S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition on today's show. The arts and culture moving San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Author Don Winslow is back and out with a new book. He'll join us live to talk about the final score. Then Riot Productions has a new play about the stress of auditioning. Plus , your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Crime fiction fans are in for a treat. Acclaimed author Don Winslow has returned to fiction with a new book , The Final Score. It's a collection of six short crime novellas. The release comes just weeks before the premiere of feature film crime 101 , based on Winslow's short novel of the same name. That film stars Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry , along with other big names. And joining me to talk about his return to fiction and the upcoming film is California's own Don Winslow. Don , welcome back to Midday Edition.
S2: Thanks for having me.
S1: I'm great. I'm glad to hear that. You're great. Uh , listen , you know , the last time you were on the show , we talked about your novel City in Ruins. And in a way , that book was a farewell to your career in fiction writing. But now you're out with another. So tell me what changed.
S2: You know , the stories in this book just kept talking to me. You know , I did retire. I thought I had retired. If I was lying , I was lying to myself as well. But then , you know , the the ideas and the characters and , and and some of the conflicts in that became this book just kept talking to me and , and wouldn't shut up. So I finally sat down and wrote them.
S1: All right. Well , let's talk about this new book , The Final Score. It is a collection of six novellas.
S2: It's about people who who have to make decisions. And sometimes the choices aren't always good. You know , it's it's not always so simple between right and wrong. And and once they've made these choices , it's about , okay , who are we now. Now what am I going to be. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. So give me a sneak peek at the stories we'll get with this collection. Who are the main characters themselves.
S2: Boy they vary. You know , the first story , which which is set in the San Diego area , is about a career high level thief who is about to report to prison and knows that the probability is he's going to die there and needs one final score to set his wife up for the rest of her life. So that takes place around San Diego. Uh , there are some others in Rhode Island. One is about a teenage kid who illegally delivers booze to customers on Sundays when that state was dry. Another one is just a couple of mob guys sitting around talking over breakfast. In fact , there's no narrative in it at all. It's all dialogue. Uh , there's a story again , set in San Diego , uh , about a movie star who comes down to , uh , on a film shoot , and she's a problem , and she needs to be sort of babysat. And some old characters of mine , Boone Daniels , uh , are in charge of trying to get her through that. Uh , boy. And then the final story , collision , is about a good guy , you know who ? A father and a husband who has one random moment of violence that flips his life upside down. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Wow. It sounds also very fascinating.
S3:
S2: Limitations are liberating. You know that that format forces you to be concise and clean and efficient in your language. Also , there are some stories , you know , there are good stories , but. But.
S3: But.
S2: They don't have the the bone structure , the skeleton to hold up the the musculature , if you will , of a complete novel. But there's still good stories and they should be told. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. I couldn't agree more with you when you say that , you know , having some some constraints is a good thing because as a writer , I know you could go on and on and on. Um , right. Yeah.
S2: You know , having having made a decision , uh , a year ago that I think was the wrong decision. I think the country is now looking at itself and wondering , okay , who are we now ? What are we going to be ? What choices are we faced with ? You know that we need to decide. And then what are the consequences of those choices ? Yeah.
S1: Well , and I know , as I said before , when we spoke with you last , you were retiring from writing to focus more on on political advocacy. Tell us about that.
S2: Uh , that really angered me. It still angers me , uh , when he , uh , you know , poked fun at Serge a , you know , a disabled reporter , um , all kinds of things. And then , of course , January 6th , you know , which I think is one of the most disgraceful , shameful days in American history. And that certainly has kept me going. So , boy , how do I count the ways , you know. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Yeah. Well , tell us about your activism strategy. How has storytelling helped you craft your political messaging , many of which have gone viral ? Yeah.
S2: Listen , we've had hundreds of millions of views on the videos that we've made. We dropped one , in fact , yesterday about , you know , do you remember what America used to be ? And and I hope people do and want to see that again. Uh , listen , you know , I think we all bring our whatever we have to our activism. And in my case , you know , I think I'm a fairly decent storyteller. And so I try in these videos , in these messages to speak plainly to people , not to speak down to people , but to speak in , in plain , frank language. And , and each one , you know , tell a little bit of a story , have a little bit of a narrative. Uh , so that's that's the strategy. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I know you've received some backlash , even threats online , um , about your activism. And I read in an article that you cancelled your book tour for the final score because of these threats. Yeah , but you've maintained your presence online. So. So talk about why that's so important.
