S1: On today's KPBS Midday Edition. The arts and culture shaping San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman , keeping you informed , inspired , and making you think. Author Sally J. PLA puts a twist on Romeo and Juliet featuring neurodivergent twins in her new book. Rohan and Gemma then hear about the history of Mount Hope Cemetery and an upcoming bike ride event. Plus , your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. A new middle grade novel takes its own spin on a classic Shakespearean love story. In the book , Rowan and Gemma , two neurodivergent tweens , meet on the first day of school and become quick friends , but their connection is threatened by a growing family feud , forcing them to keep their friendship a secret. Well , their connection is one that's real , and writer Sally J. Platt is behind the book. She's an award winning children's author and neurodiversity advocate. She joins me now. Sally , welcome back to the show.
S2: Thank you so much , Jada. I'm happy to be here.
S1: So glad to have you here. So what inspired this story?
S2: Well , a bunch of things kind of coalesced together. Um , I just was watching more and more as young kids are struggling to make sense of all the vitriol going on in the world. If we don't think it doesn't affect them , we're wrong. It really does. And I wanted to write something about that. I was thinking of Romeo and Juliet and the family feud that happens where nobody in Romeo and Juliet. There's no reason given for the feud. It's something that happened in backstory ages ago. Nobody even knows. And it struck me that so often this is happening today in our current climate of conflict. People don't even know why. They're what the reasons are , or their reasons are so flimsy as to why we prejudge other people. So I wanted to write a novel about the danger of making assumptions , and also about the power of words. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. You know , Rowan and Gemma , it joins a rich tradition of Shakespeare adaptation. So how do we see some of those classic tropes and characters , and where do you diverge?
S2: Um , it's more a riff on Romeo and Juliet than a direct , you know , if you know what you know , if you have read Romeo and Juliet , you're going to pick up on things like Rowan's cousin Ty is based on the Shakespeare and character Tybalt. You're going to see that when Rowan shows up on his bike and talks to Gemma out on her back deck that night. It's the balcony scene. Um , if you know , you will know , but everything's just a little bit different. Um , there are a lot of little Easter eggs there that will be fun for people to pick up on and to see. Gemma has a her old nanny that is now off screen and that she just texts with is now Nan. Um , you know who who cares for another family back in the city? And Gemma misses her advice very much. Um , so there are just these little riffs that make it kind of fun. And I was thinking about the age group. This book is made for people ten and up , although I like to say that I write G-rated novels that are intergenerational , have intergenerational characters , and that would be of interest to anyone since it's about two ninth graders. And in ninth grade you read Romeo and Juliet? Yeah.
S1: We do. Well , I mean , tell me more about Rowan and Gemma , the two characters at the heart of this book. What should readers know about them going in?
S2: Rowan and Gemma are both neurodivergent in different ways , and that is sort of my thing I have. I was an undiagnosed autistic kid. I grew up struggling really a lot , and I was many different careers in my life. I did mainly business journalism myself , until I reached an age where I realized what mattered more than anything was writing stories for kids that were not represented that I didn't see represented like my own son. Um , and then when I started writing , I got triggered. I realized I was writing a main character that was not based on my son , but based on myself when I was young. And I ended up in therapy , ended up getting an autism diagnosis based on writing my very first novel , which was The Sunday Birds , and now Roman and Gemma is my fifth. And in each of my novels , their neurodivergent characters are front and center , just naturally just living their lives in the world. And that's what I wanted to put out there. So my mission is to populate children's literature with characters that think about the world a little bit differently , so you can slip inside their skin and understand what that feels like. Rowan and Gemma are of that tradition. It's the same thing with them , but their their special relationship with words. Rowan stutters. Gemma is non-speaking autistic. She uses AAC. She uses us a text to speech tablet in order to communicate and the special challenges that bring. Since it's a book where I wanted to talk about the power of words to hurt and to heal , and the importance of choosing our words so carefully. I wanted to create main characters who very deeply and personally understood the challenges behind finding the right word.
S1: Were there any childhood challenges that you experienced that informed your your writing?
