Blog: Do We Still Need Pride Month?

How is it already the end of June?! How has 2021 flown by so quickly?!

At the beginning of the month I knew I wanted to, at the very least, write something about Pride Month, seeing how June is Pride Month. So, I guess, why not make it the last blog of the month? I was wracking my brain over & over searching for what I wanted to write about this year as I usually do some form of Pride post in the month of June. Did I mention it’s the month of June & it’s also Pride Month? Sorry haha, just feel like I’ve said that a lot in my first couple lines of this blog. Anywho, back to it. I was struck by this idea for a blog post when I came across the comments section of the CMT Pride Playlist on the godless wasteland we all know as Facebook along with a slurry of hateful individual posing the question “why do they still need a Pride Month?” Their rationale being that “they got their right to legally wed” along with, of course, “there’s no straight pride month.” Vom. The post is hyperlinked if you’d like to go read the rest of these truly distasteful humans’ comments or if you just want to listen to the playlist itself. This blatant ignorance got me thinking though, do we still need an LGBTQ+ Pride Month? I mean it’s not like, though it should be more so, it shines a light on LGBTQIA+ history? So, should pride month still exist as a form of visibility for members of the alphabet mafia, after all, marriage equality is the law of the land. But then after the smallest fraction of a nanosecond I immediately landed on the answer being “of course we do.”

People who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community are still, in terms of rights & opportunity, considered second class citizens in this country we call the United States. That’s not to even mention the atrocities they face around the world by simply being who they are or loving who they love. They are disproportionately discriminated against, attacked, brutalized, rejected, marginalized, & forced to the sidelines of society when compared to their CIS gendered, heterosexual peers; especially when it comes to transgender people of color. I think all too often, at least outside of the community, the perception is that the battle is over, the fight has been won but I’d argue it’s just getting started.

Let’s take Arizona for example. In 1991 the state made it illegal for any teacher to promote LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” That meant anything from same sex education, to expressions of gender identity, to even the acknowledgement of certain historical figures being a member of the community. This wasn’t even the full extent of the law though. Say a student was struggling with their identity in any form other than heteronormativity. If they were to go to one of their teachers & ask for advice or assistance & the teacher offered any form of advice other than “talk to your parents” or anyone other than me & they were caught doing so they would be fined upwards of $5,000 dollars & have their teaching license called into question just for trying to be helpful or offer mentorship to a struggling student. Fortunately, that law has since been eradicated though that hasn’t stopped Arizona law makers from trying to implement similar laws in its place. As recent as April of this year a motion was put into effect to try & make it illegal for any school to teach about anything the government deemed even remotely LGBTQ+. This included historical figures, events, mention anything about gender expression or sexuality outside the CIS/Hetero. It also, unsurprisingly, included lessons about the HIV/AIDs epidemic unless all students involved had signed consent from their parent or guardian. (link) Sounds just like a diet version of the previous law.

I’m sure some of you are going to make the argument in favor of that policy since “students should be learning at school, not exploring their identity” but adolescence is the time in most of our lives in which we call our identities into question. The “who am I” of it all becomes a constant part of middle & high school life & if you don’t have a way to investigate that or ask even the most innocent of questions without feeling like who you are is unworthy of societal recognition then that can lead down some dark hallways.

Let’s talk stats:

90% of LGBTQ+ students reported hearing anti-LGBTQ+ slurs on a daily basis in their schools. Most saying they average hearing around 23 a day.

Around 28% of all LGBTQ+ identifying students end up dropping out of school due to harassment, not only from their peers.

About a quarter of LGB youth report having been physically assaulted because of their sexuality, a higher average of around half of any trans students say the same.

An astonishing 3/4ths of trans students reported having been sexually harassed simply because of their gender identity.

LGBTQ+ youth are twice as likely to abuse drugs or alcohol as compared to their CIS/Het peers.

Anywhere from 20-40% of queer youth have reported homelessness at one time or another though it is thought that number may be much higher.

(link)

Let’s look outside of schools shall we?

We all remember the trans military ban of 2017 right? Sounds like equality winning out to me. What about in 2019 when the previous administration made an attempt that allowed insurances to legally deny an individual coverage simply based on gender expression. In addition to being a massive blow to the transgender & non-binary folks living in this country, it also would have allowed doctors to deny care to anyone with an LGBTQ+ identity. (link) I angry wrote an entire blog post about this that I ended up never posting, I can still see it sitting in my drafts out of the corner of my eye as I write this. The crazy thing is, these two movements barely scratch the surface of the damage the previous administration did or attempted to do to the queer community at large! Here’s a full list if you’d like…(link) Fortunately a lot of these measures have been reversed by the current administration, though not all of them.

