a young, smiling program manager @ the office in January 2020 Hi Reader , The tension is real for many of us professional do-gooders. We want to change the world. AND we want to pay off our student loans as quickly as possible. We want to be part of the revolution. AND we want to be able to retire one day. We want to dismantle (or at least reimagine) capitalism. AND we want to be able to pay our bills. It’s common for us to hold competing (if not downright contradictory) desires like these as...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader , The last time we met here I asked you, "Who's inspiring you to be brave and hopeful these days?" Amber Hamilton, President and CEO of the Memphis Music Initiative (MMI), is on that list for me. Her work is expansive. She leads: MMI's staff and stakeholders in the work of providing young people in Memphis access to music instruction and space for creative expression. an innovative campaign to disrupt philanthropy by modeling what it looks like to invest in Black-and brown-led...
6 months ago • 2 min read
@ The Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, Feb 2025 Hi Reader , Have you seen the documentary Crip Camp (2020)?* If you haven’t, I can’t recommend it to you highly enough. I saw it for the first time last week, when I braved the rain (and the prospect of going to an event where I wouldn’t know anyone) to attend a community screening. The film tells the story of how a radically inclusive camp for physically disabled people inspired former counselors and campers to become...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Greetings from Detroit! Back to Podcasting Hi Reader , The last time you heard from me, I was still in Ghana wondering what life might have store for me once I went home. Now here I am, 10 or so months later, happy to be in your inbox again. :) As you'll hear in my latest podcast episode, during the time that I wasn't in touch I was preoccupied with navigating my "less-than-smooth" transition to life post-sabbatical. At times I would think about the podcast or other creative work that I...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Why do we work? Why do we choose to do the work that we do? Living my best life at Afiki Resort Hi Reader , I now have less than one month before I board a plane and head back to Detroit. In my mind that will mark the end of my sabbatical time and usher in the start of my I'm-unemployed-and-need-a-job time. On the surface, it seems pretty obvious why I'll be going back to work. Once I'm home, like you, I want to be able to afford things like groceries, car insurance, and occasionally, dinner...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read