Jesse Mata is born and raised in San Antonio. He has been involved in Cornyation for over a decade and was recently crowned King Anchovy LV. His reign has been disturbed by COVID and Fiesta cancellation/rescheduling issues. However, he joins us to discuss his passion for Cornyation's focus and charities supported. Transcript: [music] Justin Hill: Hello and Bienvenido, San Antonio. Welcome to The Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places, and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonian, and keeper of chickens and bees. On The Alamo Hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great and unique, and the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here. All right, welcome to Episode 21 of The Alamo Hour. Today's guest is Jesse Mata. We had some technical difficulties, so we're back on take two. Jesse Mata: Welcome back. Justin: Jesse works at USAA and more importantly for this episode, he's King Anchovy 55 for Cornyation. Previously, he's written scripts for Cornyation. He's been involved for years. The Current said you're one of the most influential people in 2015. Jesse: Yes. I've been influential gay people, that's an important caveat. [crosstalk] Justin: Is that the thing? Jesse: A pink asterisk. Justin: I didn't see that. Jesse: Yes. Unless there's another article I don't know. Justin: Well, I just saw most influential 2015 and saw you. Jesse: Yes, that’s me. Justin: You've had a lot of involvement in Cornyation, that's where I met you. Cornyation has raised over $2 million. We're going to spend some time talking about Cornyation. Jesse, so I do this with all the guests. We'll do a top 10 list. It’s short. I asked one guy how he moved to San Antonio, he went on for seven minutes, so don't do that. [laughs] Jesse: No. That is not a very interesting story. It's a tragic story. You have a sorrowful version of this podcast, we can [unintelligible 00:01:33] [laughter]. Justin: Well, now I don't know if I want to ask. The first question I was going to ask is when did you move to San Antonio? Jesse: I moved back to San Antonio. I grew up in San Antonio. I’m San Antonio native. My parents grew up in San Antonio as well. I have a long history here; my family does as well. I left in '93 after I graduated from Health Careers and went off to Baylor University. Then I came back in 1997, four years later, but that doesn't necessarily mean I had a degree, and started work and started my adult life back in San Antonio. Justin: Okay, so you've lived here straight ever since? Jesse: Yes, since September of 1997. Justin: All right. What high school did you go to? Jesse: Health Careers, phoenix, I’m phoenix rising from the ashes. That's all. This’s [unintelligible 00:02:24] alma mater. Justin: Next question, in your picture in The Current you had a dog, what's the dog's name? Jesse: Yes. Justin: What's his name? Jesse: I have a pug. Well, actually I have two dogs to be fair, not to give short [unintelligible 00:02:31]. The dog that was in the shoot was Gizmo, that's our pug. Gizmo [unintelligible 00:02:40] is his full name, but it tells you everything you need to know about my literary preferences. He's a great guy, curmudgeon, middle-aged. Justin: Pug and what else? Jesse: A pug and a Great Dane. Justin: Oh, geez. They get along? Jesse: I'm sorry. Justin: Did they get along? Jesse: They do get along. They're best friends. At first, whenever we got Gizmo, he was maybe about this big, maybe fit in the palm of your hand. The Great Dane wanted nothing to do with him. He was not even as big as your snout. I'm sure the part of that calculus was she figured she might destroy him, [unintelligible 00:03:13]or tail, or what have you. Ever...