S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS for today's show. A new book on how to live gently , plus midday movies and your weekend preview. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. If this sounds like you.
S2: Not saving rest and taking care until I am sick and worn out and exhausted.
S1: You'll want to hear what Courtney Carver's new book on rest and simplifying your life is about. Then our movie critics on our Black History Month , with recommendations on films and a book on birding in your weekend preview. So are you feeling overwhelmed ? Tired ? Stressed ? If so , you're not alone. A lot of people are feeling that way these days , and we're often pushing ourselves to do more faster without pausing to rest. But we can't be our best selves without recharging our batteries. And my next guest has a new book out all about doing just that. It's called Gentle Rest More Stress Less and Live the Life you actually want. Her name is Courtney Carver , and she'll be bringing her book , gentle , to Warwick's Bookstore in La Jolla on Monday. Courtney joins me now. Welcome to Midday Edition.
S2: Thank you.
S1: So you've been on our show to talk about your last two books , actually , project 333 about paring down our closets and soulful simplicity about living with less.
S2: And one thing , for instance , that I was often avoiding was rest , because that just seemed to show up at the end of my to do list if it ever even made the list. Um. And gentle is just a bigger picture of how to take care of ourselves in a way that's , I think , different from a lot of self-help and self-care recommendations.
S1: Well , then let's get into that.
S2: Hmm.
S3: Hmm.
S1: Well , tell me about that. Tell me about your own story. Um , is is chronic overwhelm something you've had to cope with in your own life ? Definitely.
S2: I think most of us do. I mean , from what we put on our own schedules and what's involved in just being a human adult , and then everything that's going on around us , I think we all go through phases of overwhelm. And for me , it all kind of came to a screeching halt in 2006 when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was such a big wakeup call for me to be able to say , I have to take care of myself now. I'm giving myself permission to take care because I can't ignore how I feel and how my health is. It has to come first. And that really opened the door not only for healing around Ms. , but in every other area of my life. Learning how to ask myself what is important to me , how do I feel , what do I need ? And then trusting myself and trusting the answers and acting accordingly.
S1: It's great that you've really come to that place in your life. Um , in this book you really examine the relationship between rest and guilt. Break that down for me.
S2: Yes , I think it is time for us to redefine guilt because we use that word quite frequently , especially when it comes to resting , doing nothing. Um , not finishing what's on our to do list. We feel guilty or we say we feel guilty because we didn't do it all , or we feel guilty because we took a nap in the afternoon and we weren't being productive. And I think that what's really happening is that it's making us feel uncomfortable. So instead of guilt , which really indicates that you've done something wrong , we feel uncomfortable because we're doing the things we need to do to take care of ourselves , and we're not used to doing that. And so it feels like we're not measuring up , um , we're not doing what other people expect us to do. We're not doing what we thought we were supposed to do as a thriving adult. But actually rest and taking care is far more productive than doing things you don't care about. And again , really pushing through to get to the next level or the next place or the next thing. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. So where does this feeling of guilt and discomfort come from as it relates to rest. Where what's the root of that.
S2: I really think it comes from uh , both current day hustle culture and also the messages that we've all received as we are growing up , which is work hard , do your best , give your all. And anything short of that , you're falling short. So we internalize those messages. And when it's time to do nothing , we stress about everything we have to get done because we think that's what we're supposed to be doing. So I think it really is sometimes , uh , I'll almost an underlying sense of , is this okay ? Is it okay to do absolutely nothing in the middle of the day on a Saturday ? Or am I supposed to be getting more things done just for the sake of getting things done ? And when we really start to vocalize that , I think we can see that it's not about what we want. It's not about how we want to live our life. It's about what we were , what what's expected of us , or what we think is expected of us , which isn't always the case. Hmm.
S3: Hmm.
S1: Well , you know , one chapter of your book is called Breaking Up with Breaking news. So , Courtney , I mean , tell me what this chapter is all about.
