S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today is our holiday show. We've got a gift guide , book recommendations , and sustainable ways to wrap those presents. I'm Jade Hyndman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired and engaged. The KPBS Arts Desk will join us with unique gifts you'll only find here in San Diego.
S2: We wanted to make this gift guide , like , very personal and super local and just celebrating all of like , San Diego's like unique artists and makers.
S1: Then local bookstores share their favorite reads for the season. Plus , did you know most gift wrap can't be recycled ? We'll tell you better ways of being sustainable. That's ahead on Midday Edition. And. If you're looking for a gift that's a little closer to home and a bit more special , we've got some ideas. KPBS compiled a list of 25 local gifts that showcase the best of San Diego's art scene. That includes everything from handmade goods and specialty foods to paddleboard lessons and must reads. You can find the full list on PBS.org. Now here. To talk more about some of the highlights is KPBS Arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , always good to have you on.
S3: Hey , Jane. Thanks for having me. Yes.
S1: Yes. And also joining us on midday for the first time is KPBS arts editor Chrissy Wynn. Chrissy , welcome to the show.
S2: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
S1: All right , so , um , Chrissy , I'll start with you.
S2: And in the past , we've done , like , staff picks for things like best movies or best songs. And it was such a fun and collaborative experience and process that we thought , why not apply it to the idea to a gift guide ? Um , and you know , like every year you see a lot of like box , big box guides. And so we wanted to make this gift guide , like very personal and super local and just celebrating all of like San Diego's like unique artists and makers and at the same time helping people like , find gifts that feel like really special. Right.
S1: Right.
S2: And our neighborhoods have like , very distinct characteristics. Um , so included in our guide , we featured , um , so loca. Um , it's a Chicano Owned slow fashion brand that's created by this designer. Her name is Claudia , and she sews one of a kind pieces from upcycled materials. We also have a bunch of , like , chili oils that are created by all these Asian culinary artists. And I think they just really , like , highlight the city's , like , rich and diverse food culture.
S1: I like it , I like it. Um , Julia , just glancing at the guide , it's clear that San Diego has a craft scene that's really thriving. So tell me more about that. Right.
S3: And I think we're seeing that in how many collaborative and co-working craft spaces that we have , like centers and residences. I'm thinking of San Diego made factory , San Diego craft collective collectives that are like burn all books and zine making groups , other places that are doing and providing space for art making , crafting , DIY art , making little pop ups and group meetings , stuff like that. I think it's really like crafting and DIY art is this enduring art form and experience , and it's really community building , and I think that's why every generation keeps being drawn to it.
S1: Yeah , well , I can't wait to get into the actual gift.
S3: Um , it first of all , it's a beautiful shop. It's in this incredible building in the visitor center in Mission Trails. I have a mission trails trucker hat that I wear all the time. And they have all of these t shirts , like , there's an artsy design for Kohls Mountain , and they have mugs and now jeans , artisan gifts and even a bunch of outdoorsy toys or books for for all ages. So it's a really great place to pick something up. And the gift shops open every day from 9 to 5. All right.
S1:
S2: And it's WTF marries laser cut ornaments of like , um , these mini versions of the San Diego neighborhood signs that we have around the city. Um , and I think it's such like a unique , fun gift because , um , you can show , like your hometown pride on a tree and then past the holidays , um , you can , like , repurpose it into , like , a keychain or even like a bag charm or something like that. So I just think it's like a really cool personal gift that , like , really celebrates San Diego. Oh.
S1: How unique.
S2: So we have like , included things like a calligraphy workshop , um , membership to the Jazz lounge. So lots of things that are unique and something that you can find for everyone on your list. That's pretty. Neat.
S1: Neat. Um , Julia , of course , this is last minute with the holidays being next week , what are some things that are especially good for that ? Right.
