“We have to physically swing the pendulum because there’s a tech cadre in the world that says you could fire all of them [...] all you need is my creativity and my machine.” - Antonia Allison
This week begins a new feature on the Well Rooted Being blog. Over the last few months, interspersed with yoga videos, guided meditations, recipes, and sunrise photos, I’ve found that it brings me particular joy to share stories of this wild and wonderful (the tourist brochures have it right in this case) place I call home. I am particularly inspired by the people - both generations-deep and transplant - who are around just about every corner making art, building businesses, growing food, maintaining traditions, raising families, cultivating community.
I’ll be releasing episodes of this podcast each month, interviewing folks in and around my community out here in West Virginia who inspire me and help the place feel a little more like home.
Up first: Dr. Antonia “Tona” Allison, a mom, new farmer, West Virginia transplant, entrepreneur, and Executive Director at Hampshire County AI, a technology initiative focused on Hampshire County youth. We talk about building community, buying land, taking risks, creating opportunities for rural youth, the doorman fallacy, and whether artificial intelligence is coming to replace us all.
If you’ve ever wondered whether the farmer and the techie can be friends, Tona proposes something far more radical: the farmer should be the one making the development decisions. She envisions a technologically-democratized future where control rests with the people who have their hands in the soil, doing the work - and believes rural youth hold the key to this transformation:
“People in West Virginia are brilliant. The kids out here are brilliant. They’re very connected to the land. They’re grounded in their community. They have a strong faith and strong purpose. So if anyone’s going to come up with an idea that’s worth a million dollars, I think it would be our kids here.”
At the end of the day, says Tona, despite the many hats she wears, “I only do one thing. I only raise my kid.” She envisions a world where - far from the dystopian future many of us fear - it is “the kids right here in Hampshire County, more broadly in West Virginia”, who will write the script for the world we’ll be living in.
Although I’ll freely admit that I run in the “tech skeptic” pack, Tona’s optimism, energy, and sense of wide-open possibility gave me a glimpse of what might be possible. You can learn more about her work at HampshireCountyAI.org, or via this short video.
I hope you enjoyed this first episode of Well Rooted Radio! I’d love to hear what you think - is there room for optimism in AI? What are some other ways that we can ensure the prosperity and sustainability of our rural farming communities? Drop me a note in the chat below!
Until next time - stay rooted, and be well,
Havala
Want more movement practices, mindfulness, recipes, and stories about the amazing place I call home? I’d love it if you wanted to…
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