Let’s talk more stats:

LGBTQ+ suicides account for 30% of all suicide deaths.

Greater than 50% of those identifying as transgender say they have at one time or another attempted suicide.

1/5th of all LGBTQ+ individuals report having experienced hiring discrimination with people of color reporting a higher number of 2/5ths.

Around 46% of all LGBTQ+ members aren’t out to their coworkers work mostly in fear of discrimination in one way or another from their peers as well as higher ups.

(link)

But it can’t all be bad can it? Well luckily, no! According to a recent survey, Gen-Z is the queerest generation we’ve ever seen, at least from an honest statistical standpoint. According to a 2021 Gallup poll roughly 15% of all Gen-Z-ers polled identified as LGBTQ+ in one way or another, sometimes multiple! It seems the more recent we go generationally, the more people are willing to express their true selves openly & authentically with the Millennial statistic being about 1 in 10. (link) Another beautiful thing happening is that more & more fortune 500 companies are beginning to cater to the needs of their queer staff with around 91% actively making positive changes to their discrimination policies in regards to LGBTQ+ matters, another 53% offering benefits for civil unions, & 65% offering transgender inclusive healthcare plans, and these numbers are rapidly climbing!

So I ask you. Do we still need Pride Month? Do you think the course has been corrected enough to warrant a stall in the fight for equal rights or do you think, like me, that there is still a long, long way to go. I’d like to issue you a small challenge. I’d like you to be a little bit of introspection here & look at how you treat you LGBTQIA+ peers. Is it the same as how you treat your CIS gendered or heterosexual friends? If not, what can you change? Are you as an employer doing what you need to do to be inclusive? Are you as a parent, as a friend, as a sibling doing enough? I want you to look at yourself honestly & answer that question. Are you electing individuals who enact policies that harm marginalized communities such as these? Are you treating all of your neighbors with the love, respect, & decency they deserve or are you stabbing them in the back behind closed doors, from the other side of a keyboard, or in the polling station? I seriously want you to ask yourself these things, to get your ego out of the way, to got the “what about me” out of the way & open your eyes to what is actually happening in the world around you. I didn’t even make a dent in the hindrances of freedom for members of the queer community here, mostly because I wanted to focus on the US, where it is currently Pride Month. I’d advise you to do your own research, to go into these comment sections & see for yourself because if you willingly turn a blind eye to the suffering of others how is that coming from a place of love?

I’ll leave you with one last bit, brought to you by the weapon most used against those in the LGBTQ+ community:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you do unto the least of those among you, you have done unto me.”

— Mark 25: 40

Happy Pride Everyone! Be proud of who you are & the path that led you here! Keep fighting the good fight & know that love is always the answer.

-C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Three-Food For Thought

Previously On

…

PART ONE

PART TWO

Now, back to our regularly scheduled content!

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SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

DAY FIVE

In case you were unaware, Maui is home to a very popular local restaurant, Mama’s Fish House, which is located on the north shore in Paia. I have very fond memories of going to Mama’s as a twelve year old lad & was understandably invested in going back this trip. However, COVID regulations being what they are in the state of Hawai’i at that moment, Mama’s wasn’t taking any walk-ins & their reservation list was booked out until August. I had called a few days prior to Sunday to see if there were any random cancellations but had, until that point, no luck. I was advised by the receptionist to try & call or “walk-in’ right as the restaurant opened at 11 for their lunch seating.

Sunday rolls around, Evan & I pack up the car with all the things we figured we’d need throughout our day & we headed up Paia. We arrived at the gate of Mama’s around 10:40 & pulled into a spot. Within a few minutes a line of cars had already began to form behind us. I made the call a few minutes before 11 to see if by any miraculous chance something had opened up & BAM!!! SUPERPOWER STRIKES AGAIN!!!! They had a table available at 11:20. Feeling rather hungover from the previous evening & needing to burn some time, we went back down the street to Choice Health Bar where I grabbed a Tropical Beets pressed juice & a Noni shot, a local ‘cure all” that I will definitely agree with them, is an acquired taste.

Juiced up & nearing the time of our newly minted reservation we headed back to Mama’s, immediately found a parking spot up front (superpower), & were shown down to the lower host stand. After around five minutes staring at the collection of autographed photos they have by the restaurants entrance we were shown to our table.

