The journalism world is full of jargon. We say beat to mean a reporter’s area of specialization, and we use the ultra-confusing term TK when writing to signify info that’s still to come. Story drafts are called copy, and, when it’s time to finish an issue, we say we’re putting the magazine to bed. This issue is going to bed in the throes of the 2024 election. By the time you read this, a new path will be unfolding in the US, in California, and in San Diego. But much of what that will look like is still TK. The copy is yet to be written.
On the surface, America often looks divided.
Election maps present California as blue—along with its coastal neighbors and many East Coast cousins—while the middle is presented as red. This zoomed-out view provides a simple visual dichotomy for people to understand, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. I’ve been a bartender throughout my life, and I can tell you that, when you sit down on the barstool and look close, Americans are often purple in person. The space that divides our country isn’t as wide as it often appears.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the classrooms of San Diego Refugee Tutoring (SDRT), a nonprofit in City Heights that pairs elementary, middle, and high school students from refugee families with volunteers who help the kids learn English and math. Naïvely, I walked in expecting a small operation— maybe a handful of kids, a few tutors. But what I saw was so much more.
Seventy-five students showed up, and each one had a tutor ready to work one-on-one for an hour-and-a-half during dinner time. Kids—no matter where they’re from or how big the challenges they face—love to learn, and their tutors were there to engage their curiosity. Some volunteers from North County drive every week during rush hour. Others leave their jobs as special education teachers to then come tutor for free. One is a marine helicopter pilot. Being among them was an instant reminder: People care.
Over the course of my reporting career, I’ve seen that, regardless of who is in the White House or the mayor’s office, day-to-day people are out there trying to make a difference for one another. Like at SDRT, they’re working together, sharing resources, and improving our communities in countless ways. It’s a cool thing to see and feel inspired by. That’s why we’ve dedicated this issue to the people and organizations working to make San Diego better, because collaboration greases the wheels of progress.
In our annual Charitable Giving guide, you’ll find stories of people helping people, including a neighborhood group who stepped up after flooding devastated Southeast San Diego last winter and a nonprofit mentoring foster kids in our city. There are stories of volunteers and organizers and leaders—and one very special mom who, on the path to understanding her child’s seizures, ended up with a PhD.
Later in the issue, we’re climbing in a truck and setting traps with a local woman working tirelessly to help San Diegans—and people all over the world—reunite with their missing pets. And you’ll learn more about local icons whose gifts have transformed San Diego. There’s much here to be inspired by. This is an issue to remind us all of the power of giving what we can, doing what we can, and building what we can, the best way that we can: together.