S2: It's about thinking about how we take in news. And right now and for many years , really , it seems like all news is breaking and that breaking news is broken. It's all about the splashy headline. What's going to pull us in , what's going to , um , scare us into reading more ? And people are really distraught about the news currently. And also they don't know how to stop because it's so easy to start doomscrolling or to get sucked in by one article and then start scrolling on Instagram and finding all of these things that kind of go along with it. And it can be instead of , you know , a 2 or 3 minute story that you hear about the news , half of your day is consumed by fear and anxiety to the point where it's not helping us , it's not helping us contribute or take action in any meaningful way. And so , within the chapter , I recommend setting boundaries around your news consumption. For instance , I try not to take in any news in the morning or in the evening near bedtime. I don't think there's anything that's going on that is worth wasting a night of sleep over , when I know I'll be much more effective the next day if I have slept well. And then also consider how you want to take the news in. Do you want to read it ? Do you want to listen to it ? Do you want to watch it ? And where ? We have to be more intentional about how we take the news in because it is just like a firehose.
S1: Right ? I mean , there's so much to to be taken in.
S2: We need to be confused. We need to be overwhelmed. And everything is really doom and gloom. And I'm not saying there isn't a lot to be outraged about because there is. But if we want a chance at being healthy and helping , where we can help , supporting organizations that we want to support , taking part in our local communities. You know , all of these things that are going to make a difference. We have to take care of ourselves. And so while everyone is yelling at us to be in chaos , this book gentle is saying it's okay if you want to do it a different way and have a , like I said , just a fighting chance of feeling okay through this , even though there's plenty not to feel okay about Um-Hmm.
S1: Well , you know , some people will hear you need to rest and feel like it's dismissive of their real life responsibilities.
S2: And so , yes , it would be lovely if self-care and being gentle were accessible to everyone. And I'd love to see more ways for that to happen. And I think there are also stages of life. No matter where you are that are going , it's going to be more challenging because of your lifestyle , because of the stage of life you are in. Uh , so I think it's an ongoing conversation that , um , we need to be able to help each other in terms of , you know , those of us who can take care of ourselves , how can we weave in community care so that more people have this as an option.
S1: And simplifying your life ? Remind us what your book about living with simplicity was about.
S2: So there's three sections in the book , Restless and Rise. And the entire section about less really is about that simplicity element. So removing the removing excess things in your life that are causing stress , the things that are within your control. And I know not everything is but the clutter around you. Uh , do you need everything that's in your house ? Are you enjoying it ? Are you spending more time taking care of it and thinking about it and dealing with it , cleaning it , organizing it ? Um , then it's worth clutter. So in your home , clutter on your calendar , what about the things that you're filling your days with ? I know we're all very busy and we have things to do. Do we have to do it all ? Does it all need to be non-stop back to back appointments , meetings , obligations ? Or can we release some of that same for our to do lists ? Uh , really thinking about where the stress in your life is coming from and considering if things might be better without it ? Hmm.
S3:
S1:
S2: However , I definitely recommend resting first when possible , because this is the thing that we resist the most. In fact , I wasn't even going to make it the first section of the book. I was thinking about saving it for the end , and I realized that it was that resistance to to resting that was making me do that. And so I put it first. And so when people ask me kind of what you just asked me about getting started on literally anything , I almost always suggest rest first , because by the time we're ready to make a change , we're usually pretty overwhelmed or tired of the way that we are living and what's going on. Um , and our bodies and brains need that rest before we can make really thoughtful decisions moving forward.
S1: I've been speaking with Courtney Carver. Her new book is called Gentle Rest More Stress Less and Live the Life You Actually Want. Courtney , thank you so much for joining us.
S2: It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
S1: She'll be discussing and signing the book at Warwick's Bookstore on Monday. More information on the event can be found at KPBS. Org. Our midday movie. Critics discuss black women in film , both on the screen and behind the camera. Like director Cheryl Dunning , who made this next movie , The Watermelon Woman.