S3: So one of the things that this gift guide has are a bunch of shops that you can just pop into. It's not in a mall , and it's not something you have to order and wait for shipping. Um , there's places you can find , um , gift cards and things like that that are good for last minute for for me , I would recommend the Museum of Contemporary Art gift shop. Um , there's a bunch of local artists in there , and you can go during museum hours , um , and find these gifts from local artists or even just your standard museum gift shop gifts. You can also pick up gift cards like a hard work coffee , which is in Mission Hills. That was one of the things recommended by our web producer , Laura McCaffrey. And one more is one that I recommended. It's West Coast paddleboards and Sup pups. This is at Liberty Station , and you can buy gift cards for someone that can turn into a lesson. Learn how to paddleboard with your dog , or just get like equipment rentals and go paddleboarding right there by Liberty Station , right by downtown.
S1: I mean , so far this list seems like it's just full of unique things and things that you wouldn't typically think of. Right.
S3: Right. And I what I love about this list is it's almost like a jumping off point to where , you know , if you can't necessarily get to one thing or it's too late to do shipping from this person's Etsy shop , it's a way to think about , oh , I hadn't thought about gifting , um , from a museum , a local museum , like finding local artists. Oh , I hadn't thought about giving paddleboard lessons or the chocolate shop that's on here. And it's ways to just kind of open your own gift list and come up with new stuff. Yeah.
S2: And , um , personally , for me , it made me kind of like , think about the businesses that I had frequented throughout the year. And for example , like the City Farmers Nursery was a place that I really enjoyed going with my family. And I was thinking of like , oh , I can buy a plant for this person. I can buy like this tool for this other person. So it was like really great thing to just kind of like reminisce on and like what I did through the year that could help me shop at the end of the year.
S3: And also , I feel like going the act of going shopping at a place like City Farmer's Nursery , when the alternative is going to the mall. It's just so much nicer for me.
S1: You beat those , the.
S4: Crowds are.
S1: All right. We'll be talking about recommendations from independent bookstores later in the show , but are there any specific books you wanted to highlight ? Julia.
S3: Yeah , there's one on the list. Um , Places We Love. It's a book that's edited by Megan Groth and features a bunch of essays and photographs by local writers , local photographers including Stacey Keck and Elena Delgado , and this is only sold at local bookstores and museums , and also at the Balboa Park Visitor Center. And so that's a great thing you can go and pick up. It's very , very San Diego centric , of course. And another one is the the book of poetry by our outgoing poet laureate , Jason Perez. It's called I ask About What Falls Away. It's a really excellent book length poem.
S4: Oh , yeah.
S1:
S2: It's kind of like this little map of San Diego where it can take you to parts of the city that you might not be familiar with. So , like while you're picking up gifts for others , you can like , you know , stumble upon , like your next new favorite shop or restaurant , or meet an artist or , um , you know , just check out a neighborhood that you've never been to. So it's just like , a great way to connect with your community and discover something new in San Diego.
S1: And you know , this question is for both of you.
S3: When you keep things local , you're supporting a creative economy as well. You're supporting the region , and independent shopkeepers or artists and business owners also have this really strong and very human sense of curation. You know , you can ask them a question and get a real answer.
S2: Crissy and I think it's like really nice to where you know , where your money's going , kind of , um , you know , often it goes right back into someone's like dream or passion. So I really like that about supporting these local spots.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans and KPBS Arts editor Kristy Nguyen. Thank you both so much for joining and what great recommendations.
S3: Thanks , Jade.
S2: Thank you.
S1: And like we mentioned , you can find the complete gift guide on our website at pbs.org. And coming up here from our local bookstores to get their recommendations on what to read next.
S5: I think bookstores , at least in San Diego , we're all kind of thriving , especially this time of year. People really just love. They love to get books recommended to them , they love to read a year end lists. And , you know , I think they like to give books to each other.
S1: KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. The holidays are almost here , and many of us are scrambling to finish our holiday shopping here on Midday Edition. Throughout the year , we interview local authors and authors in town for book events. We're also a team of readers ourselves , so what better gift to give than a book ? We spoke to local independent bookstores for their recommendations. Seth Marco is the owner of the book Catapult in South Park.
S5: I love that people. You know , people are always saying to you , I'm so glad that your bookstore is like surviving. But , you know , I think bookstores , at least in San Diego , we're all kind of thriving , especially this time of year. People really just love. They love to get books recommended to them. They love to read the year end lists. And , you know , I think they like to give books to each other. And I think that's pretty great thing that people still like to do that. And we're like , you know , we're so digitized so much of the time that sometimes you feel like that's not the case anymore. But , you know , I would say if you walk into a bookstore in December , it's going to feel very different. It's a good thing. It's a very good thing.
