The Finest

Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar has built Raíz Chocolate from her San Diego home kitchen, turning a childhood love of chocolate into a small but thriving business. She carefully sources Mexican cacao and crafts silky bars and rich drinking chocolates, like champurrado, using recipes passed down for generations. Her work is precise and deliberate, highlighting skill, patience and artistry while remaining deeply rooted in tradition.

From bean sourcing to finished bars, Ely keeps her process transparent and small-scale, with an emphasis on preserving natural flavors — a sharp contrast to mainstream chocolate production. The name Raíz, which means "source" or “root” in Spanish, reflects that commitment to honoring cacao’s origins and the heritage behind each recipe.

California's home kitchen and cottage food laws allowed her to turn that passion into a legitimate career, offering an alternative to mass-produced chocolate. Her story blends resilience, entrepreneurship and cultural heritage, showing how craft, intention and tradition can transform a home kitchen into a business that delivers exceptional flavor while preserving the legacy of Mexican chocolate-making.

Guests:

• Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar, Raíz Chocolate founder

Sources:

• Home Kitchen Operations: Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO) and Cottage Food Operations (CFO) (SanDiegoCounty.gov)
• California Cottage Food Operations (University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources)
• ​Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (California Department of Health)
• Restaurant Owner Demographics (National Restaurant Association)
• At-home businesses are growing. Women and people of color benefit the most (Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th, 2021)
• Almendra Blanca Bar - 70% Single-Origin, Finca Frida, México (Raíz Chocolate)
• Revival Cacao (Supplier for Raíz Chocolate)
• ILAB Cocoa Storyboard: Exposing Exploitation in Global Supply Chains (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs)
• Mars Supply Chain Transparency (Mars)
• In Maya society, cacao use was for everyone, not just royals (Richard Kemeny, ScienceNews, 2022)
• Life, Death and Chocolate in Mesoamerica: The Aztecs and the Maya; Where did the Ritual Use of Cacao Originate? (Caroline Seawright, 2012)
• The Maya civilization used chocolate as money (Joshua Rapp Learn, Science, 2018)
• What is the chocolate and cocoa industry worth in Mexico? (Laura Islas, Merca 2.0, 2025)
• Mexico cocoa bean imports and exports (World Integrated Trade Solution)
• Cottage Foods and Home Kitchens: 2021 State Policy Trends (The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, 2022)

Risograph printing was built for efficiency — a fast, economical way to make thousands of identical copies for offices, churches and schools. It was never meant to be expressive or personal. After newer technology pushed the machine into obsolescence, artists began discovering risography — drawn to its unpredictability, physicality and limits. From a squatted bank in the Netherlands to DIY print spaces across Europe and the U.S., Risograph printing became a tool for people working outside traditional art and publishing systems.

In San Diego, that lineage comes into focus at Burn All Books — a space that is part shop, part press and part gathering place. There, Risograph printing isn't just about what gets made, but how: through shared labor, in-person collaboration and a commitment to keeping artists connected in an increasingly expensive and isolating city.

"You need a network of people who want to help you. That's something cobbled together very slowly over a long period of time. I just feel like so much of our success, to me, has felt like a combination of flukes and really wonderful favors and opportunities," said Manda Bernal, who cofounded Burn All Books with her husband Nick.

Guests:

• Manda and Nick Bernal, Burn All Books founders
•  Kevin Huynh, artist
• Paloma, Jill, Phillip, Noelle, Tia, Galia and the crew at Burn All Books
• Jan Dirk de Wilde, Knust co-founder
• George Wietor, Issue Press founder

Sources:

• Squatting in the Netherlands: The social and political institutionalization of a movement (Hans Pruijt, Public goods versus economic interests via EUR Research Information Portal, 2017)
• “KNUST, the pioneers of Riso print” documentary directed by Ivana Smudja
• RISO Kagaku’s history (RISO official website)
• The Vintage Japanese Copy Machine Enjoying an Artistic Renaissance (Evan Nicole Brown, Atlas Obscura, 2018)
• Culture Report: The Rise of the Risograph (Julia Dixon Evans, Voice of San Diego, 2018)

We’re dropping a special minisode during our season break with one request: Help shape Season 2 of The Finest by taking our anonymous survey at KPBS.org/TheFinestSurvey. Your feedback helps guide what stories we cover next — and it enters you in a raffle to win an exclusive The Finest T-shirt. We’ll draw winners before the Season 2 premiere on Jan. 15. Plus, KPBS Racial Justice and Social Equity Reporter Katie Hyson, a self-proclaimed The Finest fan, takes the survey live on the show.

