S1: It's time for Midday Edition on Kpbs. Today we are talking with some of the shining stars in San Diego's Filipino-American community. I'm Jade Hindman. Here's the conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. A local judge receives an international honor.
S2: It was really , really just shocking. Overwhelming , really , because I realized just how many leaders and inspirational women have come before me. And in this award and recognition.
S1: Plus , why preserving Tagalog is so important to preserving Filipino American culture. And here from San Diego's Poet laureate. That's ahead on midday Edition. October is Filipino American History Month. Today , we are highlighting Filipino Americans who've made an impact on our community. The Filipino Women's Network honors women of Philippine ancestry who are breaking glass ceilings in their respective fields , with the most influential Filipina in the world award this year. That recognition goes to Rouhani's Aponte , a San Diego Superior Court judge. She is the second Filipino-American to sit on the bench , and she's also a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law. Zapata , along with 18 other women , will be honored at a ceremony in Prague later this month. She joins us now to talk more about her own journey and what this recognition means for her. Judge Zapata , thank you so much for joining us , and welcome to midday.
S2: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
S1: Glad you're here. So congratulations.
S2: I am so grateful and humbled. What does it mean for me ? I was explaining to many people , you know , that I literally cried when I got the news and I was explaining to my husband , who initially I called and let him know that it really does feel like a warm embrace from my Filipino sisters. It really does. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S1:
S2: But there was an interview with a board members and a panel from , I believe , on my interview , there were 3 or 4 different time zones. Um , and so , you know , I had waited and they said it could be any time between months or weeks before the summit that they'll be announcing it. And when I got the news , it was really , really just shocking. Overwhelming , really , because I realized just how many leaders and inspirational women have come before me and in this award and recognition. So again , like I've said , and I really , truly feel that a recognition is also a responsibility to do the same for others. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And all of your work has led you to this moment.
S2: So what we do is we hear cases , and I hear arguments and positions from the district attorney's office and defense counsel on cases involving youth who are facing criminal charges. And we use the juvenile justice legal statutes to apply to their case and make rulings. So that's the bulk of what I'm doing out here in juvenile court. And every once in a while , I'll also cover and hear juvenile dependency cases where those cases are not criminal justice involved. They're ones that involve child welfare services involving children who are facing abuse or neglect. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. You know.
S1: In an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune , you mentioned that your goal is to help young people develop a sense of self.
S2: The pause to decide , is this something that's healthy and safe for me and for those around me , is what I'm about to do , or what I'm about to decide to do ? Is something healthy and safe for me or those around me. I think it does come with a sense of value that they have value to bring to others , and that others see value in them. That's what I mean by a sense of self. And so a lot of what I do as a judge in court , in addition to following the law and implementing the laws , delivering rulings in ways that acknowledges little bits and pieces of what I see and what the evidence reveals about who they are as people and individuals , and hopefully they can rediscover that sense of self. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S1: And you were born in Hawaii but grew up right here in San Diego. Tell us more about that.
S2: You know , I think that. Being born in Hawaii. We we go often and go back to the island. But you know , that starting point of where community is huge , the culture in that state is a medley of different international , you know , connections and multi-cultural communities that work together. And that was something that my parents introduced me to when they began raising me there , and then took me to California and San Diego eventually , where that continued. You know , my parents are immigrants , and they turn to their communities for support. And I remember us moving and just people that brought , you know , their cars and their trucks and themselves to help pack our stuff , to help load it , to move it from one temporary housing to another until we could get stable. And it's just almost like a given to to give back and to be there for one another. And that was something that instilled in me.
S1: So you spent 13 years working as a public defender. You've also been a trial attorney.
S2: I think that growing up in a bilingual household , you know , I had a grandmother who never went to a day of school in her life until the day she died. She didn't know how to read or write. So a lot of her being able to navigate through would be through interpretation and us explaining to her different processes. She actually worked on an assembly in Salinas. She was one of those people that would munch the green onions with the blue rubber band that you see at the grocery stores. But her way of navigating and being able to fill out forms and being able to go over things and in the world with services and medical appointments , all came from the help of others. I was one of those people. She lived with us for a good amount of years. And then of course , relatives and friends did the same , you know , and I realized navigating as an immigrant in this country , but navigating in this country in general , is important to understand and appreciate the laws and the rules , and then to get into a deeper dive and understand the why behind those really just began my love for the law and the acknowledgment of an individual's right to respect and dignity. That was huge for me.
