in what is truly a new frontier, the South West deserts.

Guest: Ruben Martinez, Emmy-winning journalist, poet, college professor, Los Angeles-Oakland, CA, http://rubenmartinez.la

LAURA REBOLLOSO. Latin jazz began as a fusion mix by Latin American musicians in the United States. What happens to jazz these days, in the i-pod era, when it glides back over the borders into Latin America? The First Mission Latin Jazz Festival in San Francisco aims to explore the new boundaries of this genre. Laura Rebolloso, one of the founders of legendary Son Jarocho group Son de Madera, arrives from Mexico with her Ensemble Marinero, mixing jazz with the music of Veracruz. She is a dancer, poet, troubadour and master of the leona, the largest instrument of the jarana guitar family.

Guest: Laura Rebolloso, Musician and Co-founder, Son de Madera, and Ensemble Marinero, Oakland, CA, http://accionlatina.org/missionlatinjazz/

MONUMENT TO CHAVEZ. President Obama just declared the house and grave of César Chávez as National Monuments. What was once the headquarters of the United Farm Workers now becomes the first national park recognizing the work of a Latino hero of our times. This edition includes interviews with top leaders at the celebration.

Guests: President Barack Obama, President of the United States, Pretaped Speech, Keene, CA; Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, United States Department of the Interior, Keene, CA, www.doi.gov ; Arturo Rodríguez, President, United Farm Workers (UFW), Keene, CA, www.ufw.org ; Paul Chávez, Son of César Chávez and President of César Chavez Foundation, Keene, CA, www.chavezfoundation.org

BANNED BOOK. In honor of Banned Books Week, Línea Abierta offers an exclusive interview with a Chicana author banned in Tucson, Arizona. Carmen Tafolla’s Curandera, originally published in 1983, broke ground using the Spanish and English code-switching of her West Side San Antonio barrio as a literary language. Tafolla discusses what it means that this and other multicultural books were taken out of Tucson classrooms, and what can be done to stop the banning of books and protect the freedom to read.

Guest: Carmen Tafolla, Poet Laureate of the City of San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, www.carmentafolla.com

A PIONEERING SOUND. Miguel Martínez, the man credited with innovating mariachi music to include the now signature sound of two trumpets has now published a book, at age 90. Mi vida, mis viajes, mis vivencias: siete décadas en la música del mariachi (My Life, My Travels, My Experiences: Seven Decades of Mariachi Music) tells the story of mariachi music through Martinez' own life experiences. The pioneer of the mariachi trumpet sound joins this edition from Mexico to share some of these stories.

Guest: Miguel Martínez, Pioneer of mariachi trumpet, Mexico City, Mexico.

ALSO, A YOUNG MOVIE STAR. Young actor José Julián starred opposite acclaimed Mexican actor Demián Bichir in A Better Life, the movie that took the life of a day laborer to the big screen and beyond, winning in the process an Oscar nomination. Julián discusses the experience of bringing a story like this to a wider audience.