S2: Well , listen , these threats , you know , listen , I've always gotten threats. You know , I wrote about the Mexican drug cartels. Not always to their pleasure. Uh , but more recently , the , uh , the threats have come from the right wing , and I think they've accelerated because of these videos. You know , we don't , uh , don't take a penny in contributions. Uh , have never monetized any of this stuff. And so it's all paid for out of pocket. And what pays for the videos are the books. And so if you want to shut down the the videos , one way of doing that is to shut down the books. One way of shutting down the books is to force us to cancel appearances , because that costs , you know , potentially hundreds of sales for every appearance. And as maddening as it is to give in to those threats , you know , you can't put other people at risk. You can't ask the public to come out , you know , in a place that you can't , you know , be fully secure. Um , and so , uh , that I think and I don't think it's coincidental that we're going to go into a midterm election year is , I think , what all those threats are about. Now , having said that , you know , the attempt to silence us , uh , clearly hasn't worked because we dropped a big video yesterday , and here I am talking on the radio. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. You know , when you look at the state of things right now , um , what does advocacy mean to you.
S2: Well , advocacy I think means to me and I think to everybody primarily it's , it's to stick up for people who don't have the voice to stick up for themselves. You know , I'm very fortunate in that I have a platform. It's not it's not humongous , but it's large. Um , and I can reach out to to millions of people and , and advocate for people who don't have that power. Don't have that leverage to advocate for themselves.
S1: Well , I want to get back to your your book because I'm curious to know how your your approach to writing evolved in that time off that you took.
S2: I really experimented with different forms. You know , the structure of the novella as opposed to the structure of the novel ? Uh , one , one story that I alluded to is , is just narrative. I wanted to see if , I mean , it's just dialogue. I wanted to see if I could tell a complete story just through people talking to each other. So this book , you know , I had the freedom to , to do those things , which was a lot of fun.
S1: You know , I also want to talk about this upcoming film , crime 101. Yeah. Based on a story from your 2020 collection broken , and it comes out just before Valentine's Day , what does it mean to have this particular work adapted to the screen ? Listen.
S2: It's great. I was just really pleased with the way the film came out. Bart Layton , the writer director , did a wonderful job with it. You know , it's got terrific actors and terrific performances. So , you know , it's it's a kick. It's a lot of fun when it when it happens that way. So I'm delighted with it. The other the other great thing about getting a movie made is the number of people it employs. You know , one day you're sitting in your office early in the morning and you have this small idea , really. And then , you know , a few years later , 3 or 400 people are paying tuitions and house payments and mortgages and things , you know , from that little idea. And that's really cool. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. It is. Um , upon watching your story come to life on screen , did you learn anything new about the characters ? Anything that surprised you ? Yeah.
S2: Bart did a great job , I think , in deepening some of the characters , you know , because this comes from a short story. So he he had a lot more length and to to work with the characters. Uh , actors are always a revelation , you know , and , and in this case , a good revelation. Uh , you , you write some dialogue and some of it , you know , comes straight from the book , some of it doesn't. And then all of a sudden it becomes real , you know , there's a real voice and a real human being saying it. And that can always be a little surprising , you know , in this case , for the good.
S1: Well , bringing it back to your philosophy around activism.
S2: You know , I've written a lot about border issues. I've written a lot about drug trafficking , about addiction , about immigration , about imprisonment. Those topics perforce make you somewhat political , because when you research them and when you write them , you learn things. You know , I , I used to think that , um , unless I were politically active on , for instance , the drug issue , I was just another guy making money off drugs by writing books about it , you know ? Um , so I think that fiction writers can do things that , no offense intended , journalists can't in that we can we can bring the reader into the the psychological and emotional lives of people in great detail. So , you know , it's one thing to talk about , quote , illegal immigration , end quote. It's another thing if I can take you on a journey , you know , with , say , a ten year old boy coming up from Central America and trying to make it into this country. It's one thing to talk about , you know , the , the opioid crisis. But if I can put you for , you know , hours with a , a 26 year old woman addicted to heroin , I think you see those issues differently. And I think that that's something that that uniquely fiction can do.
S1: You know , the final story in this , this book of yours is also being adapted for the screen. It's called collision.
S2: You know , you hope that , um. Listen , I'm aware that they're going to have to be changes. Because films and books are two different breeds of cat. You know , they have different needs. And so there's always going to have to be changes and compression and things like that. But what you always hope for is that they retain the soul of the story and the soul of the character , and I have confidence that they will.
S1: Well , well , your first year out of retirement is already shaping up to be huge.