S2: Oh my goodness yes. When I was growing up , I was selectively mute. I would go for long patches of time , kind of unable to say anything at school at all. Um , and I would come home. Actually , this lasted like straight through adolescence into my early 20s. I just wouldn't speak. I just couldn't speak. I couldn't figure out what there was that I could say. But I would come home afterwards and try to write , um , try to reconstruct what I could have said , what I might have said. I would play with words to understand what might have been the best way I could have expressed what I wanted to express if I hadn't been so completely tongue tied out in public. And I think that's why I'm a writer , that that relationship with words , with trying to find the best one , that sense that I can do it if it's a recollection and tranquility , if I can do it on my own later on. I've just always , you know , felt that that was a big struggle. And it really made me feel like the importance of choosing our words carefully. And that's what I wanted these characters to examine.
S1: You really bring that through in in your characters. Can you read a brief excerpt from the book for us?
S2: Oh , I'd be happy to. Let me just call it up here. Okay. This is Jemma talking. When she's about to enter her very first day of high school. She's been homeschooled up till now , and now she's entering ninth grade. Friendship Prairie High School sure looks its age outside. It's a giant , crumbly old brick box. Inside , the entry hall smells like a century's worth of gym socks and chicken soup. I hold my nose and type one handed stinks in here. Oh , it's not too terrible. Mother says as she waves her hand in front of her face. And why are you using that British voice? You sound like Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the day. Well , I have no idea who that is , but for the record , I am using Peter , a male British voice , on my AAC tablet , to sound polite to the teachers , of course. And what is the matter with that prattle? The truth is , I'm never sure what voice to use. There are literally hundreds of voice options on my tablet. Sometimes I like the Scott voice. Very neutral , not to male or female , and other times to mirror clear and strong like mother's courtroom voice. Great for when I'm arguing with her. And I often use British Peter to sound calm , polite , and in control. Especially on days like today when I'm feeling the opposite. Mother wants me to choose one voice and stick to it. Find one. That sounds like you , Gemma , she says. But who is that? Who am I? What does Gemma Marie Kaplan sound like? Hmm?
S1: Hmm? The gym socks and chicken soup. They're in the hallways of the school. I remember that.
S2: Remember that smell in the hall?
S1: Oh , gosh. But , well , as we hear , Gemma uses an augmentative and alternative communication device. Or it's called AC a c , rather. How did you want to depict the experience of using AAC in the book.
S2: As accurately as possible? And I have no experience with it personally , beyond downloading a pro quo app on my iPad and practicing for a day just one day made me realize how it can be very frustrating. But you know , I what I did was I found three sensitivity readers , three that have become three amazing friends that are non-speaking autistic. One is in Denver , star in Denver. Corbin. The second was Alvah Roy , who lives here in San Diego and who I met at an autism conference. And the third non-speaking autistic person is Otto Lana , who I'll be speaking with tonight. We're going to be in conversation at Warwick's. He is a freshman at USD. He's just absolutely amazing. And his family is too. And I was so delighted to meet him and get his feedback about things. So he gave me some excellent advice. They all did. Well.
S1: Well. Yeah. Tell me about some of the advice you got from from Otto? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean from really practical things like I had had one point where they , Roman and Gemma are trapped , like , well , not trapped , but they end up falling asleep. It's like the cave scene in Romeo and Juliet. They're asleep in a room. they fall asleep and lose track of time. And then we wake up. Gemma is madly typing to wake up Rowan and. And Otto said to me , wait a minute , how many hours later is this? She's going to need a recharge. That thing's going to be out of batteries. So from like little things like that to just talking about what? Hearing what I got right , what I got wrong , how it's so hard when you're painfully trying to type something out and communicate and the conversation goes on without you , or people interrupt you , you know , or interrupt you and don't wait to hear what you have to say. Um , just getting a window into what that feels like , what that felt like. And it happens , you know , more often than we know. It's something like 30% of autistic kids do have some kind of speech issue , and a good percentage of people do use AAC now or do have speech apraxia , where the the brain wiring to mouth muscle doesn't quite work , right? Um , and with the new tech , it's amazing how they're able to use , you know , AAC and , and have the ability to speak like never before. But with it also comes these challenges. And I think making people more aware that we should cherish every voice , every person's voice is something I cared about portraying. Absolutely.
