Chapter 19: Grant Chighizola is Awesome!

WXXV anchor and reporter, and my good friend Grant Chighizola joins us on the ClarkCast. From growing up in Picayune to his time at Southern Miss, Grant talks about his time at WXXV, the stories he's covered, and how his last name gets butchered in pronunciation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Clark Cast is on the air.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Grant Chigazola, you're getting ready to do something cool, walking into a room, lighting it up. Uh, what's your walk on music? What's playing in your head when you're walking into a room or playing kickball or whatever you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Yeah, um, that's a good question, Jeff. I got asked this last year. I was at a leadership conference, and um, without hesitation, I answered, turned down for what?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Right on. Would that's that's amazing. That is the second time that's been mentioned on this podcast. Really? The first time was by uh Father Braxton, who was my priest at St. Thomas, who's now I know St. Clair. So great song, Little John, getting you pumped up, getting ready to roll, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Oh, always. It's always been my hype song since I was in high school, and um it it's just one of those things that energizes me.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Right on. It's my good friend Grant Chigasola, who has been at uh WXXV in a lot of different ways, a reporter, anchor, done a lot of things there, and he's been there since uh 2019. Uh USM grad, Southern Myths to the Top, Let the Booties Drop, whatever the kids say. To the top. To the top. Um so Grant's been my friend since he since he started at WXXV. We kind of missed the crossover uh special guest episode of Sun Herald WXXV Media Partners. He wasn't there when I was at the Sun Herald. But in my uh daytime capacity, he's always been super helpful to me, whether I was at Mississippi Aquarium or Harrison County. Um, great guy, great to my son, uh friend of my wife. So, Grant, thanks for doing this, my man.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Of course, Jeff. And and likewise, I have to say, you've always been a great resource for me uh in our endeavors at WXXV and telling South Mississippi stories.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Right on, and and it's important, you know. I I think that there's local journalism's more important, you know, that than it's ever been. And we'll certainly talk about that. So let's start at the beginning. Well, not at the beginning, the beginning, but like where where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah, so it's kind of an interesting and and long-winded uh answer.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Great, I love those.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

I always give it its due. Um, you know, I was born in Thibodeau, Louisiana. My parents, um, for my first few years um of being alive, I was born in '97, um, lived in Slydale, Louisiana, just across the state line um in St. Tammany Parish. And when I was three, they built a house in Pickyunes where I live now. Grew up in Picky Eun, Mississippi. So I've always been a um South Mississippian. Um, you know, I didn't necessarily live five minutes from the coast per se, but I've always lived within the South Mississippi footprint for much of my life. However, my mom is a speech therapist, and she has always worked in the St. Tammany Parish School System. So growing up, I always attended school in Slydell or Pearl River, which is uh just north of Slydell, just before the uh state line crossing over into Pickyune, but always lived in Pickyune. So it was kind of this weird hybrid arrangement where my schooling was always done in Louisiana, my social life and all my friends lived in Louisiana, but I was always putting my head on the pillow in Pickyune every night. So it um really has been kind of fascinating. I've always felt a strong connection to both Mississippi and Louisiana, but I've always voted in Mississippi. My driver's license is a Mississippi driver's license. And then, of course, when I uh picked a college, I decided on Southern Miss. And that was the first time I had really attended school in the state of Mississippi. So it's it's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

You know, uh Slide L is basically South Mississippi now because everybody from the North Shores moved to Hancock County. Like everybody from over there is like living in the bay now.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Do you know people love coming to hang out in the bay, you know, from Slide L too?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

It's popping. Um do you do you get tired of when you tell people you're from Pikayun? They always, and you know where I'm going with this, they're gonna say, Oh, do you like Paul's king cakes? Does that bother you? Do you get tired of that?