S2: You know , there's the book that you mentioned , City and Ruins. This is the third of a trilogy. The first of that trilogy is in process for a film with Austin Butler. There's talk about some television series that , in fact , I hope they shoot here locally on some other projects. And so there's a lot going on. As for me personally , you know , I don't know , I really don't. I'm just sort of taking it all in right now and enjoying it. And , and then I'll , uh , I'll kind of sit down with myself and see what the world looks like.
S1: Well , it is always an honor , Don. I've been speaking with Don Winslow , best selling author based in California. His new book , The Final Score is out now and you can see crime 101 in theaters on February 13th. Don , thank you so much and congratulations.
S2: Oh , thank you so much for having me. I always appreciate it.
S1: Coming up , callbacks are always stressful for actors , in part because you just never know who you might be paired with to read a scene.
S4: Oh man , I just hope that this person is not going to be at this audition , because that would just throw me off my game. And that person's always there , either coming out or going in just as you are going into the waiting room.
S1: A new show audition side shows what happens when ex-lovers get thrown together for an intimate scene. KPBS is back after the break. Welcome back to midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. You know , any actor will tell you auditioning is one of the most stressful parts of the job. While a new play from Riot Productions called Audition Sides , gives a behind the scenes look into that world , it's a romantic dramedy about two actors with a past history who are thrown into a callback together. Audition sides first debuted at the San Diego International Fringe Festival in 2024 , where it won Outstanding Premiere. Well , it now returns for four performances this weekend. KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando spoke with Sarah Alida LeClaire , the playwright , lead actress and co-founder of Wright Productions. Here's that conversation.
S5: Sarah , you have a new play opening this weekend called Audition Sides. So to begin with , for non theater people. Explain what audition sides are.
S4: So when you go in for a callback , usually you do your initial audition and then you go in for the callback with a smaller group of people , and they'll give you a cold read of a short scene that they want to see you so that everybody is doing the same material. Or sometimes they'll ask you to to do a side with another person who's either been cast in the role or just to see how your chemistry is with that other person. It's one of the most stressful things that we do as actors , honestly , especially in older days before there was intimacy coordinators that would help you kind of navigate romantic scenes as this one is. They would often just sort of hand you these pieces of paper that would have a very intense romantic scene and send you off with a guy whose name you didn't know , who you had met 20s before and say , okay , well , figure something out and come back in when you're ready to show us. And on the line is whether or not you get this job. So no pressure.
S5:
S4: So like , you know , you're memorizing your material , you're cutting your specific piece that you're going to bring in and show them you're dressing as if for a date , you're getting your hair and makeup ready. You're spending hours , if not days and weeks , preparing for what could be a minute or less. So I make the point in our play that it's like speed dating. It's five minutes across the table from someone who probably won't call you back. So yeah , I find that very comical. It doesn't stress me out. I really enjoy going to auditions and callbacks. It's one of my favorite parts about being an actor. Um , that's the backdrop for the larger piece , which is kind of about how hard it is to lose the one person who sees you for who you really are. And what we do when you have a relationship where love was not enough , how do you navigate , like finding your way back to even being able to be in the room together , and some painful topics that I tried to put into , like a kind of silly , absurd way to heighten the stakes.
S5: Well , you mentioned that sometimes you're thrown into a scene , an intimate scene with a total stranger , but kind of the , the conceit of this is it's not a total stranger. So how does that intensify or complicate the situation ? Yeah.
S4: So I've always been fascinated by the story of Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms , who were like 19th century composers , and she was a singer pianist , and he was obviously Brahms of Brahms Lullaby. And they had this , like very intense , emotional affair across decades. So they had this intensity for each other , but she would never allow them to be together. And that's sort of where I started with this piece , is I thought about who's the worst person. And that often happens that you , you go into a callback that you think , oh , man , I just hope that this person is not going to be at this audition , because that would just throw me off my game. And that person's always there , either coming out or going in , just as you are going into the waiting room and to have to pull it together and be professional in these heightened stakes when it's somebody that you want to be with but can't be , it would be easy to ignore them. But they've been put together in this callback so that they're in this very romantic scene together , saying things to each other that they really want to say to each other in reality , and it's forcing them to relive a lot of the parts of their relationship that they would prefer to not bring up anymore. But they can't because this is their job.
S5: Well , and also for an actor , you're frequently drawing on your own personal history and experiences in order to make a performance or a scene play more real. So you're in this situation of tapping into that to make a false scene exactly when you're actually tapping into very real emotions.