S1: Seth had many recommendations to share , but here's what he had to say about his top book of the year.
S5: My favorite book for the year is a book called You Dream of Empires by Alvaro Enrique , which I thought I was really the only one who had read it until the New York Times picked it as one of their ten best books of the year. But it's this kind of labyrinthine Borges Ian novel about the days that Hernan Cortez , it's a Hernan Cortez spent in Montezuma's court in Tenochtitlan in the 1500s. So it's sort of in an alternate history , I guess , fictionalized of the time that the Cortez spent there. So , like in reality , Cortez was visited Montezuma and was treated as like a celebrity and was given everything he wanted. And so he then left and came back with an army and killed everybody. So that's what happened in real life. So this doesn't quite go as well as that for quartets , which is what's so great about it. It's sort of dreamlike. A lot of the dialogue feels almost contemporary. I loved every word of it. I was really surprised by it. It was really a really fantastic book and definitely my favourite for the year.
S1: You can find all of Seth's recommendations at KPBS. Org. Let's turn now to books for the young ones in your life. Joy Ride Bookshop is a dedicated children's bookstore. Once a bookstore on wheels , it currently has two storefronts one at Liberty Station , another at the new Children's Museum downtown. We caught up with co-owners Katie Turner and Suzy Haun. Katie had a few recommendations for the little ones , particularly for board books , which are printed on thick cardboard pages.
S6: We have a board book that we really love. The series is by Jessica Spaniel and it's for ages six months to six years old. It's a bilingual universe , published by Child's Play International with titles such as Rosa Loves Dinosaurs and so as Soon Biblioteca Mario and Clive and His Bags , all books end with the children heading off for a good night's sleep after a day of imaginative play. They're wonderful. They're bilingual. Um , and they , uh , break a lot of stereotypes around imaginative play. So we love them. Um , a second , uh , recommendation is Miss Leo Pada by the Russian author and illustrator Natasha Shallow. Shirley , um , it's a great story. Picture books that make great stories can be read over and over and over again. Um , so it's a great story about a leopard who drives the community around in her bus as they go about their animal business. And then one day a car shows up and in their envy , all the animals stop riding the bus together and they all buy cars. And then they all sit in traffic. And this little part is ultimately a wonderful , clever and environmental call for community. The illustrations are absolutely riveting.
S1: Katie also recommended Loose Threads by Argentinian author ISIL. It's a picture book inspired by a Palestinian scarf. Co-owner Susie , on the other hand , shared her picks for those in the 8 to 12 year old range.
S3: One is a chapter book and then one.
S7: Is a graphic novel. The chapter book is called Impossible Creatures by Catherine Rundell , and it's been very buzzy and for good reason. It's fantasy middle grade. It's about two kids , Christopher and Mal. Christopher is in our world , and Mal is in kind of a magical realm filled with magical creatures. So one day , Christopher discovers and rescues a drowning Griffin , and it becomes. He meets Mal and it becomes up to them to understand why magical creatures are dying and to save them together , and it's just a really wonderful fantasy read and exceeds all all the buzz and expectation around it. So I highly recommend that. And then the graphic novel is called Taxi Ghost and it's by Sophie Escobar. Um , she's in Montreal , and she also wrote the very popular Witches of Brooklyn graphic novel series. This book has a really fun premise. The main character , Adele , gets her first period , and with that , she , uh , gains the power to see the ghosts around her , and she learns more about her family history , that she comes from a long line of mediums , and she begins to develop relationships with these ghosts , who have been driving her sister's car around and causing all kinds of chaos in Brooklyn , and she starts to get to know them and their problems and and help them and really funny and wonderful ways.
S1: If you're looking for comics or graphic novels now or never , comics in East Village has you covered. It's the closest comic shop to the convention center and has become a hotspot during Comic-Con. Owner Aaron tried to share his personal favorites and the biggest Marvel comics that popped off this year.
