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Best of the Voices · Voices of the Albemarle

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_12: Hey everyone, this is Cole.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_12: We do not have a new episode coming out this week.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_12: So instead, we put together a little compilation of some of our previous episodes with some fun moments from our guest.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_12: So give it a listen and we hope you enjoy.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_13: And locally, we had Dr.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_13: Lester Starworth, who was a professor at Elizabeth City State, and Lester Stahlworth Jr., his son.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_13: And they had, they were again residents of Elizabeth City.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_13: But they contacted the local pastors, and they began a series of teaching peaceful protests classes.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_13: And these classes were taught in in the basement.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_13: Well, we call it the basement then, but now it's called the Fellowship Hall of the Mount Lebanon Church on Culpepper Street, which was my home church.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_13: And uh it's Mount Lebanon African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_13: And uh the adults and the students from Elizabeth City State would go to the peaceful protest classes.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_13: And I asked my mom if I I said, Ma, I, you know, um, I I had heard about some classes uh going on at the church.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_13: I said, Will I will you let me go?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_13: And she said, Well, baby, she said, let me check on it some more and let me make sure that you're gonna be okay.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_13: And I was 11 then.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_13: I said, Mom, I'm gonna be fine.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_13: But anyway, she she talked to some other adults who were going, and she allowed me to go, and that was at age 11.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_13: And in those classes, they taught us about peaceful demonstrations, the things that if we decided to participate, to be expected to get cursed at, spat on, hit, possibly jailed.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_13: But and and if all of that happened, they told us what to do, if those things happened.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_13: And during those classes, they also taught us peaceful, uh different chants and songs that we would sing while we were demonstrating.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_13: And it was very exciting to me.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_13: And um, I can't remember any of my friends going, but I went because I'm I I was taught to be a very independent person, and I don't wait for friends to to see what other people are gonna do before I do it.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_13: I don't let other people validate me.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_13: If it's something that I feel strongly about and I feel that it's right to do, then that's what I do.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_13: And my mom allowed me to go, and that was at age 11.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_13: Once we went through all the classes, we began to do the peaceful demonstrations, the margins, the protests, and yes, I was right there proudly.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_13: My mom couldn't go because she worked for Ronald Bible College, and my dad was a carpenter, so we they needed two incomes to run the house.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_13: And I understood that because of where she worked, she couldn't do it.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_13: But I told her, I said, Mom, you don't have to.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_13: I'll I'll do enough for you.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_13: And um, my friends asked me, so aren't you afraid?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_13: Aren't you afraid to be out there?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_13: No.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_13: Suppose this happened, suppose that I said, Well, no, I'm gonna be good because I felt that strongly about it.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_13: And I was proud to be out there with the with the demonstrators.
• 3:46
  unknown: Ms.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_08: Vell, can I can I ask you?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_08: Sure.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_08: At 11 years old, you were very proud to be out there.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_08: And I I while you were talking, I was counting back.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_08: What was I like 11 years old?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_08: Where does that come from?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_08: You obviously you you got that pride, that, that, that strength.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_08: Did you was that from your parents?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_13: I'm so glad you asked.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_13: Yes, my parents taught me to do what's right if you gotta do it by yourself.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_13: And they always taught me, I have a strong belief in God, and I know that if it pleases, if it pleases him, I'm supposed to do things that please him.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_13: Okay.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_13: That things that bless other people, not to hurt other people, but to bless other people.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_13: And something that, as you asked me that, something that I remember very strongly, and you've heard how music has an effect, has a strong back then.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_13: There was a man named James Brown, and he had this song Say It Loud.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_13: I'm black and I'm proud.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_13: From that, and it let us know that, you know, you're somebody.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_13: You have to conduct yourself as you're somebody, and people will treat you like you're somebody.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_13: You're not less than, you're equal to.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_13: There's nobody that's better than you.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_13: Not that you're better than anybody else, but you're just as good as the next person.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_08: Wow.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_08: Wow, those are lessons, and and that really had an impact on you, obviously.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_08: That that's a re I I just can't imagine what it would be like at 11 years old.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_08: Because I I don't know as I would be in your shoes when 11 years old doing that kind of thing, no.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_13: Yes.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_13: And and I mean, I feel very strongly about it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_13: And I've I've never let people define who I am.