The vibe of the fish house was exactly as I remember it; deep Koa accents with open breezeways set nestled in the side of a hill, bay front, just off a grove of palm trees. We sat, order a little bit of the hair of the dog, & enjoyed the warm sea breeze sweeping through the venue.

At the recommendation of the waitress we ordered the Macadamia Nut Crab Cakes & the Toko (Hawaiian Octopus) for an appetizer. The crab cakes were up there as some of the best I’ve ever had, as was the octopus! For our main course we split the Mama’s Curry & their daily special of Mahi Mahi. We’d had three separate people in the restaurant rave about the curry & boy, were they right! The fish was so fresh & so perfectly prepared, it practically melted in your mouth. Dessert was espresso & a Polynesian Black Pearl, Mama’s signature dessert. The black pearl is a Passionfruit Mousse topped with Chocolate Ganache with a Cookie Shell & Passionfruit Drizzle! I’d had it before & I had never forgotten just how incredible it is!

We wrapped up at Mama’s around 12:30/1 & were absolutely stuffed, the problem with that being that we had another dinner reservation at Merriman’s at 4:30. While doing my initial restaurant research for Maui I’d stumbled upon Merriman’s & had managed to snag their very last reservation for the foreseeable future. Say it with me folks, superpower. So hoping to burn through a few calories, aid the digestion process, & having just made it through the 24 hours elevation limit following my dives, we went up to ‘Iao Valley to hike!

We were under the impression ‘Iao was a longer hike than it was but it was stunning nevertheless. The drive up to ‘Iao was very reminiscent of the Road to Hana in the sense that you go from one ecological biome to another in almost the blink of an eye. You go from Hawaiian hill country to lush rainforest. It was raining up in ‘Iao but we didn’t mind. In all honesty we were pretty hot & sweating from sitting down at Mama’s. We basically did the hike in 15 minutes then spent the next 45-ish just wandering around the park, going down to the river, contemplating swimming, trailblazing, etc.

Having a little extra time between our hike our & early dinner we decided to go back & change as we’d gotten a little muddier than we’d initially anticipated. We cleaned off & got back in nicer clothes before we climbed back into the car & went up Lahaina way.

Dinner at Merriman’s was set right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the north shore to the backdrop of a wedding happening just below us. It was served grand prix style so we got to pick from a few options in each category; appetizer, entree, dessert (naturally). Evan & I once again split everything we ordered getting Ahi Poke & once again, Octopus. Evan favored Merriman’s octopus, I think I favored the Mama’s one, both were exceptional though. Our entrees were Shrimp & Scallops as well as a Macadamia Nut encrusted Mahi Mahi. Dessert was Passionfruit Pot De Creme & a Flourless Chocolate Cake. I wish we’d gone into dinner a little more hungry but I don’t think either of us regret getting to do both restaurants even if they were bumped a little close time wise to one another.

We went back to Kihei & ended up once again sat at the bar at Nalu’s before calling it an early evening. I had a dive that departed from Lahaina at 6:45 AM the next day & we were going to need to leave our condo around 5:45/6 to get there.

END DAY FIVE

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DAY SIX

As I stated above, Monday started with an early morning. We left the VRBO at between 5:45/6 AM & went back up the coast to Lahaina. My check-in at Lahaina Divers was at 6:45 at their shop. I checked-in, grabbed a wetsuit, collected the rest of my gear & walked through old town Lahaina from the shop to the harbor. Aboard the ship I was shown to my BCD & tanks for the dive before we did one last check & headed off to Lanai. Evan went on his way to explore Lahaina, landing somewhere with a chocolate croissant on a beach.

The dive Monday was to the Cathedrals of Lanai, a series of lava tubes off the southern coast of the island of Lanai. Our first dive spot was Cathedral One, a lava tube with a large stone in the middle they refer to as “the alter.” I was paired with a dude from Colorado but the total population of our dive group was 8-10 people. I think I decided at this early point in my dive experience that it might just be worth it to pay the extra bit of cash to have a private dive guide or at least to get a smaller dive group. The amount of times I got kicked in the face, run into, etc was alarmingly high. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun, I had a blast, truly. It was just a lesson learned at 40 feet below the surface.

At the first cathedral we swam upon a series of rare crabs, several sharks lounging in a cave, & a massive porcupine puffer, not to mention the breathtaking, pun intended, cathedral itself. We exhausted our tanks, returned to the boat, & went off to our second dive location.

