Overview: In this short episode, Adam Williams looks back at the year that was for the We Are Chaffee podcast. He also looks ahead at 2025 and the upcoming episodes that will kick off the new year.
Or listen on: Spotify / Apple Podcasts
SHOW NOTES, LINKS, CREDITS & TRANSCRIPT
The We Are Chaffee podcast is supported by Chaffee County Public Health.
Along with being distributed on podcast listening platforms (e.g. Spotify, Apple), We Are Chaffee is broadcast weekly at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, on KHEN 106.9 community radio FM in Salida, Colo.
We Are Chaffee Podcast
Website: wearechaffeepod.com
Instagram: instagram.com/wearechaffeepod
CREDITS
We Are Chaffee Host, Producer, Photographer & Website Manager: Adam Williams
We Are Chaffee Engineer & Producer: Jon Pray
We Are Chaffee Community Advocacy Coordinator: Lisa Martin
Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment: Andrea Carlstrom
TRANSCRIPT
[Intro music, guitar instrumental]
Adam Williams (00:00:12): Hey, everybody. It’s the We Are Chaffee podcast and I’m Adam Williams.
Here we are again, another year deep into this podcast and with more exciting things ahead of us. And because I don’t want any of our guests to potentially get lost in the hubbub and hullabaloo of a holiday, I’m going to do what what I’ve done in the past here and do what many of us do in our personal lives at this time of year: I’m going to look back a bit and then point forward, giving you a glimpse of what’s ahead.
I really enjoy when I get a chance to look back through who’s been on this podcast. People have asked me from time to time which episode is my favorite and I give what probably feels like a copout kind of answer. But it’s also the truth. My favorite episode on any given day usually is the one I most recently recorded. I seem to have a recency bias, I admit. But a functional one.
In part, because even as the guy having all these conversations with people, I lose track of where we’ve been, who I’ve talked with on the show. I’m more or less always looking ahead to where we’re going and making sure the schedule keeps flowing.
But that also makes a moment like this really fun for me, when I occasionally pull up a bit and take some time to scroll back through the archive and see who has shared their incredible stories and insights with all of us here.
You know, I want to ask you: Have you ever gone down through the We Are Chaffee podcast lineup? You know, scrolled down through the episodes and checked out who is there. If you haven’t, or haven’t in a while, give it a go. It’s easy to do on the podcast website – wearechaffeepod.com – or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. By the way, if you don’t follow the show on Spotify or Apple, in the words of Matthew McConaughey, “It’d be cooler if you did.”
But I digress, there’s a great chance that you will recognize a friend or a neighbor if you checkout the archive. … Or somebody else you know or know of and have been curious about but have never had the chance to talk with them yourself.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by listeners, “Oh, I’ve known so-and-so for many years, but when I listened to their episode, I still learned things about them.” I love hearing that, and it’s a great reason to dig into those episodes, even when we think we know all there is to know.
On the flip side – Well, let me use this example: Several months ago, I posted a series of portraits of guests from the show on Instagram. Someone commented that they only recognized one of the maybe 20 people that were shown. He might not have realized this, but he was kind of making our point for us, that this podcast is a great way to get to know each other in the community and to make connections that you otherwise might not. So, if you scroll back through the archive and see names and faces you don’t know, then I encourage you to jump in and get to know them. We all live, work and play here. The water’s warm. It’s safe.
Back to my recency bias, I have to scroll back a little bit each month when I’m putting together the podcast’s email newsletter, which you can subscribe to on the website, by the way. I scroll and see, “Where did I leave off for last month’s newsletter? Who have I talked with in the weeks since?”
As a listener to others’ podcasts, I don’t catch every episode right away. Sometimes I have to go looking for what and who I’ve missed. That’s why I also share “in case you missed it (ICYMI)” kinds of posts and stories on Instagram at @wearechaffeepod. We get busy. We miss things. But I want this to be like a no-drop group run: Nobody gets left behind.