• 5:28
  unknown: Okay.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_13: You know, my parents taught me as a kid, and and a lot of it, I I owe it to my parents because they taught me to be very independent.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_13: They taught me not to worry about what other people people, if people talk about you, that's okay.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_13: They talk about Jesus Christ.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_13: Um, you know, do what you know is the right thing to do, and you're gonna be fine because God got you.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_13: As long as you're doing right, as long as you're doing right, you know, you don't mistreat people, you love everybody, whether they love you or not.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_13: God is not gonna hold you according to, he's not gonna judge you according to how they treat you.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_13: He's gonna judge me according to how I treat you.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_08: I'm sad to say, but you mentioned James Brown, and all of a sudden these mental pictures came back, he's going out and taking back putting the cape on him and everything and doing the splits and everything.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_08: Have you ever seen James Brown?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_08: Yes.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, fantastic entertainer.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_13: I'm young, I'm not that young.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, well, just fantastic entertainer.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_13: Well, it had an impact on those of us listening.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_13: And let us know you are proud.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_13: You know, be proud of your be proud of your skin, be proud of the skin you're in.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, be proud of what you look like, be proud of your, you know, whatever your features are.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_13: Just be proud of God made you and God didn't make no mess.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_13: Not any mess, but no mess.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: And so having all of those like strong convictions at such a young age, um, you said you were 11 when you began taking the classes.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: You actually participated in sit-ins.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: How old were you, do you think, when you participated in your first sit-in?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_13: I did the classes for I want to say six months.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_13: And they allowed me to yes, I can remember now.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_13: We protested peaceful demonstrations down Main Street in the stores there.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_13: At one of the lunch counters where you're we protested definitely in um, I can remember us standing outside of J.W.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_13: Wool Woolworth.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_13: Woolworth was on the corner of um where Super 10 was.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_13: Super 10 went there after Woolworth left.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_13: It's down on the corner of Maine.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_13: And I want to say Pondex or whatever that street is down there.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, okay.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_13: And I can remember us, W.T.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_13: Grant was down the street further.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_13: In fact, it's where Horn Thor Raleigh, Ellison Maylon's office is now.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_08: There's a sign.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_08: There's a sign.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_08: There's a yes, there's a landmark sign out there.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_13: Oh, okay, okay.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_13: Well, that was very, I mean, we protested out there every every Saturday.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_13: And we took basically the same route downtown.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_13: And we protested in on Colonial Avenue at one of the restaurants there.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_13: Um, that I would never forget because wherein they had taught us peaceful demonstrations.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_13: They taught us what to do should anything happen, and we were quietly sitting in one of the restaurants on Colonial Avenue, and we were sitting waiting to be served, and the waitress came over and poured, asked what the young lady wanted.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_13: One of the fellow protests asked what she wanted, and she said, Coffee, please.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_13: And the lady poured hot coffee in her lap.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_13: I will never forget it.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_13: And our leaders, two of our leaders, got up, grabbed a young lady, and took her to the hospital.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_13: And at that time, the Alma Hospital was on uh the water over on Riverside.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_13: That's where it was, that's when the hot where the hospital was then.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_13: And they had a colored section and they had a white section.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_13: And but they grabbed her up and the rest of us, he told the rest of us to sit quietly with the rest of the leaders.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_13: Part of our leaders stayed with us, and two went with uh to take her to the hospital.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_13: And I would never forget that.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_13: I would never forget it.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_13: But they treated her for burns.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_13: She was out, I want to say two weeks, and then she was right back demonstrating with us again.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_13: Wow.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_13: Wow.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_08: Two guys aren't the only stars in the in in this group.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_08: I I actually I actually performed in a play when I was in either fifth or fifth grade, but I was gonna ask all of you.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_08: Um it was a Gilbert and Sullivan musical.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_08: Which was it?