S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On our final show of 2025 , we take a listen back to a few of our favorite discussions from an eventful year. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. This year , we heard about overcoming the challenges of living with a chronic mental illness. We also talked about free speech and the attacks on it , plus family , parenting and fatherhood. That's ahead on Midday Edition. First the news. Here on Midday Edition. We cover a wide range of topics from news of the day , which there was a lot of this year , to the world of arts and culture. We also spend a lot of time on mental health and wellness. We like to call it Wellness Wednesday , and I typically work with Andrew Bracken on a lot of those segments. He's one of our brilliant producers on Midday Edition , and he also hosts the roundtable. Andrew , it's good to have you here in studio as we close out the year.
S2: Yeah , we made it to the end of another year today , and I wasn't sure at some points during 2025 , but we made it.
S1: We did. We did well. Andrew , one segment that stood out to you this year , and I remember this one. It was one we did with an author who shared her personal mental health journey. Tell me about that. Yes.
S2: Yes. Her name's Jane Rose. She she wrote a book about her , basically her experience with bipolar disorder. You held this conversation with her in March. That's Bipolar Awareness Month , and it was just a really revealing look at her , you know , journey , navigating mental illness and ultimately being diagnosed with bipolar in sort of how it empowered her and really had a positive impact on her life. Right.
S1: Right. And I remember she used poetry to share her personal perspective. Here now is part of my conversation with Jane Rose from March , which is Bipolar Awareness Month. Talk a bit about the diagnosis , because you were very fortunate that you had someone who recognized some things in you that said , hey , you know , maybe you've got bipolar disorder and you need to go and be seen.
S3: You have to see that person and get it sort of a baseline. Um , also , you need to be familiar with what bipolar disorder is , because I would come in at different times with my psychologist in different moods , and she just kind of talked me down. And , you know , it was more the talk therapy as far as you know. How are you doing today ? You know , okay , let's focus on breathing , okay. Let's you know , maybe , you know , you're you're thinking have really down thoughts and okay , so let's , you know , focus on what the good things in your life. Well that's great. You know that's important. But for someone who is bipolar you like I said you can't snap out of it. Someone needs to be able to help you understand okay. How did you get here ? What stress is going on in your life ? Because that's what prompts a manic episode.
S1: What's putting the book together ? A healing experience for you ? Yes.
S3: And it still is. It is. But it was also more about revealing things. I had to get it out. It wasn't in the beginning so much about healing as it was about just facing my myself , really digging deep. It's very hard to look at yourself in the mirror and be honest. You know , I had changed over the years. Who am I ? The choices that I made , my mental health , putting and tying that all together. It was. I wouldn't say it was healing in the moment. I would say that it was helping me discover myself.
S1: It was therapy.
S3: It was therapy , and I'm still healing. So it's a road to healing , but you have to do the work first before you get there. And so that became my work.
S1:
S3: We have a lot of fear about being honest. And we talk about , you know , I want to be my authentic self , but what does that really mean ? You know , is it a projection that you want to share ? Well , this is who I am , but we're not really sharing what is deep. So I would say , don't be afraid. You want to do your work , you want to heal. You want to move on. You want to understand. You have to face yourself in the mirror. It's not hard. It's ugly , and I'm still going through it. This is not a book where I said , oh , I wrote it and it's good. And this is I've got on the other side of it , so I'm sharing it with you. It was fearful for me to share those things , but in sharing those things , that's how I'm starting to get over the other side. So you can't be afraid. You have to decide to go through. The only way out , they say , is to go through , and the only way out of the forest to the horizon is to walk towards it.
S1: Such a powerful story and perspective again. That was part of my conversation with writer Jane Rose back in March of this year.