S4: Hi , I'm Cheryl and I'm a filmmaker. Oh no , I'm not really a filmmaker , but I have a video taping business with my friend Tamara and I work at a video store , so I'm working on being a filmmaker. The problem is , I don't know what I want to make a film on.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman to close out Black History Month , our midday movie critics wanted to create a suggested viewing list to celebrate black women on screen and behind the camera , and to remind people that celebrating black film does not have to end on February 28. Once again , I'd like to welcome back KPBS Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando and movie Wallace podcaster Yazdi. Welcome to you both.
S5: Thank you.
S1: Thank you. Well , to start this list , you both wanted to highlight an actress in Beth. Do you want to reveal who this actress's ? Yes.
S6: And I think what I'd like to do. Like , instead of a drum roll to announce her , I want to just play this trailer as an intro.
S7: When Foxy Brown comes to town , all the brothers gather around cause she can really shake them down. Pam Grier , that one chick hit squad who creamed you as coffee is back to do a job on the mob as Foxy Brown.
S4: You tell me who you want done , and I'll do the hell out of you.
S7: A chick with drive who don't take no jive. Woman.
S8: Woman. She's crazy. There's no telling what she'll do.
S6: And there is no telling what Pam Grier will do. I will say Pam Grier is not only a fine actress who has proven that in a number of films , but she is also a pop culture icon , and that has so much power to it. I mean , Cicely Tyson and Ruby Dee might have more awards , but you are not seeing their faces on T-shirts today. They are not having retrospectives of their films. But Pam Grier is someone who is still celebrated on the screen. People still will come out to her movies. I got to see her in person up in Portland , and when I saw in Portland , she talked about getting her first job , which was with Roger Corman , and they sent her off to the Philippines for a shoot. And the plane was driving over and they said , I'm going to slow down for you to jump out. And she said , what are you talking about ? And he says , no , I'm serious. And he said , I'm sorry you missed your chance. I'm going to circle back around. Either you jump out with your bag , or you have to take a two hour bus to get to the location. So he slowed down and she jumped out. And she started a career in movies and eventually , you know , made it into a lot of very well-known blaxploitation films like coffee , Foxy Brown , Friday Foster. I was a young girl in the 70s , and her image was really impactful to me , and I loved being able to see someone who had this kind of like power and force. One of her best films was Foxy Brown , and in this scene , she approaches a group which is fashioned after , like the Black Panther Party , and she basically wants them to help her fight drugs and corruption coming from this white mob.
S9: What is it you really want ? Justice.
S10:
S9: For whom ? Your brother.
S10: Why not ? It could be your brother too. Or your sister. Or your children. I want justice for all of them. And I want justice for all the other people whose lives are bought and sold , so that a few big shots can climb up on their backs and laugh at the law and laugh at human decency. And most of all , I want justice for good man. And he died because he went out of his neighborhood to try to do what he thought was right.
S9: Sister , I think what you're asking for is revenge.
S10: You just take care of the justice , and I'll handle the revenge myself.
S1: Well , you just preach it , Pam. Okay. Yazdi , you are also a fan of Greer. What is it that you like about her ? Yeah.
S5: Two things. One is that her sexuality was a big part of her power in all of her films , and she kind of wrote that proudly through the 70s and 80s female liberation movement. So she never tried to kind of disown it or disassociate it. She kind of embraced it , as Beth mentioned earlier. And Quentin Tarantino rightly called her the first female action star of American cinema , which is not bad for someone who started as a receptionist in Los Angeles. Along those lines , the second point is that she has survived over decades. I mean , here we are in 2025 and we're still speaking about her. Even after her heydays with the blaxploitation films. She was a regular on Miami Vice. On television , she was in action films with Steven Seagal in the late 1980s , and Tarantino , after having come off this huge high following the success of Pulp Fiction , gave her the lead role in his next film , which was Jackie Brown. And to give you an example , here is a really crackling scene of Jackie Brown asserting herself during an interrogation in the film Jackie Brown.
S11: But in the bag she gave you , she didn't.
S10: Give me a bag. Melanie was not a part of the plan , or dope probably told her to do it. That's why she came into the dressing room , grabbed the bag , took off. But I couldn't go after it because I was taking underwear and I had to put on this suit because I could put it on faster than my usual.
