S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition for today's arts and culture show. A music festival Under the Desert Stars , a book on black representation in film and exploring the rise of analog hobbies. I'm Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Beatlemania comes to the desert this weekend. We hear all about the inspiration behind this year's Beatles Fair and why it's highlighting pedestrian safety. Then a new book on the history of black representation in film. Plus , we talked with some local crafters bringing grandma hobbies back into fashion. That's ahead on Midday Edition. For years , Alma Rodriguez has been putting together a Beatles tribute fair at her art space , Queen bees Art and Cultural Center. This year , alma is turning what's typically a one day event into a two day festival in the desert outdoors. The 2026 San Diego Beatles Fair is happening this weekend in Hakuba. There's an added personal meeting , meaning for alma to this year. She's dedicating the festival to her late daughter , Anna Rodriguez. All proceeds will go to a cause near and dear to the family's heart. Pedestrian safety. I'm joined now by Alma Rodriguez. Alma , welcome to Midday Edition.
S2: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me , and I'm happy to be here.
S1: Thanks for joining us today. You've been organizing the San Diego Beatles Fair for several years now , and you're dedicating this year's festival to someone very special to you , your daughter Anna. And I'd love to just start by hearing more about her. Tell us about her.
S2: Well , uh , Anna was a very vibrant person. Um , she was , um , involved in the community , and she was my right hand person during the San Diego Beatles Fair. She also worked as a in the industry , as a crane operator for staging and and performing um , concerts and festivals throughout the country. Um , through many , many years. And when she was home in San Diego , she was part of our , um , own community. And she was definitely very emboldened into doing this , um , community events all the time.
S1: You mentioned , you know , her being a right hand person for you in this festival.
S2: Um , so we did a lot of hiking out here , a lot of outdoor events. And , and this is was our getaway spot for , for my mother and daughter to do , um , a lot of planning in the future. So that's very important to me to dedicate this , um , this and every event that I do for not on is basically , um , what I think she was expect for me to continue.
S1: So where this year's festival , as you mentioned , it was a very special place for you and your daughter. Um , last year , you know , I know you had to step back from the fair after losing your daughter to a hit and run accident in 2024 , and I just want to say , I'm so sorry for your loss. Since then , you've found a new mission , and it's really a big focus of this year's fair. Tell us more about that mission.
S2: Well , um , like I say , I had it took a , a year off to not only to grieve , but also to focus on what is the mission that I need to accomplish to leave her legacy and what she was part of. Uh , she was supposed to take on , um , on my , uh , role when , you know , this is something that we never a parent needs to go through. So , um , now I have to take on the mission to create her nonprofit and protect , uh , and bring awareness to the community of , you know , safety. Um , traffic safety , pedestrian safety , bicycle safety. And I it came to me that I have to focus on this and to make a difference and in the community. And because she was a very emboldened advocate for every , um , you know , um , outdoor , um , walking and bicycling.
S3: And she really loves in advance.
S2: So that's. Yeah , she loved the event. Uh , and anything that had to do with music and , and nature she was involved in. And that's what I definitely. This came to me when , in the time of a year grieving that I have to do something that she will be not only , um , enforce my spirit and also create something for the community to , to prevent this kind of a , um , you know , bring awareness to the community about any given moment. Your life can be taken in any accident. And we focus on the and the and the positive rather than the negative side of things.
S1: And what you created. You created a non-profit. It's called Awareness Needs Action. It's also , um , spells. Anna. Right. So tell us more about the organization. And , you know , your ultimate goal here.