For many people who are incarcerated, a single book can be life-changing – a rare source of freedom and connection in a system built on isolation. That was true for Cherish Burtson, who discovered during her time in federal prison that reading could be a source of survival. Books became her escape, her education and a starting point to rebuild her life. But getting books behind bars isn't easy. Across the United States, correctional systems routinely ban or reject thousands of titles each year, reflecting deeper struggles over punishment, control and compassion. According to PEN America, correctional facilities in all 50 states contribute to the nation's largest book ban, censoring more books than schools and libraries combined. This episode follows a group of San Diego volunteers working to get books past prison walls. It explores how the simple act of reading can restore a sense of humanity in even the harshest conditions — and what it says about who we are when we decide who gets to read.

Guests:

• Cherish Burtson, substance use disorders counselor at Family Health Centers of San Diego
• Moira Marquis, Freewrite project senior manager at PEN America
• terry vargas, Books Through Bars San Diego volunteer

Sources:

• United States Incarceration Profile (Prison Policy Initiative)
• Incarceration Trends (Vera, 2024)
• Women’s Pathways to Serious and Habitual Crime: A Person-Centered Analysis Incorporating Gender Responsive Factors (Tim Brennan, Markus Breitenbach, William Dieterich, Emily J. Salisbury and Patricia van Voorhis Notes, Criminal Justice and Behavior via Sage Journals, 2012)
• East Bay Federal Prison Plagued by Sex Abuse Scandal Will Close Permanently (KQED, 2024)
• Time-In-Cell: A 2021 Snapshot of Restrictive Housing based on a Nationwide Survey of U.S. Prison Systems (The Correctional Leaders Association & The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School, 2022)
• COVID-19 Timeline (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
• Three State Prison Oversight During the COVID-19 Pandemic (John Howard Association of Illinois, the Correctional Association of New York and the Pennsylvania Prison Society, 2021)
• Groundwork Books Collective (Idealist)
• Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon (Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers, 2001)
• Books Thru Bars 2024 Impact (Books Through Bars San Diego via Instagram, 2024)
• Books Thru Bars Your Donation at a Glance (Books Through Bars San Diego via Instagram, 2025)
• Local prison book program brings connection and humanity despite censorship (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2024)
• Literature Locked Up How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban (James Tager, PEN America, 2019)
• Reading Between the Bars: An In-Depth Look at Prison Censorship (Moira Marquis and Juliana Luna, PEN America, 2023)
• Disapproved Publications (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
• Perfecting the Prison: United States, 1789-1865 (David J. Rothman, Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society via University of Minnesota Duluth, 1995)
• History of Eastern State Penitentiary (Eastern State)
• Deterrence and Incapacitation: A Quick Review of the Research (Laura Bennett and Felicity Rose, The Center for Just Journalism, 2025)
• Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025 (Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative, 2025
• Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review (Damon M. Petrich, Travis C. Pratt, Cheryl Lero Jonson and Francis T. Cullen, University of Chicago Press Journals, 2021)
• Prison Banned Books Week: Books give incarcerated people access to the world, but tablets are often used to wall them off (Mike Wessler and Juliana Luna, Prison Policy Initiative, 2024)
• Books through Bars Stories from the Prison Books Movement (Dave "Mac" Marquis and Moira Marquis, University of Georgia, 2024)

Alice Barnett's music once echoed across America — her songs were performed on national radio, reviewed in major newspapers and sung in concert halls from New York to Los Angeles. But over time, her name slipped from memory. In this episode, San Diego musician and researcher Katina Mitchell brings Alice's story back into focus, tracing her journey from a gifted young composer in Illinois to an internationally recognized artist who made her home in San Diego. Through archival letters, fragile sheet music and rare recordings, Katina reconstructs a life devoted to music and performs pieces that haven't been widely heard in decades. With insight from cultural scholars, we look at how fame fades, why some artists are remembered while others vanish and what it takes to restore a legacy. The result is both a rediscovery of a remarkable composer and a reflection on the delicate ways art outlasts the people who create it.

