Looking back on 2024 and what’s on the 2025 horizon

S1: Folks who brought this here. Producer from Port of Entry back from winter hiatus. With me are the host , Alan and Natalie Gonzalez. Behind the boards is audio wizard Adrian Villalobos.

S2:

S1:

S3: It's good to be back.

S4: Yes , it's all right.

S1:

S4: I'm doing all right. All right.

S1: Today's episode is our chance to reflect on last year's episode and talk about what we did differently , and what things are we expecting in the next few months.

S5:

S6: Where we tell Crossborder stories that connect. Us.

S4: Us.

S7: I'm Alan Lilienthal.

S6: And I'm Natalie Gonzalez.

S7: And that's Julio Ortiz Franco.

S1: And over there.

S6: Is Adrian Villalobos.

S1: We'll be back in a few minutes , guys.

S5: You are listening to Port of Entry.

S1: Hey folks , if you're just tuning in , we are talking about last year and the future. Quick chicken guys , Natalie and Adrian.

S6:

S1: In general ? Yeah.

S5: Like , not just port of entry. Like just our. Lives.

S4: Lives. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. I like your lives. Yeah. Yeah.

S6: Yeah. You go first. It was a good year. It was a good year.

S5: I think it was a good year. But you go first.

S6: What did I do last year ? What did we do last year ? No , it was a good year. I moved out of my parents house and I'm living now with my boyfriend.

S4: And so.

S6: And it's been great. The economy is pretty rough. Now I have to pay rent and a lot of stuff , and I miss my parents. But it's okay. I love my boyfriend.

S1:

S6: And the fridge was always full and now. But it's been great. I do miss my parents , but I love living with my boyfriend. And also last year I started working with the KPBS web team because I started a new position as a Spanish web producer. So now KPBS has content in Spanish besides Port of Entry.

S1: So you probably already seen her in the KPBS socials. Natalie rocks it as the Spanish contributor. Yes.

S4: Yes.

S1: Or or is it correspondent ? Contributor. Right.

S6: Yeah , I'm gonna say contributor. Yeah.

S4: I don't. Know.

S1: Know.

S5: Yo , I had a good year , I survived , I lived to see another year. That's always a nice blessing. I moved back to Tijuana , but actually , that was this year. That was at the beginning of this year. So I finished my stint in San Diego and I made a lot of music. I got a cat , got a little cat , adopted a cat , and what else did I do last year ? I learned a lot. I got closer to God And I prayed a lot. And now I'm here , happy to be alive. Blessings.

S4: Blessings. Yes.

S1: What's your cat's name ? Hess.

S5: Like the author. Hermann. Hesse.

S4: Hesse. Hermann. Hesse.

S1: Hesse. Who's your favorite from ? Hesse. Author of book. Sorry.

S5: My favorite Hermann Hesse book is probably Narcissus and Goldman , but Siddharth is probably the one that I've read the most. Yeah. I love Siddhartha.

S1:

S5: I just bought it recently. It's the only one I haven't read.

S1: I think I dropped it after ten pages. I don't know why. I was maybe just busy.

S4: But , yeah.

S5: I've heard it's really good. But , yeah , it's Siddartha is the most classic funny.

S1: The funny thing is , I think it's the book that pushed all of the sort of Hollywood eyes into the the eastern philosophies or just from the Western.

S5: Yeah , I think he had a lot to.

S4: Do with it. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. I think , don't quote me. That.

S4: That.

S5: He did him in the Beatles. The Beatles also had a lot to do with it because they started going to India to meditate.

S1:

S5: 1950s. Boring.

S6: Boring.

S1: All right , that's one.

S5: Do you like to read ? Adrian.

S1:

S5:

S1:

S6: Again.

S4: Again.

S6: That's true. I'm not reading Twilight again. Not again. Oh , I know. Alan and I. We are practically neighbours. Practically.

S5: Practically. But she hasn't come over yet.

S6: Yeah , because he hasn't invited me.

S5: But it's because I'm waiting for it. I want to impress her with my home. Oh.

S1: Oh.

S5: Beautiful.

S4: Beautiful.

S1: Everybody's invited. Come in.

S4: Yeah , really ? Everyone's invited.

S1:

S4: Just like Alan. I learned a lot. I also was working on music , and we did a lot of also fun episodes for Port of Entry. Very like developmental year , I think I was. There was a big learning year for me. I was wrapping up school. I was in grad school , so that was a lot of fun.

S5: You also moved out of your parents house ? Yeah.

S4: That too. That was actually this year , though. Oh yeah. Yeah.

S6: Oh , wait. And last year I had a bunch of performances. That was the year. So it must performances.

S8: A way to interrupt the most.