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Not really, because I love Paul's king cake myself. Um, it it's always been a great tradition. In fact, I try to, especially for um those in our newsroom who are not from South Mississippi or from the South in general, I always try during Mardi Gras to pick up Paul's king cakes once or twice a week so that they can experience, you know, a South Mississippi local bakery, famous king cake.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

And I appreciate you doing that just during Mardi Gras because I've been to Picky Yune and Paul's King Cakes has like an emporium. Like it's a wild store with a cafe and all the stuff, and you could probably get king cakes anytime, but I do appreciate you sticking to the schedule, you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Yeah, and I mean, you know, growing up, uh, a lot of my birthday cakes came from Paul's. I have a lot of good memories of just uh picking up desserts too throughout the year with my mom as a kid uh from Paul's. So it's it's always been a staple in our household, and I'll always uh give it a shout out.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I I even saw this year, and you know, you're in the news, so you've probably saw this as well, that Dong Fung uh released a 4th of July, Independence Day, 250 king cake, which is that's wild, man, because they usually are very strict to the schedule, you know, of Mardi Gras season only. You ever had Liz Bosarge's king cake? She makes she lives down in uh in Bay St. Louis and makes them?

SPEAKER_02 6:22

I have once before. Delicious.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

And Liz is a purist. Like if you call Liz right now and offer her X number of cash, she's gonna say, no, I only make king cakes during king cake season. And uh I we all appreciate that. Um tell me about your time at Southern Myths. So you packed up from Picky, moved up to the big city of Hattiesburg, hub city, as some people call it. Hub City. What what'd you do there? You majored in communications or broadcast journalism.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

So uh not to backtrack too much, I mean, since I was in this in the seventh grade, really, I um I kind of decided what I wanted to do with my life. Um, you know, some people, and this is great, you know, we'll change their major in the midst of the their studies. They find that they want to do something else, and I think that's great. But I'm someone, when someone asks me kind of my origin story when it comes to what I want to do with my life, I I've known for quite a while and I I stuck with it. Um, I've always been fascinated by mass communications and by television. You know, growing up, I'd sit at the breakfast table before school watching, watching the local news, and then coming home watching the uh the CBS evening news. I I remember uh Dan Rather back in the day. I'm old enough to remember him. And then, of course, his successors. Um, you know, we we just always had CBS on in my house um growing up. Anyway, um got to Southern Mist, declared a broadcast journalism major, finished in exactly four years. And I I always reflect on that time with a lot of uh nostalgia and and gratitude. Um it's it's been seven years since I graduated from Southern Myths. Um and I really tried to make the most of it during that time. I I was heavily involved with the Student Media Center. Uh believe it or not, you know, I'm known as kind of just the news guy, but I had a really big interest in sports journalism as well. I'm a big sports guy. Um, not too many people know that. So I wrote for the Student Prince newspaper. I uh eventually made my way up to sports editor of the paper. Uh my good buddy Andrew Abity and I, we had a radio drive time Friday sports talk show called Hub City Sports Talk on WUSM 885 FM. And I also, you know, dabbled in, of course, the TV work. I did some freelancing too, um, as a stringer for high school football games. Um, I even did a uh stint for two seasons as a color commentator on the radio for Southern Mist softball home games. And that was awesome. You know, my weekends were totally packed. I mean, I didn't have a lot of time to do the college partying um per se, because I was running from Reed Green Coliseum, the Rock softball complex, uh, and then of course on Friday nights high school football games at Oak Grove, Hattiesburg, Purvis, Petal, you name it. I I was kind of traveling around the Pine Belt region, uh covering athletes and covering the sports scene there. And it it was just such a blast.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Right on. You know, even since I've retired from media, like I I I still I cover USA football for uh for the gazebo Gazette. And I look forward, you know, I love driving down to mobile, like doing all the stuff. Team's terrible. I mean, shh, but um, you know, um, you know, you you had the pleasure uh of working at WXXB with one of the best sportscasters, sports people I I've ever seen in my life. And I I've been you know around for a while, but uh Jeff Hager, he he he was he was fantastic, he was a workhorse, like that guy worked, man. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Jeff Jeff is a good friend of mine, and and to see him in action um has been uh you know, uh it was amazing. And and Jeff, it was a great help from me, you know, in kind of navigating the the world of local TV in my first few years. And of course, our current sports director, Ansley Brent, has taken up his mantle and she's fantastic. She is amazing. She works so hard to cover our local athletes, emphasis on local. Um, and and it's just amazing to see day in and day out.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