S11: Time to pay the sales check.
S10: I had to wait , I was frantic.
S12:
S10: But you weren't there.
S11:
S10: There was nobody in the fitting room.
S11: You have no idea what , $50,000. You're clueless about the money , right ? You have no idea what the 50 grand.
S10: I have no idea.
S11: None ? No idea. You don't know. Could have gone here. You don't. Know.
S10: Know. I know nothing , not a clue. I don't have an idea where.
S1: FM radio will have to cut the clip off right there. There are a lot of other black actresses that deserve shout outs in addition to Greer , but we're going to move on to highlight some black women behind the camera.
S6: I always like to go back a little further in the past to kind of remind people of some groundbreaking work that's been done that maybe isn't as well known these days. So I want to highlight Julie Dash , who directed the 1991 film daughters of the dust. This is noteworthy as being the first full length feature film directed by an African-American woman that got a general theatrical release in the US. It's a gorgeous film , and it recently got a new 4K restoration , so this film is set in 1902. It's kind of a poetic , non-linear film. It serves up a fictionalized account of a Gullah family who lives off the coast of southeastern United States. And in this scene , there's a character who recounts a tale of slave resistance from 1803.
S13: To slavery time the war. My gran always talked about those who didn't miss a thing when they got to sizing up the place real good and seeing what was to come. My gran said it turned.
UU: All of you. And walk back in the water.
S13: Every last man , woman and child. Now , you wouldn't think they'd get very far. Seeing as it was water they was walking on. How did all that ? I am Connor. Pond , the uncle and the rest. And fastened round the neck like a dog collar. But chained and stopped us able. None. They just kept walking like the water was solid ground.
S6: So Julie Dash hasn't made a lot of feature films. Recently , she had announced doing a biopic of Angela Davis , which I hope happens. But most of her work these days has been directing television. Wow.
S3: Wow.
S1: And that would be great. And Yazdi.
S5: Clement started as a very hard working actress through most of the 80s and early 90s , and incidentally , she was in the original 1992 Candyman film as a as an actress and Eve's Bayou as this gorgeous southern gothic melodrama with Lynn Whitfield and Samuel L Jackson. It's a gorgeous , beautiful film , but with so much surrealism and mysteries , and it's just a very complete piece of work. She followed up with the movie Cave Man's Valentine , also with Samuel L Jackson , and then her other film , which is also very well regarded is Talk to Me with Don Cheadle playing Ralph Green , who was an incarcerated man who became a talk show host and then a major political activist in the 60s. So by way of an introduction to Eve's Bayou , here's a clip from the movie with Samuel L Jackson and Jurnee Smollett playing father and daughter.
S14: You are , mama.
S15: Your mama. Is the most beautiful , perfect woman I ever met. Your mama's a lady.
UU: And I'll always love her. Always. Do you understand.
S14: Daddy ? Yes , baby.
S15:
S14: When we're alone and stuff ? But not at parties. You always dance with Cicely.
S15: I'll tell you what. From now on , we'll dance at everybody.
S1: Right ? Wow. A very young Jurnee Smollett there. And Yazdi , the other movie that you mentioned to talk to me , the story of Petey Greene , one of my favorites. The best line in that movie was he's a corner pimp who I wouldn't trust to wash my car , but called unelected him. Wow. Does that apply to so many things ? Okay , your next director pick also made her debut in the 1990s , along with Julie Dash and Casey Lemon.
S6: Danielle , and she was part of the queer new wave of the 1990s. So she kind of was jumping multiple hurdles as a female filmmaker , a black filmmaker , and a queer filmmaker. And Watermelon Woman was her feature film debut , and it's still my favorite of hers. It's the most innovative and most interesting. Like Julie Dash , she mostly directs TV nowadays , but Watermelon Woman was this kind of self-reflexive film , examining not just herself as an artist , but also the medium of film itself and also representation. So this is a clip from the film in which Danielle plays a young woman who is about to make a film , a documentary about an actress she has discovered.
