In today’s episode, we bid farewell to The Bay’s producer, Jessica Kariisa, and discuss her deep love for San Jose.
This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:50] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. And I’m here in the studio with The Bay’s producer, Jessica Kariisa. Hey, Jessica.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:01:00] Hey, Ericka.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:03] I’ve really been looking forward to having this conversation with you because you are leaving! You’re leaving the show and you’re also leaving the Bay Area very soon. Very briefly, tell us why you’re leaving and also how does it feel to be leaving the Bay?
Jessica Kariisa: [00:01:19] Yes, so in my interview for this job, I think you asked me why I moved to the Bay Area and I said I moved for love because I moved in with my partner and he was in grad school. So we always kind of knew this time would come. There was always a chance we could stay but we knew eventually he would graduate and he graduated this year and so we’re moving to Boston so that he can start new position. Yeah, it’s just crazy. I mean, I’ve been here so long. I feel like I’ve become Californian in a way, you know? I just feel like I’ve adopted so much of California and the Bay Area. And along the way, I think I fell in love with San Jose as well. And like, that’s the love story that I’ll also take with me when I leave here. And so it’s really crazy. I don’t think I’ve actually fully processed leaving.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:13] I mean, I think that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to talk with you, because as a California native and a Bay Area native, I feel like you really have adopted this place in a way that honestly I’ve really come to admire for someone who is a transplant. I also just really have been like touched specifically by how much love you have for San Jose.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:02:43] It’s a huge part of my experience here. I, it was pretty much the first place that we like moved to. And we’ve been in the same apartment for four years in Japan town in San Jose. We just love it there. We, you know, have felt really rooted in the community. Even today, driving to work. I was just like, man, I really love my neighborhood. You know, it’s just like. It was not the easiest place to initially move to. And it wasn’t also the place that people suggested that we moved to when we first moved to the Bay area. Everyone told us to go to San Francisco or Oakland, but then we just spent a day in San Jose. My partner had lived there 10 years back almost, and we just walked all over downtown San Jose I think somebody could have done that walk and seen a lot of negative things, you know, seen people struggling on the street, vacant shops, vacant buildings. But I don’t know, I just saw like interesting shops and interesting looking people and you know it was a Saturday afternoon and this hole in the wall vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant run by a brother and sister. And the food was cheap and it was great, and by the time we had lunch, I was like, this is great. I can do this, you know? Everyone’s different, right? You know, some people, they go to New York or San Francisco or wherever, and they feel something there. But I think there’s just something about San Jose that just really tapped into like my internal clock and the pace at which I wanna live my life. And I just think that like that allowed me to be open to seeing so much more in the city. And it’s just like, it honestly hasn’t ever really let me down.
Ani Shankar: [00:04:40] Places in San Jose, it’s like, they don’t generate as much buzz as, you know, places in Oakland and stuff that everyone knows about it, right?
Jessica Kariisa: [00:04:50] So my partner’s name is Ani.
Ani Shankar: [00:04:53] I’m Anirudh Shankar, I’m Jessica Kariisa’s boyfriend, partner, serious boyfriend.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:05:02] Serious partner.
Ani Shankar: [00:05:03] Serious partner.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:05:04] And yeah, he’s been also like a huge part of this journey as well. He introduced me to San Jose, like I mentioned before, he used to live there briefly. And he has some family down there as well, which was also a really big push for us. And yeah we just, you know, we set out on this adventure together and he’s always been there right alongside me. How would you describe my San Jose era in one word?
Ani Shankar: [00:05:35] I’m trying to figure out a word which is like the joy in like small under the radar places. Maybe there’s some fancy German words that is
Ani Shankar: [00:05:50] So whatever the German word for that is, or the Japanese word for it, it’s that word.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:05:55] Joyinsmallplacesverten.
Ani Shankar: [00:05:55] *Laughs* yeah
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:06:02] We’ll have more with The Bay’s producer, Jessica Kariisa, right after this break. Stay with us.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:04] I have also just been very impressed by how much you’ve been able to find community in a place that you, like, haven’t been connected to historically, this place that you just, like moved to. How did you find community in San Jose?
Jessica Kariisa: [00:07:23] The first summer I moved to San Jose, I walked to Roy’s coffee shop every single morning and ordered the same thing at the same exact time. And, you know, by like day 60, the barista at the time was like, ‘hey, Jessica,’ and I was like yes!