S1:
S2: So coming into law school , the fact that I was my first in my family to even attempt graduate school and college and university graduate is huge. So just being there , I know was an honor. But then having to navigate and excel , um , it's an unfamiliar. So the challenge for me was to although there weren't supportive networks around me who were familiar with what I was going through was for me to remember , you know , what my upbringing taught me ? Perseverance , fortitude , community and I worked in strived to continue those values throughout my law school career and my professional career as an attorney. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S1:
S2: Mental health is huge. I began my practice toward the end of my career with the public defender's office , obviously in in criminal defense with adult delinquency cases. And as it developed , you know , I found that I was gravitating toward these cases with seriously mentally ill clients who were facing serious and violent crimes , and that there were specific approaches and methods by which to communicate with these clients , ways to be able to share information , but also gain information and learn about them as individuals. I think it taught me to really hone my skills , but also to learn more about the mental health aspect of practice and advocacy as an attorney. And then learn the power of listening.
S1: And , you know , there's this stigma around mental health that exists in so many communities , and that includes the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
S2: I think that the sense of community in these cultures really is a way of perspective. If we shift the perspective in a way of helping and looking for how we can help. I think it changes the perspective of what mental health is. So if we are watching out for one another , if we are pointing out things where we notice a person is not who we know them to be , they're not acting like they're healthy and safe self , then we are obligated as part of the community to point that out and help guide them. I think that is the spirit of what community does for these cultures that I've been raised in. And my hope is that with mental health , if we shift the perspective , it becomes something that we can actively participate in and that we can encourage others to kind of practice in that same spirit.
S1:
S2: And I think that's being practiced. I think I've seen wonderful organizations , not just in San Diego , but across the state in trying to take that approach. And now we we definitely use that term more often than not lived experience and how much value that is in , you know , not just in practice of treatment , treatment and mental illness , but in the justice system.
S1: And I want to talk about representation. You're also part of the University of San Diego's Law Alumni Board , where you sit on the Committee of Diversity.
S2: So of the people that we serve , that we present to them as something familiar , something to where they're comfortable being themselves , and that they will be respected and honored for who they are as much as the value that they bring to the courtroom.
S1: And you speak at local high schools and are very involved with the community.
S2: As a San Diego Superior Court judge. I , you know , follow by example. A lot of my colleagues do the same. We find it important to make sure that justice is transparent and that people can see us as human beings wanting to serve. And so when I go to high schools , I think it's important for them to see someone like me who's living and breathing and explaining to them , you know , what it means to be a judge and what my role is. And so , yeah , I do bring the black robe into the classrooms and show them , you know , what it is , what it signifies , and kind of my feelings about , you know , the , the method of them calling the judge , your honor , you know , things about that where , you know , that was something that took getting used to , but that but that , you know , I tell students , especially those from the neighborhoods that I grew up in , you know , we have this scene where I think many understand , you know , check yourself , you better check yourself. And will part of being a judge , you know , when we are told , your Honor , is a constant checking of our role to remain and act honorably , both off and on the bench.
S3: All right.
S1: And as we mentioned , it is Filipino American History Month.
S2: So first of all , we acknowledge that Filipinos have been in Filipino communities , have been in the state of California in the United States. For centuries. And so our presence has been here. I think it now heritage and celebrating , you know , what we have to offer and what we what our core values bring , you know , just not only to our communities , to our workplaces , um , to where we branch out , where sometimes will be the only of our , of our background. But that that's an opportunity , you know , to share and connect.
S1: So what's next for you ? I mean , you've done so much and accomplish so much.
S2: Well , you know , I mean , first off is is going to receive the award , you know , in Prague , the Czech Republic , I've never been. So I'm super excited. It's going to be a busy summit. They've kindly asked me to present on race and intersectionality. So there's a lot of preparation going on there. And I think I've mentioned it earlier , but if I haven't , it's that several time zones that were coordinating and preparing for that and these meetings that start at 6:00 in the morning. So baby steps , I'm preparing and a lot of my days , in addition to obviously , the important work that I do as a judge is my free time right now is in preparation for the summit , so that when I'm there , maybe I'll have time to just enjoy the city and the culture there. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Oh my. Goodness.