S6:

S9:

S1: Finish up Edgar.

S4: That was it. You can interrupt. Natalie.

S6: He was done. Sorry. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. So it was the year with the most.

S6: With the most performed theater ? Yeah.

S1: How many. Performances.

S9: Performances.

S6: I think. 40. Which is a lot for an artist from Tijuana , because it's like you can rarely perform that many times. Okay. You need money. Well , the company needs money. But , yeah , I had a lot of performances with my theater company. Go check them out. Tijuana Teatro.

S1: What , did you get paid ? Yes.

S6: I am a professional actress. Yeah.

S1: That's so awesome , dude. So happy to hear.

S5: How do you think she bought that leather jacket secondhand.

S1: For the audience. They're both came in today to the studio wearing matching outfits or color coded outfits. Without.

S4: Without.

S1: Black and.

S6: White , without trying.

S5: When we actually. Fun fact when we. When Natalie started working here , like , the first six times that we hung out , we were wearing the exact same colors without trying.

S6: That's what he thinks. I was outside.

S10: His home. Spying.

S1: Spying.

S11: What is he wearing.

S10:

S1:

S9: My life is a lie.

S1: Love me. Um. My last year. Obviously.

S5: I'm sorry.

S8: No one asked you. Okay.

S6:

S12:

S8: I'm kidding , I'm kidding. We want to hear about your year.

S4: Let him speak.

S1: I had a significant life event in late 2023. Sorry.

S9: Sorry.

S8: I'm sorry. I apologize. Take it back.

S13: No , no , no.

S1: I lost my mom. And it was a year in which I've been reflecting about life. And if you always have seen a diminishment in the episodes that had a little bit to to it to do with it. And so we're ready to pick up the pace now. And so you will get a lot of stuff from us , some of which is different. But it was a year for me , lessons in life , just to take things slowly , to allow yourself to to feel. Stuff.

S4: Stuff.

S1: To feel things and to see the people who see you. To know that you're supported and people who have your back. And so it was a year of of blessings in disguise , I would say that. Yes. Also , guys , moving on to bring back the conversation to port of entry guys.

S6:

S13:

S6: Producing ? No , I hate it. The whole. No.

S9: Just kidding.

S5: I honestly don't remember. I'm having a hard time between this year and last year. Like drawing the marking. I think.

S1: Was from a planetary scale. A planetary scale , a mile. We did okay.

S6: The day of the dead Comic-Con with Halloween.

S9: I really. I'll.

S8: I'll.

S5: Tell you which one I really enjoyed. Yeah , I think my favorite port of entry moment and episode from last year was producing the one that we produced in in parallel with a live event with Charles and Giancarlo. Uh , not only because I just like live events. I like being in front of an audience and being able to connect in that way. It's different when you're behind a microphone and you don't have any idea who you're talking to. I like seeing people's faces , but also just it was a chance. I've known Giancarlo for many years and I always loved hanging out with him , but it was. I've looked up to Charles's work for so many years. It was really nice to become friends with him and hang out with him at his home , be able to look into his process.

S1: We have an air of that episode yet.

S5: Oh , we produced it last.

S8: Year , though.

S1: We were still working on it. And so you will get that audience if you're listening to this. I get it. And within the next month.

S5: Well , maybe that'll make it more excited. Yes.

S1: Yes. So that was definitely fun. So we did have a lot of it.

S6: It was the day after that episode. But it's because of your part. Because I wasn't expecting your part to be deep and touching and emotional. And I was pissed at first with Adrian because that was supposed to be like an easy episode. Like we were supposed to just send an audio to go to a special place that reminded us of someone we love that is not here with us anymore , and just record an audio and just send that. And it was going to be like an easy episode to produce. And then Coolio was just like , okay , I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet. We were like , bro , it's just an audio. So we were pissed at first , but when I heard the episode , I cried. And then I made my boyfriend listen to the episode and he cried. And then my parents heard the episode and they cried. And it was a beautiful episode because of your part specifically. And I don't know why , but I liked it more in English. I don't know why I felt like the English version was more deep than the Spanish version , which is interesting because I usually enjoy listening to stuff in Spanish more , but this time I think the English was the English version was better and it was so deep and touching and. Yeah.

S13: Yeah. Yeah.

