The Picket will continue to livestream on Facebook each week on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
Airing for the previous planned episode was cancelled due to technical difficulties, but Picket reporter Amanda Barber will be on Facebook Live this evening.
Picket reporter Amanda Barber launched the first episode of the series on Nov. 10.
The first guest was Republican Delegate Paul Espinosa of Jefferson County. Espinosa represents District 66 in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Espinosa discussed his feelings about the success the Republican Party had in West Virginia on the Nov 3. general election and how he believes the GOP is working to improve the state.
“Certainly I believe that Tuesday’s results were an affirmation of the work that we’ve been doing since Republicans took the majority back in 2015,” Espinosa said. “Really our focus particularly since assuming majority in the House and the Senate just a few short years ago has been to make West Virginia a better place to live, work, and raise a family.”
The second guest of the evening was Max Cruz, a recent high school graduate from Orinda, California.
Cruz talked about what it felt like voting for the first time.
“It was really exciting because I’ve been following politics for a long time, and I was finally able to–I felt like– put my voice in and actually tell my friends to vote and tell them to put their voice out,” Cruz said. “It felt good in a way to feel heard and be able to have a way to have your opinion put in a ballot.”
Later in the episode, Cruz described his political interactions during his high school years while Donald Trump has served as president.
“At school it could be kind of divided, and it was hard to talk about politics there because there’s the people there who were just like ‘Trump 2020!’” Cruz said. “And then when they say that to you–especially me being a person of color and of latino descent, with a lot of my families being immigrants and such–you know, in a way it felt like they were saying ‘F-you’ right to my face.”
Jacob Antolini, a dual major in economics and policy at Franklin and Marshall University, spoke about how he feels the country is politically divided.
“There is a sizable amount of people out there that their reasoning for voting someone down in the later end of the ticket isn’t because they like their policies–it’s because they see what party they’re a part of,” Antolini said. “And that’s a really big issue I think because instead of the best and the brightest who we’re having, we’re having more of the aesthetic choice of who we want.”
Shepherdstown community members Andy Ridenour and Mary Watters were also guests on the live episode.
Ridenour is retired from West Virginia Public Broadcasting and is a co-founder of the NPR radio show Mountain Stage. Watters is a playwright, director, writer and former corporate communications director.
The Picket plans to continue having guests such as students, community members, local politicians, and more. Any person interested in being a guest on a livestream episode can contact The Picket at these email addresses: news@supicket.com or managingeditor@supicket.com.
Updates and more information about the weekly livestream series can be found on The Picket’s Facebook page.
Tune in to the episode for tonight:
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