S2: The organization is basically to create , um , to spread not only the safety issues that we have to be aware of , but we also a support for the families that are going through this kind of Tragedies and improvise safety gear. Um , you know , I from time to time when when I analyzed the accident and going through the steps. So what could it prevent ? Things. You know , safety jacket could have prevented , uh , wearing. You don't never think that because you're so close to home and you just innocent walking your dog or or doing , um , a normal activity that people do every day. Uh , you don't think about someone is going to come in and , uh , run you over. So I think that's that's the main focus here , to think that we're we're at risk all the time , especially in high density cities that we lived. So we are at risk all the time. So that's the focus of this nonprofit is basically to bring awareness to not only the pedestrians , but also the the people that are driving a vehicle to be aware of your surroundings , to look out for people walking or people walking their dog or riding the scooter , or anything that has to do with both sides of whether you a a pedestrian or you a a driver. So it's important , uh , whether you drive a night , you're driving early in the morning , you're facing , uh , all kinds of , all kinds of traffic issues. And I think , um , with , with Anna , um , nonprofit is we are going to focus on , on that , um , bring awareness to the community and also a support to the victims of , of this kind of tragedies because after I endure this situation. I have talked to families and and I see how much does it take to to deal with this kind of issues , not only emotionally but but physically and , and uh , so having a support system is very important. And I went through , um , the most difficult times of any parent's life. And I think , um , at this , at this point , I wanted to make a difference. And I definitely don't want anyone to go through what I have gone through.
S1: You mentioned just the need for support there. Um , I want to just , you know , see what support would you have liked to have gotten that maybe you didn't get enough of , um , you know , during this difficult time for you ? And how are you looking to , um.
S2: So , for example , a work with law enforcement when this tragedy is happening and in my case and my daughter's case was a hit and run. So the 72 hours was dramatically crucial to find out , um , you know , organize and get the community organized so we can , we can , uh , knock on doors. Uh , we had a knock on door. So to the less than 24 hours to find evidence of the vehicle , all these kind of things that sometimes when you go into the , um , The tragedy. You don't think how important it is and how crucial it is to work with law enforcement. So before before they send a detective to my to my daughter's apartment , because this has happened in a different city where I lived. So I already have information for them. I already had a leads already have all this. So this kind of support is very important. What to do when something happens and then was the after effects ? How emotional are your family ? How you deal with with , with all the rest of the the from the law enforcement all the way to the to the person that that doesn't want to face reality. So it just happened in my family. I have brothers and sisters. They didn't want to face the reality of things. So as a mother , I had to stay strong together. And I think For me personally. In my case , I had to make sure that we do all the right steps so we don't interfere into the investigation and also keep ourselves , um , um , conscious that there's a lot of work to do ahead of us before we can find justice. And then how are we going to turn into a tragic moment , into a positive thing that's important ? And that's , uh , that has to be our main focus.
S1: And that leads to , you know , honoring her at this year's fair. Right. It's at a place which you've talked about is was really special for Anna and you. Um , so tell us more about what you have in store this weekend.
S2: Well , uh , first of all , we this is our first , uh , time that we took it out of the San Diego city limits. So it's a new learning curve. It's a campground at the spring resort. So the , um , the reason , of course , I mention it is because me and my daughter spent a lot of time hiking out here , and I definitely had a dream about about what to do , whether I'd do it , whether I quit or whether I , um. And it came to me that she would not never let me quit. She would love this festival. She always part of it. And the most important thing is to create memories with our families and our loved ones before it's too late. So that's important , and that's what I'm creating. We hope to create this , this and and launching our nonprofit , tell everybody about what we can do to make a difference. And and definitely I'm excited because , um , she's she will be very proud that that we're doing this to help people like you always want it.
S1: Well , it's a beautiful way to honor your daughter. And I want to thank you for , you know , sharing more of her story and about this year's festival. I've been speaking with , um , with alma about this years. She's the owner of Queen bees Art and Cultural Center and organizer of the San Diego Beatles Fair. Happening this weekend. We're going to link to tickets. Alma , thanks so much for being here.
S2: Thank you so much for inviting me. And , um , yeah , come down this weekend and Beatles for , uh , Beatles. Welcome.
S1: Thanks so much. Coming up , we hear about a new book telling the history of black representation in film. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hindman. Earlier this year , Ryan Coogler's Sinners earned an unprecedented number of Academy Award nominations but lost the top prizes to one battle after another. That highlights a long standing problem in Hollywood. The industry , along with Academy voters , feel more comfortable with films that have a white protagonist and a white filmmaker , even if the film purports to tell a black story. KPBS Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando spoke with author David F Walker about this and his new book , Black Film A History of Black Representation and Participation in the movies. Here's that interview. David.