S4: Hi , I'm Cheryl and I'm a film maker. Oh no , I'm not really a filmmaker , but I have a video taping business with my friend Tamara and I work at a video store , so I'm working on being a filmmaker. The problem is , I don't know what I want to make a film on. I know it has to be about black women because our stories have never been told. So I've been renting movies. No , I haven't been renting movies. But I get movies from the video store that I work at , and I've taken all these films out from the 30s and 40s with black actors in them , like , um , Hattie McDaniel and Louise Beavers and , um , in these films , in some of the films , the black actresses aren't even listed in the credits. And I was just totally shocked by that. So in this one film that came into the store , plantation memories. I saw the most beautiful black mammy named Elsie. Her name ? The watermelon woman. That's right. Watermelon woman is watermelon woman. Her first name. Her last name is what ? Her whole name ? I don't know , but girlfriend has it going on , and I think I've figured out what my project is going to be on. I'm going to make a movie about her.
S1: All right ? And , uh , Yazdi , you have a director who made her feature debut in 2000. Who is.
S5: That ? That would be Gina Prince-Bythewood , who made her directorial debut with the wonderful movie Love and Basketball. What I like about her is her versatility. She obviously started with making this wonderfully grounded rom com by way of love and basketball. And again , if nobody's seen it , what a wonderful film to discover. But at the same time , she's also made more edgy movies like Beyond the Lights , which is a wonderful contemporary exploration of race and celebrity , something that a lot of filmmakers have not assessed. And then , most recently , Gina Prince-Bythewood has been very successful by taking on full bodied , full blooded action films for Hollywood. She made the excellent action thriller The Old Guard with Charlize Theron and then most recently , the Viola Davis starring The Woman King in 2022. And here is a clip from the trailer for The Woman King.
S16: An evil is coming. That threatens our kingdom. Our freedom. But we have a weapon. They are not prepared for.
S11: My king , the Europeans wish.
S16: To conquer us.
S17: They will not stop into the whole of Africa. Is place.
UU: Where we must fight back.
S17: For our people.
UU: Let's go.
S18: I want to.
S1: Thank our midday movie critics. KPBS Cinema Junkie , Beth Accomando and movie Wallace podcaster Yazzie. You can watch our Mid-Day movies podcast now on the KPBS YouTube channel to see clips from all the films. Beth and Yazdi. Thank you so much.
S3: Thank you , thank you Jane.
S1: And we will go out with Pam Grier singing Long Time Woman from the Big Doll House , which Quentin Tarantino then used in Jackie Brown.
S10: I'm a long time woman.
UU: And I'm serving my time. I've been locked away so long now I forgot my cry.
S1: Coming up , Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan talks about her love for birding and her most recent book , The Backyard Bird Chronicles , ahead of the San Diego Bird Festival.
S19: I had the opportunity to do birding in my life. We all have because the birds are all around us.
S1: Hear more in your weekend preview when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Author Amy Tan published the Joy Luck Club in 1989 , and has put out nearly a dozen other books since , including novels , children's books and nonfiction. In her latest work , The Backyard Bird Chronicles , she documents a period of five years through observations about the birds in her backyard and her growing obsession with birding. This Saturday , she'll be speaking at the San Diego Bird Festival , which celebrates birds of all kinds in our region. Festival organizers say it's one of the birding regions in the United States. KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans recently had a chance to interrupt Tan's birdwatching to discuss the book and her love for birding. Here's that conversation.
S20: So this book , it's a collection of journal entries and sketches taken from , like , a regular bird observation diary that you kept in this book. In particular , it's a five year period from 2017 through the end of 2022.
S19: I also kept some pages , um , loosely , whatever I could find around the house. At the time when I saw something really exciting and. But largely they were kept in a journal that was a leather bound , very special journal where I would keep , you know , other kind of journal notes. And I eventually dedicated the journals just to the bird entries. And at the time , I also thought that I would be looking at all of my backyard. So it was called the Backyard Chronicles and not the Backyard Bird Chronicles , but shortly after it became All birds. So I have about probably 15 journals that have , um , bird entries in them , but I only used a few. I think about 150 of the drawings and entries from from all the journals. So I did pick and choose those , but more on the basis of a variety of birds and behaviors than anything.
