If you told me four years ago that I would have ended up running a podcast, I would have told you that was impossible — that I didn’t have the guts.
During my first days on Grounds, my first-year roommate and I both applied to the paper, leading to my ultimate admission to the Copy desk. While everyone told me the transition to college would be difficult, the day-to-day adapting was lonelier than expected. I came into the University as a pre-medical student, a decision based partly in that I knew I wanted to help people, but mostly because I got an A in high school chemistry. I immediately learned that college chemistry was a little different — I hated my classes, yet spent countless hours trying to find an undiscovered passion within the bounds of the Chemistry Building. In reflection, it is clear that passion never existed and was rooted in a refusal to “give up” or let my parents down.
I felt unbelievably out of place amongst peers who had forever yearned to be physicians. I, however, yearned to find some avenue for creativity to escape my coursework and ultimately, what I envisioned to be a routine two-hour block of my week became much more. The Friday 2 p.m. copy shift quickly became a place of comfort, joy and community, despite how mundane it may have seemed. I still wonder if those seemingly silly hours meant as much to those around me as they did to me.
The subsequent months, linking together the end of my first year and the beginning of my second, flew by, yet the struggle to feel as though I belonged at U.Va. never truly dissipated. However, things changed for me that fall. The opportunity to revive the paper’s podcast, “On Record,” came out of seemingly thin air. An off-handed comment during a Friday shift about the Podcast desk’s — or lack thereof, due to its absence of publication for over a year — removal from The Cavalier Daily’s constitution kickstarted a new adventure for me. While I had never thought twice about running a podcast, I felt as though the opportunity and its potential benefit to the paper and U.Va. community was too good to pass up so easily. I am known to be “strong-willed” once I’ve set my mind to something, and keeping the Podcast desk as part of The Cavalier Daily became my new stubborn obsession. I spent the following months outlining, developing, briefing and ultimately getting approval from the then-editor-in-chief and managing editor to restart and run the desk alone… sounds easy enough, right?
The following two terms, I served as the podcast editor, a position that became more of my life than being a U.Va. student. I spent endless hours making presentations, writing pitches for the desk, creating an application and more — resources I had to formulate alone in the absence of a predecessor. My role meant learning to use audio equipment I had never touched, trying to pitch an infant desk to students, even if it didn’t come with the established legacy of other desks … and the list goes on. Becoming editor meant building everything up from ground zero with little to no rewarding output for a considerable period.
To my ultimate surprise, the desk finally started to blossom the following semester. I recruited staffers who helped produce our first episodes, and with time, the desk grew. I interviewed faculty, club presidents, University administrators and community representatives. While not included in the final episodes, a few of these interviews resulted in unrecorded shared tears with guests due to the topic’s sensitivity and vulnerability, marking some of the most important moments during my time at the University.
Now, why did I choose to continue doing this?
“On Record” captured more than its news topics. To hear someone’s voice, their smiles, their laughs, their unique perspectives — it is impossible to find much in common anymore, as our contemporary society makes it nearly impossible for people to humanize one another. Social media and polarizing politics have coarsened our dialogue, simply making it easier for people to insult, disparage and alienate one another. I had, and have, dreams for resources like “On Record” to rebuild conversations rooted in human connection.
In tandem, I see a future where podcasts become one of our prominent news mediums, more so than they already are. Our generation’s focus on rapidly developing technology requires our news production to develop alongside it.
On a personal note, leading the Podcast desk gave me a newly defined definition of self. Despite having felt disconnected at the University, being editor pushed me more than any class I have taken. It forced me to believe in and stand by my ideas, allowing me to give weight to my own opinions, goals and perspectives, and to truly take myself seriously. I grew connections with my community, people I would have likely never encountered, revitalizing my faith and confidence in the power of human connection if we can just learn to see one another more slowly. And, eventually, at some moment throughout the past two years, I didn’t feel so alone anymore. I learned to trust my judgement and where my passions lie — I completely shifted my major, leading me to an ever growing passion for global humanitarianism through joining Global Security & Justice, as well as the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. And somehow, I am about to move to New York City and enter graduate school.
What my first-year self would’ve found inconceivable became an actualized reality driven by true passion. I had what one may say to be unreachable dreams for what the revamped Podcast desk could be in the two short terms I had the privilege of leading it. While those dreams were quickly placed into perspective as I learned the length of work, time and energy it took to restart and run the desk alone, I remain evermore hopeful for its future. I continue to hope that in time, we can all see each other a bit more human — not only through trusting each other, but also ourselves.
Evelyn Lewis was the podcast editor for the 134th and 135th terms of The Cavalier Daily.
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