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_08: Pardon me?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: Which one?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_08: The Makado.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_08: I was Poohah.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: So we've talked briefly about how I am like a classically trained singer and so many, and that's what when you said that, that's what I was hoping you were going to say.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I have so many songs to do that.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think so.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's okay.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: You'll learn as you advance with the center players, right, Natalie?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, as I was the first one to say no.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_08: We will learn.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_08: I I guess, I guess the thing I was thinking, um, the the plays that I'm hearing that you're doing are the musicals, they're the valid, they're good, they're very popular.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_08: Um, I'm talking about Gilbert and Sullivan, valid, good, maybe not as well known because they're older.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_08: Um, have you ever done a a more like that type of genre, uh older type of thing?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_16: So this fall we did songs and scenes from different musicals, and we included South Pacific, Sound of Music.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_18: Oh, really?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_16: Um we are looking at golden age musicals.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_16: Um, we're looking at things like guys and dolls for the fall, along with along with Disney classics as well.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_18: Yeah, cool, cool.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: And because, you know, I did Center Players and I did I did Coast Players as well at COA.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: I did this literally my whole childhood.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I just have to ask my own personal favorite question.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: What are you guys looking forward to most?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: Doing the school shows or like the general audience shows?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: Because there's a really different vibe.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_16: And let's talk about what the school shows are first.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_16: Yes.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_16: Yes.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_16: Oh, did one of you guys want to share about the school shows?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_11: They're my favorite personally.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_11: School shows are that's when we figure out all the mishaps with what's going on.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: That is so true.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_11: Because most of the time the school shows on the last show, there was like sound things, song changes, it was chaos.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_11: But when we got to the um regular shows, it w we were down pat.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_11: It was like Spitfire.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_11: We knew what to do, and it was it was easier for the regular shows instead of the school shows.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_11: Really got the hang of it.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to that, I actually have an example.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was backstage for one of the kids' shows, and for one of my songs, I'm supposed to hold a microphone.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the song I sing, it's called Don't Right On My Parade, if anybody knows.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: From Funny Girl.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a lot of blocking, which I loved, and I heard my song play, and at the time I was like asking player like advice if I didn't hit the note.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to run on stage, and then I was like, Don't tell me not to live.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm doing all my blocking, trying to catch my breath with trying to also make sure everybody can hear me because I did not have a microphone, and so just straight vocals.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's really impressive.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_16: Straight vocals, straight chaos, but with the best audience members you can possibly imagine.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_16: I don't think you would ever guess that elementary school and middle school students make the best audience members, but they really are so excited to see them.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_16: They don't care that you guys are making mistakes and they get the nerves out.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_16: They're really the best audience members, I think.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_08: I want to ask you something.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_08: I'm a guy.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_08: Don't have to ask you that.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_08: I just want to let you know, just want to let you know that.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_08: Um, the question I have is um this may sound weird.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_08: Do you view yourself as a woman managing a men's team, or do you view yourself a woman managing a baseball team?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I just say a woman managing a baseball team.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_08: Like I really don't think of when I go to work or just really it doesn't have to be a men's team.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_15: I guess you know it's well yeah, just day to day, I don't I don't think of me as like anything different, I guess.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_08: Are there any w women players in the league?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_08: No.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_08: Okay.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, it's just just male baseball.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_15: Um like I said, it's college age, so um, you know, eight eighteen to twenty-three usually are their ages.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_15: Um, but yeah, um, I don't really see myself any differently.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_15: You know, I just try not to think of it.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_15: I just was given the same opportunities um and made the most of each opportunity that I was given.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: So which I feel like that's a really important perspective.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: You're opening doors at being the first in the league.