S1: I've actually had listened a couple times after that and it's just definitely one of those. I can't , I break it , I literally break down because I get to hear my mother's voice , and it's just so amazing that we're at a time in our life where we can record in such a way so easily. And because obviously we've always had video recording for the past 30 years , and that's very significant. But still , to be able to have that easy access to somebody's voice prints and , and video , to me , that's something that that you guys noticed. But I thought I lost those clips producing because I , my , my , my memory wipe got wiped out from my phone. Oh. And so I was able to download them back from WhatsApp. Thank you to the cloud. And but yeah I thought I lost those but I have them and so we you heard them. The day of the dead was definitely difficult to produce. Definitely gave me the most satisfaction , but it's not my favorite of the episodes. I really enjoy the planetary scale , because I got to learn how to construct and build in with biomaterials. It's a four part series , two of which just aired and last two parts features. Alan's younger sibling , who's a bio architect and designer in white. But yeah , those I got to hang out with. And that was really cool over there because we got there was a point where we got to hang out at a creek.

S8:

S1: The water. That was a lot of fun.

S5: First time I saw you naked. Whoa.

S12: Whoa.

S8: Half naked.

S1: Let's see my beautiful pants anyways. Yeah. So those are two episodes. Were really fun to produce , Alan. Yeah.

S8: Yeah.

S1: Oh , you already mentioned.

S5: You mentioned. Adrian.

S8: Adrian. Adrian.

S13: Adrian.

S4: Comic-Con was a lot of fun.

S6: That was so.

S4: Much fun to produce and taking the lead there. Me and Natalie. And just finding an excuse to just go out and just , I don't know , just be in , like , the thick of Comic-Con was really fun to see. And just hanging out with people and talking to people and seeing what we can do for free and just running around the city. It was a lot of fun. So it was really like one of my favorites. Yeah.

S6: Yeah. Comic-Con was great. We talk about how we got inside the special Comic-Con part. It's not. Let's just avoid that. Yeah , let's not talk about that.

S4: People know us. I got personally invited.

S6: Oh , we got personally invited. Yeah.

S4: Yeah.

S13: I did not catch what you said. Nothing.

S6: Nothing. Party.

S8: Party. They party. Party , apparently. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Know what I liked about that episode is that , folks , I've made an effort to show you how funny Natalie is , but I try to place that front and center in that episode. How funny she is. And so.

S6:

S12: Oh , yeah. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. And some of the gags and sticks and everything that make that her so funny were there. And so it's an episode I recommend you to watch , to just have a feel for how hilarious that Natalie is. Anyway , so moving on. We also did a few things and we already mentioned one of them. That was a deviation from our normal curriculum. them. So we did a little bit of community involvement and a live event. Alan.

S5: It's something that we very briefly experimented with before the pandemic , and then obviously everything got shut down. We actually did do a few events during the pandemic , but there were those zoom events where everyone just shows up without their pants on and no one knows. But we had some cool interviews , but we always wanted to get in front of an audience and eventually , hopefully do a cross border club and cross the border. But anyways , we I was in touch with some people from the San Diego Design Week who were had a kind of an open call for events from the community. Community , sorry , that have ties to the border , because this year was a special year for the design world of this region where San Diego and Tijuana were were designated the World Design capital. So for San Diego Design Week , they were looking for events. And I without really telling anyone on the team , I just applied as port of entry. Actually , I did tell Julio right before I was like , hey , what do you think about applying for this ? And we ran through some ideas.

S13: Like if.

S1: You take the lead , yes , let's do. It.

S8: It. Yeah.

S5: Yeah. So we ran through some ideas about doing like a live a live taking an audience through a live taping of What We Do , and we were playing with different kinds of ideas of like , maybe actually having a tour , like going like how we normally do an episode where we go to the subject's studio or house or whatever , and having people follow us. But at the end of the day , with logistics , we decided it would be best to just have it in the studio in KPBS. Luckily , we got in because we made a great pitch and and from what I heard , because I went to a few the closing parties for San Diego Design Week , like all the staff , we were the talk of the town , like the KPBS event that we did were was a lot of people's favorite , which was really cool to hear because we did put a lot of love into it. And the whole team , Julio and Lisa and Adrian and obviously not like everyone really just went above and beyond. And I think people really liked not only Charles and Giancarlo , who are very charismatic guests and they're just amazing. And there's naturals in front of an audience because some people are great at what they do , but they can't hold an audience and. Their.

S8: Their. Masters.

S5: Masters.

S1: A little bit too natural. Yeah.

S8: Yeah. Yeah. Let's see.

S5: Yeah , just a little bit. But people loved it. And we hoped , I hope that we do it. Yeah , all the time.

S1: Yeah , we killed it , guys. It was , it was a I did not expect to be such a successful thing , to be honest. Yeah.

S6: Yeah.

S1: Me neither. And so I was pleasantly surprised. And now management wants us to do twice , do these events twice a year.

S8: They wanted us.

S5: To do it.

S8: Once a quarter.

S1: Once a quarter. Wow.

S8: Wow.

S5: But I think we're.