S2: Yeah , indeed. I mean , just listening back to some of it , what sticks out to me is just how honest and open she is. I think a lot of times we hear these stories through the eyes of , you know , mental health professionals , maybe journalists , and just hearing this raw story. And it's not perfect , right ? You know , her journey has a lot of ups and downs. And she kind of talks about , you know , it's it's ongoing for her. It continues to get treatment. But it was something that I thought was just a really important way to raise awareness for mental health and kind of like ease that , um , some of that stigma. You know , we often talk about that and when we do these segments , and I just thought this illustrated that beautifully.
S1: I couldn't agree more. I mean , and it is so important for people to hear those personal stories because you just never know who it will help. And we really appreciated her for not only sharing her story with our audience , but also raising awareness about bipolar disorder and also particularly the challenges black people face in getting proper care for mental health. Um , you know , conversations like the one we had really helped to change the disparities. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. And I think she had some , some challenges getting the treatment she , she needed. So yeah , I just thought you did a wonderful job in that interview.
S1: Thanks , Andrew , I appreciate it. You know something else we spent a lot of time on covering this year was the Trump administration. We had tariffs. We had a government shutdown. We had Snap benefits being cut.
S2:
S1: I mean , you know , but one show that that we did in September that really stands out to me , Andrew , it was about the state of free speech in 2025. Um , this was back in September , when ABC had suspended late night host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves after comments he made on his show about how some Republicans responded to the killing of Charlie Kirk. Disney then decided to remove Kimmel from air after being pressured by the FCC chairman. So as part of a show we did looking into free speech in 2025. I spoke with a pair of San Diego comedians , Walter Ford and Victor Paz , about how they viewed the news of Kimmel's suspension , and they also talked about , you know , what this means for their art , their craft , you know , their profession as a whole. So we pick up the conversation with Walter , talking about how he's seen the local comedy scene change.
S4: I've definitely seen a change to be more focused on social media. That's kind of a lot of the business now. I will say. Also , it's kind of moved and shifted to a more political stance just because of the environment that we're in. You know , people still do their little high high , you know , jokey jokes , but it's definitely more , um , in totality. A lot of people are speaking up on more political things , even if they aren't the most political type of person or have the most political type of comedy. And I think it's just from the changing landscape that we've seen in America in the last ten years. You know , literally since 2025 or 2015. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S4: Um , and I and I the reason I , I think that's a good thing because the entertainers are the soothsayers of the , of history. So right now , I think there's just a lot of people that are using their expression to , uh , get their point across and share information. Right.
S1: Right. Well , in Victor , I mean comedy. You know , it has a long history of rocking the boat. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. I mean , uh , comedian I always say that we're the we're the modern day gestures. Um , our job is to poke at the king , and we're not allowed to poke at the king. Then we're not allowed to do our job. Um , I think that's why guys like , uh , Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart. Um , some of these guys have become so important in society. Um , the Jimmy Kimmel's and the Jimmy Fallon's. But even back in the day , a lot of people , you know , Jay Leno and Carson and all the Letterman , all these guys had their moments where they also poked at whatever was in front of them at the time , because that's our job as jesters is to set it straight and be like , hey , dude , this is absurd. This is ridiculous. And we're supposed to let you know , and we're supposed to , uh , use entertainment in our in our comedic voice to tell it now. I'll be the first one to say that , um , Walter is ten years in , and I'm only three years in. He's much more mastered of his craft than I am. Um , but I've always been a big fan of comedy and political comedy , especially , um , I think we've become extraordinarily polarized , and people don't even want to hear the other side. even of a comedic standpoint as a producer. I've heard somebody say , you had three people bashing Trump , and I was like , I don't even have too much political stuff on my stage. I have some stuff where people are making points about the absurdities of society. I don't consider that political. I just consider it honest. But some people are just associate one thing with politics. And and I think that's that's a danger in itself because now we're not even open to discussing things. And that's not even freedom of speech. That's just the society's saying , I don't even want to listen to you. I'd rather we're talking at each other. We're not. We're not having a conversation anymore. And that was that was honestly one of one of my big issues with a lot of these online debaters. They're they're stuck on a hill and they're not having a conversation. Right. They're just kicking down the hill saying , uh , no , I'm right. You're just going to have to listen to me till I prove it to my audience , not to the person they're actually having a conversation with.