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_15: That's gotta be like, even though you don't feel any different, which I think is a really important perspective.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_15: I would say too, like, you know, with it thinking of females in positions like that, uh, like I said, you know, there's more now, but I will never forget when I first took the job, um, it just goes to show there's some Karen's in the world.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_15: And um, I had posted something on social media about I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was something maybe with me in it or whatever.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_15: And an older gentleman had commented about basically like get back in the kitchen kind of thing.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_15: And you know, like the stereotypes are definitely, you know, better now than what they used to be, but there's still, you know, some things that kind of people have their thoughts on.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_15: But overall, like I said, with where we're at in 2026, the people that have, you know, complimented me on the job that I've done, like I said, no one I don't feel like around me, like they see the work that I put into, they don't look at me any differently or think that I can't do something just because I am a female.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_15: So um, yeah, I definitely think, you know, they joke too because I was able to get a lot accomplished last year as far as projects, and the people before me were like, man, we've been working on that for years, and they would never let us do it.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_15: And I joke, I'm like, all they needed was a female to get them to do it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_15: But um an intentional.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_08: So you pull it out when you need it.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_15: So um, but yeah, it's super cool to be able to, like I said, you know, run the run the organization in a way um that you know brings the community together in such a in such a positive light.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_08: Can I ask you something serious now?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_08: Oh um, I've been in other other town towns.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_08: The Potato Festival ranks up there with any of the festivals that I've seen.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_08: And I'm not gonna mention where these towns are because there's no it's not trying to compete in one together, but I always hear about we're gonna get bigger and we're gonna spread it out, or we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_08: Um during the years, what kind of adjustments have you had to make or have you made to to uh accommodate some of the the wishes and desires and where do you see that going?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_08: Can it get bigger?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, this is a two-part thing.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, it is it it's it can get better, it can always get better, I guess, but it's tough to get bigger.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_08: What so what has happened over the past ten years as far as the development of it?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_14: Um, well, like I said, you know, when it first started, it was a one-day festival and now it's a three-day festival.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_14: And probably over the last five or six years, uh we've we've we've condensed it a little more instead of it being so spread out.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_14: Um, we used to go all the way down Main Street to Road Street, and we would have vendors um for the two or three blocks uh all the way to uh what is now Harbor Pharmacy at MLK.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_14: And then beyond that would be the car show.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_14: And in the last couple of years, what we've done is we've kind of rotated it.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_14: So we've pulled it closer to Water Street.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_14: So we have um more of a straight shot for people because people were are visual.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_14: I mean, they see a straight shot and they'll walk, they won't always turn a corner.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_14: So people would look down Main Street and wouldn't always walk down there to visit with the vendors or the car show.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_14: So we've condensed that section of it.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_14: So we have a few vendors in the first block of Main Street to the first bump out, about to where Kitchen Curiosities is and to the entrance of Recycled Reader.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_14: And then the car show starts there and is in front of Arts of the Album, we're all in two souls, um, and goes down to about McMoran, maybe a little beyond, depending on how many cars we have.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_14: Um and then um we've added a Jeep show on Sunday to make sure that we have something in that section, but we've expanded what we have on the little one-block area of Airinghouse Street because that's a wider street.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_14: So we've almost kind of rotated it around, pulling it off of Main Street, and that opens up the ability for people to get down to Main Street and park a little bit closer to the business um segment so they can get to the restaurants um on foot a little easier than having to, you know, section off all of Main Street.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_18: Cool.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_14: Um, we've added um some more local food vendors as as that industry has grown because you know the food truck industry has grown quite a bit here in Elizabeth City.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_14: Um and um uh key focus on the music.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_14: We used one big thing, I swear, um, we used to have the beer and wine garden at the intersection of Main Street and Water Street on the black top of the street.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_14: Um and it was so hot.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_14: It was so hot.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_14: So we have our stage there, and so we've put the stage now at Mannersworth Park, kind of in the parking lot, so people can sit on the green, and that's the the um the watch area.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_14: You know, people can sit on the green, bring their chairs, it's a lot more comfortable.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: And there's still that little area of blacktop.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: People dance out there, it's pretty fun to watch.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, especially the kids.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like a lot of kids, those are your main dancers at festivals like that.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: They have no shame, they love to get out there.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, my trap mode.