S8: Going to do that. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. No no no. I'm like no , we can definitely do it at least once a year. The most twice a year if budget permits of course is them. We also got to be involved in another project called voices del Valle. And this is a podcast that was selected through the explorer program that features Kids. High school students from Central High School in Imperial County in central California. We've been basically mentoring them in a sense , leading them , and we got to help them out. And last December , the team designed a little bit of a boot camp to basically coach the students. Natalie was there.

S6: Wait , that was December. December ? No.

S12: Wasn't it this year ? Yeah.

S1: We had. That's the second. Part.

S10: Part.

S6: No , that was not in December.

S12: It was. Adrian.

S6: Adrian. It was. December.

S12: December. December.

S8: December.

S5: It was a couple days before my show.

S1: That's why I couldn't go. Because you had the commitment.

S6: Oh , yeah. That was a great day. I wasn't expecting the students to be so talented and have those voices because they have great voices , and they know a lot about podcasting. I thought they were like , newbies or something , but no , they know a lot about it. And it was very fun. And I actually enjoyed working with the youth of this country ? Yes.

S1: Yeah. So keep an eye on that. That podcast will. I think premiere within the next few months. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to be pleasantly surprised to follow that content.

S6:

S1: So basically what to expect for the future months. We are continuing to wrap the season we started last year , visionaries of the borderland , as well as sprinkling a number of bonus episodes here and there. So we have Nautica 25th anniversary. We have an episode also on focused on being a filmmaker in Tijuana , a woman filmmaker in Tijuana , which Natalie is taking the lead on , that another episode of migrants and migrants Helping migrants in the new Trump era , which Natalie is also taking the lead on that. And it will be premiering The compadres in art our episode of of the live event and that will be a bundle of different type of episodes after that. Two episodes on transport , education , then a taco tour with the crew of the finest KPBS new San Diego focused podcast project. Definitely recommended. Anthony and Julia have been doing and Chrissy have been doing a great job putting that together. Then we'll wrap up the planetary scale series for the last two episodes , which is going to feature Alan's younger sibling , ETA , a handful that we are currently producing that will give you content all the way through late July , and then we'll be taking another two month hiatus to produce our next season , which is going to be revolving around indigenous stories. And after that season , a story of music in the Puerto region , which Alan is excited about. That. Okay , funny enough , is that the Nordic episode was going to be featured on that , but since they hit a milestone , we just said , hey , let's push it forward. We will also be debuting drumroll please. Can I get a drumroll , guys ? Video shorts will be producing one video short that will be 10 to 15 minutes long every season. Why ? Well , there are many visual elements that elude audio podcasting and we want to capture those moments. So please , if you see these and enjoy them , leave a like and a comment. Your engagement is how we measure what you like. Last is just. We also want to thank our departing bilingual editor Melissa Sandoval. Her time of CFPB at KPBS came short because , well , her site business turned into her main business , and so she had to basically cut us loose.

S6: And go check out her coffee business , Intuition Cafe.

S1: And her coffee business is called intuition and wish you all the best. And we hope she gets rich and she can send us gifts.

S12:

S1: So if you're interested , if you got good writing and editing skills. Go to KPBS. Org.

S5: So.

S8: So.

S1: Guys , thank you so much.

S8: That is. Oh.

S6: We can't wait to be back with more. Yes.

S1: Yes. Can.

S5:

S1: Now the actual outro. Oh.

S10: Oh. Yes.

S12: Yes.

S6: This episode. Yeah.

S12: Yeah. Yes.

S6: This episode of Port of Entry was written and produced by Julio Cesar Ortiz. Was it written ? Yeah.

S12:

S6: This episode.

S12: Of this episode.

S8: Was not really written.

S1: Hey , hey , I the outline I wrote , right ? Okay.

S12:

S6: This episode of Port of Entry was written. Produced by Julio Cesar Ortiz Franco.

S5: Adrian Villalobos. Technical producer and sound designer Elma Gonzalez. Lima Brandao is our interim editor.

S12: Lisa J.

S6: Morrissette is director of audio programming and operations.

S5: This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting , a private corporation funded by the American people.

S6: This project was also made possible with support from California Humanities , a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit Call home. Natalia Gonzalez.

S4: Hey , guys. Adrian here. Port of entry. Technical producer and sound designer. Our producer , Julio , forgot to mention some dates that we're going to be a part of a couple events , so I'm going to go ahead and read those off. First , we're going to be a part of San Diego City College's podcast on April 23rd , 2025 at San Diego City College from 2 to 4 p.m. we're also going to be a part of Tijuana Design Week on May 2nd , 2025 at the Escuela Libre de Arquitectura from 2 to 3 p.m.. We hope you guys can join us. You can find all the more information in the description and we hope to see you there. Thanks.