S4: David. Let me begin by asking you about a recent event , the Academy Awards , which leading into them was incredibly promising for black filmmakers. You had Ryan Coogler. Sinners garnered more Oscar nominations than any other film with 16. But as usual , we ended with the film that appears on the surface only to have black representation , beating out the film that was completely made by a black filmmaker. How does this kind of fit into your book , in terms of how you're looking at black representation in film and what that kind of means or signals for either how far we've come or how far we still have to go.
S5: Yeah , well , that's a great question. I'm still mulling a lot of it over. The publication date of the book kept getting pushed back. It was supposed to originally come out in 2022. And every time it got pushed back , I was trying to find another film to hang the closing statements on , and sinners was the one. And when the nominations came out , I just remember thinking , wow , this is amazing. This , this has broken the record for nominations. I was I was hoping that we would see a shift in what the Academy voters have yet to make , and we don't. We never see the results. You know , for all we know , sinners lost by three votes , you know ? But the fact of the matter is , is that sinners does not have a white protagonist that that the audience can glom on to. Right. The last majority of times that movies have been nominated for Best Picture. You know , something that we would consider a black film if it does not have a white protagonist that a white audience can can relate to , it doesn't win , but a movie like Green Book wins. And it's like , what ? It's similar. I mean , it was Driving Miss Daisy and driving miss Daisy one as well. Right. So that's the thing. It's like we still live in a society and we still have. You know , this this board of of voters that are are still uncomfortable with certain things or can't relate to certain things. I was incredibly disappointed. I wasn't surprised. Coogler and sinners are an amazing company , right ? Orson Welles and Citizen Kane did not win Frank Capra. And and It's a Wonderful Life did not win. Scorsese and Raging Bull and Goodfellas did not win. Right. And then when you look at the movies that did win , a lot of the times , I don't know a single person who has , um , ordinary people on their home video shelf. Right. Like , the same with Green Book and all these other ones that win and one battle after another was I was like , oh yeah , this is the one that's going to win. Does it deserve to win ? In my humble opinion , no , not at all. But I also understood why it won.
S4: Does Ryan Coogler also scare the industry because he's sort of outsmarting them at their own game ? Not in terms of what he puts on the screen , but he negotiated quite an amazing amount of control over his film , which I feel like they can't be entirely happy about , even though it made a ton of money.
S5: What's interesting is when when people talk about the unprecedented deal that Coogler got with sinners , the first off , it's not unprecedented. Other filmmakers have gotten it. He's the first black filmmaker to get it. But what nobody's talking about , the rumors that I've heard was the person that who advised him on how to get that deal and how to negotiate that deal was Tyler Perry. And and that's who the film industry should be afraid of. Not because he doesn't make good movies , but because as a business person , Tyler Perry has it on lockdown , right ? Tyler Perry owns , I believe he owns every single one of his movies. If I had known about the deal Coogler had at the time , I would have loved to have talked about it in the book , because that's going back to the tradition of the race filmmakers of the 20s and 30s , the , you know , Oscar Micheaux and the Johnson brothers and , and folks like that who operated completely outside of the mainstream film system , the studio system , in similar ways to what Tyler Perry has built for himself. Nobody operated the way Tyler Perry did , but you couldn't in the 30s , right ? Segregation and all these different forms of oppression kept that from happening. But but I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry's movies , but I look at the way he runs his business with awe. I used to get into conversations with people and it would be like mutual bashing sessions. Oh , I can't stand Tyler Perry movies. And now I'm like , yeah , I'm not even talking about his movies. I'm just talking about what he's doing as a business person.
S4: Now , one thing I love about your book is it's not just about the films. You give it this historical context. That , and I mean by history is not the history of films , but you give it this real historical context so that we can kind of see how films play a role in that history and how history plays a role in the film.
S5: I think the the movie that really , I'm going to say was the movie that captured my imagination , but the movie that got me interested in what goes on beyond the movies , behind the scenes and what's going on in the world at. At that time. At the time it was made was night of the Living Dead.
S6: Night of the living dead. The dead who live on living flesh , the dead whose haunted souls hunt the living.