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: No, but speaking of stories, I do want to hear.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: You said 25 years ago you met Ruby Bridges.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: You told me that it was a good story.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: I want to hear a story.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_07: So uh again, fresh out of college, Paul Wilkes.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_07: Um I just had dinner with Paul uh about a week and a half ago.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_07: He's in his upper 80s now, and he was a college professor teaching documentary film.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_07: And we had just watched the Eyes on the Prize documentary series, which features Ruby.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_07: And um, Paul had hired me to work on a project called the Pastoral Summit, which was funded by the Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Endowment, uh, University of Notre Dame, and I believe UNC Chapel Hill was involved.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_07: I don't I believe they were involved.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_07: So the premise was that um Paul and a team of researchers set out to study the positive impact of faith-based organizations and communities and towns and cities across America.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_07: So it started with research, ended up being two books that Paul, uh two or three books that Paul wrote, a documentary film, which is what interested me about the project because I was a film studies major and also just a big fan of Paul's, and then four national conferences that brought together clergy and very ecumenical with the belief that our similarities are very or are greater than our differences.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_07: So Ruby was brought in for our conference in San Antonio as the keynote.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_07: Being the youngest person on that team, I think, Paul assigned me to stand stage right and escort Ruby to her vehicle.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_07: She had to catch a flight that afternoon, and I was very nervous.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_07: Um around the age of 24, 25.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_07: And I was meeting Ruby Bridges, and I had just watched the eyes of the price.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_07: So she comes off stage and she's so warm and friendly, and we shake hands, and somehow the topic of New Orleans surfaced on our walk to the vehicle.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_07: And she said, Have you ever been to New Orleans?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_07: I said, Well, our we just had a conference there six months ago, and that was my first visit.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_07: She said, What'd you think?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_07: I said, Oh, I loved it.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_07: She said, What'd you love?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_07: I said, I love the food.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_07: The food was amazing.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_07: I said, But I really love the music.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_07: I'd always heard about jazz in New Orleans, and I said, I couldn't believe just the level of talent, street musicians, much less going into the French Quarter, garden district, whatever, and hearing the bands there.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_07: And Ruby loves music.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_07: I didn't know that at the time.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_07: And that really piqued her interest.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_07: And so she started putting the, she said, You must be a musician.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_07: I said, Well, play a little piano.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_07: So we're having a conversation.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_07: We round a corner and there's a baby grand in the lobby.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_07: And Ruby stops and she points at the piano.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_07: She says, Sit down.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_07: I've got time.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_07: I want you to play something for me.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_18: Wow.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_07: I play by ear.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_07: I've never taken a lesson in my life.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_07: And I foolishly asked her what she would like for me to play.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_07: And she immediately said, Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_07: Fortunately, I knew how to play that.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_07: And I played my, you know, I'm sure I hit a lot of bad notes that that afternoon, but she stopped and she said, That's remarkable.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_07: And and you know, we continue the conversation.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_07: We walk to the vehicle and she pulls out a card and she writes a number on it.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_07: And she says, I want to stay in touch with you.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_07: So the conference ended about two days later, and I kept that card and I thought, yeah, I'm probably it's probably her executive assistant or some member of her team.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_07: And so I called the number and the voice picks up and says, Hello, and I says, Yeah, Miles Daniels, I met Mrs.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_07: Bridges at the Santa.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_07: She said, Oh, I remember you.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_07: And it was her.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_07: And um, from that day forward, uh, when she would visit New York for various television appearances or book launches, or when she came out to the Bay Area for the unveiling, there's a statue of Ruby in downtown Oakland and Alameda.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_07: There's just the Ruby Bridges Elementary School.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_07: So anytime that she was in, you know, New York or San Francisco, we'd always grab breakfast or coffee or dinner together.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_07: And then eventually, and I've always worked with her behind the scenes when she had questions about you know, she has great PR people and a great team around her.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_07: But sometimes she had questions, call me, you know, based on your line of work, what do you think of this or this?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_07: So we uh sort of an unofficial consultant.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_07: And then I became a member of the Ruby Bridges Foundation board, eventually became the chair of the board, and last September, September of 2025, assumed the role of uh CEO of the foundation.