Guests:

• Katina Mitchell, musician, teacher and musicologist
• César A. Hidalgo, professor at Toulouse School of Economics and director of the Center for Collective Learning, Corvinus University of Budapest
• Swapnil Rai, associate professor in the Department of Film, Television and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Tina Zarpour, vice president of community engagement, education and collections, San Diego History Center

Sources:

• Alice Barnett Stevenson Performance and Lecture (Katina Mitchell, San Diego History Center via YouTube, 2023)
• Amy Marcy Beach (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2025)
• 100 Years of Marriage and Divorce Statistics, United States 1867-1967 (National Center for Health Statistics, 1973)
• Pantheon Project (Center for Collective Learning)
• How We’ll Forget John Lennon (Kevin Berger, Nautilus, 2019)

"Dispatch From Paradise" writer Cora Lee went searching for ghosts in Presidio Park, but her exploration of San Diego's supernatural underbelly didn't stop there. She visited San Diego's many mysterious cults in person, meeting members and observing their practices, and explored a long-running family dynasty of fortune tellers that has sometimes drawn law enforcement and media attention. In this Halloween episode, we follow Cora through the city's paranormal scene, from haunted hillsides and psychic shops to the strange and sprawling world of alternative spiritual communities. Along the way, religious studies professor Joseph Laycock helps unpack why belief in ghosts, aliens and spirits persists and what our search for "presence" reveals about being human. It's part spooky story, part San Diego history and part philosophical journey into why some mysteries endure — and why, deep down, we might not want them to end.

Guests:

• Cora Lee, journalist and writer of "Dispatch From Paradise" Substack
• Joseph Laycock, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Texas State University

Sources:

• The Junipero Serra Museum (Bill Virden, The Journal of San Diego History via San Diego History Center, 1962)
• Sociopolitical Aspects of the 1775 Revolt at Mission San Diego de Alcala (Richard L. Carrico, The Journal of San Diego History via San Diego History Center, 1997)
• Rumor Has It (Cora Lee, Dispatch From Paradise Substack, 2024)
• Why are people starting to believe in UFOs again? (The Conversation, Joseph Laycock, 2016)
• Over a third of Americans believe in ghosts and U.F.O's (Ipsos, 2021)
• Supernatural Belief Is Not Modulated by Intuitive Thinking Style or Cognitive Inhibition (Miguel Farias, Valerie van Mulukom, Guy Kahane, Ute Kreplin, Anna Joyce, Pedro Soares, Lluis Oviedo, Mathilde Hernu, Karolina Rokita, Julian Savulescu and Riikka Möttönen, Scientific Reports, 2017)
• History and Presence (Robert A. Orsi, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016)
• American Piety In The 21st Century (The Baylor Religion Survey, 2006)
• People of the Forest Orangutans (Mission Wildlife)
• Visionary Spiritual Experiences and Cognitive Aspects of Spiritual Transformation (David J. Hufford, The Global Spiral via Penn Medicine, 2008)
• Spirituality Among Americans (Becka A. Alper, Chip Rotolo, Patricia Tevington and Justin Nortey and Asta Kallo, Pew Research Center, 2023)
• Law of Three Stages (Encyclopedia Britannica)
• Family Business (Cora Lee, Dispatch From Paradise Substack, 2023)
• Gypsy Clan Facing Test as Psychics: Hearing will be held in San Diego today on difficult-to-prove 'theft by false pretense' charges against Marks family. The group has been active in county since the '40s. (Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, 1995)
• ABC10 News San Diego Investigation into Marks Family (Juliette Var and Michael Gonzalez, 2009)
• How a Hoax by Two Sisters Helped Spark the Spiritualism Craze (Becky Little, History.com, 2022)
• Psychical research and the origins of American psychology (Andreas Sommer, History of the Human Sciences via National Library of Medicine, 2012)
• Star Gate Project: An Overview (CIA, 1993)
• 2 arrested in 'fortune telling scheme' that duped victims out of $600,000, officials say (Rebecca Cohen, NBC News, 2025)
• Three Spirit Mediums: A Case Study on Grief, Death, and Alternative Religious Traditions during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Natasha L. Mikles, 2023)
• Cult Classic (Cora Lee, Dispatch From Paradise Substack, 2025)
• Heaven's Gate cult members found dead (History.com, 2010)
• Unarius Academy of Science (Atlas Obscura)
• The Frenzy About the Weirdest Continent That Never Existed (Frank Jacobs, Atlas Obscura, 2024)
• The media's love affair with alleged sex criminal Sri Chinmoy (Edwin Lyngar, Salon, 2014)
• The Cults of California (Carey Mcwilliams, The Atlantic, 1946)
• Is it a cult, or a new religious movement? (Tina Rodia, Penn Today, 2019)
• Twelve Tribes 'child caning punishment' claims (BBC News, 2013)