S5: Which was , you know , came out in 68 , was made 67 , came out in 68. And I was obsessed with that movie. I saw it when I was a kid on TV one Saturday afternoon , and then immediately tried to find every book on monster movies that talked about it and began studying it. And so many people would talk about what was going on in the 60s and how that related to the movie. As I started to evolve into some semblance of a film scholar or film critic , I was informed by everything that was written about night of the Living Dead. Right ? And so I've always been the sort of person that's like , well , you can't just look at one thing and study it and not study what came before it , what was happening around that time. And that's part of what I wanted to do with this book , because I feel like most of the times I read about film , especially now , there's very little historical context. There's maybe they'll talk about Spielberg and they'll , you know , Spielberg was part of the new Hollywood generation that emerged in the late 60s with Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde , and that's all they'll say. But they don't talk about what was going on in the studio system. They don't talk about what was going on in a sociopolitical context. So you don't understand why Bonnie and Clyde is so important , right ? You don't understand why The Wild Bunch was so important , but you also don't know how much trouble it had getting , you know , finding an audience that the studio wasn't behind it. And and to me , nothing is more infuriating than when I read stuff like that. And there's something missing and I'm wanting more. I wanted to try to give this book. I needed it for me to be more than just. This is what. How movies were made. And this is who. Who made the movies. And it was like , okay , there's a section in the in the book where I'm talking about in the 60s , and I'm talking about a movie , A Patch of Blue with Sidney Poitier. Right. And that movie was made in 65 , which was the same year as the Watts riots. Right ? While I enjoy that movie , it is the ultimate in sort of fantasy of like racial , you know , racial harmony. And here it was. It was filmed like three miles away from where the Watts riots happened. Right ? I'd never read anything about that. And for me , it was like I was just looking at a patch of blue , and I was like , when was this made ? Wow. Okay. This is made , you know , between 64 and 67 , 68. There's a lot of turmoil going on in this country and a patch of blue and and Guess who's Coming to dinner and all of Sidney's movies. Porky's movies were the antithesis of what was happening in the real world and the streets. And I was like , we need to talk about that because. Because a lot of times we seldom talk , really talk about film as propaganda and film being used as a way to push an agenda , even if that agenda is being pushed on an almost subconscious level. Because I think a lot of times filmmakers don't realize what they're doing.
S4: Well , the other thing about this , too , is that you mention , you know , if you are what you eat. Yeah. Are you also are you what you watch ? Yeah.
S5: Well , that's a whole other book in and of itself , right ? But let's talk about white audiences first and foremost. And I'm not saying this in a negative way about white people. I'm just talking about this particular group of society. If you had a movie like , say , birth of a nation. Right. It's playing to audiences in the South who are so steeped in their racial ideology , white supremacy , the dehumanization of Africans and and their descendants that it's feeding what they already want to believe to be true.
S7: So you're gonna have one of us springing up. Come on. That order.
S5: But then birth of a nation may play someplace where the people watching it don't know any black people at all. Or they have very limited interactions with black folks. And so suddenly you have this movie and then all these other movies that come along , and it's very easy for people to confuse film with reality. And so I think that part of what film did for white audiences was it gave them this representation of black folks that wasn't real , but they confused it with reality. And then film never gave a counter-narrative , right ? So you never saw the alternative. So in the 30s , there weren't that many white people going to see the movies that were made for black audiences. Right ? And , and then as it applies to black folks , we some of us have the same problems , right ? Where we don't realize , oh , what we're being shown is a variation of someone's interpretation of us , and then we start to live that way , right ? We see people acting the way. And it's not just black film , but it's like Scarface becomes De Palma. Scarface becomes sort of the guidebook for how you're supposed to act if you're a drug dealer. Right ? And it's like , oh , please , just stop this , everybody. Like , how about we just enjoy movies for what they are , which is not real , and we get past these trappings and we we stop using film and television and other media to define who we are , because that's what we ultimately do , is we allow it to define who we are and how we act and how we interact and what we expect from other people. And it's amazing to me how much we confuse real life with make believe.
S4: Now , you brought up the idea of race , film and racist film. Explain to people who may not be familiar with the term.
