Newsletter: Happy Holidays! Jam to some of our favorite songs that helped get us through 2025
Plus, learn how to make a festive Fruitcake Old Fashioned for this holiday season.
Our team is off until Jan. 5, but we wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday season!
For Daylight San Diego, this year has been an incredible journey of launching our newsroom, growing our reach throughout the community and learning more about what issues are most important to you.
Many of you celebrated with us during our August launch party, joined our community conversation on immigration, donated to our fundraiser, subscribed to our newsletter or followed our reporting on social media.
We are excited to announce that Daylight San Diego has received a $40,000 grant from the Prebys Foundation in support of our community-based journalism. This funding will allow us to expand our reporting, host more listening sessions, engage with San Diegans at upcoming events, strengthen access to information throughout the region in 2026.
Thanks to the grant from the Prebys Foundation, we are now a little over $8,000 away from reaching our next fundraising goal of $50k. If you have a few bucks to spare, please consider helping us reach this milestone. We are truly grateful for all of your support!
During our break for the holidays, we invite you to listen to the music that helped our team get through 2025. Each of us selected a few songs to contribute — you can find out why below — and we have some music from local artists that we think you might like. You can stream it on Apple Music or YouTube.
Plus, if you are looking for something to sip on while you vibe out to our playlist, I created a Fruitcake Old Fashioned recipe to share with all of you.
— Lauren J. Mapp
Daylight San Diego 2025 Playlist
Sam Barney-Gibbs
- “A Couple Minutes” by Olivia Dean
- “What a Difference a Day Makes” by RAYE
- “Live Well” by Palace
- “Fly” by Djo
- “Cool Cat” by Queen
This year, I feel like I've sunk comfortably into a more chill and jazzy vibe, and I think my music has reflected my need for more relaxation, slowing things down and truly engaging with the energy around me. I hope these picks bring you some tranquility and calm while also re-energizing you!
Brittany Cruz-Fejeran
- “Nice to Each Other” by Olivia Dean
- “Si Sirena” by Johnny Sablan
- “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii” by Bad Bunny
- “30 for 30 (with Kendrick Lamar)” by SZA
- “we can't be friends (wait for your love)” by Ariana Grande
All of these songs went platinum in my house at one point this year, giving me comfort one way or another.
I JUST started listening to Bad Bunny this year. I know, I'm so late, but “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii” touched my soul because I share the same sentiment with the Mariana Islands. I haven't heard a song before that captured my feelings so well.
“Si Sirena” is a song about a girl in CHamoru legends whose mother regretfully curses her into being a mermaid for always swimming at the beach and forgetting her chores. I've been listening to a lot of CHamoru music to help learn my language! Na'la'la i fino'-ta! Give life to our language!
I hope you like these songs and they give you peace of mind the way they did for me.
Lauren J. Mapp
- “Portions for Foxes” by Rilo Kiley
- “Too Sweet” by Hozier
- “Dreams” by The Cranberries
- “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter
- “Defying Gravity” by Cynthia Erivo
This has been an amazing year of firsts, and I've had a list of songs that have helped motivate me along the way. As we prepped to publish our first newsletters for Daylight San Diego, I was listening to Hozier's "Too Sweet" on repeat.
In May, I visited Ireland for the first time, where I heard a rocking cover of The Cranberries' “Dreams” played live at a pub in Dublin. Sabrina Carpenter's newest album — “Man's Best Friend” — helped keep me energized through the end of summer and into my first semester of teaching.
In October, I finally got to see one of my favorite bands live, Rilo Kiley. Now of course it's “Wicked” season, so lately I have been rocking out to Cynthia Erivo's “Defying Gravity.”
Kate Morrissey
- “Make Friends” by Hiatus Kaiyote
- “God Gave Me Feet For Dancing” by Ezra Collective
- “Avalanche” by Mumu Fresh
- “Jornada” by SambaDá
- “Kryé Mwen” by David Walters
These songs are some of my favorites from albums that have helped me get through this year. I find myself going back to them again and again. All are relatively recent — the oldest is from 2015. (Maybe that's not that recent, but a lot of the music I listen to is much older, and also COVID broke my sense of time.)
The SambaDá track in particular brings me to a place of feeling connected because my capoeira mestre is the guitarist and one of the singers, and the music brings back memories of being with my capoeira family up in Santa Cruz.
The Hiatus Kaiyote track is from the album I have listened to most this year. I picked one of the sweeter songs — I think the lyrics are actually quite profound — but the album also has some angrier songs that allow me to tap into and release my feelings.
Maya Srikrishnan
- “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac
- “Luther” by Kendrick and SZA
- “Love Come Down” by Evelyn “Champagne” King
- “Naatu Naatu (From “RRR”)” by Rahul Sipligunj, Kaala Bhairava and M.M. Keeravani
- “Pelotero a la Bola” by 8Uno and Airam Perez
This year was special to me because I had my first child. All these songs are songs that calm her or that we sing to her or dance to with her often. They’ll always bring me joy because they remind me of my first year with my daughter.
Songs from local artists
- “Cumbia No Get Enemy” by Mitchum Yacoub
- “Invincible” by Ash the Author and Apollo
- “Nick of Time” by Whitney Shay
- “Am I A Man” by Carrington Kelso
- “The Grifter” by Sure Fire Soul Ensemble
- “Crazy ‘Bout You Baby” by Lady Dottie & The Diamonds
- “Sumbahtey (feat. Miki Vale & Parker Edison” by Chuck M00n, Ric Scales and 18scales
- “Mirrors” by Strange Bouquets
- “I’M WAITING FOR THE SUNSHINE” by Kahlil Nash
- “Bottle Up Magic (feat. Eric Darius)” by Rebecca Jade
- “Wannabe” by Spice Pistols
- “Eight Hours a day” by Smoke and Mirrors Sound System
- “San Diego City” by Real J. Wallace
- “Finding My Way (feat. Miki Vale & Phe.Be) by Chauncey Maynor
- “SIXUNDRGROUND” by Mndsgn
- “2145 E St.” by The Album Leaf
A new location for ICE arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in San Diego have started arresting yet another group of people showing up to appointments they were asked to attend — the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, office. That's where many people are asked to check in instead of at the ICE office as part of the government's monitoring them on an alternative-to-detention program.
— Kate Morrissey
How to make a Fruitcake Old Fashioned
A fruit- and nut-infused, browned butter-washed bourbon gives this cocktail enough warmth to melt even the meanest Grinch’s heart.
— Lauren J. Mapp
Upcoming Events
Dec. 27
Climbing Meetup: Climbers for Palestine San Diego is hosting its last outdoor meetup of the year at the Santee Boulders. Attendees need to bring their own climbing gear including shoes, chalk, belay device and harness. 9 a.m., West Hills Parking Lot, 8790 Mast Blvd., Santee, CA 92071
Jan. 1
Resistance Ride: Bikes del Pueblo, City Heights Defense Committee, Enero Zapatista and Bread Bloc Distro are leading the seventh annual resistance bike ride to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in City Heights. The ride commemorates the start of the 12-day Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, on Jan. 1, 1994, protesting the North American Free Trade Agreement. 8 a.m. at Bikes del Pueblo, 3986 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, CA 92105
Kwanza Karamu: Manifest Station is hosting a Kwanza celebration at The Block Club with an appearance by musician Kahlil Nash. Guests can make manifestation boards. Some supplies will be provided, but guests are encouraged to bring a poster board, magazines, glue sticks, pencils, pens and scissors. Register for free online. 5 - 9 p.m., The Block Club, 6403 Imperial Ave., San Diego, CA 92114
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