Our second tank of the trip was reserved for Sergeant Major, a dive they can only do when the current conditions are right. The site is named as such due to the large quantities of Sergeant Majors, a striped yellow & grey damselfish, that school there. The main draw to Sergeant Major’s lava fingers however is the presence of the Javanese Eel. A Javanese Eel, otherwise known as the Giant Moray, is just that. Giant. They can reach up to three meters in length & weigh up to sixty-six pounds. Did we find the eel? We sure did. Was it magnificent? It definitely was!

At Sergeant Major I felt the pressure of the close quarters especially when it came to getting the whole group to see the fauna of interest. In one such occasion I did my best to get out of the way of a less than observant fellow diver & ended up with a three inch gash across my thigh from a run in with a stony coral.

I don’t mean to sound down trodden on the dive, it was a blast & truly an amazing experience. I honestly can’t wait to dive the cathedrals again & my dive guide was awesome! I’ll just definitely be doing so in a smaller group.

After our dive was finished we all boarded the boat & headed back to Lahaina. Evan met me at the dive shop where I picked up a t-shirt & a sticker then we headed down the coast towards Leoda’s to get a post dive pie or two.

At Leoda’s we got one of their Famous Banana Cream Pies & a Pineapple Macadamia Nut Pie. As much as a banana cream pie fan as I am, I think the pineapple one was my favorite! In addition to the pies we went to the small local convenience shop next door & grabbed a few pieces of Spam Musabi.

Once we’d returned to Kihei I went down for a nap after feeling sapped from the morning. Pretty sure we returned to Nalu’s yet again that night. We’d made friends with the bartender/manager, Sue, & were going there to hang out with her & exchange stories.

END DAY SIX

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DAY SEVEN

Our last day in Maui.

Our flight out wasn’t until around midnight & I’d asked our lovely VRBO host for an extension on our checkout time since we had nowhere to go until then. She graciously gave us the entirety of the day!

We slept in a tad as we knew the day & night ahead of us was going to be a long one, especially with that red eye flight out. After waking up a bit later than usual we set out to grab one last snorkel before we had to say goodbye to Hawai’i. We ventured down to Wailea to Makena Landing & got to snorkeling amongst the divers. Was I fairly jealous of the fact they could stay down while I had to come up for air constantly, yes, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless even seeing two separate turtles & almost running into one!

After our morning swim we headed back to start cleaning the apartment we’d called home for the past week. Since our host had extended our time for free we decided to make it as easy as possible on her & cleaned majority of the place ourself, including laundry. Once we were satisfied, we packed our stuff into the car & headed off to get one last shave ice from Ululani’s.

I got the same flavor as before, the guava, mango, passionfruit mix with macadamia nut ice cream but instead of a second POG I got a Thai Tea with Sweetened Condensed Milk on it! Shaved ice in hand we went down the road to return Evan’s snorkel gear & bid the Maui Dive team one last fond farewell.

We’d been invited by Sue to come sit at Nalu’s with our bags until it was time to catch the shuttle from the rental service to the airport. So that’s exactly what we did! I wasn’t mad about that decision at all, especially since I wanted to grab one last bowl of poke before we left. Sat at the bar of Nalu’s we met a couple from Fort Collins who were on the last leg of their trip too. We sat exchanging drinks & stories until I received an urgent call from the shuttle service saying they needed us to get on the earlier shuttle to the airport. I honestly didn’t know it was an option but the driver disclosed that we could also just drop the car at the parking lot across from the terminal & they would come pick it up in the morning. We opted for that option & sat at the bar for another hour or so.

After many a hug & sad goodbye we drove to the airport dropping the car exactly where the rental company had asked. The airport looked like a ghost town, especially compared to the week before. We breezed through the livestock/produce check, check-in, & security & made it to our gate with an hour to spare.

END DAY SEVEN

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END SECTION TWO: MAUI

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SECTION THREE: KANSAS TO NASHVILLE

We’d received a comp upgrade on our seats & were each put in the exit row. I guess no one else thought to try & do the same because the exit row, on both sides, was completely empty. So, we took advantage of that! I took the left side of the plane, Evan the right, & we had our very own economy class lay flat beds!

Getting surprisingly more rest than expected & landing in Phoenix, we got to our gate & took an additional nap followed by another nap on the flight from Phoenix to Kansas City. We picked up dinner on the way back to my parents & met my sister & her family there for dinner.

The next morning, before heading back to Nashville we met my sister & niece at Snooze AM Eatery for breakfast before swinging back by my parents, picking up the dogs, & heading back home to Nashville.

