Keep Your Voice Down Archives

Keep Your Voice Down: Beautiful distractions

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January 28, 2026

Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. are joined by frequent collaborator and friend Layne Deuel to talk about distractions that helped them endure the past year. The trio discuss the benefits of going to the movies alone, why Sinners was easily the best film they saw all year, books that made them laugh (shout out to Princess Donut and Dungeon Crawler Carl), and the video games Layne plays in the wee hours of the morning because parenting is a full-time job.

Watershed Voice: Year in Review

By Maxwell Knauer

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News

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December 30, 2025

Before our three-week publishing pause, Watershed Voice invites our readers to take a look back at the past year in local news. For Watershed Voice, it was a year marked by change, as we transitioned from one staff writer — Najifa Farhat for the first half of the year — to another, Maxwell Knauer, for the second half of the year. No matter the author of our stories, we aimed to bring prompt, fact-based, independent reporting to Southwest Michigan. Here’s a look at some of our favorite, most impactful, and most-read stories of 2025.

Keep Your Voice Down: By the grace of Betty White

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Keep Your Voice Down

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December 23, 2025

By the grace of Betty White, Doug and Alek return to their respective mics to look back at the year that was on Keep Your Voice Down. The duo also touch on Watershed Voice's year-end fundraising efforts, emphasizing the importance of community support and monthly recurring donations in sustaining local, independent news. The conversation concludes with discussion about supporting others, the value of listening more, and reconnecting with the outside world post pandemic.

Keep Your Voice Down: Maxwell Knauer

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Keep Your Voice Down

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August 7, 2025

Watershed Voice Staff Writer Maxwell Knauer joins Keep Your Voice Down hosts Doug Sears Jr. and Alek Haak-Frost for what might just be the most chaotic conversation in KYVD history.

Keep Your Voice Down: Abdul El-Sayed

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Keep Your Voice Down

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July 30, 2025

The former Rhodes Scholar and Michigan gubernatorial candidate fields questions about civil liberties, affordable housing, Medicare for All, and automation's impact on the economy. Abdul El-Sayed is running for Michigan's soon-to-be open U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Gary Peters, who is not seeking reelection in 2026.

Keep Your Voice Down: Artist Showcase lineup drop

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Keep Your Voice Down

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July 1, 2025

Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. reveal the lineup for the fifth annual Watershed Voice Artist Showcase, which will take place later this month at The Huss Project in Three Rivers. The duo also explores the role of AI in content creation and journalism, what is lost in the over reliance of such technology, and what society stands to gain by re-embracing human creativity and connection.

Keep Your Voice Down: Three Rivers Pride Preview

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Keep Your Voice Down

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June 17, 2025

Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. are joined by Three Rivers Pride Board Secretary Lexi Jacobs, President Chuck Lepinski, and Volunteer Coordinator Sarah Apwisch to preview the third annual Three Rivers Pride Festival.

Keep Your Voice Down: Watershed Voice — An oral history

By Alek Haak-Frost

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News

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March 13, 2025

In honor of the news organization's upcoming five-year anniversary, Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. are joined by Deborah Haak-Frost to provide an oral history of Watershed Voice's inception and the months and years that followed. Join us as we recall the trying and triumphant times of your favorite award-winning nonprofit news magazine.

Keep Your Voice Down: Lucky Fultz

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Culture

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February 20, 2025

Three Rivers singer-songwriter Lucky Fultz details his musical influences and methodology, Tupac gets praise, Drake gets all the smoke, and male vulnerability is celebrated.

Keep Your Voice Down: Najifa Farhat

By Alek Haak-Frost

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Podcasts

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February 12, 2025

Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears, Jr. were joined by Watershed Voice Staff Reporter Najifa Farhat to discuss her educational and professional background, the experiences in Bangladesh that propelled her toward a career in journalism, family dynamics, and her interest in climate vulnerabilities.

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