S1: And that was my conversation with San Diego comedians Victor Paz and Walter Ford from back in September.
S2: Yeah , and listening back to that , I mean , one thing that jumped out to me earlier in the show , I think you talked to professors. It kind of lined up the conversation about free speech. But here it was with local comedians , which I thought was like a really interesting angle , you know , to the story here and kind of getting their reaction. And I think when you were talking to them live on the air , the news came out that ABC was basically going to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel. So you got their live reaction to it too , which was really interesting to hear their reaction.
S1: That's right. I'd forgotten all about that. But yeah , we were able to get that that breaking news into the show. It was a very interesting conversation and I really appreciated them coming on to share their perspective. All right. Coming up next , Andrew Bracken and I continue our conversation about the favorite segments that we had this year. Midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back to midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Today we are listening back to a few of our favorite conversations from 2025. Now , earlier , we heard a conversation with some local comedians reacting to the state of free speech from earlier in the year. But that's not the only time we talked with San Diego comedians , is it , Andrew ? No.
S2: And this is really one of my favorite ones. And I think we talked about this every year around Father's Day. You and I get together and we talk about doing a Father's Day themed show. And in past years we've had amazing conversations. You know , you've had great conversations on , I don't know , discussions of masculinity , what fatherhood looks like today or men's mental health. And they're all really important conversations that I love hearing , especially around Father's Day. But this year , we kind of wanted to lighten things up a little bit. And so we invited a local San Diego comedian , his name is Mel Hall , to join the conversation.
S1: All right. Let's take a listen back.
S6: I wasn't at the meeting when we decided to change all the parenting rules. And so I just feel like. I just feel like the change from , like , the parent being the authority in the house to the parent , uh , collaborating with the child is kind of hard for my brain to , to accept , you know , like , um , I just come from I that's the that's the thing that blows my mind the most is that the the parents that we as millennial parents ask our kids , uh , sincerely , what they want to do , what they want to eat , where they want to go. And as a generation , we feel like we're bad parents or we're abusing our kids. If we don't , then do everything like a fulfill every answer that the three year old four year old kid requested. And it's like , I don't know. It blows my mind. It's nails on a chalkboard , and it's like , that's where the comedy comes from. So when you see my show , there's like a lot of frustration , but it's like , um , but it's just kind of , it's just pointing out. I just ask why a lot like , why is this ? And there is a good percentage of millennial parents that leave my show not making eye contact with me , which Which makes me feel good to me. I made some people think tonight I like that.
S1: Oh my gosh , you'll own that too then. Uh , so.
S6: I , I tell people I'm trying to raise my kids. Not exactly how I was raised , but I'm taking 75 to 80% of it. The 20%. We can adjust that. You know , I think everybody I think 20% is a is a smart amount. But we're making wholesale changes to the to the principles of parenting. And it's just I don't I don't agree with it. Right. I think it's hilarious.
S1: It is. It is.
S6: What do you want for dinner ? Um , they don't know. Nutella.
S1: Nutella. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. You want ice cream ? Ice cream with Nutella for dinner. Coming right. Up.
S1: Up. Right. That's how it goes. Yeah , it really does. Every time I because I asked. Yeah. You know , she didn't give the right answer. So.
S6: No , it's never the meal that you spent two hours to make that they want. It's like , give me the. Can you air fry or something ? Yeah.
S1: Yes , yes. So on your comedy and judging parents earlier because that's what you do.
S7: You're judging. You're judging the parents.
S1: Um , earlier we heard a clip from your last comedy special , and you are finishing up a new one. So let's take a listen to that.
S8: I was lied to. I found this out recently. I'm an on time parent. Like you don't have to have kids to know the. Do you guys know these parents that feel like they have one baby and they could show up 30 minutes late to everything ? They show up late to the thing , and they just point at their baby and look at you and they go , oh , you know how you know how it is. I always stand there confused , like , did the baby driver or what is the you're late , dude , you're in charge. We hate you. Not that baby. Mal.