S1: Absolutely. In October is AAC Awareness Month. Um , are you seeing more awareness around AAC and what are some misconceptions you still hear?
S2: I am hearing more about it. Um , misconceptions are that people that use AAC or that use letter boards or spell are not doing it under their own steam. Um , there might have been a few cases like this. Who knows? But the vast majority are under their own steam. Certainly. Um , my sensitivity readers were and are , and I think that there's more and more organizations. There's someone online called I hyphen asc. I ask , that's really helpful. Um , yeah. I think you can find out more and more information. And I think in daily life , we are all going to come across more and more people using this as a tool.
S1: So something that Rowan and Jim I struggle with is feeling seen by the adults around them. Um , as you mentioned , what something many kids do. I mean , I mean , that's something many kids deal with. But how did you want to approach depicting that specific experience?
S2: Well , there's some things that are definitely specific to their disabilities where like I said , you know , there's one scene , this one scene where where Rowan and Rowan. Excuse me? Where Gemma is in the school office talking to the superintendent or the principal. And she's with her mom and , Her mom is advocating for her , saying things like , you know , and and people have to have patience and they have to listen to her. And meanwhile , she's cutting off Gemma , who's trying desperately to be heard and to say something herself. Um , and just the irony of that , of being spoken for , spoken over , um , not having your own voice heard because your parents are so vehement about advocating for you that they forget to listen to you. Um , is something that I hear over and over for kids with disabilities. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. How are you continuing to advocate for and the representation of neurodiversity in books and access for neurodivergent readers?
S2: It's really become such a passion of mine more and more. When I wrote my first book , I didn't even dream that that's what would become the major focus. But I think it's only natural that it has. Some people sometimes ask me how , like if it's hard to write neurodivergent characters , but it's the only thing I know how to do because I'm neurodivergent and it's all aspects of myself , of my family , so many of my family members , oh my gosh , our family is just shot through with neurodivergent , like you would not believe , and disabilities of various kinds. And it's really raised my awareness of wanting to speak for them , these people that I love so much that it takes a little bit more time to maybe understand or hear or talk to. I have a nephew that I absolutely adore who's got the best heart in the world , and he's got developmental disabilities and autism and ADHD , and he speaks so fast that sometimes people don't hear him. You have to practice listening. And then the rewards are so great when you just see what a beautiful soul he has. So I guess it's just wanting people to be able to see all the various and different ways in which we can communicate , and to make sure our words are tempered with kindness and understanding. And especially in this climate , the kids are listening.
S1: Your why comes straight from the heart , it sounds like. What do you hope readers take away from Rohan and Gemma?
S2: Um , I think with all my books , they're very character focused and character driven , and I want readers to come away feeling like they've made a friend. Like , this person is someone they know now and it's going to stay with them for a long time. So that's mainly it. You know , there's all kinds of events and swirly worldly things happen and all kinds of trauma and this and that. Um , but at the end of the day , just feeling like , you know , this new person so well that you've met so well , there's a saying that I really love , too , that if you don't read you , you live just one life. But if you read books , you can live a thousand lives. Indeed.
S1: Indeed. Oh , I love that. I've been speaking with Sally J. PLA , author of Rowan and Gemma. She'll be talking more about the book. It works in La Jolla tonight. October 22nd at 7:30 p.m.. As usual , we'll have more details on our website at KPBS. Sally , thank you so much for joining us. Great book.