S20: I want to ask you about something you just said about the evolution of your journal. Being a regular journal to becoming only birds. Like , was that is that kind of a metaphor for what happened to you as an individual ? Right.
S19: The evolution of the person. What happened to the novel , you should ask ? Yeah , because I think of my life and everything that I write , whether it's a scrap of paper with my daily notes of what I need to do for the , you know , get accomplished , or grocery list or a packing list or notes on mortality , that it's all part of the same thing. It goes into the evolution of who I am , and it's just that the birds became a more all consuming activity for me , uh , especially during that time when we were not really doing much of anything. We were not supposed to go outdoors even. And so I had , much to my delight. Guilty delight. Um. Permission to simply sit there and watch these birds and. And that's all I had to do. So , yeah , it definitely part of the evolution of me. And it's reflected in now what has become a book. That book had to be pried out of me , by the way , from my editor , because I suffer from what's known as perfection syndrome. A lot of people have that. You don't want to show off. You know , anything that looks half , half done or that has bad mistakes in there , especially if you're a writer. And when he suggested we publish it , I said , it's a mess. And he said , well , that's authentic. That's what we want. And I thought , what a great word. You know , if you have anything that's that's imperfect. You look terrible in the morning. You know , look at yourself in the mirror and just say , hey , I'm authentic today.
S21: I love that.
S20: I feel like this is a great time to ask you about this , the drawings and the sketches of birds , because in in your 2017 memoir , you had talked about how you were a beginner at drawing birds , drawing in general , and you were a self-conscious about your skills. But now in this book , the sketches play such a big part , not just to the book , but to your relationship with birding.
S19: In fact , I found something that I actually refer to in that memoir , Where the Past Begins , that I had found something that an interview that my father had done with an educator , and I had been part of a longitudinal study on early reading. And he said these words. I'd never heard him say before that I had an amazing imagination , and that even before the age of four , I was drawing pictures and telling stories about them. and it could have been the other way around where I had the stories , and then I just illustrated them. But what it indicates to me is that this , this quality of imagination that's both visual and storytelling came about at an early age , and it continued throughout my life.
S20: Becoming attached to birds has introduced new forms of vulnerability and tragedy in your life with with these birds losing birds and , uh , seeing diseases or injuries on them. But in one entry in particular , you're able to use the birds to give language to grief when you lost a close friend. I'm wondering how birding has supported you through periods of grief or difficult times.
S19: No , I was thinking the other day , you know , things are uncertain as funding of different things for , you know , fish and wildlife. We're losing some programs. And , um , I was recalling how how Anxiety and the feelings we have despair , anxiety , hopelessness. They have to do with what happens when we wait. When we wait and we feel that only bad things are going to come that lends itself to further depression , despair and hopelessness. But if we wait for birds to come , if I sit there and wait , and I wait for the bird to land on the fence , they climb up over onto the fence and then they come down into the yard. Every time I do that , I will see something so wonderful and so beautiful that it instantly gives me the kind of feeling I need to have to hope for something better for the future. It's the practice of hope which is waiting for something good. And that is part of , you know , the , the gift of of bird watching what that has been for me because it immediately sends me to a different place where I cannot be thinking about worries and what might be lost. So if it's with a friend , I can see life. I can see the humor. I can identify with a certain bird that has chosen to arrive by coincidence or maybe not coincidence. And it reminds me of this person who just died. And I want to say to myself , is it ? In fact , Eisa , is this in fact , Tom ? Um. And and I will see more. Now , this may be the quality of coincidence intersecting with grief , coming up with an imagination of what you would like to have be the case. But I say to myself , whether it's real enough , it's enough. It's needed , and I'll take it.
S20: You've talked about imagination and birding. If you could reflect on the release of some of your earlier books like Joy Luck Club.
