139 - Making It In Asheville's Daily Good News Starts Monday

Hello and welcome to a very special announcement episode. Today is Friday, October 18, 2024. Exactly three weeks ago today, my family was sitting outside with ear protection on as our neighbors came cut and chopped and sawed away with chainsaws, the trees that had blocked us all into our little dirt road in Woodfin, Asheville, North Carolina. Lots of change has occurred in Asheville in the last three weeks. It's been a lot to bear and there's been a lot to be, say, hopeful about. And so with the intention of shining a light on the great members of our community, the great initiatives inside of our community, and the hope that many of us feel because of what we've seen, because of how we've come together. The making it a Nashville podcast is about to embark on a second program. So we will continue to interview community leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs. But for the next, we'll say two months, loosely until the end of the year, we will be running a daily podcast, a daily business focused podcast that points to the good work, good initiatives, good news happening here in Asheville. We'll be announcing, as businesses come back a lot come back online, we'll be announcing fundraising campaigns. And honestly, anything that feels exciting and feels promising and feels hopeful, that is happening right here in Asheville, North Carolina. It is our belief that the, the tide might have run out three weeks ago, but as it flows back in, metaphorically, we want it to flow in higher than ever. We want that the rising tide rises, all the ships here. And while there is still a lot to sort out, still a lot to make sense of, still a lot for the business owners and the folks who were most critically impacted. There's something, I guess, this community, something, this channel, something, this particular platform, I think has the ability to do that feels like it's worth doing. And that is being a part of the light, being a part of the sun, I guess that disinfects, helps us to see what's possible, see what's available, see what's there. And so, you know, it is not lost on me that there are some of us still deeply, deeply hurting, and that grief is a nonlinear and deeply personal experience. And I'll run the risk of being misinterpreted in an effort to shine a light and be a beacon here in the community of the good work that is already in place. There's going to be some incredible stories of folks who showed up powerfully for their neighbors over the last three weeks, and there's going to be tons more over the months to come. And so if you would like to be some form of a field reporter, research assistant, analyst. The titles are pretend, but there are going to be a lot of ways to participate. So hasn't been fully baked, is not fully fleshed out episodes, structure and form will be nebulous and become more and more concrete over time, but all things on this project will at least start on making it in asheville.com. this series intends to be underwritten by our good friends at Shackproperties. We'll share more about the vision, more about the intention in the days and weeks to come. In the meantime, there's a lot of work to do to figure out the plan, figure out what comes next. But we're going to speak this baby into existence and let you know that starting next week, there will be a new episode daily that tells stories of the good work here in Asheville, and I cannot wait to begin that project. Have a great weekend. We'll talk next week.