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: You do musicians, families, maternity shoots, proms, you do it all.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: Graduation, um, senior grad photos, a little bit of everything.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: What is it what is it about people, about your perspective on people that you're so passionate about?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_10: I think it's the stories, honestly, the memories, the moments.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_10: Um, I don't know.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_10: If I grew like growing up, even now though, it's hard for me to find a bunch of old photos of me.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_10: Like, I mean, we have a good amount of photos of me as a kid, but it doesn't seem like I don't know, moments that should have been captured or even videos that you know what I mean.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_10: I my point was more of like a home, a homey vibe, like kind of doing it personal.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_10: Like the so even like with the concerts, I don't just do it for the view of musicians playing.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_10: I like to get their reactions from the crowd and the moments that are intimate and I don't know, it's more of the story for me.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_08: Can I d do you think that you've always viewed taking photos like that?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_08: Or is that something you've learned through the years as you've seen the results of your photos?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_08: You're you're telling a story about the event.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_08: Let's say that's I'm gonna put it that way.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_08: Not everybody thinks of telling a story about the event.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_08: They think, I'm gonna take a picture of the band, boom, I've got that.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_08: And then five years later they say, you know, that big deal.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_08: You know, I've seen a lot of pictures.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_08: I wanted to get my girlfriend, I wanted to get the the people behind me, and all that kind of stuff.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_08: But you're you're seeing that now.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_08: Where does that come from?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_10: I uh I think it's because I don't know, I got into events are just a big deal to me, anyways.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_10: I um like even with the Captain Bob's when it was burning down.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_10: Right I live about 20 minutes from Captain Bob's, and I got a text saying, Oh my gosh, Captain Bob's is burning down right now.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_10: And my first thought was, should I go take my camera?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_10: And my second thought was, how insensitive does that sound?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_10: Um, but it was more of not just me doing it for you know the photo or the moment at itself, but it was also like a concerned neighbor, a concerned person that actually was involved in the community.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_10: And I showed up and it was emotional.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_10: It was like that was a staple in Hertford that you know everybody was losing.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_10: It was more than just a building.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_10: And I didn't, I don't know, the story behind it was more.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_10: And I think I'm also really good at writing.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_10: I I enjoy writing, I enjoy being able to express emotion.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_10: So I think I brought both of them together.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um we're even involved in activities, in school of the arts, in performing arts as kids.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: And now, you know, you all live here in your hometown and you're able to help further the community, the arts community, which is I think a really integral part of any community, especially a small town um like this one.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I want to know what it's like for the three of you to be able to come back to the heart of this community and help it blossom when it helped you blossom in your youth.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_04: Probably you go first.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, well, it's very special, obviously, to all of us.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_04: I can say probably without a doubt that I would not be in Elizabeth City if it weren't for this job.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um I came back here because of COVID, like many of us did, and uh was working remotely and was kind of like floundering.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I first joined the board of directors briefly.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_04: And then when Lauren came on as executive director, uh, they needed help with marketing.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_04: So I started doing that part-time and then like it ended up transitioning into a full-time job.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but it's just it's it's really special.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_04: Like I like it's almost like emotionally so.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_04: Like that place uh for me growing up was the place that I wanted to be.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of kids had sports or academics or whatever where they were involved in school or gymnastics or cheer, and this was my place.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_04: Like, if I was not in school, I wanted to be at Arts of the Albemarle.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, I was always in a production.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: If I wasn't in the production, I was helping with one, or I was away for the summer taking classes in theater, etc.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um so so being able to give back to the community in the way that it gave to me growing up is really important to me.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think just being able to take part in making a space for young, young artists to to thrive and grow and explore is just it's it's just really incredible.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I would agree with everything Pearl said.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_09: I think it's also important to know and understand the community you serve, and and we do.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_09: Um I think that part of our success in the past few years has been leaning into not the things you learn in textbooks about running a nonprofit, but what works for our community and what our community needs.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_09: And that might not be your first idea.