S2: Oh , Jade , thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
S1: Coming up on Midday Edition , KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando goes to Mount Hope Cemetery to preview the upcoming Stay Strange San Diego Cemetery Creep bike ride. Midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Halloween is just around the corner , and there's no shortage of spooky , fun things to do in San Diego. So how about riding your bike through a cemetery? Well , this Saturday , the noise music collective Stay Strange San Diego is holding its annual Cemetery Creep. It's a bike ride that starts at North Park Community Park and ends at Mount Hope Cemetery in southeastern San Diego. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando went out to Mount Hope to meet with one of the people behind Stay Strange San Diego and get a little more history on the cemetery. Take a listen.
S3: I am sitting here at Hope Cemetery with Sam Lopez of State , Strange San Diego and Sam , tell us why we are sitting in Hope Cemetery.
S4: We're going to do some necromancy and pull up some spirits. Now. Just kidding. Beth. This weekend we are doing our fourth annual Cemetery Creep. I just , you know , wanted to show you , you know , what this cemetery offers and why we're here. Yeah , to have some fun as well. Dress up , ride bicycles. Just have fun with all of your friends.
S3: And what initially inspired this Covid?
S4: So what had happened was , you know , when Covid came around , a lot of us were kind of thinking , well , what do we do? You know , we couldn't really go anywhere. So I started writing my bicycle around town , you know , for exercise to keep things , kind of keep the blood flowing. And then after a while , when kind of Covid lifted a little bit , I started inviting friends to come along with me on these bike rides. And , you know , a lot of friends did come out. And so we kind of started this little bike crew called Street Crepe San Diego. And really it's made up mostly of musicians and artists , but you know , anybody can join. And that's the beauty of it. Anybody. Everybody is invited.
S3: It's interesting because I was just on a panel talking about creating community here in San Diego , and the goth collective was there. And like you , Covid prompted them to come up with an outdoor activity that they could gather around.
S4: Yeah , it's important because you don't want to just be at home and , you know , you want to be outside. And initially it was really hard to get people out because they were still kind of in the mind frame of of this. I don't want to say confinement , but it was sort of confining , you know. And then finally when we were able to get out , it was like Everyone's hair grew and , you know , and threw away the shackles. And we just went out and had some fun together.
S3: And what can people expect? Going to the cemetery creep.
S4: So this kind of goes back to being a kid when you remember when we were kids and it was Halloween and you would dress up and you would do a little parade around the the blacktop. This is kind of the same idea where , you know , we're going to be dressing up , we're going to be on our bikes , and we're going to be highly visible. When we get to the cemetery , we'll do sort of like a little a little cemetery loop and just kind of right around the cemetery a little bit. And then we'll meet up at one of the mausoleums that we usually meet up , and we'll do our crepe retreat and give out some candy.
S3: Coming to a cemetery to do an event like this , some people might feel like , oh , is that being disrespectful? But how do you feel about coming here and what that means to you , or to the cemetery or to the people buried here.
S4: Well , you know. Okay. That's really important. This is super , super important. You know , once , once we're gone out of this world , right? We've walked through the cemetery. You and I. And we've noticed that there's gravestones that are toppled over and , like , covered with grass. And it's like , I think it's super important for us to remember people. People. You know. And I think that coming to the cemetery gives it life , which is ironic , right? Coming to a cemetery. It gives it life. Even these people who have passed away and are buried here. You know , they don't know anything. You know they don't know us. But being here is just giving life back to people and remembering people who may not be remembered. And that's super important. Especially like for myself with , you know , Dia de Los Muertos , we remember people. And that keeps them alive.
S3: And we were walking around here before and you pointed out a few things that were interesting. Who do you think is the most famous person who is lying in rest here.
S4: Well , I think definitely the famous person would be Raymond Chandler , the writer. Like , definitely like that's people come out. In fact , when we went out earlier , we saw that there was a packet of Swisher Sweets and a bottle of something , I don't know , some sort of booze of some kind. So , you know , people will come out and visit him. But , I mean , there's a lot of people from the past. I forgot her name. But the gal who founded the Coronado Hotel or Hotel del. She's buried here. She has , like , the hugest crucifix cross monument here. Like you can't miss her. And so then you think , is that how she was in real life? You know? Was she , like , this gregarious , kind of , you know , character and , uh , some Calhoun's , you know , from back in the day. But there's a lot of gravesites here , and it's also cool for us to come out and just kind of explore and see , well , who else is here? Yeah. Who else is here? Marshall , this is our the Marshall Mortuary that we will be at this weekend. You know , what did he do? I have no idea. But he's got probably the most extravagant memorial in this whole cemetery.