S1: Goodness. Well , it sounds like a very exciting time. I've been speaking with Rouhani's Aponte , a San Diego Superior Court judge. Congratulations on this honor. And thanks so much for joining us.
S2: Thank you so much for having me. And I'm absolutely grateful and honored to be receiving this honor.
S1: Why preserving Tagalog is so important to Filipino American culture.
S4: This all started as a passion project to just preserve the language and be able to pass it on to my children.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. Welcome back. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman for Filipino American History Month. We're continuing to highlight Filipinos in the community who are making an impact. You know , language can be an important part of one's identity and culture. But for many first and second generation Filipino Americans , it can be difficult to feel connected to their heritage in a way , especially if they didn't grow up speaking Tagalog. That's where local author Joi Francisco , PhD , comes in. She founded the independent publishing company Little Yellow Jeepney , where she writes books to teach children basic Tagalog. It's her way of helping Filipino youth feel more strongly connected to their culture. She joins me now to talk about her journey in writing children's books , and why it's important to preserve that sense of cultural identity. Joy. Welcome to Midday Edition.
S4: Thank you. Hello. Happy to be here.
S1: Glad you're. Here.
S3: Here.
S1: So you're a clinical psychologist by trade.
S4: I've always had a love for children's books and utilized it in helping children learn social communication skills. And I always had wanted to create one for myself. It was sort of like on my bucket list. And so it wasn't until 2015 that I decided to create my own , which was actually titled Little Yellow Jeep. And it was about a jeepney that travels through Manila.
S1: And that was your first story.
S4: And one of his jobs started out as a jeepney driver. So that's where that was inspired from.
S3: All right.
S1: For your language series , you've written about colors , feelings , household items.
S4: The second one was it's a longer title , Estado de la lo eto , which means one , two , three. This is oval and that one introduced numbers and shapes. The third title was avocado , which introduces the Filipino alphabet. So the original Filipino alphabet before the Spanish came and introduced more letters , and so that one introduces the alphabet using animals. The fourth one is Familia , which introduces the different titles of the family in Tagalog. The fifth one is ebi , which does the household items , and the most recent one is Dumdum , which introduces feelings.
S1: And the the illustrations. They really tell a story , like your most recent book compares emotions to plants. Describe what that looks like for us.
S4: So this book was actually inspired by a native plant in the Philippines. When you touch it , the leaves close. And so it started getting this name called Malayan , which means shy. And that was the inspiration behind the book , using plants to represent different feelings. And so , for example , hunger. I used a Venus flytrap for sleep. I used Z plant because of the z's. For calm I used lavender. So there's various ones in here. And of course cactus for mad. I have a favorite a couple of favorites in here. One is killing , which I used the flower , I guess the national flower of the Philippines , which is the guitar and killing. The meaning of that feeling doesn't translate into an English word , but it's almost that sense of having butterflies in your stomach. Or maybe that feeling you get when you see your crush. So that's this particular book took me a long time to put together , just being very intentional with the different plants that were used to represent the different feelings. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S1:
S4: I you know , I'm definitely fortunate in comparison to my peers , as my parents gifted me the language. And what I mean by that is they continued to speak to me and so that I was able to learn and we would try to visit the Philippines maybe every two years. So I got the exposure. And , you know , that whole idea , if you if you don't use it , you lose it. And so I was able to use it on a more regular basis. And so that really was helpful to me in connecting with the culture. And that was another reason why I created the language series , because when I had children of my own , it was very challenging to find resources. While there were so many other resources out there for other languages , Tagalog was one that wasn't as available. And so I took it upon myself along with the help of my cousin , my amazing illustrator , Jamie Lee Ortiz. And so we started it. This all started as a passion project to just preserve the language and be able to pass it on to my children.
S1:
S4: And so over the next three generations , the number of speakers declines sharply. And so part of language strongly connects us to our culture. And , you know , as I as we talk about this , like the things we pass on to our children , they carry years of memories , relationships and culture with them. So when I think about speaking the language , I think about those trips to the Philippines and speaking with my relatives. And culture shapes our identities in countless ways. Like the culture we grow up in determines the language we speak , the religion we practice , the traditions we observe , the foods we eat , and the values we uphold. And so our cultural background influences our beliefs and opinions. And , you know , the traditions within families are special , and they're just extremely important.