I've had so many friends come through XXV, Jalen Morris, like all these people, man. It's just, and you know, it's what what a great place for for young talent. So you graduate and XXV, that's your first first landing spot.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Yeah, yeah, it was it was amazing. Uh the news director at the time, uh Joe Sullivan, he called me as I was driving from my graduation, driving home from my graduation ceremony. And and I had met him a few weeks before at a uh networking event at Southern Mist, and everything fell into place. And and I was just kind of blessed, um, you know, because it it it takes a lot of effort to get a job in television, whether it's your first market or you know, if people decide to move on. And and I was just blessed to be able to say that I could start my career in my home market, basically. I thought that was that was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Right on. And um you've you've seen a lot of a lot of changes there. You know, you had the pleasure of working with Kate Holzhauser, Kate McGandy Holzhauser. Our good friend. Yeah, Kate was my editor when I was at the Sun Herald. Her desk was literally right in front of mine. There was no barriers, just Kate or Rose. Kate, me, and then someone behind me. Um, Kate's probably the best boss I've ever had in my life. Like I, you know, as far as news and and journalism and like knowing how to bring out the best and get the best out of her people. Did you did you enjoy working with Kate?

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Oh, 100%. And Kate is I've had so many people that have come through the doors at WXXV that have helped me tremendously. I mean, Kate was one of those people, and and Kate's institutional knowledge of South Mississippi and and some of the people that she knows, those, those connections over her years, um, just just working on the media scene, have helped me tremendously. And she's been able to introduce some of those people to me. And it's helped me, you know, now help some of our younger reporters that are just kind of getting their careers started. So uh not not only that, but we've we've just had a a lot of fun together working together. It's it's always been a wonderful newsroom environment in our newsroom. And that's that's one thing I've truly enjoyed over the years. People come and go, you know, some people stay for quite a while, but but the newsroom environment has always just been wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

You know, with our my good friend Carrie Duncan, she stepped down from LOX a few years ago. That that makes Ryan Mahan like he's the veteran meteorologist in our area now. You know, he's yeah, yeah, one of them. He he he left for a while, he came back. And I love Ryan, you know, Ryan and I go to see Sticks together. Yes. You know, he's uh he he he's a great guy, and he's done a fantastic job at uh at WXXV. Um, do you remember your first story that you reported on or the first one where you were you let's say the first package you did?