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:07:44] Ha ha ha!
Jessica Kariisa: [00:07:47] But I think that’s really like describes what I did, which is I just kept showing up. What’s it been like watching me build community here and root myself in this place?
Ani Shankar: [00:08:01] Oh, it’s been really interesting because for a while, I mean, it is vulnerable making friends with kind of just like standard day strangers. And you really set out to do that.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:08:13] And it wasn’t easy in the beginning. You know, I talked about this with Ani.
Ani Shankar: [00:08:17] You know, you have to grapple with like, kind of like unreciprocated friendship interest and that can be tough.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:08:25] I didn’t really let it get me down. I just kept showing up because I knew that, okay, maybe this person or this thing isn’t working out, but something will.
MUSIC: [00:08:38] You give me bits and pieces You try to blame me when I don’t even
Jessica Kariisa: [00:08:42] The biggest really community building space for me in San Jose has been this recurring night, this bring your own vinyl night at a bar called Still OG in downtown San Jose. And I remember when that bar opened, we invited a friend to come with us.
Nick Meyerson: [00:09:01] My name is Nick Meyerson, I’m Jessica’s friend.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:09:03] And then over time, you know, our friend invited a friend and then he became our really good friend.
Nick Meyerson: [00:09:08] I’m Jessica’s favorite friend, sorry, let’s keep that on the record.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:09:12] And so we just created this little crew of people who just show up to vinyl night every Tuesday. It’s been like, I think like a major turning point in terms of like, oh, I’m good, you know, like I don’t have to keep sort of doing things, you know, to collect more people into my life. Like, I feel like I’m in a really good space with the people that I have.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:34] That is so huge when you move to a new place. Like, it’s really hard to get there.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:09:39] It’s super hard to I mean I’ve lived in places where I never got there. Yeah. You know it’s just like the people I already knew or people through work or whatever. Yeah it’s like these are really people that I met here and that are really part of this place and it’s my community and that’s meant the world to me. I think San Jose is really whatever you want it to be. I think that there’s some cities where they have such a strong identity.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:08] Mm-hmm.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:10:09] And it feels like only a certain kind of person or personality or career type might really thrive in this place, right? I don’t feel that way about San Jose. I feel like San Jose has all kinds of people. There’s also for sure a cost of living problem in across the Bay Area, especially in San Jose, but I think despite all the difficulties of people being able to stay here and local community being able to thrive, there’s just always something else popping up, you know? And I think that’s why I’ve never lost faith in San Jose or the Bay Area. Like, despite all the setbacks and all the challenges, people keep showing up. They keep pouring into their communities one way or another, however small it has to be, however resource strapped it has to be they keep doing stuff. And I see that so much in San José.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:05] Would you say that you claim San Jose?
Jessica Kariisa: [00:11:10] Oh yeah, totally. Totally, I have a tattoo.
Ani Shankar: [00:11:13] That was a flash tattoo day, right?
Jessica Kariisa: [00:11:15] It was a flash tattoo specifically for San Jose Day.
Ani Shankar: [00:11:19] Die hards. Sounds like die hards Yeah. Yeah, we really wrap it, so we’ll miss it.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:11:26] I’ll miss it, yeah, for sure.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:11:28] I got a shark on my right arm.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:32] Wow. Look at that, right on the muscle.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:11:34] Right on the muscle, this very intimidating-looking shark.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:38] You, I feel like, are now sworn to be a defender of the Bay and San Jose. Do you hereby swear wherever you go next?
Jessica Kariisa: [00:11:49] A hundred percent. I actually already have. We went to a wedding recently and somebody was talking crap about San Jose. She was like, oh, you know, I don’t really like the Bay Area, you know, definitely not the South Bay, nothing to do, blah, blah blah. And we just came out, we didn’t even coordinate, we just came out guns and blazing. Have you been to San Jose Jazz? Have you been at this? Have you been at that? Have you been at this restaurant? We have the best, you know,.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:15] Just double teaming it, back to back.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:22] Well, Jessica Kariisa, we’re gonna miss you so much. Thank you for everything.
Jessica Kariisa: [00:12:26] Thank you, I’m gonna miss you guys too. Thank you so much.
Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.