S3: And when you decided to start coming here , did you actually start? Kind of like. I don't know if I'd call it research , but did you actually start kind of like , looking into who was buried here? Walk around , look at some of the tombstones he did. It sparked an interest in this cemetery.
S4: You know it did. Again , I like the fact that the cemetery , Mount Hope Cemetery , is run by the city. So , you know , again , you see street signs , which is unusual for a cemetery. So that already gives it some character. Also , the fact that it's large , it's a very large cemetery , and you can find a place to just sort of sit and ponder your thoughts. And it just feels it feels exciting. But yeah , I did do a lot of okay , so I love cemeteries like like , you know , we've visited cemeteries like literally all over the world , you know , ossuaries , bone houses , forgotten cemeteries. and so finding a cemetery that I really connected with is rare. And this one I feel really connected to because it's got a trolley running through it , you know , so it's got charm. It's a charming cemetery compared to maybe the one on the other side that may not have that kind of charm , even though it has a turtle pond and it has these elegant mausoleums. Mount Hope is more like of the people , so maybe that's why I connect with it , because it's of the people feel connected to that.
S3: And you mentioned that it's run by the city , and unlike some other cemeteries where you have to purchase tombstones or purchase mausoleums , there's actually some works of art. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. You know what? There are works of art. There was a statue that was the Senora de la Zapata's. And it's interesting , like in , like my culture , I don't know of a saint or , you know , a lady of the shoes that. But it's an artist's representation of the poor. And so maybe that that goes right back to. Of the people having a symbolic piece of work like that on the cemetery is important , where if you went to any other cemetery , you probably wouldn't be able to do that because this cemetery is run by the city. So there's a little bit more flexibility , I believe , here.
S3: And this cemetery does have a connection to another not current cemetery , but Pioneer Park is someplace that's famous for having been a cemetery. And the tombstones were removed , but not the bodies. And what's the connection between that and Hope Cemetery?
S4: Pioneer Park , which you mentioned was a cemetery. And in the 70s came rundown. And so the neighborhood were like , we got to get rid of this , this eyesore , because apparently there were bikers coming in and vandalism and , you know , the gravestones were toppled over and cracked. And so what had happened was that particular company or , you know , they took a bunch of those tombstones and dumped them here at Mount Hope in a ravine. And fortunately for us , those graves sites were recovered and there was a little area where , you know , you can go visit. Well , not the people , but the gravestones have been respectfully set up and you can kind of go visit and see , you know , people that came from Pioneer Park. Now they're at Mount Hope. But yeah , it's it's that's nice to have that respect. You know , you're not like a disused piece of stone , you know. Right. It's important.
S3: And de Strange San Diego is not exclusively a group that meets in cemeteries. So tell people what your group is all about.
S4: You know , my wife Misty and I were talking about the rides , and she was sort of like , yeah , you know , your rides are more kind of like a niche oriented. In other words , we have a destination in mind. So whether it be the Mount Hope Cemetery or Lake Hodges Dam. Or there's like , a weird kind of hidden bridge off the 15 for me. Like when I set up these rides , I set them up as a destination. So we visit a destination. The ride is just like the icing on the cake. But yeah , I mean , most of our rides , they're all no drop , meaning that if something happens , we wait for you. You know , that's super important. We don't wear spandex , you know , or very rarely neon. I mean , most of the time you see us , we're just a big cloud of black. Dressed in black riders , you know , and that's how we how we sort of , like , identify against other type of riders. You know , we're really chill in our name. It's street crepe. You know , there's we're not racing. We're creeping. Right. And so everybody's everybody is welcome you know to be a part of it.
S3: So what else do you do besides these bike rides.