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Yeah, yeah. So the first package, the first package I did by myself was uh covering Dale Brown's basketball camp in Ocean Springs. You know, Dale Brown, uh Kentucky alum, you know, did a stint professionally as a pro basketball player. And I think it's great. He always comes back year after year, he's still doing it to give back to South Mississippi kids. And and I'll always remember that story because I did a stand up. And while I love sports, I'm not necessarily athletic per se. You know, I I grew up, I did a lot of theater growing up. That was my thing. But I remember standing there and I was like, you know what? I'm going to try to sync a shot for my stand-up. Well, I say my my uh my lines and then I turn around, uh, launch one up uh to the rim, and I I did it in one take. I was amazed. I was like, okay, I'm not I'm not trying trying it anymore. I did it the first time, I got it done in one take. I'll consider myself lucky.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Right on. Like uh that that just reminds me of like when Michael Scott was uh, you know, he he was down in, I don't know if you watch The Office, there's an episode where he kept saying see on the flip side or something and like shooting basketballs behind him and just missing missing and missing and missing. But hey, and then that was your first one that uh that that you made that. What are uh, you know, not getting uh uh as an as an ex-journalist, you know, I so when I was took the job, my job with the Sun Herald, I'd have to go into like five, cover the like not so, you know, let's tooth scanner, do some things that that certainly weren't uh weren't fun. Like I, you know, that's how Jonathan Brandon and I became good friends. You know, you see enough tragedy before sunrise, you know, you you you bond over that. But that's that's stuff excluded. Like, what are some other things, some stories, some things you've gotten to work on which you feel like really made an impact on your life?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, um, you know, I've always enjoyed when we have, I've gone through now uh in my time at WXXP two municipal election cycles. You know, we had one last year, and then I was, you know, around for the one four years prior to that, just being able to um interview local candidates as they're running for office, because you know, we we cover election cycles, whether they're state, local, or national. But a lot of these local elections directly impact, you know, people living in Pas Christiane or Long Beach or Gauche, Moss Point, you know, everywhere in between. Um, and and so that always, you know, especially in the last election cycle, when I did a ton of candidate interviews, that that was something that I really enjoyed. Um, one of my outside of work hobbies is is following politics. I uh minored in political science at Southern Ms. Um, so so I thought that was really um beneficial for voters, you know, to be able to digest my conversations, hear from the candidates directly. Um, this is kind of cool um and really random. I'm fascinated by the U.S. vice presidency. And vice president Mike Pence in uh 2020, I believe, came down to the coast to campaign for then Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, who was running for governor. Sure. And I got to cover uh Vice President Pence's trip to the coast. And just being able to be, you know, in the same room as a US vice president was was cool to me. Um, to just that fact, since I I love the history behind the vice presidency. But also, well, I had when I was morning anchor at WXXV, which was for about three years, I had a series which um we still do in a in a different form called Teacher of the Month. But every month I highlighted a local teacher um in our school districts. And uh the series was called Class Act with Grant Chigazzola. I had a soft spot for it because I come from a family of teachers. My uh grandpa was a teacher, my mom is a speech therapist, like I mentioned, but in the school system. So she works directly with students. My aunt and uncle are teachers. So I just come from a long line of teachers, and it really was a privilege each month to go into classrooms and to go into schools and see the amazing work that our South Mississippi teachers do day in and day out. And just the fact that there are so many hardworking teachers in all of our school districts that are making a difference for our local kids.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Now, let's talk about what I'm assuming, and I'm making an assumption here, your second year on the job, or you probably hadn't even been in your position uh a full year. So I'm talking 2020. COVID. So this is when I was at Harrison County as the public information officer, and you and I worked on a lot of stuff together. I I know how difficult it it was for me, but like what was it like for you? Not you know, we had COVID going on, and there was a lot of a lot of racial tension, there were Confederate monuments protest, and to end it all off, we had uh Hurricane Zeta, which was a surprise hurricane in late late October. I mean, that had was that challeng a challenging year for you as a uh as a journalist?

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Yeah, it it it definitely was. That's probably in terms of just the sheer amount of content that we had, it it was challenging in a lot of different ways. My daily routine didn't change that much. I was still going into the newsroom every day, still going out into the field. Um, I I distinctly remember though, I had just started uh anchoring on a fill-in basis when COVID hit. And I remember I was filling in the day that things started to get canceled. And I just remember the A block of our newscast. I remember I was helping our producer, and it was changing in the lead up to the 5 p.m. newscast almost every minute because we were getting emails and text messages and press releases that, okay, this is canceled indefinitely. Oh, these school districts are canceling their uh operations indefinitely, these offices are closing. And it was just a deluge of information. And it was a little overwhelming. I mean, we we got it all out there. Um, another thing that became commonplace in our newscasts, we would get the um the infection numbers and the COVID death reports daily and run those as a graphic in every newscast. Um, so I I remember that just came part of our routine every day. Okay, check the MSCH website. Yeah, it it it was tough. You know, we we had to adjust how we went about reporting. Like I remember, you know, we received uh a couple of uh sticks, you know, boom sticks for our microphones for our cameras so that we could, you know, set up the camera and then stand at you know a safe distance uh from our interviewees. So it it really changed the way we did things. I remember I was the weekend reporter at the time at WXXV. And when I was the weekend reporter, it was a lot of just going to three, four, five community events on a Saturday and turning stories on those community events. Well, I had to get creative in my storytelling and and even on the weekend have to pivot. Um, I saw a lot of good though during that time, especially on the weekends. I would find stories where people were helping each other, whether it be church groups, lending a helping hand to, you know, their neighbors uh when it comes to food deliveries, meal distributions. Uh I think I covered a story on Thanksgiving where a church in Stone County, you know, did a drive-through Thanksgiving food distribution for the community, especially those who, you know, maybe feeling those strong feelings of isolation, um, just isolating themselves at home and and just seeing people come together, though. That's that's not lost on me. It was a tough time, but so many South Mississippians rose to the occasion during COVID.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yeah, absolutely. I I agree with that uh 100%. What uh what do you think in your mind, like if you had to pick three, let's just say three out of the thousand you could pick. What what are the top three stories in the Mississippi Gulf Coast that have happened since you've been here? Good or bad?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