S1: Mal. That's you , I appreciate that. How dare you call me out like that ? Um. So go ahead. Can you break down for me ? How you take something from your everyday life. My everyday life , for sure. And crafted into a part of your stand up act.
S6: Why ? And then I'll bring it up in conversations with friends and people without it being a joke form. Like , why do we do this ? Like , like we'll be at the party and someone shows up late and they always jade you guys always come in frantic like , oh.
S9: Oh my God , I'm so sorry.
S6: It's like we knew you were going to be late. And then the excuse is , oh , you get it ? Because the baby and and the baby and it's like , I don't , I don't I don't get it , you know , because we somehow figured out a way to get here on time. We had the three babies , but we also still retain the ability to to read a clock and respect other people's time. You know , so we found a way to get here on time.
S1: It's because you don't do the gentle parenting.
S6: You know , you.
S1: Don't fool with. That.
S6: That. No. Hey. Two minutes. We're out of here. Hey , put your. If you want to wear shoes , you should put them on , because two minutes , the the plane is taken off. We gotta go.
S1: Okay , I'm writing this down. I'm taking notes. Here. Go.
S6: Our parents didn't ask us.
S1: They didn't.
S6: And we turned out fine. Look at you. You got to work on time today. You know you're here.
S1: I'm here. But.
S6: But. But yeah. Now then we become parents , and it's like , well , we can't come because the nap schedule falls right into the time that that you made the plan. So do you mind as as a group of adults , do you mind Switching all the plants because my baby will not survive for the next. Who knows if they don't have their nap.
S1: Today , the child is not going to act right.
S6: The child will be fine. The child adapts to our lives. We don't change our entire lives. Wholesale for the baby is my.
S1: All right.
S6: Jada and I , we could. We could crush a few bottles of wine discussing this. I feel that's where a lot of the jokes come from. It's like I just don't.
S1: Have you ever done , like , an intervention ? No.
S6:
S1:
S6: No.
S1: No.
S6: No I , I will , I will tell you , I feel like I am self-conscious that like , um , my friends know what my act is like now. And they have young kids. And so I feel like I don't really I try not to base a lot of the jokes off of the people that I know , because I think they will know and they'll feel a way about it. And something that I say all the time is like , there's some unspoken rules to parenting. One of them is like , you're not allowed to tell people how to do it , which is true. We all get to do it however we want to do it. But it doesn't mean it's not funny. So I just try to. I try to change the names of the of the people as much as possible in the situations , as much as possible. Because my friends are great comedy writers and they have no idea.
S1: Ah , yeah. You can't play with that one. C okay , so how did you get started in stand up ? I would imagine , like getting up in front of a crowd with the goal of making people laugh and relating to everything that you're saying can be intimidating.
S6: I've been , you know , paying , telling people I'm a comedian , paying my bills as a comedian since 2010. And I got into it just kind of by accident. Like I was trying to become a , like a sports anchor for ESPN. And so going to college for communications , I had to take an internship. So I was at a radio station in the morning. Show guy I was working with did stand up before he did radio , and I was like , ah , I came from a small town. I don't know how to start. Like , how do you start being a comedian ? And he was like , just get a notebook and wherever they'll let you speak , you know , like write down all of your funny ideas and then find wherever they'll let you speak and find out if those ideas are funny. And I remember I remember the first time I tried , it was a five minute set that I had rehearsed for for weeks , and I did it and it was like , really ? Um , it was a rush and a high , and I've sort of never quit after that. I ended up dropping out of school to pursue standup , and I got very lucky that my style and my my style and material , um , was a well liked early , and I was able to quit all of my part time jobs three years in and like start touring as a comedian. So I really like it. Found me. Comedy found me.
S10: Comedy found you now I'm now I'm here now I'm here.
S6: Judging people on a on a professional basis.
