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.

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)

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)