That that's that's a good good question. Um, you know, I have to say you you mentioned Hurricane Zeta in 2020. For me, you know, and I'll talk about it from my perspective. I think that was really big because I was on the ground covering the storm, and that was just kind of my first time um covering it um out in the field, covering a hurricane of that magnitude. Um, you know, another story that I I just remember vividly was uh the the shooting deaths of uh officers Robin and Estorf in Bay St. Louis. I was on the anchor desk that morning um with my uh friend and co-anchor Megan Gray and and just you know having to navigate that live on air. You know, we got the news in our 5 a.m. hour and we just navigating that the rest of the morning and and that tragedy. Um that that stuck with me. Um and then, you know, I I have to say, because um it it's happened within my tenure there, COVID, you know, too, and and navigating that as um South Mississippi did, that from for me and my generation is is really the big story of our generation so far, I think.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Right on. How has uh how's reporting changed since since you've started uh in in 2019? Like say uh with with TikTok, like things like that, how how how's how's it changed how you get your message out or get your stories out?

SPEAKER_02 23:00

That is a really good question. And that is a good idea. No, it it's something that we talk about uh in our newsroom on a daily basis because the way people are getting their news now is through a lot of those social media channels, you know. I uh yeah, I'm still young, but I I am an old soul. I love sitting down and watching a newscast, a five or six at 10 p.m. newscast. I I still love that. I get home, I you know, on a regular day now, I'm home at six o'clock and I've got the six o'clock news on while I'm eating dinner. Um but so many people are getting their news on their phones. And so we have to be really cognizant about that, and we have to kind of alter our strategies um as journalists in general, not just at WXXP, but as journalists in general, uh, to meet that demand and to also try to attract a younger audience too. Because a lot of people my age, they don't sit and watch uh a local TV newscast. And, you know, that that makes me sad. I remember in college, one of our professors, journalism professors, asked me, how many of you sit down to watch the five or six o'clock news at night? I was one of two people in the class at 25 to raise my hand. I'd sit in my dorm and watch watch the news. Uh so we've got to be multifaceted. Not only do we have to worry about as either reporters or or anchors as well, not only do we have to worry about getting a story in for the five o'clock news, but we also have to think about repackaging our content and making it compelling and not only visually, but also audibly finding ways to post to Facebook, to TikTok, to Instagram, those real visual social media outlets to to capture an untapped audience, I think that's there.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

You know, I I I still appreciate news. Like there are times in my car where as much as I like love music, like I just don't want to listen to music. I want to listen to WWL AM radio, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Like I just want to hear, you know, I love the big 870.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

I can I can catch up with everything in like one cycle on there. Um, do you do you like the social media aspect? Do you do you get heavily involved with it?