S1:
S6: It's like you're watching a person that has your face , you know , figure something out for the first time. Everything. Especially when they're baby , baby babies and like your very first kid , it's like really wild as a human to watch another person , like , discover everything for the first time. And I feel like when you have like when you're especially at this stage of parenthood that I'm at right now is like , um , that's. This is the whole foundation for this person is like them discovering all these new things. And how many , how many discoveries can you facilitate for your for your kids is like kind of the most fun part of it. And it kind of makes you I don't know about you , but like , I feel like I started to appreciate little things more. That we see every single day. And it's just like , let's , you know , we've seen it a thousand times , so we don't register it as something interesting. But then you think about it from your kid's point of view and it's like , this is super cool. It's like there's a lot of stop and smell the roses moment with your moments with your kids , you know ? And I think , like , the thing that I enjoy is like , I work , you know , for an hour at night. So I'm around during the day and I have time to like , stop and like almost rediscover Roly polys. When was the last time , as an adult , that you just picked up a roly poly and had it crawl up your arm ? This is like a child experience , and then you do it when you're a little kid and then you. Yeah. As an adult , we're not picking up roly polys and it's fun. It is. It's super fun. If you're listening to this right now , go in your yard. If you live in an apartment , find a strange yard. They won't mind if you play with the rolling. Pick up a rock. The roly poly are under there and just let it roll around your hand a little bit.
S1: Make sure it's a roly poly though , right ? Yes.
S6:
S1: Do you think that that that joy that you find in fatherhood is really what connects your comedy to so many audiences ? I.
S6: Yeah , I've never thought about that , but I'm sure it is. It's like there's a real spirit of nostalgia that I , I think I bring to my show , because a lot of it right now is about parenting. By the way , the new special coming out soon is called What Are We Doing Today ? That's the name of the special , but it's there's a lot about parenting in there , but you don't have to be a parent to enjoy my show. What I'm finding is , like , people will come up after the show and they go , I don't even have kids , but I enjoy the show so much. And I think it's because , like we joked about it at the top of this interview , like they were kids before. I'm not only talking about being a parent , I'm talking about do you remember when we were kids , we did X , Y , Z , and I mean , I'm enjoying writing a lot of these jokes because I'm it's forcing me to reminisce and remember these sort of things that happen. And I think as adults , we get so caught up with , you know , our day to day , you know , grind that we're all in that we don't really think about. We don't connect dots on certain things from our childhood. So like when you're at a show enjoying your two drinks and watching these comedians you've never heard of that are blowing your mind with these jokes. It's like , oh yeah , drink it from the water hose. The first 30s was , why was it that hot ? And like , it's connected to a joke that I have about my current parenting life. But that little moment is like , I haven't had a drink from the water hose in so long. And it just , you know. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And it just goes on from there. Yeah. That's great.
S6:
S1: Do you ? Yeah.
S6:
S1: All right. That's cool.
S6: Everybody listening right now is like. Jay does not think that's cool. If you could see the way Jade is looking at me right now , it is. Whatever. Like the. The tone you heard in her voice is the exact way she's looking at me. Like you animal. You drink from the water and you let your children do this.
S1: No , I'm not judging. Not at all. I remember that one. It had me cracking up. That was comedian Mal Hall talking with me back in June for a show on Father's Day.
S2: Oh , and I loved just your rapport with him. and he was kind of cracking jokes about you. I mean , he's really funny because I think he , you know , he's a millennial father. He's a father of three , but he's kind of got an old school approach to parenting , you know what I mean ? Like , you could hear some of it there. And I just love that you guys were going back and forth. And I know we we got a lot of good feedback on this , this conversation. So thanks for doing that on Father's Day. I think it lifted a lot of spirits for Father's Day for folks.
S1: Yeah , I mean , it was such a fun conversation. And though he's a millennial and he's got this old school style of parenting , I am a Gen Xer with a five year old , and I , I got a little bit of old school parenting , but I am embracing the new school , the soft parenting. It's a mix. There's a healthy. Medium.