S1: Right ? I mean , because within language , it's it's it really is a way to communicate values in one's culture. You know , emotions so many , so much is communicated through language. Correct. Absolutely.
S4: Absolutely. And just as I was saying earlier , there's some words that don't have a direct translation into English. And so there are so many words that can be used to describe something that may not have the same meaning in English.
S1: Right ? May not be may not even be articulated in English , or a concept that , you know , English speaking people know or value. You've also written books about Filipino culture outside of the language series , so tell us more about that.
S4: The most recent one was called The Bitter Melon. And so the bitter melon is a vegetable that's bitter. And it's native to mostly Asian cultures. And so kind of merging my profession in psychology and the culture , I wanted to use that as a way to teach , you know , another aspect of emotions , but mostly the idea of how our emotions don't define us. And so the bitter melon is a melon who's bitter and recognizes that , you know , there's other melons out there in the world that are sweet and that , you know , the bitter melon wants to learn how to be a sweet melon. And so it learns how to be compassionate towards themselves , and it learns not to judge their own feelings. So I that was like a little short story that I felt was important , because we live in a society where we're so critical of ourselves , and that can really be harmful to just our well-being. And , you know , in my profession , one of the biggest. Guidance that I try to support my clients with is just learning that it's okay to acknowledge and honestly express your feelings and needs , and it's okay to ask for what you want and that stating your needs are healthy and just being being able to create healthy boundaries.
S1:
S4: One thing that I definitely notice is there is a challenge with speaking about issues in the family , you know , in fear of shame and fear of maybe hurting other people's feelings , or even maybe not feeling like they can speak openly and honestly. And because doing so would maybe offend , like , say , their parents. It's learning to feel safe and in communicating their needs and emotions and doing so empathetically. But I think with some people it's there is that fear of judgment.
S1: And you covered so much ground in your writing.
S4: I envisioned at least ten for the language series , and so one definitely will involve introducing the different body parts in Filipino , but also in a way that practices self-love and self acceptance. And then currently I'm working on the title of the book will be Molina num num. And Molina in Tagalog means delicious and so this book that I'm currently working on will introduce opposites using food.
S1: All right , well , before we go , are there any words in Tagalog that really speak to the culture that you'd like to share ? Absolutely.
S4: One in particular is Mabuhay , which is almost like a greeting that is used similar to like aloha , but Mabuhay translates to long live ! And so that one I think is really important to our culture because it's , you know , wishing someone well. And then on a brighter note , you know , going back to culture , food often connects people to their culture as well. And so I think it's really important to learn the phrase got enough , which means eat now , like let's eat.
S3: I like that.
S1: I've been speaking with local author Joy Francisco , founder of the indie publishing company Little Yellow Jeepney. Joy , thanks so much for joining us. And happy Filipino-American History Month to you.
S4: Thank you so much for having me today.
S1: Coming up here from San Diego's Poet laureate.
S5: I think up here to really share what I've learned over the years as a as a community organizer , as a poet , as a as an educator , as a scholar. Right. Hoping to to demystify poetry a little bit.
S1: You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. Welcome back. You're listening to Kpbs Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hyndman , and we're putting a spotlight on Filipino Americans who are making an impact in our community. And that takes us to our next segment. Poetry has been a part of our lives at some point , from nursery rhymes to a favorite song. But as we grow older , it can feel less accessible and really more complicated. San Diego's poet laureate Jason Perez wants to demystify poetry for the people. A graduate of UC San Diego , he's the author of two hybrid poetry collections. He's also an associate professor and director of the Ethnic Studies program at Cal State San Marcos. Perez joined Midday Edition last January , where he spoke with former midday producer Harrison Patino about how family history and community inform his work , and why he thinks poetry is empowering. Here's that conversation.
S6: You made your debut as Poet Laureate at the state of the city address earlier this month with a poem titled We Draft Work Songs for This City. I'm hoping we could start by having you read a selection from that poem.