S5: That term became popularized around 1916 1917 , in the aftermath of the release of The Birth of a nation. There was a growing movement of primarily black filmmakers , but there was also a lot of white filmmakers , which is also something I don't talk about nearly enough in the book , but that they were dedicated to making movies for black audiences that , in theory , represented black people in a way different from how birth of a nation does it. The the. One of the first companies to do this was the Lincoln Motion Picture Company , founded by brothers Noble Johnson and and George Johnson. And that was where the term race film came from. Race in and of itself was. It was an offshoot of. There was a term called race man. Right. W.E.B. Du Bois and folks like that , political leaders were considered race men , people who spoke up for the black race , who it was a way of taking back a lot of the negativity that that was surrounding these terms. And so race films emerged in 1916 , and they pretty much lasted through till about 1948 , which was the year that Oscar Micheaux , I believe , was 48 , made his last movie. And so it was a term that was applied to movies that were made for and marketed to specifically black audiences. They weren't always made by black folks. And then at some point , Other terms emerged. There was race films , there was colored films. There was all black cast movies. Black. You know , things like that that were. And I haven't been able to figure out exactly when some of that terminology began to shift. But it was , you know , they were still using race movies that term at least into the early 40s. And that was probably a time where the shift really began. And that all has a whole other story behind it , because that was , in part , the government and the military trying to get black folks not to see themselves as being equal , but to or to promote civil rights , but to get black folks to feel like they belonged in a society that didn't want them.
S1: That was KPBS cinema Junkie Beth Accomando , speaking with David F Walker , author of the new book Black Film A History of Black Representation and Participation in the movies. And that full interview will be available on Beth's Cinema Junkie Podcast. Up next , a look into the world of crafting and grandma hobbies. Midday editions. Back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hyneman. I'm sure you know the feeling. You're staring at your phone , scrolling and scrolling. Suddenly , an hour goes by , maybe two. Social media is designed to keep our attention , but these days , young people are looking for ways to fight against that scrolling trap. And many are turning to more old school hobbies. Think knitting , needlepoint , pottery. Here in San Diego , people are also building community through those hobbies. And I'm joined by a couple of folks in , you know , working in that space right now. One , Kim Mullin. She's the co-founder of Momo Craft Club , and also Marli Drake , cofounder of Queer Crafting San Diego. They both organize free events for people interested in crafting. And welcome to you both. Welcome to Midday Edition.
S8: It's great to be here.
S1: Great to have you here. And earlier , I got a sneak preview into some , you know , some of the hobbies you do. And I want to talk more about that. But Kim , I don't know. I think a lot of people like myself , maybe we have a particular idea of what crafting is , what it isn't.
S9: Um , whether you know , whether you are doing it professionally or you're just doing it for fun. Um , you it's just disconnecting , having fun , connecting with your inner child and just really creating something for yourself. Marly.
S1: Marly. Okay , I can admit , like one thing that comes to mind , mine is just like making , you know , bracelets or something like that. But you were just showing us to this beautiful artwork , right ? Just a few minutes ago. How do you define crafting and what the limitations are or not ? Absolutely.
S8: I think for me , one of the most important things with crafting is the tangibility element. Anything from the classic things you think of knitting a sock , painting a picture. But we've seen people bring things as unique as soldering irons to our crafting events , or they've made stamps out of erasers. It's really just about creating something that you can then hold with your two hands. You know , maybe that you can wear , that you can use in your everyday life , or just that you can look at and appreciate. It's just about creating something tangible in my mind.
S1: I'm you mentioned you kind of took the word right out of my head , that tangible right. This is something real , you know , and the intro is kind of doing a little rant on social media , but this is , you know , real paper , real , you know , content.
S8: One of the things I love is learning something new. So these days , like you mentioned , I've gotten really into watercolor and have been particularly water coloring birds , but also just real dumb memes. Just for myself. I recently painted a rubber duck thinking about bread because I can Um , but I've also done embroidery , crochet , perfume , making all sorts of things in the past and. Yeah. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Kim , what about you ? I mean , you have a definitely , like , a creative take on it as well. What ? Yeah. What's your favorite thing to work on ? Yeah.