San Diego's rising rock trio Slacker helped launch the pilot phase of the new KPBS Music Series with a live performance — loud, joyful and a little chaotic in the best way, but played with real precision and skill. Dressed in button-down shirts and ties, the band tore through their songs on the KPBS patio as the lunchtime crowd cheered. We sat down with the band right after their set to talk about where their music comes from — the friendships (and burritos) that built it and the feelings behind their biggest songs. They also share how they recorded their debut album in a legendary San Diego studio using a bass guitar once played by one of the city's most famous bands. It's a story about finding connection, growing together and turning shared experiences into music that feels personal, powerful and magical.

• Velvet worms | Ancient invertebrates with soft, velvety skin and tiny limbs that shoot slime to catch prey
• Jimmy Page | Legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist known for his influence on generations of rock musicians
• Big Fish Recording Studio | Encinitas recording studio where Blink-182 made their 1997 breakthrough album "Dude Ranch"
• Skyler Deci | San Diego producer and engineer who recorded and mixed Slacker's debut album

• Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon (Human Rights Watch, 2023)
• Israel denies using white phosphorus munitions in Gaza (Patrick Wintour, The Guardian, 2023)
• Tiny desk, big talent: Our favorite San Diego artists from this year's contest (Julia Dixon Evans, Anthony Wallace, Ben Redlawsk, Brenden Tuccinardi and Katie Anastas, KPBS, 2025)
• Tiny Desk local listening party: The Neighborhood Kids and Aleah Discavage (Julia Dixon Evans and Anthony Wallace, KPBS, 2025)

San Diego's Cameron Mofid set out on an audacious quest: to break the record for being the youngest person to visit every country in the world. His journey took him to 195 nations, from peaceful capitals to conflict zones few dare to enter. Along the way, he faced moments of danger and discovery, including assuming a fake identity in Yemen to navigating a terrorist threat in Somalia and making a buzzer-beater, last-minute entry into North Korea.

But for Cameron, the record was only part of the story. His travels became a powerful lesson in privilege, perspective and humanity — and inspired him to give back. He launched Humanity Effect, a nonprofit that has built multiple schools in Nigeria. In this episode, Cameron reflects on the risks he took and the barriers he overcame. He shares the truths he discovered about the world, explores what it means to connect across borders and why these lessons matter for all of us.

Guest:

• Cameron Mofid, youngest person to travel to all 195 countries in the world, founder of Humanity Effect

Sources:

• Everyone Who Has Ever Been to Space (Clara Moskowitz and Zane Wolf, Scientific American, 2025)
• Ultimate Report on People Who Visited Every Country in the World (NomadMania, 2025)
• Three Spanish tourists killed in central Afghanistan gun attack 17 (Thomas Mackintosh, BBC News, 2024)
• Counter Terrorism Guide: Terrorist Groups, Al-Shabaab (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)
• Attitudes on an Interconnected World, International travel (Richard Wike, Janell Fetterolf, Moira Fagan and Sneha Gubbala, Pew Research Center, 2023)
• When in Rome ... Learn Why the Romans Do What They Do: How Multicultural Learning Experiences Facilitate Creativity (William W. Maddux, Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky, Sage Journals, 2010)
• The Mental Benefits of Vacationing Somewhere New (Todd B. Kashdan, Harvard Business Review, 2018)
• A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup Contact Theory (Thomas F. Pettigrew and Linda R. Tropp, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005)
• "Maybe we did not learn that much academically, but we learn more from experience" – Erasmus mobility and its potential for transformative learning (Cosmin I. Nada and Justyna Legutko, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2022)
• Pack Your Bags and Travel: It's Good for You (Elizabeth A. Segal, Ph.D., Psychology Today 2022)
• Americans who have traveled internationally stand out in their views and knowledge of foreign affairs (Richard Wike and Janell Fetterolf, Pew Research Center, 2023)
• What is a Visit. Minimal Requirements according to NomadMania Rules (NomadMania, 2023)
• NomadMania Travel Lists
• What Is the Newest Country in the World? (Amy McKenna, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011)
• Venezuelan embassy run by opposition in US closes after Guaido ouster (Jennifer Hansler, CNN, 2023)
• The Taliban in Afghanistan (Lindsay Maizland, Council on Foreign Relations, 2025)
• North Korea halts foreign tourism weeks after reopening to Western visitors (Peter Guo, NBC News, 2025)
• Makoko: 'Venice of Lagos' (Olamide Udoma, Smart Cities Dive)
• Chime Community Spotlight: Kyrie Irving recognized for civic contributions (Tamara Jolee, NBA, 2023)
• North Korea holds first Pyongyang International Marathon since borders were sealed during COVID pandemic (Anhelina Shamlii, CBS News, 2025)
• 10 Times America Helped Overthrow a Foreign Government (Becky Little, History.com, 2025)
• Hostile Acts U.S. Policy in Costa Rica in the 1980s (Martha Honey, 1994)