S2: Medium. Exactly right. Yeah. And I think you can get pulled in all these different directions. And no matter what parental expert you listen to , I feel like you've kind of feel like you're , I don't know , you're doing it wrong. But that's why this is such a great fun , like , funny , you know , interview about parenting and all the ridiculousness. So a lot of serious things that come with parenting , there's also just a lot of funny stuff that happens. And I think you guys captured it so well in that , in that interview. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Thanks , Andrew. All right. Still to come. Andrew Bracken and I continue our conversation on our favorite segments of 2025. Midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS midday edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. This hour , KPBS producer and roundtable host Andrew Bracken and I have been listening back to a few of our favorite conversations from the year , and we cover a lot of different topics and new stories on our show. As you know , many of our favorites this year come from the world of arts and culture.
S2: There's so much going on that we have covered and really important stories , but it's also been really important. I feel like for us to check in on things like arts and culture to take the time , you know , maybe as a little bit of an escape from the news stories of the day , quite honestly , but and as a way to recharge. And then also just as like how much is happening in San Diego right now , it does seem like there's a lot of a lot of cool things happening. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. But it also I will say that in many ways , arts and culture reflect back to us the moment in time , which is really cool , but absolutely.
S2: And it ties into all of these , you know , news stories that we've been talking about. Too.
S1: Totally does. But but what's one culture conversation because they are so broad.
S2: There were so many great ones. You've done several shows this year on jazz and the local jazz scene. One of them was , you know , with some folks from jazz 88 , another local public radio station. I love that , but author interviews that you do are often my favorite. One particular this year you did was with author Sandra Cisneros. This was back in February. She wrote the House on Mango Street. It's like a 40th year anniversary , I think , when you spoke to her many other books. And here's a bit of that conversation you had with her.
S11: I think that there are many little girls in in communities that feel alone , even though they're living with nine people on an apartment. And that's that's how we were. We were all a Montoneros , as we say. We're all crowded little spaces that were made for maybe three people. And nine people were living there with one bathroom and three bedrooms. And we just had to make do. But I still felt , um , tremendously alone. And , you know , that's that's sometimes worse to feel alone when you're surrounded by people than to feel alone when you're alone. And I just felt lonely at home when I was in the park , talking to the trees , and when I was next to things of nature , like watching the clouds go by , or watching a sunset , or talking to a blade of grass or a daffodil , when if you ever could get a daffodil. But , you know , in my neighborhood it was like , you know , sometimes we would go downtown and and that was the beautiful park with all the flowers. And so that that nourished me and kept me going. And , and then I had this very rich interior life that I didn't share with anyone. I thought if I share it , maybe they'll take it away from me. So that was my secret life. Scribbling and spiral notebooks.
S1:
S11: Uh , I just didn't feel that I was comfortable with people. I was very shy. I don't think it was so much the area. Jade. I think that artists always feel like they don't fit in the world. I just feel that's part of the personality of an artist , don't you think ? Most artist. I think artists are artists because they they they can't express themselves in a social setting or they feel , um , like they were born in the wrong family , or that they just if they could express themselves that people don't understand them , and it's what draws them to create art. For me , you know , wasn't just having six brothers , but I did have friends in school. But I never shared the things I shared with my notebook and pen , and that that was something that was so special to me that I thought if anyone made fun of it or made fun of me , I would just be devastated. So I think it has more to do with the sensitivity and the intuitiveness of of everyone who's an artist.
S1: Yeah , well , your work explores this line between what it is to be American and Mexican. I think it is an experience. So many here in San Diego and in the San Diego Tijuana region can relate to.
