Under the Perfect Sun: Environmental Justice Reading & Discussion

Join Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, SanDiego350, the Environmental Health Coalition, and authors Jim Miller and Kelly Mayhew for a short reading from their recent books Under the Perfect Sun and Beyond the Theme Park followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. Hear from the authors and local community leaders, interviewed for both books, about environmental advocacy in San Diego over the last twenty years. 

What to expect:

• Reading by Jim Miller and Kelly Mayhew from Under the Perfect Sun and Beyond the Theme Park
• Panel discussion with interviewees
  • Supervisor Paloma Aguirre
  • Masada Disenhouse from SanDiego350
  • Franco Garcia from the Environmental Health Coalition
  • Moderators: Kelly Mayhew and Jim Miller
• Q&A with panelists 
• Light refreshments
   

Buy Under the Perfect Sun at the event and get it signed! The first 20 people to buy the book will receive a free copy of Beyond the Theme Park!

• Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See (about the book)
• Beyond the Theme Park: Struggle and Solidarity Under the San Diego Sun (about the book)
   

SanDiego350 Monthly Donors will get a free drink from Novo Brewing as part of the Climate Defenders Monthly Donor program. Learn more

This is a great opportunity to meet folks from one of our closest partners, Environmental Health Coalition, and network with like-minded individuals. We look forward to seeing you there! 

PANELISTS

Paloma Aguirre – San Diego County District 1 Supervisor

Franco Garcia  – Environmental Health Coalition Executive Director

Franco joined EHC in 2010. Previously, he directed the Community Building program at the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils in San Diego, and worked with the United Domestic Workers of America. At EHC, García launched a Community Action Team in City Heights and in 2011 organized residents and members of allied organizations to participate in the Built Environment Team, a collaborative of social and environmental justice organizations in City Heights that created the first Community Development Action Plan for the neighborhood. García has a B.A. in political science and public law from the University of California San Diego. In 2011, he was a member of the Latino Redistricting Committee. García leads EHC’s Policy Team and voter engagement efforts.

Masada Disenhouse – SanDiego350 Executive Director

Masada co-founded SanDiego350 in 2011 and has served as Executive Director since 2019. She is passionate about empowering people of all ages to organize, advocate, and build bold, intersectional grassroots campaigns and political power in order to advance climate justice. Previously, Masada worked for 350.org where she managed staff and programs to support the growth and development of over 150 local 350 affiliates in 350’s U.S. network.

MODERATORS

Kelly Mayhew and Jim Miller are authors of the books Under the Perfect Sun and Beyond the Theme Park.

Kelly Mayhew – Vice President of AFT Local 1931 & Author

Kelly Mayhew is the coeditor with Jim Miller of Sunshine/Noir III: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana (San Diego City Works Press, 2025), Sunshine/Noir II: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana (San Diego City Works Press, 2015), and with Alys Masek of Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting (San Diego City Works Press, 2010). She is coauthor with Jim Miller of Better to Reign in Hell: Inside the Raiders Fan Empire (The New Press, 2005) and coauthor with Jim Miller and Mike Davis of Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See (The New Press, 2003; 2005; Seven Stories Press, 2026). Mayhew is a founding member of San Diego City Works Press, for which she serves as Managing Editor. She has written for the San Diego Reader, the San Diego Free Press, the OB Rag, and others, and is also coeditor of a Substack journal with Doug Porter and Jim Miller, The Jumping-Off Place. Mayhew has an MA in English from San Diego State University and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. She teaches English, Humanities, and Labor Studies at San Diego City College. She is a Vice President and Executive Board member of the American Federation of Teachers Guild, Local 1931. Statewide, she is the chair of the California Federation of Teachers’ Labor and Climate Justice Education Committee. A long-time educator and advocate of youth, Dr. Mayhew is also a Board Member for the Center on Policy Initiatives and has been an advisory committee member of CPI’s Students for Economic Justice Summer Internship program. 

Jim Miller – Vice President of AFT Local 1931 & SD350 Board Member

Jim Miller is a Board Member of SD350, which he joined in 2019. He is a native San Diegan and a graduate of the MFA program at San Diego State University. In addition to his MFA in Fiction, he has a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He teaches English, Humanities, and Labor Studies at San Diego City College. He is a Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers Guild, Local 1931 and a founding member of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council’s Environmental Caucus, part of the CFT’s Labor and Climate Justice Education Committee, and a member the AFT National Climate Committee.

Miller is the author of the poetry collections Into the Bardo (Kelsay Books, 2024) and Paradise and Other Lost Places (San Diego City Works Press, 2024), and his novels include Last Days in Ocean Beach (San Diego City Works Press, 2018), Flash (AK Press, 2010), and Drift (University of Oklahoma Press, 2007; 2024). He is also coauthor of a history of San Diego, Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See (with Mike Davis and Kelly Mayhew on The New Press, 2003; 2005; and on Seven Stories Press, 2026) and a cultural studies book on working-class sports fandom, Better to Reign in Hell: Inside the Raiders Fan Empire (with Kelly Mayhew on The New Press, 2005). In addition to this he is the editor of Sunshine/Noir: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana (San Diego City Works Press, 2005), Sunshine/Noir II: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana (with Kelly Mayhew on San Diego City Works Press, 2015), Sunshine/Noir III: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana (San Diego City Works Press, 2025), and Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy (AFT 1931, 2007). He has published poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in a wide range of journals and other publications, and, along with Kelly Mayhew and Doug Porter, has a Substack journal called The Jumping-Off Place as well as a weekly column in the blog Words and Deeds, and he previously wrote for The San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Diego Free Press, and the OB Rag.