S9: Similar to Marley , I consider myself a jack of all trades. Master of none. I am constantly I love learning and I love creating. I think that's the biggest thing for me is just being able to create. And even in like the creation of Momo , you know , I had to learn how to do like digital art. Um , and I am always trying to learn something new. Every craft that we do every month is going to be a little bit different. So people kind of get to see which ones they like a little more , which ones they might maybe , you know , are not that into , but it really is just about that creation element. And like Marley said , creating something tangible. My co-founder , Molly Tong , is an amazing stained glass artist , and she , um , took a class and she just got really into it. And she's created some amazing pieces. And , um , so I take inspiration from her. I take inspiration from our crafters. I am always learning something new. And yeah , it really is just about taking that time , creating something.
S1: You know , Marley kind of framed this around grandma hobbies , but what we're talking about is far , you know , I don't know , it's like a pretty limiting title on it. How do you capture I mean , we just heard stained glass creation , right ? Um , you know , can you talk a little bit about just what that range and how you look upon what we're talking about here ? Ultimately , it seems like a lot more than just knitting. Yeah.
S8: Yeah. I think when we talk about grandma hobbies , part of that was what was accessible in prior generations. And learning something like knitting was a lot more accessible than jewelry making. But we live in a day and age where you can go on Amazon and you can get your soldering iron and you can make your own jewelry at home. You can find a way to make stained glass , things are far more accessible , but at the same time , society is moving away from , like we said , those tangible things. So many of our careers , we don't make anything anymore. You know , I came from the marketing field. I would write something , put it online , you could look at it , but you can't touch it. And so I really fell into crafting because I desperately wanted those things that I could hold on to. And I could point at and say , I made this.
S1: Well , Kim , you know , when I hear you each talk about all , you know , all the work you're doing and crafting , I do think about time and just how that plays into it. Again , kind of coming back to our modern lives can be really hectic. You know , things move fast , but a lot of these habits do kind of require concentration or kind of take time and space.
S9: Um , you it does take time. And I think that it's important for a lot of people to take that time for themselves a lot of times. You know , we have people who come to our events who do work in like corporate settings or are parents and don't have that time for themselves. So it's important to make that time to connect not only with others in this like community , but also connect with yourself. And yeah , and having this intentional space like Momo , where you know that it's going to be two hours once a month , you're going to go , you're going to connect with yourself and you're going to connect with others , and you're going to get to create. Um , like Marley said , this tangible piece of art that you can be proud of and you can display and you can look at it. And every time you look at it , you think about the time that you spend making it , and you think of that time fondly.
S1: And you're spending this time often , especially with the groups you're all doing with other people. Right ? So , Marley , you know , talk about that community component and what that adds to this experience. Yeah.
S8: Yeah. So we specifically reach the queer community in San Diego. Um , obviously those spaces exist because you can be when you're in makerspaces , as a queer person , sometimes you're making that evaluation of , am I safe to talk about my partner , to talk about tell a story about the bad date that I just went on ? Or do I have to hold these things to myself ? So it's very important having that space that is safe and free , where people know they can shut down that part of the brain and just be themselves. But I found in our time running queer , crafting that having something to do with your hands while you're having a conversation actually makes a conversation flow so much easier. There's just something that is no longer distracting you. Worrying about what am I doing with my hands ? If there's a lull in the conversation , you can just kind of focus on your project for a little bit. It feels less awkward. It feels like less pressure. And that's been really helpful for people. And all our events are outside in parks. People are , as we like to say , literally touching grass. So it , I think , just helps people with some of the normal pressures that they might feel around connection and just lets them be in a safe space for a few hours a month.
S1: And yeah , I mean , I just I absolutely get what you mean about doing something and being able to kind of have these conversations on your own time , but obviously exploring , you know , these crafts. Kim , you know , you do a lot of events at breweries , out , out in the community. Talk to me about community and how that plays a role in your group. Yeah.