S4: So stay strange. We've been together. We started in 2013 putting on music shows all over San Diego , everywhere from fight clubs to museums to libraries to Chicano Park. And we focus mostly on noise music or experimental music because we wanted to find a safe place for people to enjoy this kind of music that normally you would get people who weren't really happy. So if you see something that's , um , that says stay Strange , then you know that it's going to be something that's going to be noise related or avant garde or experimental and , you know , you that's what you're going to expect , you know , but it's a safe place , you know , you know , what you're getting into.
S3: So for people who might not be familiar with what like noise music is , how would you explain it or how would you describe it?
S4: God , that's like the that's $1 million question. I mean , I don't know if you can hear that lawnmower in the background , but there's artists who have that kind of heavy , really distorted , malevolent sort of sound all the way up to maybe a saxophonist who is playing the instrument in an unconventional method. Maybe you know not. Definitely not Kenny G. You know. Um , so it's it's just a big it's a big mix. I mean , I think really it's about playing with your mind. You know , like playing open minded. That what? The noise music , you know , could be one variation of it , but there's so many. There's so many varieties of noise music that , uh , it's it's always interesting.
S3: We could have a whole symphony out here in the cemetery right now between airplanes , and I don't know if they're wood chipping or whatnot. So in doing this kind of music or in doing these kind of music events , what kind of venues do you look for or do you use?
S4: That's a very beautiful question , because the venues are sort of narrowing down a little bit because a lot of clubs are closing down , which is sad , but I like to find specifically for the stage , strange shows. I like to find unusual locations , which is why I mentioned , you know , we played at the library , the central library , Malcolm X library , College , Rolando library. You like libraries , noise music at libraries? I mean , that's an awesome thing. You know , we've done museums , fight clubs before , so just finding interesting locations. In fact , in a couple of weeks , we're going to be at the Saint Francis Chapel in Balboa Park. An artist from Albuquerque called gunslinger. And he plays these huge wind gongs. And we're going to be. Yeah , at the Saint Francis Chapel on November 7th , which is across the street from the Museum of Us. And that's cool , right? Like a lot of times , like organizations open to what we do , like the museum of us , they're super open to us coming into a very interesting place , like the Saint Francis Chapel to to do no show. That's the other part of Stay Strange , where people are open to having us do things and and because they want interesting things. Right. And I think that that's our goal is to also do interesting things in interesting places.
S3: And where can people find you or get more information about what you're doing.
S4: So you can we have a website stay strange. Com or Instagram stay Strange San Diego or the Byte Club Street , San Diego.
S3: All right. Well , I want to thank you very much for taking me out to Hope Cemetery and talking about street crepe. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Thank you. Beth , I hope you had had fun.
S3: I did , and we'll go out with a little noise music from Hope Cemetery.
S1: That was Stay Strange San Diego curator Sam Lopez speaking with KPBS Beth Accomando at Mount Hope Cemetery. Stay Strange San Diego's cemetery crepe will start at North Park Community Park , then make its final destination at Mount Hope Cemetery.
S6: Up next here about haunted art and more in your weekend preview. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening. To.
S1: To. KPBS.
S6: KPBS. Midday.
S1: Midday. Edition.
S6: Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. For our weekend preview , we have video poetry , haunted art and more. Joining me with the.
S1: Details is KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon. Evans. Julia. Welcome.
S7: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. So , first up , let's talk about that haunted house exhibit. I need to know about this.
S7: This is a giant art exhibit. It's like different haunted house themed installations , performance art , like immersive art projects. This show has been at Bread and Salt every Halloween season. This is the fifth year straight. It's curated every year by artist Jason Sherry , and he brings in a bunch of artists to do this. This year , there's 25 returning artists. Um , some of those include Spencer Little , Brian Black , Ryan Bullis , Lisa Corona , tons more. And it's just like a nice , creative and very strange way to get into the spooky spirit. It's from 6 to 10 on Friday and Saturday , just this weekend only , and there's a suggested donation of 5 to $20. This is at Bread and Salt.
S1: All right. And in Liberty Station , a new exhibit of fiber art sculptures is on view. What do you know about this art? Yes.