For our 20th episode, The Finest team reflects on our season so far — the episodes that made the biggest impact, what still lingers with us months later and a taste of the gems left on the cutting-room floor. From Our Lady of Guadalupe to birding and romantasy books, we revisit comments from fans (and critics) and how these stories continue to resonate. Julia and Anthony also share a quick list of our favorite things in San Diego right now, from soup dumplings to hidden trails. Plus, we call up one of our first guests, indie musician Julianna Zachariou, to reflect on her experience over the past six months after a clip of our interview went viral on social media. What does it mean when a million people hear a piece of your story?

" I had never had anything with that much reach. It felt necessary and helpful, and a lot of people found it to be helpful," Julianna said. "I also wish that the thing that had taken off was something I had made and not how much I had made off of a thing that I had made."

In this episode, we dig deeper into some of the stories we've shared recently, explore how listeners have reacted and take a behind-the-scenes look with The Finest crew.

Guests:

• Julianna Zachariou, indie musician

Our current favorite San Diego things:

• Best Bud Floral
• Home Ec
• Bud Kearns Memorial Pool
• An's Electronics Repair
• Tasty Noodle House
• Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve
• Yipao Coffee Roasters

The Finest episodes discussed:

• Spotify is changing, so one indie artist is advocating for fairness in a stream-heavy world — Episode featuring Julianna Zachariou, journalist Liz Pelly and a deep dive into the economics of streaming
• Making it in music: How do you create a local music scene in a 'superstar economy'? — Episode featuring musician Shua and a look at building a local music scene in a superstar economy
• Romantasy rising: How a dismissed book genre became a publishing powerhouse — Episode exploring the incredible growth of the romantasy genre
• Worn, painted, reimagined: The power and complexity of Our Lady of Guadalupe — Episode about the Virgin of Guadalupe in textile art and culture
• Chasing 100 birds in 1 day in America's Birdiest County: Inside the birding boom — Episode exploring San Diego's rich birding culture and the fascinating world of competitive birding

Mentioned in this episode:

• KPBS reel | For indie musicians like Julianna Zachariou, Spotify has made music more accessible than ever — but at a cost
• Spotify's Terms of Use | Recently updated artist agreement terms outlining how music on the platform can be used to train AI models
• "Dreamer, Dreamer" | New single by Julianna Zachariou, first debuted on an episode of The Finest
• Dramione | A Harry Potter sub-fandom imagining an "enemies-to-lovers" relationship between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger
• Jeanette Rodriguez, PhD, Professor of Theology at Seattle University
• "The Backyard Bird Chronicles" | Memoir by Amy Tan exploring her obsession with birding and sketching
• eBird | Popular birding app for logging sightings, finding locations and tracking regional trends
• Merlin Bird ID | Go-to app for birders to identify species by photo or sound, powered by Cornell Lab experts

Sources:

• Big Deal: Legendary Pays 7 Figures for 'Alchemised,' Book That Began Life as 'Harry Potter' Fan Fiction (Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 2025)
• AI Implications of Spotify's Updated Terms of Use: Your Data is Their New Oil (Chris Castle, Music Technology Policy Blog, 2025)
• Amy Tan finds obsession, connection and endless curiosity in birding (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2025)
• The Shock of a Patron Saint Impugned (John Ward Anderson, The Washington Post, 1996)