S19: We all have because the birds are all around us. Um , I love nature. When I was a child , I would go down to the creek. I if I , my parents ever took us to the lake , I would catch snakes and frogs and lizards. I was a nature girl. Um , didn't get enough of it. But I think there are parts of our lives that come to us at different moments that we never would have appreciated when we were younger. And I think the birds came into my life at a at the right time. I was ready for it. I was so hungry for it. I look at everything in my life and say , now , if this hadn't happened , would I have even become a writer ? I there were times when I was younger where I would have wished I didn't have this life , I wished I wasn't Chinese , I wish that I looked , I had blonde hair and big tits , you know , um , I wish that my mother wasn't my mother. You know , all of these things that we might have wished for when in different points of our lives. But that leads up to all of the things that made me who I am. And so I don't regret any of it. I wouldn't want to alter any of it. I wouldn't want to say I want to be a birder sooner in life , because that's going to change me in another way. It'll help me grieve for my father and my brother who died when I was 15. Um , it will help me deal with my mother better so that I won't have these , um , certain , you know , notions of of what a mother and a daughter are to one another. Um , I need to go through that difficulty. And the things that I wrote about never would have come about if I had been a happier or a sadder person , a more nature enriched person. It all leads to the evolution of who I was at that moment and when I wrote those things.
S1: That was author Amy Tan speaking with KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans , who joins me now. Julia , welcome.
S20: Hey , Jade , thanks for having me.
S1: So Amy Tan is speaking at the San Diego Bird Festival , which is currently underway through Sunday. Amy's event is sold out , but there's plenty more to explore in the festival. Tell us some more about the activities.
S20: So yeah , in addition to Amy Tan's talk , there are a couple of other featured speakers , including scientist Juliana Soto Patino , who she will speak about her community science research. She is like a young ornithologist , and she's going to do a presentation at the San Diego Natural History Museum Friday night at seven. That event costs $25. There's also a kayak trip where you can. A group will go out on kayaks and paddle in the South Bay near the wetlands there , and you can look for shorebirds and all sorts of good stuff. That's Friday morning , but they also have a lot of free activities. There's drop in art activities every day. This is all at the Marina Village Conference Center in Mission Bay. And on Saturday they're having bird art basics lessons. So you too can be like Amy Tan and learn to draw her birds. And there's nature journaling , discussions , backyard birding , as well as a walk , a birding walk. At the low tide , you can go around the estuary that's at 330 on Saturday , and then on Sunday at noon , there's a bird photography class for young people. It's a workshop for teenagers aged 13 to 17. That should be really cool. If you have young people in your life and you can find all the events at their website at San Diego Bird Festival , or you can find some of my highlights on our website. All right.
S1: As if that weren't enough to do in and of itself , there's still more to check out this weekend.
S20: Yeah , so we have time for just a couple more here , so I'll do some free ones. My favorites at Liberty Station , there's a free visual art exhibit at Gallery 201. It's already on view , and it features the Arts District Liberty Station's emerging artists in residence. Right now , that's Sean Sarmiento and Gracie Moon , and their exhibit is called All the Places We Belong. Sarmiento is this collage artist who also works with sculptural elements like Polaroids or scraps of leather , and then puts text on these collages , too. And I really love how minimalist these collages are. And then sculptor Gracie Moon has created these like suspended chains that almost look like giant beaded necklaces. But the beads are jello molds that that are filled with Japanese snack wrappers set in resin. And this gallery is especially cool because it's open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and it's free. Awesome.
S1: Awesome. And I also heard about the San Diego Symphony Picnic in the Park happening this weekend.
S20: Yeah , so the symphony started doing this about five years ago. It's a way of previewing their summer season at The Rady Shell , and they have performances beginning at 1130 on Sunday. There's going to be a brass quintet from San Diego Symphony musicians and then local pop stars Cassie B and the farmers , both of whom are nominated for San Diego Music Awards this year. They'll also do a little performance. They'll have food for sale from all the restaurants at the show , but you can also bring your own picnic in , and you should definitely bring your own chairs and blankets.
S1: You can find details on these and sign up for Julia's weekly Arts newsletter on our website , pbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS Arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thank you.
S20: Thank you. Jade.
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.