S5: Sure , sure. We draft work songs for this city whenever the surrender of this quiet is typhoon enough. We draft work songs for the city mighty. We of rough draft futures. We of protest chant and scrapyard syntax. We work song in tin drum. Glottal syllables of distant motherland. We draft litanies at every streetlight altar. We draft verse on napkins and reused plastic grocery bags. We raw material literature's distillation of after dreams swap meet philosophers we whose hands wash sky. Who grow gardens and gardens against worry. We whose mighty ache remakes history.
S6: Thank you. Jason. That was beautiful.
S5: I really wanted to share my love with the city. And so the longer version of that poem references three general areas where I lived in San Diego for a good amount of time , but think , perhaps most importantly , demonstrating my solidarity and love for the workers. I was raised by workers , you know , blue collar workers and overall workers. But wanting to put that frame in the poem and share that with working people.
S6: So I understand you first became interested in poetry as a college student. What was that introduction like ? Yeah.
S5: You know , I was a college student at UCSD and undergraduate students , and I ultimately was drawn to spoken word. Think that , you know , my my relationship to literature , my relationship to literature and English classes was not always the best. I didn't know it was because I didn't feel represented in the literature we were reading , but think perhaps even much more deeply. I didn't feel I had a relationship , an intimate or healthy relationship with my own sort of way , of of how I think about myself and , and express myself. And so when I saw folks , you know , doing spoken word friends like my , my dear friend , the late Pinoy feminist poet Joy Dela Cruz doing poetry on stage , or one of my best friends , Jennings doing poetry on the stage. It really helped me come to terms with how I felt about literature and , you know , ended up linking up with them and building community and really gravitating towards poetry. But think that that that came after , you know , the community building and the activist work that we were doing. Right. And so it sort of became a place where we can gather and where we could process our thinking , our feelings and make sense of the world. And poetry happened to be the medium that was really available to us.
S6: Well , you touched on it a little bit. You describe yourself as an underperforming English writer throughout high school and college. I'm curious why you chose this as a characterization for yourself.
S5: You know , I come from an immigrant family. Both of my parents immigrated from the Philippines , the US colonization of the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century , you know , brought English or forced English upon the Filipino peoples. And so my parents were it wasn't as if they weren't fluent in English , but they would often speak to us and Tagalog or more prominently , another language in the Philippines , Ilocano. You know , I grew up here in Southern California and so , you know , heard a lot of Spanish , a lot of barrio Spanish , right ? A lot of different sorts of languages. But none of that necessarily was translating into my educational , my formal educational space. And so I was not aware of literature that was written for folks like. Me or our communities. Our families was not aware of that history. And once I found that history , I felt , you know , I could give myself permission to explore this and really find myself in language. Right ? And to be able to develop my my own sensibilities , my own aesthetics and my own sense of self. Right. And think that I think I didn't have that confidence or didn't feel empowered to work with language or to express myself in this way , really. Until those moments in college were I started out and sort of was experimenting , and then even much later , I think I felt much more comfortable and empowered with language when I became a teacher. After I studied this , right after I did my MFA right. It is a lifelong relationship for me , figuring out what language means to me and how it's , you know , how I want to sort of play with it and craft it in order to make sense of the world. Well , I want to.
S6: Talk more about your upbringing. Your personal family history has had a profound effect on your work , as specifically when your mother , Leonora Perez , was framed by the FBI in the 70s. Can you tell us more about your mother's story and how that's influenced your work ? Sure.
S5: I often sort of share this story and drop some details , and it's such a long story to talk about. It's sort of my life's work to really write about this story and figure out different ways to explore it in a way that's that's careful and responsible and accountable to my mother , to the other Filipino mirrors , to that history , to our communities. But my mother and another nurse were framed by the FBI for murder. A series of murders had happened while they were nurses at the Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital administration. Patients were suffering breathing arrests. The FBI eventually came in to investigate through about $1 million at the time at the investigation , and they ended up pinning it on my mother and another nurse. And so my mother had pretty freshly immigrated. She had immigrated in 1972 , and this is in 1975. This all happened before I was born. We kept migrating west because of the trauma from this particular historical moment. Think that , you know , as as some of that family history crept into some of our conversations , think that my relationship to institution , formal institutions has been shaped with a suspicion , always a caution , because of what happened to my mother and my relationship to the English language because she was persecuted , an immigrant , having a thick accent , having a way of expressing herself that was not understood or heard in the courtroom by jurors or the judge or the prosecutors or whatever. I think a lot of that has shaped sort of what my interest is in coming back to our communities , coming back to our families , and trying to sort of tell our stories to the language , the languages that feel most empowering to us. And whether or not that's a version of an English language or a mix of different languages by language , don't just mean the dominant understanding of language , I mean the words , the feelings , the ways of expression , all of these different things. I think it's that historical violence , that state violence , that trauma surrounding my mother's past , is it's not the only thing I write about. Right. But it is it does shape my sort of politics , my principles and my practices around language itself , around knowledge itself. And so it's been something that I've wrestled with. It's something that I , I find affirming when when I go back to it just to kind of understand my mother's resilience. Right. But , but , but also sort of have to step away from it often to write about other things. But those historical energies are always animating my work.
