The other day while I was working out at the gym, I saw this muscular guy wearing a t-shirt saying, “Always Give 100%.” This got me thinking, “Do I agree with this premise?” The answer was surprisingly, NO. Upon deeper contemplation, this is something I have been considering for a while. However, this conventional wisdom […]
My experience with journaling began in second grade when my teacher compelled us to keep a journal that she would check. In this way, I was initiated into the art of writing nonfiction as I perceived it. When I was a sophomore in college, my mother gave me this beautiful journal with these pages woven […]
“I have failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” –Michael Jordan During my time on this planet, I have rarely tasted the sweet nectar of success. But I have had plenty of experience with failure. It has been this extensive experience that has allowed me to see failure […]
When I was a nine-year-old boy, devouring scraps of hip-hop from MC Hammer, I was just getting my first taste of music that would be a major force in my life. In hindsight, Hammer was pretty lame, but in my defense, I was too young to know any better, and it was a gateway for […]
The Music of My Youth Influenced Generations In light of recent events, it seems to be as important as ever to celebrate African-American culture. One of the many amazing contributions of this historically oppressed group is hip-hop, which not only gave birth to an immensely popular genre of music but inspired millions of people across […]
I normally would not take such a risk, not thinking so much for my own well-being, but the lives of others who could be compromised, if I were to contract the virus and pass it to someone. But here I was, ready to risk it all for those I love and…myself. Both my parents turned […]
You hear the crack of the bat and see a ball sailing through the crisp spring air on Chicago’s Northside as it gets hung up in the ivy of the Wrigley outfield for a ground-rule double. With beer in hand, you think this is it.
I am excited to formally introduce the project that has been more than a decade in the making: Subterranean Mixtape. This has been a journey not only of discovery and great emotional depth but tenacity. The more than 1,000 pages of my writing that I pulled together that spans more than two decades was culled […]
Poetry has been a part of my life most of the way. While working on Subterranean Mixtape, I exhumed some of my earliest poems, and it has been a trip looking back at them. Here is one poem that I wrote in seventh grade: See Me As I Am Paint me red, Paint me blue, […]
Perhaps no other writer captured my imagination as much as Hermann Hesse did in my early twenties. Both my parents admired Hesse, and it was perhaps my rebellious spirit that caused me to eschew his work for so long. But reading Narcissus and Goldman got me quite interested in his work, and soon after I […]