S7: Yes. So this is a solo exhibit by Dina Harris. It's called. Will you stay here for a moment? At visions Museum of Textile Arts and Liberty Station? And I've been following Dina's work for years now. I really love the way that she makes these , like , sculptural pieces out of rug tufts. Um , but she also does a lot of other , like , sculpture fiber pieces using dead stock yarns , reclaimed textiles. And in this show , she's also been working with hardware and wood. Uh , there's a chair with these wooden legs and then this brightly colored rug , tufted upholstery on the chair. It's kind of like a color block of reds. Um , there's this intricate painted yarn hanging piece with these , like , hundreds of black and white lines and a piece that's a bunch of these small ovals hung up in a grid with metal link work , and these pieces are designed to make visitors stop and slow down. And I really love that approach to art , like Beyond the meaning of it , beyond the aesthetics. Just like an invitation to take a minute. There's an opening reception for Dina's exhibit and two others that are opening at Visions Museum Saturday at 1 p.m. , and then genius exhibit will be on view through December 5th. And Visions Museum is always free.
S1: That is so great. That invitation to slow down is always a gift. So next we have an exhibit not of paintings , but a video poem. So how does that work exactly? Yeah.
S7: Yeah. So this is co-curated by Paola Capo Garcia , our San Diego poet laureate. She's worked with one of her longtime teaching artist partners , Victor de la Fuente , and she is in the final year of her term. This is one of the big projects she's worked on. It's called aperture , a collection of video poems and a video poem is basically like a little mini documentary , like a short , artsy film. A poet will take their text and then narrate it and find or film videos and images to set as like a backdrop , a visual backdrop. She was inspired by Policarpo Garcia , was inspired by some work that she's done with students before , and also an exhibit at the contemporary Art Museum in her hometown in Puerto Rico. The piece was by artist LaVonne Bell.
S8: She has this beautiful piece called Between Wind and Current , um , where she centers herself her body in floating water in an area called Loiza in Puerto Rico. And she's talking about migration , and she's also talking about the legacy of slavery in the Caribbean and sort of migrating bodies from one area to another and the ways in which enslaved people would escape captivity through by using water and the currents to get to different islands. Um , and I was so moved by that piece , the way she used her body , her voice over with the poem , which is so gorgeous. And I said , oh , that's what we're going to do.
S7: So they worked with a cohort of artists and poets from the region , San Diego and Tijuana , and they had these workshops to help them bring their poems to to life that way using visuals. Um , one example is this piece by Sarita Tannery. It's called Bakersfield in Heaven. Great title. And the the piece is about place and loss. We can listen to a little bit of it , but imagine the video layers , these looped images of farmland. There's small plastic toy cows and old photos. And then the poem.
S9: Isn't it scary to live far from family. I've been here 58 times before. This road , I mean , the date palms. The straight rows of dizzy crops. When I look outside the car window , we pull over on the shoulder between Bakersfield and Heaven. I always hated the smell of manure and pesticides in the vents. Soon I'll learn a mortuary and Turlock , California smells worse.
S7: I love how , like , mesmerizing that is. And there's over a dozen at these videos on view. It's going to be at the Athenaeum Art center that's in Barrio Logan. It starts Saturday and runs through early January , and there's a reception from 5 to 8 on Saturday. And this is in the same building as of bread and salt. So you can also pop in and see that haunted house and. Athenaeum Art center is always free. The gallery is open 11 to 4 Tuesdays through Saturdays.
S1: It really all sounds like such an experience. Um , a local dance company is bringing a performance that sounds a little spooky. What can you tell us about the Ghost Light masquerade? Yeah.
S7: Yeah. So this is by the Rosin Box Project , a local contemporary ballet company. This is their annual Halloween season production. And they're so inventive. This company , they're they perform this mix of contemporary dance and contemporary ballet. It's always really theatrical. It's athletic and it's expressive. And Ghost Light Masquerade is inspired by this superstition in the theater world of leaving a single light on the stage overnight. It's designed to fend off evil spirits , but the rosin box is instead asking what if the light lures the ghosts in? And our arts reporter Addie McAfee got to go to a rehearsal , and she talked to one of the dancers , Bethany Greene , about what this experience is like for the audiences.