S4: Yeah , this would be a nightmare for me to have to navigate is hard enough to be in a show with someone who you have any history with. In any case , it's a wonderful thing when it's somebody that you've done a show with before , but it's a very hard thing if you have any kind of contentious history , even to just be in the same space and to be unselfconscious about your work. Kristen Stewart gave that great interview to Vanity Fair , talking about how acting and performance is inherently embarrassing. And I love that idea because it is like to be as vulnerable and ugly as we have to be. It's very hard to do that. And so we give a lot of trust to the actors around us , and that's hard if it's somebody who you've broken trust with in in real life , trying to do a scene with or in front of somebody who you used to love while trying to hold that part of yourself in just enough check to be able to give the tears and move authentically and deliver the lines in a way that feels less than stilted is part of what you'll see us go through.
S6: I'm not crazy. There's something here.
S7: You're not crazy.
S6: Well , then why ? Every time I try to get close to you , you're physically pushing me away. every time.
S7: I'm not 20 anymore. I know what I want , and I know who's gonna give that to me.
S5: Now , this is a very intimate show in terms of this relationship and this physical space , but you also throw in another character to kind of contradict that mood. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. Originally I wrote the character of Proctor and Audition Proctor , which is somebody who was usually like sitting at the table in the waiting room. They're managing all the people that are waiting. They're the go between between the team that's in the actual room , the production team. And then they're the ones that will call you in. And so originally when I wrote this script , I had her there just to tell us that we were going to have to read together. And then she disappeared for the rest of the play. But my partner and co-founder of riot , um , Jocelyn Johnson , when we were reading this play in development was so funny in the little bits that I gave her and so dry , and she has such great comic timing as an actress that I was like , okay , so there's opportunity here for her to be that clown in Cirque du Soleil that helps you release the tension. So she usually will pop back in whenever. We've had some really brutal moments in these fights that the man and woman keep provoking in each other. The truth that keeps coming out. She'll come dancing out on the hunt for her eternally lost Starbucks cup. And so she'll repeat things that she's heard the director say. So she tells us , unintentionally that some of the roles are pre-cast , but definitely not our roles. She thinks for sure , but maybe she tells us.
S8: I know I'm not the director. No , I mean , I shouldn't be directing you guys. I mean , you are the professional. So they say , um , but if I just said , pick , like , one tiny thing. I can't help but notice that you guys don't ever really make eye contact with each other , and I think it would really help.
S4: I try to write for other actors. I think that's one of our main audiences for riot , and so it is a love letter to actors and what we go through. But hopefully the relationship stuff is something that's universal that I think everyone will relate to. And then you can see how silly what we go through is. Get an inside look.
S5: And this is being produced by Wright Productions , which you co-founded. Talk a little bit about kind of the mission of this company. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So we're an intersectional feminist collective that is trying to amplify the voices of women. Plus , we want to exist at the intersection of the Bipoc and LGBTQIA plus communities so that when we're amplifying women , we're also making sure that while our stories always feature women who have arc and agency , or making sure that those stories are balanced , that we're not using our platform to emasculate men , we want to show complex humans in relationship with each other , but we're also trying to make sure we have representation so that gender is fluid and roles don't have to be restricted to anyone , whether it's size or ethnicity or experience. So we look for , as I said , stories where the women have arc and agency , where they don't just exist to make men better , which is something specifically for musicals. Um , that's a trap that , uh , many authors , including women , want to put women characters into that their mothers , wives , girlfriends , sisters who exist in sort of like purity and perfection. And there's nothing that they need to change and there's nothing that they need to grow. They're just there to help the man want to be a better man. And so what we're trying to show is that women fail and fall and stumble and succeed anyway , and overcome obstacles and exist in complexity with the people around us. I was very frustrated as an actress seeing the pieces that theatres would put up. I'm going to say in quotes for women , often women sitting around with their sisters at kitchen tables , talking about their mothers or talking about their lovers , or talking about the past in every way and never being allowed to dwell in action in the present or look to the future. And so that's what we're trying to do , is at least dwell in the present and hopefully move towards the future.
S5: Now we are currently in some very Turbulent times.
