Origin Stories

I started the “I Dig Your Story” podcast for two reasons. Well, maybe three. Let’s talk it through. 

First, with the rise of social media there’s a whole lot less reading going on, especially long-form reading. Video and audio predominate. Culturally we are being trained to “and.” Watch a video “and” hang with your friends. Drive a car or exercise or fold the laundry “and” listen to a podcast. Reading a novel or a newspaper - where’s the “and” in that?

New Yorker Radio Hour podcast host David Remnick asked a Pulitzer-winning novelist if he was concerned about society’s waning set of readers. His answer? People shared stories long before the printing press and will do so through whatever becomes the next cultural media. And as a writer myself, I recognized that he had a very good point.

Second, I have a profound interest in the before. What brought us here? Whether that’s science or art or history or a civilization or my neighbor’s life, I have an interest in what happened so I can better understand what is happening. The before story tells you so much about the present. All due respect to history and science, I am especially curious about the living, and how someone’s lived life has led them to today. 

Finally, and as I say in the closing of each episode, “Everyone has a story worth digging into.” I want “I Dig Your Story” to explore not just horticulture industry lives, not just gardeners’ lives, but really all lives. Everyone has a story to share. Everyone wants to be seen, to be known. I aim to do that with “I Dig Your Story.”