END SECTION THREE

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END BLOG

EPILOGUE

I hope you enjoyed my stories, I hope I was able to capture even the slightest bit of majesty & magic that Maui has to offer & transport you there for even the briefest moment in time. Maui is an other worldly place full of immense beauty, personality, love, & culture. It is a place all its own & if you let it, it’ll readily make you feel welcomed & right at home. Much like any place I travel I have found that the people are truly what makes them special. This world is a colorful tapestry of life experience, trials & tribulations, & all of us are searching for the same things, identity & home.

Maui was already a special place in my heart but now it has cemented itself there. I’ve found myself over the last few weeks having a very hard time leaving it behind not to mention how much its sabotaged my sleep schedule. I urge anyone to find a way to Hawai’i but if you go, do so with respect. These islands are someone else’s lands, someone else’s home, someone else’s traditions & they are worth celebrating. Treat the land with respect, treat the people with respect, & do your best to leave it as you found it for those who come after. Yes, Hawai’i is beaches & ocean but it is so, so, so much more than that. It is a thriving culture & community that deserved to be preserved & passed down from generation to generation. Mahalo Maui for an unforgettable week. I’m grateful for the lessons you taught me, the friends I made, & the amazing opportunities you laid in my path. I can’t wait to see you again & I truly hope it is sooner rather than later.

-C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Two-Divers, Dinings, & Drives

SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

Welcome back!

If you're a returning guest to this blog series on my Maui escapades, thank you for reading! If you’re not caught up to this point give this a read first! We will be including themes, characters, locations, etc from the previous blog post so go read it here!

Hmmm, where’d we leave off, where’d we leave off? OH! Right! Back from the Road to Hana, sleep at a decent hour, end of day two, end of part one!

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DAY THREE

Something I didn’t expect to play out the way it did while in the mid-pacific was my sleep schedule. I was waking up at 5:45/6 AM & I was ready for bed before 9/10 PM, contrary to the mainland where I am a night owl through & through. Seeing how I had been blessed(?) with new sleep schedule I woke around 6:15 on Friday to a text from my soon to be scuba instructor, Kerstin, stating she’d had a cancellation & she was curious if we could move our open water dives up to 8-ish instead of our original set time of Noon. I let her know that we had to drop off our temporary rental car but I’d happily meet her at Maui Dive Shop as soon as we were done with that, which was literally right down the street.

Evan & I stopped to grab a liquid, caffeinated breakfast of coffee before we went to return the rental. As I said above the rental service was literally down the road from the dive shop, we’re talking 1,500-ish feet, so we dropped off the car & walked from there to Maui Dive. I was actually under the impression that we’d be diving off the beach across from the dive shop, Evan planned to spend the day sunbathing there while Kerstin & I were submerged. I was wrong. (It happens from time to time). The issue with this was that our dive site was in Wailea at Ulua Beach (4.3 miles south) & we were required to have our own transportation there. Our second rental car, the one we didn’t think we’d have but my superpower came through for, also wasn’t going to be available to pick up until 9 but apparently that was perfect for Kerstin’s schedule! We then perused the shop, buying up souvenirs & changing into swim gear in their restroom before walking the 900 feet back over to the new rental agency.

The car they had ready for us was a beat up 2011 Nissan Sentra & I mean beat up. I only mention the state of the car because they did. The woman who showed us to the car & did the “walk around” with us she flat out said to us “don’t worry about dinging it up a little, this car is on the verge of retirement from us. Just as long as you don’t drive it back in with the bumper dragging in the road we’ll be fine!” The car did two things really well & those two things were exactly what I wanted it to do. It drove & it had functioning air conditioning. From there we made our way down to Wailea towards my 9:30 AM rendezvous with the ocean.

The funny thing is that upon our arrival at Ulua I immediately found a parking spot only about two hundred feet from the beach. I pulled out my phone when the car was stationary to find a text from Kerstin saying that parking at Ulua is always a nightmare & that I may have to park up farther away & walk a bit. Didn’t happen.

We were getting out of the car, collecting our belongings for the mid-morning, & were immediately met by Kerstin, fresh off her walk from the upper parking down to the beach. She & I plopped down our gear in the park uphill from the water, parked under the shade of a tree in the soft Bermuda grass & began reviewing all the aspects of SCUBA as well as our dive plan. Evan took the remainder of our stuff & went down to begin his beach lay. After going over the dive details, exchanging stories, & assembling our equipment we walked down to the beach.

I knew I’d be immediately hooked on SCUBA, I could feel it in my gut, but I never would have guessed the extent & speed at which those emotions would come rushing in, but destiny is often serendipitous & the paths we walk in life often ripple & rhyme throughout our years. Through the state of wonder & overwhelming peace I found living a brief moment beneath the surf I couldn’t escape the feeling of familiarity. I had been here before, I just knew it. I had seen this place but was it in a dream or in another lifetime or what? It wasn’t until our departure from the water that the realization clicked for me.