S4: We're so lucky to have the Conrad previs activate Brave Spaces grant this year. In connection with Moxie Theater and Loud Fridge Theater , we have a $250,000 grant that pays for our rent so that we can be at moxie at the theater venue. All of our funding comes from private donations like that , because I think a lot of people in San Diego at least see that our stories are essential to making sure that truth stays truth and that , um , people continue to be represented and that women especially are not silenced , that were finding brave spaces where we can activate those stories. You know , to be frank , that we can show women who swear and are promiscuous and are unfaithful , that they don't have to fit this plastic Barbie doll mold. And I think that's what we're trying to do. And I see many of the small theaters , especially , who don't necessarily have to be beholden to what our season ticket holders want. Um , we don't have to find a safe path. We don't have to be beholden to censorship. We're really inventing new stuff , and we're kind of following in the footsteps of many of these really amazing theaters , like our friends at Loud Fridge that we're trying to see. How can we innovate this model ? How can we make it more about what people want to see , what actors want to do ? And that's why I wrote Audition Sides.
S5: And you mentioned moxie. You are a theater company or have been a theater company without a permanent home or , you know , brick and mortar kind of place. So how does it feel this season to actually.
S9:
S4: It's very stressful. Producing is very stressful. I do not like it. It's not fun. So yeah , to be able to have , um , you know , a team that is made up , all of my friends that are there at moxie , they're so supportive. We know now the space I was on , I think season 19 and season 20 of Max's regular season as an actress myself. So it feels like my home anyway. But then to be able to be welcomed as they've welcomed us so warmly. Yeah , it's just wonderful thinking about not only these pieces that we're doing now. We're this is our second piece. We did love loss in what I wore in October. But to be able to think about our summer musical that is going to have like a physical set. And that that's possible because we're going to be able to be in there for two weeks is just a gift beyond compare. So to just be able to like , think about these pieces that aren't so suited to Black Box , we've have been choosing a lot of pieces that are very black box , you know , a stool and a cube. Yeah. It's wonderful to have been in the space last week to sit there with our lighting designer , Hayden Sinclair , and talk with their tech experts at moxie to say , what did we need ? And were there things that needed to be physically moved in the lighting grid ? You know , just figuring out how we're going to do the box office and then realizing that we're going to have help with ushers and like , you know , all these little luxuries that brick and mortar theaters get to have. It's just been such a delight.
S5: Well , thank you very much for talking about Wright Productions and audition sides.
S4: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: That was playwright and actress Sarah Lida LeClaire , speaking with KPBS Beth Accomando. Tomorrow , her play Audition Sides kicks off three days of performances at Moxie Theatre. Up next , Julia Dixon Evans tells us what's on her weekend arts calendar. KPBS Midday Edition returns after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. For our weekend preview , we've got honeybees , knitting art and music on a ship. And joining me with the with the latest is KPBS arts reporter and host of The Finest podcast. Julia Dixon Evans. Hey , Julia.
S10: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: Always great to have you on. So. First up is a new exhibit opening at the Central Library Art Gallery downtown. It's called Mother Tongues.
S10: It's up on the ninth floor of the downtown library above the dome , and it overlooks downtown. So if you haven't been , check it out for that reason first. And this exhibit is a study of textile art , particularly in the context of textile work being traditionally domestic and traditionally women's work. It's a group show with a really impressive list of local women artists like Chitra Gopalakrishnan , Leyla Khalil , Zadie Adami , Kirsten Hom. Yasmeen. Kassam. Shireen. Taufiq. Just a great collection of artists working with textiles , and they're looking at migrations and ancestral traditions. There's some big hanging installation pieces , some garments , smaller wall pieces , collages , a lot of variety in the work. There's an opening reception on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. with a DJ spinning some live music , so it should be a nice little party. It'll be on view through April 18th. The art gallery is always free , but you need to be mindful that it has slightly different hours than the main library , so double check the times before you head down there.
S1: Oh , that sounds great. Well , speaking of textile arts , people actually have a chance to get involved in a community sourced knitting art installation. So tell us about the Remember Knitting Circle.
S10: Yeah , this is the start of a large scale installation that's planned for 2027 , designed by artist Linda Literal. It's a monthly knitting circle. Anyone can join all levels , even total beginners. The participants are going to create a bunch of hand knitted banners. Each stitch honors people who are affected by sexual violence. The goal of the project is awareness and mindfulness as well as solidarity. And if you participate in any of these monthly knitting circles , you'll be acknowledged as a contributor in the final project. It's Saturday afternoon at Art Practice in North Park , and I'm excited to watch this throughout the year.
S1: Yeah , yeah , sounds good too. One that I'm excited about is this new play. So let's talk theater here. This play is in the North County and it's about futuristic. Honeybee scientist I love it already.
