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From left to right: Avery Shivers, Denzel Mitchell and Tahi Wiggins.
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They talked.
That’s how it all started.
That’s the story of how three University of Virginia students from the Northern Neck launched a weekly local news and politics podcast. The podcast, called “Main Street Speaks,” shines a spotlight on life in rural America.
But there’s much more to the story. Denzel Mitchell, Avery Shivers and Tahi Wiggins knew each other before they hopped in Shivers’ car for a ride home at the start of Thanksgiving break last year.
But they didn’t really know each other. That changed on a 2 1/2-hour drive home from Charlottesville.
A bond formed. They discovered that despite their differences and backgrounds, a common thread ran through them. “We all had that bug to improve the area in some way and uncover stories in some way,” Mitchell said.
Later, as their friendship grew, Mitchell shared this wild idea for a local podcast.
All three listened to podcasts, some days for hours on end. But Mitchell, a lifetime Northumberland County resident with an easy smile who studies political and social thought and economics, wanted to do one of his own.
His initial idea was to do a podcast as part of the Mount Vernon Leadership Fellows program. The program is a highly selective, six-week summer institute for college students to learn and network at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. But the program was canceled in the COVID-19 pandemic.
After George Floyd’s death, Mitchell pitched the idea to Shivers and Wiggins. “Tahi asked me if there was a demand for it in our area,” Mitchell said. “My answer was, ‘I don’t know.’”
It hadn’t been done before. That didn’t matter. They were motivated by current events, including Floyd’s death and ensuing national protests, as well as the pandemic.
“We just kind of went for it,” Mitchell said. “If no one else is doing it, then we should.” On the podcast, here’s how Mitchell describes its goals. “We started this podcast for two specific reasons,” he said. “One, we wanted to share the rural perspective with those curious with what it’s like to live in rural America. And two, we wanted to keep the people in our community engaged, especially younger people like us, so that people could stay engaged and stay up to date about the issues in the community, whether it has to do with politics or everything the community has to offer, such as current events.”
Shivers said the podcast helps people know more about the area, including culture and politics. He’s learned a lot more about the Northern Neck doing the podcast, he said.
The podcast has “definitely prompted me to think more critically about this area,” Wiggins said. With a British father and a mother from Seattle, Wiggins was born in Australia and holds dual U.S. and United Kingdom citizenship. She moved with her family to the U.S. at 7 and lives in Northumberland County. She recalls that road trip home last Thanksgiving as a catalyst of the podcast. “I had brought a book and didn’t even crack it open,” Wiggins said. “It was refreshing to talk to people who understand what it’s like to grow up in the area. It was very clear that there was some kind of energy that we could capitalize on.”
Shivers is the more vocal one of the trio. He speaks candidly about his view of the Northern Neck and how it has changed over the years. “I remember the first time I spoke to Denzel earlier in the second semester this past year,” Shivers said. “I was pretty envious of his appreciation of the area.”
While the Shivers family is not native to the Northern Neck, Avery has spent all but two years of his life growing up in the region. His family lived in New Zealand for two years which allowed him to garner a different perspective of the world at a young age.
“I was raised in the area thinking 100% there’s no way I’m going to come back here,” he said. “For most of my life I didn’t really value this place beyond the environment and the area and the unique qualities it provided me.”
Enter Main Street Speaks and his friends Mitchell and Wiggins. The podcast moved him to dive deeper into the issues in his community and how he felt about the people and places.
“I have developed a different perspective about this area and about the significance of living in this area, and how to move forward with values of equality and understanding and loving your neighbor,” Shivers said. “Metaphorically and literally your neighbor.”
Note: Main Street Speaks covers local news, politics and history. Recent topics have
included food insecurity, race relations on the Northern Neck and a campaign to remove
the Confederate monument in Tappahannock. You can find it on most podcasting apps.
For those of you who are not familiar, a podcast is essentially an internet radio show that you can listen to via a device or laptop. There are thousands of podcasts that you can listen to for free right now on almost any topic in the world—and it’s easier than ever to listen.
We recommend Spotify as a good podcast app to get you started.