We’re going to take a cute little detour here & rewind the clock back to 12 year old me, so 17 years ago…wow…Anywho. My first time in Maui was with my family at that age, the company my father worked with at the time was having a conference there & we all got to go! Our flight for that trip got into Maui really late from what I can recall & we ended getting to bed around midnight. I remember being awoken by my dad around 6 in the morning & being rather upset about that. He told me to put on a swimsuit & grab my goggles & I sleepily followed him down to the beach. We went swimming & I was once again immediately overcome with deep peace. That beach was Ulua. The first swim I ever did in Maui, the swim that helped solidify my love for the ocean was at Ulua Beach. Like I said. Ripples.

After a morning filled with diving we disassembled the gear, put it back in the dive truck & Kerstin & I went our separate ways for the day. I was so hungry at that point I could have eaten my arm so Evan & I decided to go try a highly recommended bento box food truck called Kitoko. The best way I can describe Kitoko is if bento boxes were done in a Michelin Star fashion. We once again followed the recommendations of the chef & order an Ahi Reuben & their daily special of Surf & Turf which consisted of the Pastrami Ahi, Seared Venison, & Marlin Sausages. All of it was incredible & was presented in the most beautiful way. Their fresh made seaweed focaccia bread is truly to die for.

After the savory delights of Kitoko my sweet tooth kicked in & I knew it was time to finally dive into Hawaiian Shave Ice so we headed over to Ululani’s. Ululani’s is a popular Maui/Hawaiian chain, having six location on Maui alone & despite the line, it lives up to the hype! I order two smalls, feeling a tad indecisive as well as wanted to get something I knew I’d like & try something new. I got P.O.G. (Passionfruit, Orange, Guava) & a second of “Sunset Beach” (Mango, Passionfruit, Guava) with Macadamia Nut Ice Cream underneath at the recommendation of the cashier. She was right, of course, & the Sunset Beach was easily my favorite of the two, which is saying a lot since the P.O.G. slapped too!

From the Ululani’s in North Kihei we continued on around the island to Lahaina. We wanted to find a snorkel spot, since apparently we hadn’t spent enough time in the water that day, & ended up at Honolua Bay.

To get to Honolua Bay you have to park your car along the side of the road & hike down a 100 meter trail that leads through the jungle to the ocean. The path is stunning & is in fact a burial ground for the Hawaiian people. There are signs all over stating to not veer off the path or do anything to disrupt the many unmarked graves that fill the grove. The trail also meanders along a stream that empties into the bay itself.

The beach of the bay is very rocky; large & small boulders all the way into the water, you kind of have to ease your way in. When you get in you’ll need to either swim out a ways or dive down a little to escape the ethereal effect the mixing of the fresh & saltwater have on the surface of the water. The snorkeling here is outstanding though, protected on both sides by cliffs, the water doesn’t have too strong of a current & is fairly clear.

Once the sun started setting we got out, got dressed, trekked back up to the car & headed back to Lahaina for dinner, stopping to take a few photos of the chickens feeding on the papaya that had fallen in the grove.

We’d been told by multiple people to try & eat at Star Noodle in Lahaina, unfortunately, like most of the restaurants on Maui during our stay, they were requiring reservations & were booked up for the next two weeks. So, naturally, we got a table on the water, right at sunset! (Superpower!)

At Star we once again, noticing a trend here?, let the wait staff order for us. Our waitress picked out Tempura Shrimp, Garlic Noodles, Pork Steam Buns, & their Chicken Wings. All of those items were great but I especially loved the shrimp & the wings! We also didn’t skimp on dessert ordering their daily selection of ice cream; matcha pistachio, strawberry lychee, & thai coffee. The strawberry & the matcha were the best!

Towards the end of our dinner the Luau next door began, the dancers of whom used the side of the restaurant as their “backstage area” before they would go on. It sounded like a blast but just hearing the music from it was enough. With warmed hearts & full bellies we returned to Kihei for an early bedtime, we had ourselves a very early morning the next day!

END DAY THREE

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DAY FOUR

We woke up on Saturday at 5:15 AM. Groggily we collected our SCUBA/Snorkel gear & headed down to the entrance of the complex we were staying in. We were picked up at 5:45 in a guide van by Celeste, one of the other guides for the day ahead. We picked up two other parties of divers before heading to Maalaea Harbor.

