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Vice President Harris used her address on the final night of the Democratic convention to pivot to a "new way forward" and argue Trump represents threats to basic freedoms.

Join us for an evening of music featuring kotoist June Kuramoto and keyboardist Kimo Cornwell, two artists from the renowned jazz and fusion band Hiroshima. Born in Japan (just outside of Tokyo), and raised in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, June epitomizes America's evolving art and music culture. As a child, she longed to return to Japan and found comfort in playing an ancient Japanese instrument– the koto. Almost by destiny, a renowned koto master, the madame Kazue Kudo, protege of Japan's most famous kotoist and composer, Michio Miyagi, relocated to the United States, and began teaching koto– in June's family home. Using her grandmother's koto, June, only six years old, found a 'connection' for her life in the instrument and Japanese music. June has subsequently received all the classical degrees of koto through Kudo-Sensei and authorized by the Miyagi School of Koto in Japan. Along the way, she performed with some of the greatest musicians in the classical world, from Japanese masters to Ravi Shankar. But June is an American artist. She wanted somehow to integrate this music that is her life– with the American culture and music that she loves. June met an eccentric artist-musician named Dan, and they began merging June's koto music with the diverse musical environment of Los Angeles. This was the beginning of Hiroshima. June has since been the driving artistic force of Hiroshima, creating a multi-cultural music statement, while growing into one of the world's greatest kotoists. Keyboardist Kimo Cornwell was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and of Hawaiian, Chinese and English ancestry. He grew up in Kalihi and graduated from Farrington High School. His love for music made him become an active keyboard player on the islands. After playing and recording with a number of groups in Hawaii, Kimo and his wife Debbie, moved to Los Angeles to try his hand in the 'mainland' music scene. Discovered by touring groups, Kimo hit the road first with Cheryl Lynn, and then with a succesion of artists including Ronnie Laws, Al Jarreau, Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly -- and off and on with L.A. band Hiroshima. Throughout the mid-1980s, Kimo was being pulled by Hiroshima, then Jarreau, then Maze, then Hiroshima, then Maze then . . . you get the picture. Eventually, his head gave way to his heart, and he became th e full-time mainstay with Hiroshima. Working in the capacity of keyboardist, composer, arranger, and producer, he has become part of the heart and soul of their music. Hiroshima is on Facebook Museum of Making Music on Facebook

Firme Voices and Black Expression are holding a poetry reading celebrating Black History Month at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park. After sharing their works of poetry there will be an open mic to allow audience participation.

