Who up?

Introducing Feels Like Home

I’ve been Extremely Online™ for a long time — and that’s meant sharing content online for a long time. I remember writing rap lyrics that would’ve made my grandma blush in my AIM profile, releasing songs on Myspace and Reverbnation, starting multiple blogs on Tumblr, cross-promoting on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and, in more recent years, publishing essays and year-in-review lists on Medium. Over the years, I’ve watched it become harder to keep up with the people I love and the things they’re putting out in the world, and for folks to keep up with me. So I’m trying my hand at something new, something I’ve thought about for a while but have been self-conscious about committing to: I’m starting my very own newsletter!

Welcome to Feels Like Home.

I was nervous about starting a Substack, specifically, because, as my inbox can attest, there are so many newsletters right now. So much noise. And I didn’t want to be dismissed as, Here goes another mf making a Substack. But that is me. And the beauty of this platform is there’s enough room for all of us.

More personally, in 2022, I joined my homies, the Writing Boys, in publishing essays about music, sports, books, and culture. Some of my favorite artists and writers shared my work, including: Kid Cudi, Shea Serrano, Kiese Laymon, and Nicolas-Tyrell Scott. It got me thinking about what could be possible with writing about the things I love & the people and moments that have shaped me.

So welcome to Feels Like Home. This newsletter is a place for me to share my writings about the things that make me me. Music, sports, books, friends, family, looking back, and dreaming forward. Throughout my decade-plus of writing, I’ve returned to home — as a physical place, as a person, as a feeling. That we are loved and accepted as we are and can always return to this reality. And when we come home, we’re met with open arms and celebration.

At home, you live with the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable. We find and hold space to move as one. Not a performance for one another, but dancing with each other. I’ve explored this familiarity through writing about my case against dance circles, Chance the Rapper’s biggest flex on Coloring Book, and how I fell in love with basketball in Grandma Gwen’s basement.

This newsletter will always have a free component, but I’m introducing it today with an opportunity to be a paid subscriber. If you’ve enjoyed my writing on Medium or just like me as a person, I hope you’ll consider supporting my work. Your money helps me care for the people (and cat) I love most and explore what writing can become for me beyond just something I do outside of work. I don’t believe that anyone should write for free, so the ask is this: For $5 a month, or $50 a year, you have access to everything I (and Feels Like Home) have to offer. If that number isn’t affordable for you at this time, please email me.

I don’t know what Feels Like Home will become, but I know this: I feel at home writing and hope you feel at home reading my work.