S10: A lot of our guests enjoy coming in full Halloween costumes , and , um , I think it really is just a party. So if you're nervous that maybe ballet isn't for you. I think a costume party probably is. It can be a lot of fun to kind of test the waters with the personalities of our guests each night. And in fact , I think that brings a lot of people back for for a second show , because it's always different.
S7: And the performance is like a promenade style where you wander through the space , you stumble upon the dancers doing these different pieces , and when you get there , you're given a choice of masquerade style masks , and one color indicates to the performers that you want to interact , and the other indicates you'd rather be left alone. So if interactive stuff is not for you , you have that option. And there are shows this weekend and next through October 30th , and it's at this space that they're calling the Nocturne Theater in Logan Heights.
S1: Very interesting. Sounds like a unique thing to do. All right , so let's stick with fairy tales and myth for one more. But this time in musical theater. So tell us where we can see into the woods. Right.
S7: Right. So Coronado Playhouse is opening up their production of Into the Woods beloved Broadway musical , and it's actually one of the first musicals I remember really loving , like my high school drama department's production. Probably a lot of people had exposure to this , from high school productions to. Go.
S9: Go.
S11: Into the woods , to visit mother , into the woods to fetch the thing , to make the poster.
S7: One thing I only recently realized was that the musical got its start here in San Diego at the Old Globe in 1986 and before it went on to Broadway. It's set in this like crossover fairytale land. There's Cinderella , little Red Riding Hood , Jack and the Beanstalk , and a baker and his wife on this quest. It's about wishes and happily ever after , but it's also kind of just surprisingly sad. And I love that. It's directed at Coronado Playhouse by Blake McCarty and show start Friday and run through November 22nd. And tickets are just 30 bucks.
S1: All right , well , next we can celebrate small press publishing at the Book Catapult on Saturday. What do people need to know?
S7: So this is Small press night , which brings in local and touring authors , people who are publishing with small presses. So these publishing houses may not have , like the giant marketing budgets of the big publishing companies , but they are still producing amazing , interesting work , possibly more interesting and more risk taking. It's These readings are a great place to discover new writers. The readers this weekend are Kyle Corrie , author of graveyard. Ashton Palladino , author of Dad Had a Bad Day , love that title. And then two locals. There's Point Loma Nazarene professor and poet Margarita Pintado Borges and Sdsu MFA student Ben Bird , and this readings at the book catapult. It's in South Park at 7:00 on Saturday. It's a free event and it often ends up being standing room only , so get there early if you want a seat or if you do have to stand in the back. There's usually cheap boxed wine also in the back. So that's my pro tip.
S1: There you go. All right. Finally , what's on your radar for live music?
S7: So this is an early show at Soda Bar on Saturday. Doors are at six. The lineup is pretty special. There's Matt pond , PA and Anya Marina , and these two are actually married and have local ties. I'll start with Matt Pond. PA they just dropped a new album last week , Permanent Change Part one touring in support of that. It's a great album , but I can't resist taking you back to 2002. This is a song called fairly , and I used to put it on all my mix CDs.
S12: Under the overpass. Well , in fairly they were safe.
S7: And Matt Pond's wife happens to be a former local , Anna Marina. She was kind of a mainstay as a musician and a radio DJ on 94.9 FM back in the late 90s , I think , and she's been working on a covers album , releasing singles all year. This is her cover of The World at Large by Modest Mouse.
S13: I can stand and move on to another day , to a whole new town with a whole new way.
S7: So this is Saturday night at Soda Bar , and tickets are just under 25 bucks.
S1: All right , well , you can find details on these and more arts events on our website at KPBS. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of The Findings podcast , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thank you , thank you.
S7: Jade , this is fun.
S13: I got no plan. Well , afloat on maybe what you understand.
S1: 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.