S8: The Marvel book that's been most popular for us this year is ultimate Spider-Man volume one. The Ultimate Universe has been around since the early 2000 , but Marvel's just rebooted it in the last year , and it's been an unbelievable runaway success. We are seeing about ten times the sales for ultimate Spider-Man than we are for The Amazing Spider-Man book. Amazing Spider-Man is going to be a little bit more familiar for what people know Spider-Man as ultimate Spider-Man is an alternate universe Spider-Man where Peter Parker never became Spider-Man as a teenager. So he never had those struggles as a kid. He never lost his Uncle Ben. He grew up , he became a photographer. He married Mary Jane , he's got two kids. And now as a more established professional adult , now he gets his Spider-Man powers. So it's him kind of , you know , uh , readjusting to life as a superhero , uh , a superhero with a family. Whereas , you know , Peter Parker , traditionally , what most folks know is , you know , him going it alone , um , you know , kind of struggling in silence. But now he's got this support network that he's never had before. It's a really cool riff on , uh , traditional Spider-Man stuff , but it's , uh , it's a really cool way for Marvel , kind of breathe new life into a character that's been around for 60 plus years.
S1: Now or never. Comics also serves up options for fans of the DC comic book universe , Aaron has a rock for them too.
S8: The DC book that's been strongest for us this year is Wonder Woman. Um , starts , uh , starts with volume one , Wonder Woman outlaw. Uh , it's written by Tom King , with art by Daniel Samper. Um , that Wonder Woman series by Tom King. He's one of the most popular writers we have in the shop. Probably my favorite book from this year is another book he wrote called Helen of Wind Horn that hasn't been collected in trade paperback yet , but he's been , like , unbelievably consistent for the last ten years. Almost all of his stuff either ends up on the bestseller list or on our personal favorite list. Uh , this Wonder Woman run is no exception. Starts off with the US military declaring war on the Amazons. Almost all of the Amazons withdraw from America except for Wonder Woman. She takes a stand , she refuses to leave , and it kind of puts her in this hard place where it's her up against , you know , the US military. Uh , but we find out pretty quickly that behind the scenes , the strings are being pulled by the sovereign , who is the secret king of America , who's been working in government for his entire life. And so Wonder Woman now , you know , has to face off against the sovereign. She goes through a rogue's gallery of her own villains. It's a great balance of kind of , you know , classic Wonder Woman elements like all the , the mythology , um , and kind of , you know , her , her legacy of 80 years of history , uh , but then also trying to find a really cool new way to approach this character that's a little bit more political than than a lot of her stuff has been. But , uh , but there's some unbelievably heartwarming moments in that series , uh , Wonder Woman's Benetton , and she's she's probably been our favorite DC book this year.
S1: Moving away from superheroes. Know anyone looking for romance ? Look no further. We checked in with Meet Cute , one of the few romance focused genre bookstores in the country. It was formerly in North Park , but has since moved to a bigger location in la mesa. Here's Becca , title founder of Meet Cute.
S7: Giving books.
S9: As such a fun gift because it's about giving something you love that you also think will match up with something that someone else loves. So it's about knowing someone well and giving them something that you really feel , um , protective about. And so I think it's about knowing them and knowing you. And so I think if you know who you're giving a gift to , you can sort of try to triangulate that. So if you have a friend or a loved one who loves Bridgerton , the television show , which is in fact based on a series of romance novels , and they would like to fill the Bridgerton shaped hole in their heart while they're waiting for the next season. I would recommend Anna Maria and the Fox by Liana de la Rosa , which is about a Mexican heiress who is sent to Victorian London to seek refuge there while the French are occupying Mexico. and she gets a taste of freedom away from her domineering father , and ends up running into this British politician who is very busy with his very important work , but finds himself absolutely , undeniably distracted from his work by her. It's a great time , and it has a lot of Bridgerton energy.
S1: And a subgenre in romance that's big these days sports , romance.
S9: We have a lot of recommendations for that. If they are a hockey person , I would recommend getting them some of the books from Rachel Reid's Game Changers series or Stephanie Archer's Vancouver Storm series if they're into F1 , which seems to be really taking off with people in the last couple of years , there's a great book called Cross the Line by Simone Soltani. If they are into golf , or if you are into golf and you would like to get them into golf. Tessa Bailey had a book called Fangirl Down , and if they have jumped on the WNBA bandwagon this year. You're welcome. I would really recommend giving them Anita Kelly's How You Get the Girl.