We were greeted by Kerstin as we got off the van, who instructed us to pick up our wetsuits & board the boat that waited just off the slip for us. I stored my dry gear, set up my regulator & BCD (buoyancy control device) & off we went to Molokini Crater for a morning of diving!

There were three other groups of divers aboard the boat with us diving but Kerstin & I were the last into the water seeing how I was still only two dives in to my certification. Evan stayed behind near the boat & snorkeled with some of the other guests!

I’d never done a boat dive before, (naturally), but there was something about it that was exhilarating! You’re above the water & suddenly there’s a whole other world that opens up below you that you hadn’t seen before & it’s yours to explore. Kerstin & I set off on our dive around the crater finding wave after wave of schooling fish. I even made friends with a friendly little male blue throat triggerfish who came right up the me & hung around til I offered him scritches & he returned to the reef below.

Our next dive site was Turtle Town, back off the west coast of Maui. Evan once again snorkeled while Kerstin & I were once again the last divers off the boat. As the name suggested we saw turtles but there were also a few large passthroughs, an octopus or two, as well as a a very large number of frogfish. I had footage of all of these things, or so I thought…my GoPro didn't turn on…

When we emerged from the water I was congratulated by the entirety of the boat on becoming the newest member of the club & we headed back up the coast to the harbor.

We didn’t get back to our condo until about 1:30 or 2 PM at which point both Evan & I were beat. We took a nap before going out around 3:30 or 4 to run a few errands.

We snagged coffee, a few more groceries, & stopped at Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand before the hunger set in & we decide to head over to Nalu’s, a place recommended by Kerstin for dinner.

I ordered the best dang Poke I’d ever had & Evan ordered a Bulgogi Burger. By the time we’d gotten here & gotten through the line to order it was already around 6:30 or 7 PM so the sunlight was rapidly fading. We decided to move from our table, set right in front of the stage where a local artist had began to play & up to the bar where we were introduced to Ruthie, a local woman who’d lived on the island for sixty years & was meeting a friend of hers there for dinner. We sat & chatted, shared rounds of drinks, talked about pets & life & before we knew it it was closing time & I was slightly intoxicated, flirting with a bar back.

Our place was right down the street from Nalu’s so we walked back home unprepared for the hangover to follow the next day.

END DAY FOUR

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There’s still much more of this adventure to be told, I hope you’ll come back again next week when we’ll talk more SCUBA, more hikes, more luck, & much more food!

Until Next Week,

C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part One-Travel

SECTION ONE : KANSAS

In case you missed it, Evan & I took a week & went to Maui. I had been to Maui before but it’d been about 16 years since I was last there, Ev had never been. We were fully vaccinated, quarantined completely like good boys for the entirety of this COVID nightmare, Maui had just begun fully opening up for tourism, & the tickets were cheap so we said “yup, that’s for me” & went.

Our journey started not in Nashville, but instead in Kansas City; my parents live there & graciously offered to watch the pups while we were away. Part of your entry into the state of Hawaii consists of having a negative COVID test from within 72 hours of your arrival. So seeing as our flight was due to depart on Wednesday we drove our way to Kansas on Sunday grabbing Hawaiian Bros on the way in preparation for our trip….which I have since found out is run by four white people with no affiliation to Hawaii or its culture & that feels an awful lot like appropriation to me…

Monday started off not too eventful; just covid testing, a few errands, hung out with my niece & nephew, & filling out all of the documentation required to enter Maui from the airport. I grabbed my favorite turkey club from Jersey Boys in Overland Park before calling it an early night & heading into a much more eventful Tuesday…

Tuesday morning rolled around, I got up to swim laps with my father & Evan worked from home in the basement. I found myself exhausted from the hour long swim & the early morning so I took a brief nap only to get up & be met with my favorite KC barbecue, Jack Stack for lunch! (My order: Jack’s Best & Smoked Wings with Cheesy Corn & Beans) After lunch I ran to grab a new carryon bag, as the one I’d had since 2011 had officially bit the dust. I returned home to hang out with my sister before we had planned to go to the Royals game that evening. Our flight was set to leave MCI at 6 AM the next day & fly from KC to Dallas then we’d have an hour layover in Dallas before continuing on to Maui. Well while hanging out with Tori I got a call from American Airlines, whom I’d never flown before, saying that our flight to Dallas had been cancelled due to weather. Evan went into panic mode. I, someone who seldom gets overly stressed about anything, starting looking for solutions. While on hold with American Airlines, the hold time of which I was told was going to be over two hours, I was looking into other airlines, trying to find ways to fly to Dallas that evening instead of waiting in the morning but the plan eventually became “rent a car & drive over night to Dallas.” Fortunately before that plan could be full enacted a lovely woman picked up on the other end of the line & found us a route to Maui through Phoenix. It left around the same time but had a much longer layover of four hours. It also, naturally, arrived in Maui much later & was bumping up to the closing time of the rental car agency we were picking up a (two day) car from…more on that later. During this whole ordeal Evan had apparently gone downstairs & speed packed his entire suitcase in ten minutes planning to have to leave then & there for Dallas by car, still glad that didn’t happen. With new flights & of course upgraded seats we headed off to the Royals game for the night.