The San Diego World Affairs Council presents the Distinguished Speaker Series in partnership with the Institute of the Americas AND UCSD's Center for U.S.- Mexican Studies (USMEX) Featuring: Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow "The 2024 Elections in Mexico and the United States: Implications for the Bilateral Relationship” Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 - 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Institute of the Americas - UCSD Campus - 10111 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037 About Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow Jeffrey Davidow served in the U.S. Foreign Service for 34 years. His professional focus was on Africa and Latin America. In Africa he served as political officer in South Africa, opened the U.S. Embassy in newly independent Zimbabwe, and was ambassador to Zambia where he was also the principal liaison to the South African National Congress headquarters in Lusaka in the period leading to Nelson Mandela's release from imprisonment. His book, A Peace in Southern Africa recounts the negotiations that led to Zimbabwe's independence. While in Africa and in the State Department's Africa Bureau in Washington, he was deeply involved in the mediation efforts to end apartheid and resolve civil wars in Angola, Mozambique, and Namibia. Ambassador Davidow's other principal area of activity was Latin America where he served as a political officer in U.S. Embassies in Guatemala, Chile, and Venezuela. He returned to Venezuela as ambassador, and was later appointed Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. His final posting was as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico where he spent four years and witnessed the end of one-party political domination in that country. His book, The Bear and the Porcupine: the United States and Mexico, details the issues and attitudes which both divide and unite the two nations. He retired from the State Department in 2003 with the rank of Career Ambassador (by law restricted to five active duty Foreign Service officers), and is one of the United States’ most senior and respected diplomats. Ambassador Davidow was President of the Institute of the Americas in San Diego, a leading institution in facilitating cooperation between government, business leaders and civil society representatives in the United States-Canada-Latin America. He now serves as a Senior Counselor for The Cohen Group in Washington D.C., an international business consultancy. Ambassador Davidow and his wife Joan reside in San Diego. About Richard Kiy - Richard Kiy was appointed as President & CEO of the Institute of the Americas on August 3, 2020. Kiy was formerly General Partner with Alumbra Advisors, a consulting firm with clients in the U.S, Mexico and Central America. Prior to that, Kiy served for nearly 14 years as President & CEO of the International Community Foundation (ICF) where he expanded the foundation’s grantmaking throughout Mexico and 11 other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. While at ICF, Kiy served as Chairman and a founding board member of the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership. Previous to his work at ICF, Kiy spent two years with PriceSmart, Inc. as Senior Vice President, Business Development expanding its business reach into 6 countries of Central America and the Caribbean. Earlier on, he was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Technical Director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) in Washington, D.C. as well as the Acting Environmental Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Kiy’s other private sector experience includes having served as Vice President for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)’s Mexican subsidiary, expanding the company’s environmental technology solutions and services business in Mexico following NAFTA’s passage. Later, he helped SAIC secure a multi-year $1.2 billion contract leading to a joint venture company with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) where he was Director of Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S) Information Systems. Kiy is a graduate of Stanford (A.B. Economics, 1984) and Harvard’s JFK School of Government (MPA, 1986). Kiy is co-author of the book Environmental Management along North America’s Borders. He serves on the Binational Advisory Board of the San Diego Natural History Museum. About Rafael Fernández de Castro Rafael Fernández de Castro is a professor, Aaron Feldman Family Chancellor's Endowed Chair in U.S.-Mexican Studies in Memory of David Feldman, and director of the school's Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (USMEX). A former foreign policy adviser to President Felipe Calderón, he is an expert on bilateral relations between Mexico and the U.S. Fernández de Castro is founder and former chair of the Department of International Studies at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City. He has published numerous academic articles and written several books, including “Contemporary U.S.- Latin American Relations: Cooperation or Conflict in the 21st Century?” and “The United States and Mexico: Between Partnership and Conflict” with Jorge Domínguez. He also worked as the Project Director of the UNDP’s Human Development Report for Latin America 2013-14, “Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and Proposals for Latin America.” He is the founder and editor of Foreign Affairs Latin America and contributes to the daily newspaper El Financiero and a regular contributor to Televisa. His current research includes a book on leadership and decision-making in Mexican foreign policy. Fernandez earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Georgetown University, an M.P in Public Policy from the University of Texas, Austin and his B.A. in Social Sciences from the Instituto Tecnólogico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

Climate change means more extreme weather across the U.S. That’s a challenge for weather forecasters.

Groups vowed to sue after President Joe Biden issued executive actions on June 4 that severely restrict asylum.

The poetry community will come to San Diego for the Robert Frost Sesquicentennial, which celebrates the poet's 150th birthday. Plus, a preview of the San Diego Latino Film Festival and other arts events.

As you prepare for the big event, KPBS wants to know what tips and tricks you use to make the most out of the big pop culture con.

Madame Entropy is a persona who began participating, unannounced, in public lectures about contemporary art in 2011. Appearing intermittently over the past decade, she is intent on transmitting knowledge about art that doesn’t fit into words. Madame Entropy takes “lecture” into unfamiliar territory, using an interplay of image, text, speech, and gesture to unsettle the experiences of “learning” and “knowing.” The format carries her message, embodying the dynamic relationship between theory and practice. She can be identified by her yellow gloves and citrine earrings. Meredith Tromble is an artist and writer whose work mingles drawing, text, and performance. Her talks, installations, and performances exploring art, science, and technology have been presented at venues ranging from the Mills Museum in California to the Tate Britain and the University of Manizales, Colombia. As artist in residence at the Complexity Sciences Center at the University of California, Davis, she worked with geobiologist and Mars Curiosity Scientist Dawn Sumner to develop artwork with interactive, 3-D projection. One iteration of their work became a “dancer” in performances by the Los Angeles-based company Donna Sternberg Dancers. Writing from the viewpoint of an artist, Tromble has also published extensively in books, web, and radio. Her art writing began with regular commentaries on art for KQED-FM in San Francisco. She was active in broadcasting for fifteen years and has authored many print and digital publications. From 2000 to 2010, she was a core member of the artist collective Stretcher, publishing Stretcher.org and organizing performative art events. Her blog "Art and Shadows,” on contemporary art in light of contemporary science, was honored with an Art Writers Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Tromble is Professor Emeritus, San Francisco Art Institute and Affiliate, Feminist Research Institute, University of California, Davis. Visit: visarts.ucsd.edu/news-events/20240129_meredithtromble.html

Billy Crystal, Dionne Warwick, Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, Renée Fleming and Queen Latifah were given the star treatment as they received their Kennedy Center Honors.