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Uh, you know, I I'm not as involved with it right now as I'd like to be. I I'd like to say I'm still learning about it. Um, you know, while I'm always on social media like someone my age, uh I'm not one that often I wouldn't call myself a content creator in that respect. You know, I create a lot of content, even behind the scenes now.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

You're literally a content creator by trade. That I mean, you're creating content for us on a daily basis. Don't sell yourself short.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

That that is true. I don't consider myself a social media content creator. You know, I'm I'm often in that newsroom. If you see me sitting um at my desk, I'm I'm writing scripts, I'm editing video for, you know, our five, six noon newscast, whatever newscast it is. But but that's something I really want to I I've never been heavily into TikTok. Facebook's always been kind of my jam. So that's that's something in the next year that I really am trying to challenge myself to do is find ways to be a more engaging storyteller on social media to kind of help fill the gaps when we're not on the air, you know, during one of our newscast times.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

You know, here's a couple of things that that I know about you out outside of news, and we we could talk about that. Um, I know I I I'm assuming you're a PBS fan of public television. I know that about you.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

And should have worn my PBS t-shirt.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Not only are you into political science, you're very into American history, especially um American presidents, you know, the presidents. Um tell me about that. Like, did you start at an early age did you start paying attention to politics and who was the president and in American history?

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Yeah, yeah. And I my dad is someone that's always been into politics too. And so I I really um I've I've gained that from him, that that love of politics from him. Um, and and you know, when it comes to my love of presidential history, you know, I I view it from a um as nonpartisan of a lens as possible. I I just think that you know the ebbs and flows of um the presidency throughout history are are fascinating. I love reading presidential biographies or autobiographies and learning about the men who have led our country. Um, it it's all so fascinating. And um, you know, uh the people in our newsroom, they can allude to this. I'm always fitting out presidential trivia. They're they're learning, um, like last week, uh last Wednesday, for instance, uh, was the anniversary of Millard Fillmore, our 13th president's uh session to the presidency. He uh became president upon the death of our 12th president, Zachary Taylor. So I wore our my Millard Fillmore t-shirt in the newsroom for part of the day to teach people about Millard because he he's one of our more obscure presidents. So um, you know, just just I I have a love of learning in general and and learning about American history, learning more about you know, some of our major figures, uh especially major presidents, has has always been so fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

And you're uh you're a big fan of uh of Fred Rogers. Um my son Charlie portrayed uh Fred Rogers uh in in the Wax Museum at his school this year, and you helped him with his presentation, gave him some a book, loaned him a book, came and saw that. How tell me about that, like the the the impact that that man has had on your life.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Yeah, yeah. Mr. Rogers, I consider him my personal hero. Um, I grew up watching PBS Kids, of course. And when I was a young child, uh was when the original run of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, which ended in 2001, was coming to an end. And of course, you know, in the years that followed, it aired heavily in reruns um on PBS. But Mr. Rogers is someone I've always tried to emulate in in my career. You know, it can be hard sometimes. Uh there's a quote that sticks with me. Um, he was giving a speech, and um he said that those of us in television are chosen to be servants. It doesn't matter what our particular job is. We are called to meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen day and night. And that has always stuck with me. And I've always viewed myself as a servant to my audience and to the communities that I serve. You know, it's not about me. It really is not. Being on TV is is really cool. But if I can help uh brighten someone's day through my work on television, help them, you know, catch up on the day's news or inform them of major developments in in our local sphere, then then I've done a great service, you know, for our community. And that that's the thought of that is humbling to me.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Does it dishearten you to know that you, you know, you put so much into telling stories and being truthful and being honest and and sharing this with the community? When we live in a day and age, and you know, I'm not getting partisan because it it happens both ways, where news has become pretty much just talking heads, like a sporting event where people just pontificate and share opinions and stuff, and then like the facts get buried lower and lower and lower. Is it disheartening to you or does it make you just work harder?

SPEAKER_02 30:43

It it it can be. I try not to dwell on it a lot. You know, it it can be from time to time, but but then again, you know, um, you know, if I I if I see somebody unhappy or upset, you know, with with my work or our work, I I think about the five, ten, fifteen other people who have who have reached out who have said, you know, Grant, thank you for the work you've done, or thank you, WXXV, for the work you're doing for our communities. There are so many more um, you know, people like that out there that thank us for our work. And I think that's what makes it worth it. You know, yeah, there's some negativity that, and you know, we're in the public sphere, you know, not everybody's gonna like what you do. And yeah, you know, it can get you down for a minute or two, but you know, now that I'm in my seventh year of doing this, I I try to just keep my head down and and focus on being an accurate source of information for South Mississippi and and allowing that to inform everything I produce.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

So I'm gonna I'm gonna share a story uh uh of our friendship. I guess this would have been probably 22. You and I were Disney World at the same time. And I was texting you. I think you and your your your mom, you and your family were there. We we were gonna try to run into one another. Had that happened, Grant, which it didn't, you know, because Disney's uh it's huge and there's a lot going on, many parks and stuff. But had it had happened, which ride would would we have ridden together?