S10: So we're in a honeybee lab 20 years in the future. And four women scientists are tasked with keeping the last honeybee colonies alive. It's a play by Kate Douglas. It's called the apiary. And it just opened at New Village Arts in Carlsbad , directed by Christiane Koerner , and a cast of really talented locals like Melina Sellars. Phillips , Neo Russell , Michelle Kuruvilla and Adelaida martinez is a dark comedy , but also a little bit of like a sci fi thriller. It's a climate catastrophe futuristic setting , but it's also not that far away in more ways than one. And this is on stage through February 22nd.
S1: Very interesting. They're in music. The La Jolla Symphony and Chorus has a series of concerts this weekend.
S10: But I was also interested in this new. It's a commission by La Jolla Symphony and Chorus called Breaking Boundaries by emerging composer Hanna Wolfowitz , because the score calls for some unconventional instruments , including a jelly bean shaker , a percussion instrument made out of a mason jar filled with jelly beans , so this is inspired by her grandfather's love for jelly beans. They're also performing a piece with another pretty unusual instrument. It's a rare one , relatively new like electroacoustic instrument called a Hal Dora phone. It looks kind of like a cello. And these concerts , there's two of them. 7:30 p.m. Saturday night and 2 p.m. Sunday at Mandeville Auditorium at UC San Diego.
S1: Well , if someone is into string quartets and historic ships , there's there's a concert for that too , right ? Right.
S10: So this is a project of the Housman Quartet. It's a long running , a very popular series called Haydn Voyages. They perform these shows on the deck of the Berkeley , which is a historic ship. It's part of the Maritime Museum. And this concert is quarterly. And they try to chip away at Haydn's entire string quartet repertoire. They also pair his music with other classical composers as well as living composers. This time one of the contemporary pieces is by Caroline Shaw , Pulitzer Prize winning composer , and the piece is called punctum. And the concert is Sunday at 2:30 p.m..
S1: I love it. So before we go. You've been hard at work on the second season of The Finest. You're on a break this week , but last week's episode was all about a local chocolate maker. Tell us about it.
S10: She runs Reyes chocolate , and her work is inspired by the traditional Mexican chocolate flavors that she grew up with , and also the sustainable farming practices of Mexico's cacao farms , and she also runs her chocolate factory out of her home. It's a certified home kitchen cottage food business and that's where we start the episode , literally in her kitchen.
S11: Do you want do you want to try it , or would you want to have like a small sip or no , it doesn't take too long. Okay. Yeah.
S10: Producer Anthony and I are in Ellie's home kitchen , about to try her famous temporada. So this is a mixture of chocolate , spices and corn , basically.
S12: This is so good , I love it.
S11: It's very hot.
S12: It's really hot.
S10: It's a little thick from the corn. Not too sweet. A rich spiced chocolate with hints of cinnamon. A recipe passed down through the generations.
S13: It's a warm , cozy drink that you share with your family at home , when everyone is together , when you want a little bit of like , oh , I need a little love.
S10: We're in her kitchen because it also happens to be the headquarters of a local business , one that started at least partly from a moment of exasperation in 2019. Ellie couldn't find a job. She'd recently moved to the United States from Tijuana and was newly married. She had a strong career in marketing in Mexico , but struggled to start a new life in the U.S..
S11: It's really hard to get a job in San Diego if you are coming from another country , even though you have your degree , even though you have the experience , it's it's difficult.
S10: She was working in a preschool to get by , but in her free time , she was rediscovering a passion from her childhood and cultural heritage.
S11: I fell in love with the process of chocolate making.
S10: Around that same time , California's laws were evolving. Opening the door for a different kind of business. Suddenly , a new possibility emerged.
S11: I was really amazed. It's like what ? You can do this at home.
S10: It was a hit and the project felt like it could be sustainable.
S11: I worked in a preschool for one year and in two events I got half of the year's salary in just two weekends. That's amazing. And that is crazy.
S10: Ali's Experiment turned into the job she was looking for , but just a few years ago , her chocolate business would have been illegal. Today , we go inside a real cottage food business to explore how it could challenge a massive , shadowy chocolate industry. And we taste the centuries old traditions this home kitchen is bringing back.
S11: My name is Elisabet Rosales Aguilar. My company name is Reyes chocolate. I make chocolate with Mexican inspired recipes.
S1: That sounds so lovely. If you want to listen to the full episode , you can find the finest wherever you get your podcast. That's it for our weekend preview. As always , you can find details on the finest and more arts events on our website , KPBS. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thank you.
S10: Thank you. Jade , this is fun.
S14: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