S1: Another indie bookstore in San Diego is Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in Point Loma. They focus on sci fi , fantasy , horror , mystery and young adult romance. We talked with Ginny Soto , one of the co-owners of Mysterious Galaxy. We asked about what the holiday season means for fellow Indies.
S4: The holiday season is always really important for us as a store , just a wonderful way where we interface with customers more than usual because everybody's holiday shopping , and so we love talking to customers. We love talking about books and helping someone find the next story that they will love. So we try to do that any more and more , and that's always one of the highlights of the holiday season for us looking towards next year. You know , we want to make sure that we continue to highlight a lot of diverse authors and diverse narratives , um , different stories told in different ways because we want to make sure that Mysterious Galaxy is a place where you can see yourself in the story , whatever that may be. Um , so we have been putting a lot of effort , and we put a lot of attention into making sure that we can serve our community in that way.
S1: Ginny also had favorites to share across many different genres.
S4: One of the things that is coming to mind immediately is from horror. Uh , and it is a book called I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones. Stephen Graham Jones is a native writer , and this book is just an ode to the slasher genre. If you are someone like me who grew up watching the scream movies or the Halloween or any of those classic sort of slasher films , this book really puts a twist on it and tells the story from the point of view of the slasher , while getting into a lot of different tropes of the genre in a playful way , while still very serious. It's not overly scary because it's told from the slashers perspective. You're not sort of waiting for somebody to come out from the shadows or whatever it is. So it's a really good book for people that aren't necessarily like looking to be super frightened , but still want to deal with horror or try horror.
S1: She also has a wreck that falls into a unique category in sci fi and fantasy , another.
S4: One that has sort of been really picking up more and more steam throughout sort of the year is a book that was first independently published , and it is a series. It is called Dungeon Crawler. Carl by Matt Denman. My partner is obsessed with this series. It again , it began independently published , but it recently was picked up. And the first six books , the first three are already out. The next three will be coming out next year. It is essentially a setup that is a the structure of a video game , but as a narrative , it's a new genre that they are sort of describing or naming have named little RPG and in dungeon crawler Carl. Essentially , aliens come down , the world ends as we know it , and a lot of people are transported into the first floor of this dungeon. And sort of one of those people is Carl. He is also transported with Princess Donut , who is his girlfriend's cat , and they sort of team , they become a team , and they team up with other people and sort of need to accrue stat points or go through different challenges or fight different bosses or neighborhood bosses or floor bosses in the same way you would see a video game structured , but told through the point of view of these characters that are learning about the rules and how to play the game as you go. There's a the cast of characters over the course of the books is amazing and very , very fun. It's very funny , it's incredibly playful and just it's becoming more and more , more and more people are talking about it. Essentially , a.
S1: Newer bookstore in town is Libba Balala Books and Company , which opened in Barrio Logan in 2021. This store is becoming an important player in the literary and artistic community , with a focus on community events and readings. Co-owner and creative director Jessy Gutierrez chose books that look forward to the next year and help unpack our current political and social climate.
S10: There are so many great books that came out this year , but one of my top recommendations this year is going to be Defectors by Paulo Ramos. They wrote a book a couple of years back called Finding Latinx in Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity , and the reason why I think that this is such an important recommendation for this year of 2024 is because it came out , um , just about three weeks after the election. I know that that's , um , the election is heavy on people's minds. It's definitely at the forefront trying to decipher what 2025 is going to look like for us here in San Diego , also having such a large population of Latino or Chicano community. I think this book is really important because it goes into the very real and unfortunate , in my opinion , the fact that so many Latino and Latino communities did vote for Donald Trump , and how the Latino community has been persuaded to move to the far right specifically. So not a light read for sure. It's not something you're going to read on Christmas Eve while you're by a fire. We have plenty of good things for that as well , but this is something that is definitely going to be able to help folks decipher how we got where we're at at this current moment. And I think that that's first , understanding how we arrived at this moment is going to be really helpful to inform how we move forward.
