Column: Welcome to ‘Having It All’

Daily Tar Heel online managing editor Kelsey Weekman and I spent the summer talking about a podcast. We wanted something that was absurd and funny, but with a sincere heart and roots in North Carolina.

The idea that we thought — and continue to think — that we can do this is, frankly, absurd. Kelsey is rarely asleep, and I have had several moments over the past two years where I was so tired I could feel the ground sway under my feet.

So, naturally, we decided to tackle the project together.

That podcast exists now; it’s on the internet. “Having It All” with Kelsey and Alice is officially a “thing” that people can listen to and send us mean tweets about.

Here’s what you can expect from the podcast:

1. Interviews with interesting people from the UNC-verse.

Our first episode features Student Body President Houston Summers, who is a complete gem. He was totally game for all of Kelsey’s jokes about his age and got vulnerable in a way public figures rarely do. We’re going to talk to public figures at UNC as people, without talking points.

2. Conversations with Daily Tar Heel reporters.

I spent this summer as the DTH’s opinion editor and realized in the process just how little I understood about the NCAA. The intricacies of all the different organizations were way over my head. So I pulled aside some of the news editors and had them explain the situation to me.

I realized that hearing a reporter explain a subject is often the best way to learn about it. So we’ll be bringing on reporters to talk about the complex issues that they cover. Things like the state budget and county board-of-whatever sound dry, but they have big impacts on our everyday lives, so understanding these issues is really important.

3. Silliness.

Over the summer, I thought about how I spent my first two years of college focused mostly on campus activism, something I continue to value very highly. But I also want to joke about the songs on Barack Obama’s Spotify playlist. “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” — really Barack? It’s like that?

Yes, we’ll ask reporters about the most important issues impacting our campus, but we’ll also ask them to tell us their best ghost story or whom they have a crush on.

Why not shift between questions about campus politics to one about poltergeists or Trey Songz?

4. Sincere conversations about school.

On this podcast, we’re going to talk about what it is to move through the world as an overcommitted college student. We want to open the door for students to have sincere conversations about what it means to be an overachiever in a school of overachievers.

So that’s it. We’re not going to try to acquit any accused murderers (though if you’ve got a case like that, Kelsey and I are happy to drive the murder route) or explain the causes of the 2008 (or 2015?) recession. We’re going to have fun and care a lot. You in?