Meet Blaine Duncan | Editor-in-Chief and Owner of The Alabama Take

We had the good fortune of connecting with Blaine Duncan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Blaine, what’s the most important thing you’ve done for your children?
Parenting is love. No matter what I do for my daughter — be it good, but especially what she would consider bad — I remind her many times that she’s loved. At bed, my wife and I even ask her to say to herself that she is loved. Not feeling loved, cared for, or noticed can be a big problem for anyone; I think that’s a starting point to everything in parenting. Hopefully, our daughter will grow up thinking, “This situation may be bad, but I’m loved no matter what.”

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a teacher by day. The website, along with its podcasts and shows, had to be done in the spare moments of life, of which there can be few. It started years ago in a more simple operation with two college friends, TD and CR; TD and I decided to resurrect it. The challenges appear in the form of helping people to understand that their voice is unique and their story or viewpoint is worthy of hearing. Friends and acquaintances whom I know have distinctive arguments and skills still find themselves hesitant to make the leap into sharing those aspects with others, and for various reasons: time, worry, resources. Like everything, though, time and money equate into just about the same thing. Since we aren’t funded, we can’t offer payment to our crew yet.

The Alabama Take is vital, though, because we offer these important perspectives that are not associated with the South. Though we lean into pop culture writing in the form of music, movies, television, and books, we do so with a learned worldview of the outsider who’s been told by different forces that they’re either too ignorant or too smart, depending on the geography or critic. Our cultural and political writing may not be what some expect.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since most of us live in Alabama, it’s not often that we’re in Atlanta. We wouldn’t be able to help ourselves, though: we’d have to visit the College Football Hall of Fame as we’re all huge football fans.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Without our little team at The Alabama Take, I would be nowhere! Countless thanks goes to Kelly, TD, Adam, Donovan, Patrick, Corey, Kori, Josh, Hayden, Laura, Brian, Trey, and Will. Special thanks, too, goes to CR and Lee. It’s a long list, but those folks are tremendous.

Website: https://www.thealabamatake.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealabamatake

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thealabamatake

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thealabamatake

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0He2oW1qXVbFQWuJCNiOdQ

Other: https://linktr.ee/TheAlabamaTake

Image Credits
Photo credit: Kelly Duncan