S9: Yeah. So community is everything to us. Um , we started Momo because Molly and I actually met at work and we connected over that. We both really liked crafting and we would have little craft parties together , and we were kind of like , we we should see if other people want to join us. Like , I think other people would want to do this too. And so we kind of just threw the idea out there and , um , started our first event and we kind of thought maybe , you know , ten , 15 of our friends would show up. But then we had like 50 strangers show up and we saw like , whoa , like , people want this. And the biggest thing is that we want to keep our , um , events accessible to everyone. So when we were looking up things , we found things like sip and paints or other events. But you have to pay for those. And not everybody has the means to be able to pay for them. So we always want to keep our , um , events accessible to everyone , and we want it to be a safe space where there are no economic barriers. You can show up as you are , who you are. And we really people really have leaned into that. We've had people who come and say , hey , I came by myself , I like , I'm nervous. I don't know where to sit. And we'll be like , oh , like we know someone else who came alone. And then we'll see them exchanged phone numbers. And next time they come together. And they made this friend and the we've had people celebrate their birthdays. We had a couple that got engaged at Momo. Um , wow. It really just has become this community of people , the safe space where people can come be themselves. The hardest part is finding parking. And then after that , you just show up and you have fun , and you build this community and you connect with others , and you connect with yourself , and you learn how to do something new. Um , yeah. And especially when we are talking about these sort of hobbies , you know , again , with like the , the monetary aspect of it , if someone wants to start , let's say watercolor or , um , knitting or something , they might not have the means to go to the store and buy. um.
S1: Starting all the gear you need to kind of get up and running.
S9: Yeah , exactly. And , um , so we provide all of the materials. So like I said , you just show up as you are and you are one of us , you're welcomed and you are part of the Momo community. Mali.
S1: Mali. We just have a couple minutes left. But I do want to , you know , pick your brain.
S8:
S1:
S8: I really love making silly art. Um , I'm not , because I like so many hobbies. I haven't spent the time to get great at any of them , so I'm just okay at most of my hobbies. I'm a big believer in being bad at hobbies , but so I make silly art rather than trying to make good art. So I mentioned my rubber ducky earlier. I've made. I painted Elmo on Fire recently. The the meme. Um , no. Hate to Elmo , I love Elmo and. um , I made a , I did an embroidery of a clown that , um , said , I shall I will uphold the good name of clowning , which comes from the eight Clown Commandments. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , we'll have to see that one. And we actually did a little video of some of your work. So , you know , we'll try to link to that , um , you know , on this in this show. Um , Kim , what about you ? Any any projects or , like , works that you want to stick with you ? Yeah.
S9: I love creating , um , presents for people again , like , I , I wouldn't say I'm like a superstar at any one , uh , one craft , but it always means so much to people when you make something that resonates with them and that is special to them. And then you go to their house and you see it up on their wall. Those are always like , I'm always really proud. Uh , one thing that I'm getting into right now is , um , like burning wood. And , um , one of the projects that I've been wanting to work on is I have this wooden tortilla press that I want to engrave. Um , like a little , uh , a little design into. And I think that's , um , that's something that I've been really looking forward to doing. Um , I think it's a cool idea , and I think it's something that connects with my culture as well. And , um , so , yeah , that's something that I'm really proud of , I painting. Um , I , I created the logo for Momo and all of our merch. Um , I have designed , like I said , like , I learned how to do digital art. I'd never done it before , but I just went for it. And now it's on the internet. It's on. You know , people are wearing my designs and it's it's crazy , but it's really cool and I'm really proud of it.
S1: Well , again , it's such a wide range. I don't know , calling it grandma hobbies. I kind of regret starting it with that. But I want to thank you both for being here. I've been speaking with Kim Moline. She's the co-founder of Mau Mau Craft Club. Also Marley Drake , co-founder of Queer Crafting SD. We'll have links to both of their groups on our website. Kim Marley , thanks so much for being here.
S10: Thank you.
S1: And thank you for joining us today. If you missed any of today's show , you can always listen to wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at 5:00. For more in depth reporting on San Diego issues. Midday was produced by Ashley Rush and Tami Murga , senior producers Brooke Ruth. This week's art contributors Beth Accomando and Julia Dixon Evans. Our technical producer this week is Brandon Truffaut. Midday edition theme music is from San Diego's own surefire soul ensemble. I'm Andrew Bracken. Join us tomorrow for our weekly roundtable. Thanks again and have a great day.