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_09: Your first idea could be brilliant, and it doesn't mean that it's a bad idea.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_09: And if if something fails, it doesn't mean it's a bad idea.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_09: It means that's not what this specific community needs at this specific moment, and leaning into that, and we always say everything's a trial and error, everything's an experiment.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_09: So um being willing to try something, see if it works.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_09: Um, uphold tradition is important to an extent.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_09: Uh so upholding programs that matter to our community and adding to them, changing them, um, being flexible with what works for this generation of artists, this generation of kids and parents, um, and being open-minded to feedback and trying something different is important and um has been a joy.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_06: I I wanted actually a good glass of wine at the end of the day, is what I was looking for.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_06: And we just didn't have that here.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_06: So when she got furloughed and we loved wine and we loved sharing food together and doing all those things, um, she got furloughed and came over.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_06: We had a wine night and she was very upset thinking about her future.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_06: And I looked at her and I was like, Well, let's just open a wine bar in downtown Elizabeth City.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_06: And she goes, Yes, let's do that.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_06: And then we just started we just started meeting with people and knocking on doors and seeing if it was even a viable thing.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_06: So um, and each door we knocked on opened.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_06: And we just kept stepping through.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_05: There's a lot of incredible resources in Elizabeth City for anyone who's interested in opening a business, you know, just going through and actually holding our hands through the process.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was it was it was a very remarkable time just building those relationships and learning what was available to us to actually move forward.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_08: Do you want to know how many people would say something like, Well, let's just open a wine bar or let's just do this, or but then wouldn't do it.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_05: It was terrifying.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_08: How many, you know, uh how many people would say that, but it wouldn't do it?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_08: So have you has that always been you?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_06: Have you always I think that that's both of us, yes.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that's why we get along so well because we sit down and we're we literally are like, yeah, we need to do that, and we just do it.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_05: And I always look at what's the worst thing that can happen?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_05: And that the worst thing that could happen was it didn't work out and I go get another job, and that really wasn't that scary.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta do that anyways, right?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: So why not make it something that you love?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of jumping back to what you said, you said you both have different gifts.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious to know what you mean by that and and how you guys were able to bring that into two souls.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_05: We are yin and yang.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_05: I tell everyone that.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_05: Um best friends and a lot of partnerships are really hard.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, what makes us work is that we have completely different gifts.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_05: I am much more operation side.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_05: I would rather stick my hand down the drain in the kitchen, do the scheduling of the employees, you know, figuring all of that stuff out in the kitchen.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_05: And Nicole's gifts and talents are marketing, obviously.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and all of the administrative, yes, paperwork, payroll, accounting.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_06: You know, those things we legally have to do to stay open.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_06: She's really great at we can get the forms filled out so that we can keep our licenses.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_05: I cannot do that.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_05: I cannot keep the bills, keep the lights on.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_05: But I installed an ice machine this week.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_05: She did.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_05: Handyman.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: So that's right.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_05: And it worked, it just works really well.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_05: I think, you know, she's got her side and her jobs that work really well for her, and and I have mine, and it just works really well.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, North Carolina was uh uh with all of the other colonies, uh, you know, this was, in my view, the rage in terms of political conversation.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what are we gonna do about the British?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, to put it in context of today, you know, what are we gonna do about AI?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so uh uh to me, I think that the claim uh first in freedom uh might be a little bit misleading.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh indeed, the Halifax uh resolves were the first official state uh proclamation to declare independence.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they were sent to the with the North Carolina delegation uh to the Continental Congress, but they were not formally introduced there uh because the Continental Congress, as opposed to uh our provincial Congress, thought that they were not sufficiently refined to merit uh a uh you know the entire colonies uh statement.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and if I can comment about the Edenton uh Tea Party.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought uh growing up here that uh the Edenton Tea Party was the first, that it preceded the Boston Tea Party.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's my understanding.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, it did not.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: It came following the Boston Tea Party, uh and its primary impact was it was the first widely acknowledged and discussed uh declaration by women.