S11: But his first language was always Spanish , and we spoke to him in Spanish. And my mother was a Mexican-American born in the US. On her first language was English. So we spoke to her in English. And so I always grew up with the two cultures , and to me , it's its normal way of growing up , speaking two languages and visiting grandmother in another country and having relatives in Chicago. It was just normal to me. Uh , it gave me another way of seeing it gave me another way of seeing myself and of always wanting to travel. It planted a seed in me of needing to travel to other countries as an adult to see the world from different perspectives. And I think my father , without knowing it , you know , he was a mama's boy , so he kept dragging us to visit his relatives in Mexico City when we could , but he gave us , without knowing it , a real sense of who we were as as the children of of a Mexican father. And , you know , we didn't believe any official version that someone would have given us that would have disabled us to look at Mexico with anything else except pride. Because we had been to Mexico , we spoke the language. We'd seen the pyramids , we traveled in Mexico. It gave us a first hand knowledge of who we were. And of course , you know , living in the United States , all our education was about the US , a different point of view and my English language , which of course , the language I write in. So both of these worlds co-existed for me. And until recently they did not seem like a conflict , only until this year that I'm now treading into territory where I feel I have to be wiser than just a writer and be very astute about what's going on nationally in the United States as of January.
S1: You know , I just love talking to authors and hearing more of what really drives them and their work. And another one that actually comes to mind for me is an interview with an author who just also happens to be a famous musician. And that.
S2: Was musical royalty.
S1: Right ? Okay. Royalty. Listen. So that was with Ziggy Marley about his kids book pajamas and , um , and here's that conversation , you know. First , tell me about pajamas. And it's about , you know , a family pajama party. Um , tell me about that. Yeah.
S12: Yeah. I mean , it's like it's about my family , you know , my my immediate family of , um , when I started writing this ad for young kids and we , we used to communicate choo choo seng choo , um , making up a little jingles here and there to get them to do stuff , whether it's if they're going to brush their teeth or if they have dinner time. We usually I usually communicate with them through song or , you know , make up a little rhyme or something. So pajama is , you know , it's just it's about how we communicate with our children. And , you know , the book is based upon my father's song jamming , um , in terms of the energy and the vibe and the melody of the idea. But yeah , it's just a way of communicating , you know , some , some things to the kids. Really. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , okay.
S12: Um , my dad one is 14 , and we have two. What about 18 year olds just went to college like yesterday. Congratulations.
S1: Congratulations. Yeah.
S12: Yeah. We never had another one in college. And I have to old all the kids , you know ? Yeah. Wow.
S1: Wow. I mean , you know , even though this book is about a family pajama party , and , you know , when we think of it , we're thinking of very small children. Um , it's something that you really carry on even as your kids grow up and get older. It's that that connection , right , is important. Yeah.
S12: Yeah. My next question. I mean , the connection where we're bringing everyone kind of back to the childhood state of mind , where no matter how old you get , you're still my child and I'm still your parent , and we always can dial down the , the , the , um , the adult world , you know , and bring it back to that in a sense of when you were a child. You know , when I was a child , being a child , you know , it's just a it's a great time in our lives , in their lives. And , you know , we always can bring it back to that. You know , as a , as a family , you know , even if it's just for fun , you know.
S1: Yeah , absolutely. I mean , you know , so throughout the story , you really weave in lyrics from that iconic song we just heard , jam.
S12: We make up stuff. We we add new stuff , you know ? So it's not it's just a part of who we are and what we do. We like having fun. We like making fun. And music is a part of our life and we have fun with music. And so we did with songs of my father. We we always like , you know , trying to relate to our everyday life and , and spin it in that way. And so this is one that we we spin it , you know , spin the vibe out of his spirit into his grandchildren , you know , in a very fun way.
S1: You know , illustrations are such a huge part of children's books , too. And these illustrations , they're bright and and colorful , almost whimsical , like a kid's imagination. Leticia moreno did the illustrations. What was it like to bring the images to life with her ? Yeah.