S6: Well , Jason , as you mentioned , you're not just San Diego's poet laureate. You also teach you're the director of the Ethnic Studies department at Cal State San Marcos. You talk a lot about using past trauma and your own history in forming your work. How do you use your experience to help students use writing as a tool of empowerment ? Yeah.
S5: You know , I think that writing can offer a lot to students who are searching for a way to sort of process through some of the things that they might have experienced in their lived experience , that could be trauma , that could be any sort of affect or feeling or experience. It could be joy , right ? It could be a kind of tenderness and care. You know , whatever students feel they need to articulate , I try to , you know , offer them tools to use poetry , poetic tools and devices that help them process. Right. And if they if they feel comfortable , safe and feel compelled to to see poetry as something that's meaningful to their lives , don't expect it to be right. I would love for everybody to read poetry. I would love for everybody to write poetry. But but again , think for me. What ? Comes first. Is community , right ? So whatever those tools of expression , articulation and reflection are for for students and for our community members , right. I'm hoping that whatever those are , that they find those and they're able to get those right. And if poetry is one of them , that's awesome. And I think I'm here to really share what I've learned over the years as a as a community organizer , as a poet , as a as an educator , as a scholar , right. Hoping to to demystify poetry a little bit and say , hey , there's a place for all of us here. There are poets and there are poems , and there's a long history of imaginative language from all of our communities. There's a long history of of creative writers and artists who are making work for us , for directly for our communities and want to be able to let students know that and try to do that as much as I can.
S6: Well , Jason , you said earlier you want to get more people to read poetry and your role as poet laureate will also include cultivating relationships with the community and telling stories across San Diego.
S5: I think , you know , hopefully getting folks to to workshops and getting folks to , to reading groups where we not only share our own poetry , but perhaps spend time with with someone's poetry book. I think we have a very vibrant community of poets here in San Diego. I consider myself a part of of some of those communities and , and so think people who are doing something like the San Diego Poetry Annual , you know , folks who are doing great work at the various open mics that that that have been the San Diego folks who are running the San Diego Slam , that those folks like Collective Purpose mean they're doing incredible work. So think linking with them and connecting with them and hopefully , you know , collaborating to reach out to the community and think that and by community think , you know , I'm thinking about things intergenerational. I'm also thinking about definitely paying paying some attention to the youth and young people who who think have a lot to say and a lot to teach us , and who , of course , you know , the cliches. You know , they are feature and they are right. And I think that that I would love to , you know , hear more about them and hear learn from them and , and you know , share what tools. And we can have that exchange and learn together. But I think , you know , being able to to share these tools and share these strategies and read together and say , hey , here's a here's a cool book about , you know , a situation that that is relevant to , to what we're dealing with or what we're working with in this part of San Diego. Right. So maybe we can read that book together and just , you know , be together , be be in community together. It's been difficult , you know , during this pandemic to be together. It's difficult to to convene with , you know , this sort of ongoing violence in many of our communities , um , actual , you know , gun violence. And so , I think , you know , trying to figure out safe spaces , spaces of where we can , you know , share our humanity and extend grace and dignity to each other. I think that , you know , that's the position , really , I hope right , affords me that that opportunity to facilitate those spaces , not as a leader , right , but just as a sort of as a server , right. As someone serving the community. That's what I really see this position to be.
S1: And that was former Midday Edition producer Harrison Patino , speaking with San Diego Poet Laureate Jason Perez. That's our show for today. Don't forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. We'll be back tomorrow at noon. And if you ever miss a show , you can find the Midday Edition podcast on all platforms. I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening.
