Hey, LaGrange!

This week’s interview is with photographer/ videographer, Taylor Kravtin. It was recorded two weekends ago, right after governor kemp lifted the stay-at-home order and started lifting the prohibition on certain businesses. We joke a bit about it throughout the interview.

The interview itself was lighthearted and Taylor’s youthful energy permeates nearly every minute. I think that gives a fresh perspective on things and brings a new perspective to the podcast.

Hearing Taylor talk about watching YouTube in middle school made me feel ridiculously old, but that’s not bad. It’s just a natural consequence of aging. I’m sure many of you listening roll your eyes at some of the things I talk about. That was probably my biggest take away from this interview: we all get older and that’s ok.

Taylor never discussed aging. He just went on about his passions and his profession. The existentialism was purely my own, but I think many of you will resonate with what I’m talking about as you listen to the interview.

Taylor is a phenomenal local photographer I ran across on Instagram and I was pleased to get him on the show.

My interview this week is Vice President and Dean of Students at LaGrange College, Brian Carlisle. Dean Carlisle discusses his time at LaGrange College, his love of travel and his passion for the foster care system.

He actually expounds on his time as a foster parent and the great need for foster parents, especially for older teens.

As a related side note, we recorded this back in March...before the COVID-19 panic. So that was the context that he declared he was heading to an “adoption party” the upcoming weekend. It’s a small thing, but I just wanted to clarify.

Overall, it was an enlightening and inspirational interview. I even passed along the dean’s kind words about Chaplain Adam Roberts (my first guest on the podcast) the afternoon after I recorded it. He was flattered. I believe his words were “Aww, shucks.”

This is yet another light behind the curtain of a rags to riches story. His story is one of a kid who grew up poor and in a trailer park and became the Vice President of a College through a lot of hard work (and I’m sure a little bit of luck). I hope you’re as motivated by this interview as I was

My interview this week is Andrew Caraway, Callaway High School’s Radio Announcer. He also hosts a weekly podcast called West Georgia Football Podcast on SoundCloud. He talks about his responsibilities in those roles as well as elaborates on his favorite parts of LaGrange and his highlights about growing up here since moving in as a child.

Overall, it was a fun interview and a good presentation considering the distance setting. It was my first full-length interview in the ‘coronavirus era’ and I thought it went rather well, I hope you’ll agree.

Today is the “Hand Sanitizer” episode, where I talk with two breweries that have creatively retooled to meet the vast public need for hand sanitizer in different ways.

The first interview is with Michael Denehey of Chatabrewchee Southern Brewhouse in Columbus, GA.

The second interview is with Dr. Tripp Morgan of Pretoria Fields Collective in Albany, GA.

My interview this week is with Curtis Brown Jr, self-proclaimed “entrepreneurial evangelist.”

Curtis is the embodiment of the word “hustle.” He’s got so many irons in the fire that I could hardly keep up or keep them straight during our conversation. I managed to though.

Curtis doesn’t just work really hard though, he’s also very involved in the community. He discusses his role in numerous boards throughout the community. Curtis Is dedicated through and through.

Curtis brown Jr. may have been the busiest man that I have ever interviewed, but he is also the most devoted to his community.

My guest this week is Assistant Director of Nursing for Section 4 of GA Department of Public Health, Amy Fenn. Amy received her Associates Degree in Nursing from LaGrange College and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Columbus State University. Amy has worked with District 4 for twenty- three years. She has served as Assistant Director of Nursing since 2010 and is certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners. She also serves as an accreditation site visitor for the Public Health Accreditation Board. In short, she knows her stuff.

Amy was gracious enough to dish to the listeners of Hey, LaGrange! the facts about the COVID-19 pandemic and Governor Kemp’s recent shelter-in-place edict. The interview extends from the well-worn territory of facts about the caronavirus, to the local implications, to suggestions for navigating the Governor’s shelter-in-place guidelines.

Now, as a bit of warning, this was a phone interview...so it’s a bit harder to listen to than normal. But I am confident that my listeners were willing to overlook the quality issues because of the immediacy of the information.

My interview this week is with Bethany Headrick, Head of School for Hillside Montosorri school of LaGrange. The interview itself was somewhat as expected, but Bethany did tell about the new building plans and her favorite children’s book, per our listener questions.

Regarding Bethan, she is a product of Montessori education through and through. Having gone to a Montessori preschool and a boarding school in Asheville, NC for a big part of her education, she knows Montessori and wants to bring that to the LaGrange community. Her vision is that every student has an opportunity for a hands-on, experiential education.

Having started with only 12 students in 2012 and now having 70 just 8 years later, that speaks of the meteoric rise of the school and the dedication of its staff and faculty.

Bethany also dished on her favorites from around LaGrange, but I’ll not spoil the interview any further though.

This week I interview Jessica Jarvholm, executive director for Piney Woods Farm out on West Point Rd. The property was deceptively large. It was masked from the road. It looked like just a gated house, but once you were inside there was a sprawling compound of sorts, with gardens, buildings, various structures and all sorts of animals.

The interview itself was enlightening. Jessica has only been back in LaGrange for two years, despite growing up here. But in those two years she’s accomplished a LOT. The farm is booming and growing even more. She talks about her 5 year plan for the farm in the interview. She also talks about growing up in LaGrange and the pleasure of returning all these years later.

It was a lot of fun to interview Jessica, so I hope that fun comes through in the interview. I’ll let you decide whether or not it did.

So this was the first time in 29 interviews that I had to do one by phone. I’ll be honest: it wasn’t great. The sound quality was poor and I don’t like not being able to see the person across from me. I’m not sure if I’m going to do this again, risk infection by venturing into the wild or just wait out the virus altogether. We will have to see.

This week’s interview is Taylor Duncan of Alternative Baseball. Taylor is a TEDx speaker and is on the autism spectrum. He is very high-functioning, however. This is in contrast to Dale Jackson’s son Collin, who was discussed in episode 18, who is non-verbal and low-functioning. Because autism is a spectrum you have a variety of abilities and capabilities on it.

Taylor started a baseball league for individuals that are differently abled because of his experiences being excluded from team sports.

He lives in Dallas, GA but has a grant to bring a team to LaGrange. That is what we discuss. Our interview ventures from who he is and what Alternative Baseball is all about, to the structure of the teams and their funding. We close with the usual random questions for fun.

Again, I apologize for the sound quality. I wanted to get this interview, but didn’t know when I’d be able to get it if I do it by phone now or in the near future

This week’s interview is JT Marsh co-owner and chief tattooist of Redemption Tattoo here in LaGrange. My interview with JT was a bit brief but not short on content. My highlight of the interview was finding out the age that JT started his apprenticeship and how he got there every day. I won’t spoil the surprise any more than I have already tho.

This was a non-traditional interview for the podcast. But that’s what Hey, LaGrange! is all about: unearthing the stories of regular folks with the hopes of discovering a shared humanity contained therein.

As a side note: you’ll notice a distinct buzzing in the background throughout most of the interview. That was the lights in the tattoo shop warming up and there was nothing that I could do about it. I apologize for the background noise though.