S12: I mean , I just say images called as expressions for kids , you know , very important. It's a full the full spectrum of , of of their , um , how they , how they receive information. It's , it's it's not just one way. It's in colors. It's in words , it's in sound. And so , um , you know , it's a back and forth. It's a , it's a collaborative , um , process. Um , you know , she sent us out to say , I try this , do this , do that. Um , and we just that's how we work. Most of the stuff we do is collaborative. And so we just try come to a thing where it just feels good , because sometimes it's about how it looks. But a lot of times how it feels when you look at it , how you feel when you look at something is how we kind of judge things. We really use a lot of heart and a lot of feeling , um , to also interpret things and not just how we see it , but how we feel it , you know. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. That's right. Well , you know , was reading and storytelling a big part of your own childhood growing up. Yeah.
S12: Yeah. Well , reading. You know , I was not so much about storytelling. Um , because , you know , I grew up in Jamaica , and we have a lot of folktales in Jamaica that we were told. There's this one famous , um , character called Anansi , which is actually it's , uh , it's coming from West Africa and our heritage in Africa. Mhm. Um , so we used to hear stories about Anansi all the time , and we used to hear a lot of , uh , we call them duppy , but it's ghost stories as kids. Mhm. Um , our , our grand aunt would tell us like these duppy stories , these ghost stories that scare about fun still , you know. Um , and so it's a real world that we grew up with hearing stories. And so it's always been a part of our life. And music tells stories. My father music is storytelling also. So it's it's a big part of our life. Storytelling. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. They gotta have the griot. Um , how is writing children's books different and maybe similar to making music for you.
S12: Well , writing children's books and children's music is like a free experience to me because I can just show the imaginative side , the child side , the the , just like this side of me , that's not so heavy , you know , that's not so adult and and and and not be self-conscious about it , you know , like , you know , we can we can be we can be children. We I can be a child again and not worry about what some other might say about , you know , what they read or what I sing. Um , and I'm actually I'm really like that for real. Like , I have a strong imagination. I've had one since I was a child , and I could , I could , I could make up my own games and play in the , in the bushes or use a chair as an airplane. I remember growing up doing that stuff. So I'm very imaginative , and I've always been and I've never lost that. I've never lost that imagination and that we have like kind of escaping the world in my mind , you know , finding a way of do it , you know.
S1: It's important not to lose that that part of yourself. You know , that imaginative part , that childlike part. But so many people do.
S12: I mean , listen , it's a lot of love. I mean , you have I really have my heart and an open mind and really a lot of love in your heart for really accept yourself. Accept yourself. You know , all the different facets of who you are. And just be real with yourself , you know , be true to yourself. Really , that's what it is because we all have that in us. But sometimes we try and hide it or try and try to put our face. And sometimes the world are the situation , are the differences we have in culture , race and all these things makes us put on a facade of who we are , or we feel like we have to be a certain way.
S1: He's such a pleasure to talk to and and it really shines through also in his writing and in this , this book , which is really about family.
S2: Yeah , yeah. And and Ziggy Marley appeared and you were speaking to him in the run up to the KPBS San Diego Book Festival in August , and he appeared there. And that was , you know , just that that event was a real highlight for me. Just so many folks showed up , so many great authors , speakers. I know you appeared at it , but it was just really fun for everybody to come together and hear stories and bond over books. And that was really was.
S1: I so enjoyed it. It was a highlight to my year for sure. Um , and it was so well attended. I mean , it was like big props to the team who put that together here in KPBS. Absolutely.
S2: Absolutely. I told them this because I did a session first thing in the morning , so I was there very early. I went outside in the square. Once it was gone , I couldn't believe how many people were there. It was. It was awesome.
S1: Yeah , it was good to see for sure. All right , well , that wraps it up. I've been speaking with Andrew Bracken. He is a midday edition producer and host of roundtable. Andrew , thanks so much and happy New Year to you.
S2: Thank you Jade. Happy New Year to you.
S1: Thanks for joining us today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don't forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. Also , you can always share your feedback or segment ideas at midday at KPBS. Or you can give us a call. The number is (619) 452-0228. I'm Jade Hindman. Happy new year and happy Kwanzaa. Make it a great day on purpose , everyone.