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in fact, uh there's some kind of uh record of, I can't remember the name of the British uh uh member of Parliament or leader of the government or whatever, and uh he was chatting about, you know, let's hope that the ammunition of the women in Edenton uh that it's not equaled in other places.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: That was very unusual.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, North Carolina was out there, in my view, uh with this uh uh you know the wanting to be free.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh it wouldn't uh no more so if you take the totality of events than uh than other colonies.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Most uh importantly, perhaps I went to our immediate north, Virginia, uh, with all everything that was going on there.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um there's many layers of things happening with our rowing club.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um we have a very competitive group of rowers that travels and gets done extremely well.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it's like a journey.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: So you've got your beginners.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: We just did a learn to row week, and I've got some fabulous beginning rowers.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_08: I bet you're getting a lot more people interested.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_08: We are, yeah.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: Some of the wins and social media posts have been helpful for that regard.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's been driving some of that, but uh everybody's on that rowing journey together.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: So uh when we started the club, um, well, when I started the club, it was very small.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think we started as a actually a it was a group of homeschoolers that wanted to do something uh that the state was going to help organize within North Carolina.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I had nine kids and four boats, and we just worked out of my backyard, uh, which was far from ideal.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have a launch dock, so you'd have to walk wade into chest high water and somehow climb into your boat.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I had another parent involved doing the winter training, and then I did the the rowing.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: But from that it grew, so it was just you know a handful of kids, but then I did my learn to row camp that summer.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: So we started in 2020, believe it or not, and I just kept going through the pandemic because we were outside, we were in small boats separate, and then my two-man boats, I just put siblings together, and so uh there was some pushback, but it wasn't much.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_02: So we just kept going um through that, and then we um yeah, so we so we started my backyard, and then um the city, you know, I had moved my sailing program to the boathouse in 2017, and it was just waiting because that when I saw that building for the first time, I was thinking, oh, this is so perfect for rowing, and I measured it 75 feet long and eight is 60 feet long, and then 50 feet wide.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: It was perfect for rowing.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I got very excited, and it took me three years, but I started asking for a rowing dock, which is a special dock where the riggers sit at the perfect level so you can get in and out of your boat.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Can't just be any dock, it has to be a rowing, low profile eight-inch dock.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, so I asked the city um to put the dock in, and they did, which was great.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: It took a while, but um, then I was able to bring the boats downtown, and that's when we really started to grow because I was able to do some learn to row camps that were able to grow.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um then uh Norfolk Academy gave me four boats.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um that was very helpful because now I have an eight.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, actually I had two eights, which was great, eight-person boats, um, and a four, and some doubles and some singles, so a handful of boats.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but then yeah, so we we didn't have much, but we had boats and we had oars and we had some kids.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh still nobody really knew anything about rowing, um, except for me.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to do everything and it helped get the boats in.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's very technical, very precise type uh program with very expensive equipment.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: Even though we had freebies, it you still requires a lot of care.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: They're called shells because they're very, very thin so that they can be light.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: But you could just put your foot right through it if you do it wrong.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, okay.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: So um one of the first days that I took the eight out because no one knew how to be the coxswain.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: I was the coxswain and the coach in the boat, and I went right into the stumps and put a hole in the boat.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_08: And just just for everyone, I kind of know the coxswain is what?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: Coxswain sits in the stern.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, the boat goes backwards, so he's going forward.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_08: Well, he's nautical term.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: And he um steers the boat.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: There's a small rudder, and he uses lines to steer the boat, and he also is in control of the boat.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: So he or she will call, you know, Bow needs to take a stroke to turn the boat this way.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, all right, everybody sit ready, ready all row.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_02: He he directs the practice.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_08: And a good coxswain has different skill sets than the rowers, necessarily, right?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I have truly found that my sailing program compliments a lot.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_02: I I make sure all my coxswains know because that now they're attentive to the wind.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you for listening, and Izzy and David will be back next week with a new episode featuring a young music producer.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_12: So you won't want to miss that.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_12: We'll see you next time on Voices of the Out.