S1: From politics at home to conflict abroad. Jesse hopes to expose readers to some unique works of poetry.
S10: So just the other two recs that I really wanted to mention of this year that I think are important , especially coming up here in 2024 , is Rivka by Mohammad El Kurd , which is a collection of poetry. It's by a Palestinian author , um , who has woven together some incredible poetry for us to be able to digest , um , some very real violence that has taken place in Palestine and continues to take place there. The ability to distill that information into poetry , um , I think is incredible and just allows us , allows a level of accessibility that I haven't seen , um , in some other writings. So I think it's definitely something that folks should check out. The other book that I wanted to mention was Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Minin , and I think that this is a great way for folks to start the conversation around gender and trans identity. It's a perfect little book to stick in someone's stocking. It's called the Pocket Change Collective series out of , um , Penguin Random House. And it's just a really accessible way of like , starting these conversations that may or may not feel daunting to folks , especially within families , as the holidays kind of come up. Um , so those are all my recs. Not the lightest , but I think as we can equipped ourselves with knowledge and information , we are more , more ready to have some of the difficult conversations and hopefully we can hold each other with care and love. Um , to be able to move past the difficult conversations and just grow collectively.
S1: That's it for our recommendations from San Diego's indie bookstores. While each bookstore we spoke to has their own unique identity , one thing that binds them is a sense of community and commitment to serving readers across the region. So we hope you got some good ideas for books to give to people in your life , or even yourself For the full list , go to pbs.org. Slash mid-day. Still to come. The sparkly bows and shiny wrapping paper looks so nice on those gifts , but most of it can't be recycled. Our next guest tells us how we can wrap gifts in a sustainable way.
S11: There's about £4 million of this waste produced every single year just to wrap presents with more on.
S1: That when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition I'm Jade Hindman. Tis the season for giving and getting with all those gifts. Overconsumption is a real issue during the holidays. From extravagant packaging to wasted food items , we as consumers take a real toll on the environment. But as Jenny Barros explains , it's easy to stop and be mindful about sustainability. She is the Director of Marketing and Development with I Love a Clean San Diego , which is a local nonprofit. Jenny joins me now. Welcome to Midday Edition.
S11: Thank you for having me , Jade. I'm so excited to be here.
S1: So glad to have you here. So a lot of people don't realize that zero waste gift wrapping is pretty easy.
S11: I'm happy to share with what I'm doing this holiday in my own house , and then also give you some ideas that I've just seen around that I'm excited to try at another time. So I think the very easiest thing to do is just look at what you already have inside of your house. So , for example , I brought today for you to see I had a package come in to my house with some goods and it was wrapped in paper. It was wrapped in recyclable , beautiful brown paper. And I'm going to take that and use it. And it will pretty much be sufficient for all of the gifts that I've purchased this year. So that is going to act as my wrapping paper. And it's just that blank brown slate. So if I wanted to add some , You wanted to stamp some fruits on there. You know , cut an apple. I've seen people use a cookie cutter to cut a star shape out of an apple , and then dip that into a paint they had at their house and stamp it. You can really get as creative as you want. I like to take some of my own tree trimmings , and I've dried some oranges , and I'll wrap that with a little bit of 100% cotton yarn. And it's just a beautiful , lovely gift.
S1: Sounds so creative. Um , you actually bought that recycled paper with you ? Show me what you got here. Yeah.
S11: Yeah. So this is the paper. And as you can see , it's got that really rustic , beautiful look. And I think it's pretty satisfying to wrap , too. It's just , uh , reminds me if you've ever seen , like , flowers , instead of being wrapped in cellophane , they're wrapped in that beautiful butcher paper. Like , that's just the feeling that comes from this. So I also brought some reusable utensil set today that I'm going to give out as a gift. It's bamboo utensils. And so you can just roll that up , wrap it in this , tie it with a string around it , and then you have this beautiful gift to give. And it's zero waste. Because this already existed , I didn't have to go purchase anything else. It's 100% recyclable because there's not metallic or plastic within it as well. So this can go into the blue bin and be recycled curbside after it's used in.