Overall, for the past two and a half years of this podcast’s life, I feel really good about the collection of folks who have been on the show. And I feel excited about the prospects of who will be on the show in the future.
We have an amazing – an amazing – collection of people in this community. If you’ve listened to very much of this podcast or have read the monthly newspaper column I write related to the podcast, then you know I gush about this from time to time. And that’s because I think it’s worth celebrating and repeating that we are part of something here.
Maybe you’ve heard me say before that I grew up in a rural area in the heart of the midwest, in a town similar in size to Salida, and I cannot say enough, for those who need the reminder, that Chaffee County is … extraordinary. That’s probably what drew most of us here – or if you grew up here, it’s what drew your parents or your grandparents.
Sure, it’s the mountains and the river and the valley. We love all that. But we could have a version of that in a lot of places. I think the people are a big part of things here, too, at least for why we stay and keep being part of this community.
I talked with more than 30 people on We Are Chaffee this past year. We evolved into being a weekly podcast, starting in September. So, keeping on with that, the ambition for the year ahead is to talk with around 50 more folks from our community.
I’ve talked with entrepreneurs and innovators, experts on nutrition and mental health and affordable housing, authors & poets, visual artists & musicians, athletes and organizational leaders about all the things that make the human experience what it is. And what makes our community what it is.
There’s a common thread of resilience that runs through many of these life stories that guests share here. And I’ll say yet again, the personal is universal. We’ve all got that same courage and vulnerability and resilience in us to overcome and thrive. We have those stories of our own.
In looking back … We kicked off the year with Jed Selby of South Main in Buena Vista. And then Zac Baird, who was part of the metal band Korn for a decade and had just come off tour with Beyonce when he and I sat down for the podcast.
We had our first live-audience podcast recording at the Salida Film Festival in May. I talked on stage at the Steamplant with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Julie Speer Jackson, who directed and produced the We Are Chaffee documentary, “A Home in Paradise.” You can download that documentary for free through wearechaffee.org, by the way.
Two of the most popular episodes this past fall were with Read McCulloch, of the Chaffee Housing Trust, and Paul Andrews, the visionary behind The Crossing in BV. Both conversations included talk about affordable housing solutions in the Valley.
A personal all-time favorite for me, was my conversation with Rama Yigit, of Rama’s Bread. He’s a shepherd and baker from Kurdistan with a big story that might inspire some heartache, but also joy and hope.
I could go on, of course. We now have more than 70 episodes that include around 80 people in the podcast archive. But for now, let’s have a peek at who lies ahead.
We’re wrapping up 2024 with Matt Allen on the last day of the year. Matt is a dentist by trade. He’s become a tech entrepreneur focused on making healthcare more human. Interestingly, many years ago, he was valedictorian of his high school class but then he almost quit college after one semester to go all in on his band. They were gigging around L.A., and even played the famed – or is it infamous – Viper Room. But lucky for us in Chaffee County, he didn’t. That episode with Matt Allen comes out next week.
Then Gina Lucrezi will kick off the new year. Our first episode of 2025. She’s a newly elected Chaffee County Commissioner. She also founded Trail Sisters, the largest women’s trail running organization in the country, if not the world. Among other things.
Then onward we go with artist Krista Jarvis, who grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and witnessed the Velvet Revolution there as a child and the division of her country into two nations. We have a lot to talk about there.
And then on into the shiny new year, where I’m sure there will be more evolution of the podcast to announce along the way, and dozens more incredible guests sharing their stories and insights. A new episode each Tuesday.
We Are Chaffee keeps growing and connecting community through conversation. That’s thanks to you. It’s thanks to our community. So here’s to the 2024 that was and the 2025 that will be. Thank you for being here for it with me.
As always, it’s all at wearechaffeepod.com. We can connect on Instagram @wearechaffeepod. I’d love it if you follow the streams on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And if you want to reach me, email me at: adam (at) wearechaffeepod.com.
Til the next episode, happy holidays and, as we say at We Are Chaffee, “Share stories, make change.”
[Outro music, guitar and horns instrumental]
