Oxford loves to talk about Oxford. From the art scene to the developing diversity initiatives, there are few people who are as aware of Oxford’s achievements as her darling inhabitants. David McDowell, an Oxonian himself, decided to capitalize on this truism and created the Twitter account @BeingOxford.
BeingOxford is a local branch of the “location curation.” This idea started and was originally implemented in Sweden. @Sweden is an official twitter account for different Swedish citizens to engage globally and share their experiences in their country. That account currently has 81,900 followers. McDowell’s original inspiration for Oxford’s account was @BeingNOLA, a similar Twitter for the city of New Orleans created by @superchamp. Both went live in June 2013: @BeingNOLA on June 1 and @BeingOxford 17 days later.
McDowell said the account is an outlet for people to share their different interpretations of Oxford.
“I’ve had everybody from a gas station attendant to a James Beard Award Winning chef, which I think shows a lot of differences,” he said.
McDowell said he definitely encourages people to “be” Oxford during an exciting or interesting time in their lives.
“I do my best to just sign people up as they come, but I always suggest to the people that if they have something specific going on a particular week they wanna run it, they should,” McDowell said.
Several notable Oxonians have been curators of the account. Musicians such as Dent May and Jimmy Cajoleas, a former member of Colour Revolt, have run the account, as well as several members of the band Holy Ghost Electric Show. John Currence (@bigbadchef), the mastermind behind Big Bad Breakfast and City Grocery, also tweeted as Oxford for a week.
McDowell said Oxford history is always an interesting aspect of the account. History buffs and multi-generation Oxonians have shared Oxford from their perspective, often tweeting interesting tidbits about the area’s history.
The account currently has approximately 2,300 followers. In spite of the occasional ebbs and flows, the number of followers is constantly growing.
McDowell mentioned that a more controversial curator will often benefit the account by bringing in more prospective curators who think they can do a better job or who want to show a different side of their hometown.
The account is meant to continue conversation between past and present people of Oxford, but a social media conversation between nearly 2,300 people is not going to be without its dissenters, of course. Recent @BeingOxford curators, who are both students at Ole Miss, Stephanie Grammar (@saintfannie), a sophomore art major, and Dylan Van Zile (@DVZbass), a senior education major who also plays in the band Captain Magma (@_captain_magma), were faced with some opposing tweets. Several followers thought they were too offensive, and others just didn’t agree with what they had to say and decided to voice their opinion.
“I got different viewpoints on literally everything,” Grammar said. “I think most of the interactions I got while being Oxford definitely show a varied Oxford – lots of different viewpoints.”
Both Zile and Grammar said they tried to represent a smaller population of Oxford – “weird Oxford” – a name coined for the town’s counterculture. Both said there is still room for this side of Oxford to be represented.
Eddie Rester (@eddirester), minister at Oxford-University United Methodist Church, curated the account this past November. Rester said the beauty of the account is the display of diversity. At the time, he had only lived in Oxford for four months but said the account helped him get to know people around town and integrate into Oxford’s society.
These engagements, though opinionated, keep the account alive. This small Twittersphere has helped people form friendships and connections. People with similar interests are able to relate, and ideas are given the chance to spread.
Perhaps most importantly, people are able to experience Oxford in a myriad of beautiful and strange ways through a single Twitter platform.
Those interested in continuing the conversation around and about Oxford can send an email to McDowell at beingoxford@gmail.com.
