We had a lively and interesting night at Voice of San Diego’s fifth “Meeting of the Minds” Thursday. Nearly 300 people joined us at Bread & Salt, formerly Cramer’s Bakery, in Logan Heights for our pecha-kucha-style evening highlighting different sides of San Diego culture.

I’m still soaking in all that we heard. Sam Hodgson captured reactions from several of you — here are some short videos and tweet highlights from the night.

Bread & Salt is a historic bakery that is being revamped by architect James Brown. Brown started the night with a look at his plans for the space.

(Hall posted a few other photos to his Flickr page.)

Susanna Peredo dove into ARTS: A Reason to Survive, the nonprofit arts organization that gives troubled kids art training and support — work that helped propel a film about one of the group’s kids, “Inocente,” to an Academy Award.

Los Angeles Times photojournalist Don Bartletti described his work following the international migration north from Central America.

The photographs hit home for David MacAdam, who said he wants to spend more time exploring Bartletti’s work.

San Diego State University student Philippe Larroque was taken with Bartletti’s photographs, too.

And so was Stephen Russell, the board chairman for the City Heights Community Development Corporation.

Denitsa Bliznakova gave us a behind-the-scenes peek at the work she does to make costumes for giant productions.

Melinda Lee was excited to hear from Bliznakova because her daughter is performing in the chorus for San Diego Opera’s “Murder in the Cathedral” and will be wearing one of the costumes discussed in Bliznakova’s presentation.

(San Diego Opera shared a 20 percent discount code with Voice of San Diego — you can see more details here.)

Adrian Florido brought some friends with him to explain (and perform!) son jarocho, Mexican folk music.

City Councilman David Alvarez connected with Florido’s son jarocho presentation.

Next, Michael Prinz shared his five picks for the best coffee he’s found in San Diego.

Mary Lydon, executive director for the Urban Land Institute’s San Diego/Tijuana chapter, said she was planning a trip for the very next morning to Caffe Calabria, one of the coffee shops Prinz highlighted.

“I am leaving this event loving San Diego more,” she said.

Ashanti Davis, a self-described coffee fanatic, loved the last two presentations, too.

Finally, here’s a unique recap from Jason Alderman:

If you missed the event, or want to share a presentation with a friend who couldn’t make it, watch for videos of our speakers in the coming days.

Now, what’s sticking with you? What might you go check out? Add your thoughts below.

Videos by Sam Hodgson.

I’m Kelly Bennett, reporter for Voice of San Diego. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.

Voice of San Diego is a nonprofit that depends on you, our readers. Please donate to keep the service strong. Click here to find out more about our supporters and how we operate independently.

Kelly Bennett is a former staff writer for Voice of San Diego.

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