SPEAKER_02 32:16

What would have been the I don't know if you could consider this a ride, but I uh would have loved to have taken a whirl on the carousel of progress with you. I'm a big fan of the carousel of progress.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

I am so bummed that they're refurbing it. It is absolutely perfect. It's I love how it smells, I love that there's somebody that looks like Taylor Swift at the end. I like to pretend when I'm on Living with the Lands that that's the house because the dog's there. So yeah, uh Carousel of Progress. That's a that's a Charlie Clark favorite. I love that Charlie loves that. Yeah, he he he loves loves carousel of progress. Um Grant, thank you so much for doing this. You know, I always like to have my guest, uh I leave we we go out with with this question, um, because it's the the genesis of the of the whole podcast. How do you stay awesome? Like what's the the secret to your success or the method to your madness? Uh what what does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Yeah, I um try to take some time during the week or the weekend to have some quiet time. We live in a very noisy world. And of course, I am in a business that is a noisy business. It it the information flow, information stream doesn't stop. So, you know, I like to take, especially Saturdays as kind of my quiet day. Uh there are a lot of times where where my Saturday is spent just, you know, doing the things that I like to do. And, you know, I sometimes even even still I work unpredictable hours, you know, I can stay at the newsroom for 10, 11 hours if need be. So I always try to take half a day or or a full day to just have a little peace and quiet. Um, you know, I I kind of got back into a routine that I'm glad that I've done. You know, now I start every morning with a job. You know, I go and if it's a mile, then that's great. You know, sometimes a mile and a half, two miles, but that's also a good way to Okay, you don't have to bribe. Uh, you know, once again, I'm not that athletic, but I'm trying to get myself because I can get into these ruts, you know, life gets really busy where I'm not moving as much as I should. And I'm I'm I'm sitting down a lot. So I try to get myself moving, but also, you know, I I live in a neighborhood, thankfully, um, you know, it's it's surrounded by nature, it's very quiet. So, you know, I get up at six in the morning, go out 30 minutes, and and that's just a good way to kind of ground myself and start my day. And then also, you know, my my Sunday routine helps me a lot as well. You know, I start my morning off with mass. I go to mass with my dad, my grandparents, and then we go out and have family lunch. Um, and and that's always something I look forward to each week, to have that family time. And I'm blessed that I I've still been able at this point in my career to work in close proximity to where my family lives and and to be able to spend these moments uh with them, especially on a Sunday. And and I'm I'm just very blessed to have uh that weekend routine, especially that helps me reset for uh the week that is to come each week.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

You know, I mass is such a huge uh important part of my Sundays, my week. You know, it I I I definitely feel that reset from that. Uh, I do have one follow-up question before I take this proverbial microphone out of your face. What's the worst mispronunciation of your last name you've ever heard? Oh, um because it happens.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Yes, yes. Uh, you know, another sidebar, you know, it was always funny when I get a new teacher at the start of every school year, they'd call the role on the first day. And uh, by the time I got to my junior year of college, I had a professor that just said, okay, I'm not even going to attempt it. Grant, are you here? And I'm like, fair enough. Fair enough. I have to say, um, Chiaisela. Chi'ai Zela. Chi'isola. Not not a total, like uh that flows to me, but that is just not correct.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

And it looks and it sounds and it looks nothing like your last name. But anyway, it happened.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

No, Chiaisela's the one that takes the cake.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Absolutely. My man, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure having you on. Thank you for your years of friendship, all you do for our community, and uh I look forward to having you on again sometime.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

Yeah, Jeff, thank you. This has been a privilege.