S1:
S11: So the first one is wrapping paper that's in our stores is literally just being produced to be used for one time , for one gift. We know it's going to be ripped apart and that's it. So there's about £4 million of this waste produced every single year just to wrap presents with. So it's not long lasting. It goes and it fills up our landfills. So just that alone , anything that's single use in that way is pretty unsustainable. We're trying to look for things that can be used for multiple uses , have some longevity , and then if that wrapping paper has metallic on it , or if it has plastic in San Diego that's no longer recyclable. Can't go in your blue bin. So if you are going to purchase wrapping paper , just make sure that it is 100% paper and there is not metallic and there's not plastic within it so that it can still be recyclable. Wow.
S1: Wow. And it's not just about the wrapping paper itself. You can even use like recycled materials for decorations. I understand you use dried oranges as you mentioned before for ornaments. Tell me more about that.
S11: Yeah , it's you know , it's fun because you get to be creative. I think it personally it feels even more satisfying to me. And now if people , they're like , oh , but I like the wrapping paper because it has stockings on it and it has presents and it has all of these kind of like holiday decor items on it. You could still also go in the direction of fabric , which is really beautiful. So if you go to your local thrift store , is there filled with tablecloths , pillowcases , sheets , all that have that holiday decoration on it , and you can cut that out as wrapping paper and use that as wrapping paper as well. And that's really cool because really , you could have your set of cloth wrapping paper that you create from your cutouts at the thrift store , and you could use those. Year after year , if you're gifting in your own home with your own family , after those gifts have been unwrapped , then you fold them up and you put them in your holiday box. And that's your year after year. And it's still very festive and it's very fun. And again , I think it just feels more personal. It feels creative.
S1: I hadn't even thought about that. Going to the thrift store and getting tablecloths or anything like that.
S11: We're we're giving a gift because we're checking a box. This is what you do. We have associated this tradition with this holiday season for a very , very long time. And so we just want to step into that conscious consumer mindset and ask yourself , you know , do I really need to buy this gift for someone ? What am I hoping to communicate by giving this gift ? Am I hoping to communicate warmth , friendship ? Am I trying to make this person remind them that they're special to me ? Is there another way that I can do that that could perhaps be even more meaningful , and that could be less harmful to the Earth , and have just be more sustainable in general ? Could I give an experience to that person ? Could I just give my presence and my time in a deeper way to them ? Could I cook them something ? First of all , we need to start thinking beyond just material gifts , because , you know , it's what we really need to do to have healthy communities , healthy planets , our landfills are all filling up around the globe , but definitely in San Diego , our landfills are reaching capacity. So you can just ask yourself those questions again. Look to the experiences. Look to giving your presence. And I love something that's compostable. I mean , making someone a soup , giving someone a beautiful basket of their favorite fruits like you can communicate usually what you want to communicate with a gift without buying a material item for someone in some cases. And then if you do decide that yes , the material item is the right gift , you can find almost anything you want in like new condition second hand. Like everything my daughter has wanted for Christmas , we are able to get on offer up for a fraction of the price in like new condition. Thrift stores offer up Facebook Marketplace. The circular economy is a beautiful place to look at as a first step when you're looking for gifts.
S1: Yeah , and you touched on something earlier , and I've heard this idea of gifting presents over presents. Um , talk to me more about that concept.
S11: I mean , I think all of us , we love connection and we love community , and sometimes that's even the thing that we're most excited about around the holidays. We're coming to that family or friends house , or we're meeting up with the people that we care about to celebrate together , and we've attached gift giving to be part of that. But if we really look at what was meaningful about that holiday , it was the being together part. It was the breaking bread together , the laughing together , the being off work and not needing to , you know , have that relaxation together. That's the part that's the most special. Maybe it's also the smells and the sensory experience of the music. And , you know , there's beautiful things about the tradition that that evoke that warmth and that the feeling that you want from it. And so I think that if we can kind of just detach a little bit from the gift giving part , or at least become very conscious of it. So if we are giving a gift , we're consciously giving the gift. We know that person's going to use it for a long time , or we know that we're conscientious of where it comes from.
S1:
S11: Before I talk about materials like the most sustainable thing is the thing that you don't have to buy , right ? So , um , even as we're talking about swapping from polyester based clothing to organic clothing , that polyester clothing that we have purchased , purchased in the past , it's going to exist somewhere forever. So plastic never breaks down. It will become microplastics , which is a term that a lot of people hear. So it's many , many microplastics. And those are in our oceans. They're pretty much found anywhere that you look now. And that is because that's what the breakdown of a plastic does. So it doesn't biodegrade into a compost or something like that. So just being mindful if you are , if you are going to buy a plastic product , which all of us have in our homes , and it's pretty unavoidable and some really high quality products do come with plastic , making sure that you are responsible for that product for for its lifetime , for a very long time , that those are things that you're not going to just throw into the trash and , you know , a couple of months or even a couple of years and being mindful of how you do get rid of that product when it's when the time has come. So making sure you find out , can I recycle this , making sure it goes into the right , you know , recycling receptacle. We have waste freezorg where. So all of those hard to recycle items or old paint plastic films , the things that can't go in your blue bin. There's a lot of specialty recycling facilities. So if you go to our database , you can search for an item like broken holiday lights. Where do I put those ? I know I can't put them in the trash , but where can I put them ? And we'll we'll show you where there's a specialty recycling facility. So being mindful of making sure that those are disposed of properly when you do get rid of them , and then of course , organic materials that break down and that are compostable or fantastic Tastic gifts. Wow.
S1: Wow.
S11: So broken holiday lights are considered household hazardous waste when it's a light bulb , so it can leak hazardous materials into our landfills if it's put in the trash. However , if it's put in the recycling , then those tangle up the machines and can really harm the machines and they can't be recycled. So they are treated as household hazardous waste. And they have we have a lot of specialty facilities all over San Diego. A lot of people will have them very close to where they live. So again , if you just go to waste freezorg , you can type in the word holiday lights , your zip code and you'll see , oh , there's three places , five places down the street for me. And you can just go take those broken holiday lights , or they don't even have to be broken. If you're just at the end of their life for you , you're not going to use them anymore. And if the thrift store is at capacity and they don't want them , for example , then that's the time you would you would take them to a facility like that.
S1: All right. As you mentioned , there is plenty of resources for second hand items you can utilize beyond just the holidays.
S11: So I think that once you if you haven't done it before , if you've never purchased , you know , second hand , I would say go ahead and like go browse the marketplace next time you're like , oh , I need a new wool rug , even if it's something specific. I think that people , if they haven't had that experience of secondhand shopping or utilizing the circular economy , they might not know how exciting it can be. So even if you have a very specific item in mind a rattan shelf , a wool rug , a leather couch , you will probably find exactly what you're looking for on those secondhand sites. So , you know , start to stimulate the circular economy. When you're getting ready to get rid of something , you can post it. Also , make some money on Offer up or Facebook Marketplace , or make a donation or buy nothing. There's an app called By Nothing. That's really great too , where people will just swap really high quality items because they're like , I'm ready for this couch not to be here. I have a new one coming to someone. Want it for free. It's a fun community to be within. So I would say we have clothing swap events. We have multiple every single month. So if you go to clean SD or you can find a clothing swap and we have beautiful free like new clothing that will set up and you can come shop our swap for free. So there's a lot of sustainability events you can go to to just get deeper education , to be part of the community and just to learn how to reduce , reuse and recycle in San Diego.
S1: All right.
S11: I would say just look around at nature and see how much it gives to us in San Diego. This is something I think we're reminded of all the time as we're driving over , and we see the bay next to us on the freeway , or our oceans , or our hills or the sunsets and the reason we love being here is because it's so beautiful and because nature gives us so much. And so we have this opportunity to , to , to give back to our natural environment , to be in relationship with nature instead of , um , doing harm to our natural environment. So I would look at it as giving a gift back to San Diego. So being sustainable is , is you being of service to the community that you live in and you giving a gift back to the environment that gives so much to us.
S1: I've been speaking with Jenny Barros , the director of marketing and development with I love a clean San Diego. Jenny , thank you so much for joining me and sharing such great advice. I love.
S11: This conversation. Thank you so much for having with me , Jade.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition.