Got to bed a lot later than I’d hoped on Tuesday evening. I blame the ball game & the fact that I hadn’t taken the time during the day to pack. Really it all comes down to user error. Either way we had to head to the airport around 4 AM as my rentals live about an hour away from MCI. I think in total I got about three hours of sleep that night…thriving! The airport was dead, just like I felt inside at that point, & security was a breeze. Our flight to Phoenix however was full. I’m pretty sure I slept the whole time but I can’t recall now thinking back on it. At any rate, we landed in Phoenix & were now faced with four hours of “what the hell we gone do now?” We decided to venture out into the greater Phoenix metropolitan era in search of sustenance. I was really hoping to find a place that served endless sopapillas with honey in a bread basket a la Cheesecake Factory style but none of them were open so we found a trendy little breakfast spot called The Hash Kitchen & grabbed cold brew, tamales verdes benedict, s’mores pancakes, & blue corn banana’s foster pancakes! Yes, they smacked.

After finding our way back to the airport we took one of those quick, corner airport naps before finally boarding our flight to Hawai’i! Our flight took six hours to get to Maui & it only took about an hour to realize my computer hadn’t downloaded any of the movies I told it to…so it was a long flight.

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SECTION TWO : MAUI

DAY ONE

We landed in Maui around 2:45 PM Hawaiian time & were immediately put in line to check-in & show our COVID documentation. Evan had been really on top of making sure that we had all our ducks in a row so the check-in was a breeze! It really helped that we brought our vaccine cards with us as well!

While we had been in line for the check-in I received a call from our rental car company asking when we’d be arriving to pick up the car as they were planning to close at 4 PM that day. It was a car that we were only going to be able to rent for two days because all of the other cars on the island were spoken for or several hundred dollars a day to rent & we planned to use it to do all the things around the island that required a car to get there. We didn’t get through with check-in & getting our baggage until around 3:15 & it was a 30 minute cab ride to the rental company. In addition to the distance all of the Lyfts & Ubers were telling us that it would be at least 35-40 minutes before they could even get there to pick us up. I made the executive decision to hail a cab.

We got the last. available. cab. Now would be a good time I guess to talk about the super power I have! I have the ability to get a parking spot, a reservation, or find transportation anywhere. This will come into play again later as well. So. Last cab at the airport! The whole ride to the rental company the driver was getting request after request after request for a ride & she was having to tell each caller that it’d be at least 45 minutes before she could get to them.

As I posted in an earlier blog, I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. See in more detail here! That being said, our driver initially dropped us at the “wrong” rental agency, I’ll explain why wrong is in quotes a little later on. She quickly corrected the mistake & we arrived to pick up the Chevy Cruz, lol, we’d reserved right at 3:45!

From there we stopped by Maui Dive Shop so that I could fill out some of my scuba paper work & so Evan could grab some snorkel gear. We then went to go check in to our VRBO in South Kihei. It was a cute little one bedroom/one bath with a full kitchen, living room, & a balcony that overlooked Charley Young Park! Our hostess, Diane, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting in person was an absolute gem, she was so accommodating & such a lovely human to interact with even if our dialogue was limited to the digital. If you’d like to see more of this listing or book it yourself the link is here!

The street our VRBO was on! It’s the third floor balcony with the chair against the railing.

After checking in & making sure our car wasn’t going to get towed I immediately dropped my bags, fished out my fins, mask, & snorkel, put on a bathing suit & got my ass into the ocean. If you weren’t aware, I’m definitely a saltwater soul, I dry out far too often & require placement in the nearest ocean ASAP. So even though the sun was beginning to set, I had to get in. I was instantly greeted by a small school of trevally which naturally brought me immediate joy!

We spent about 30-45 minutes in the ocean before the hunger began to set in. Seeing as we thought we’d only have a rental car for two days we decided to venture back up to Kahului & grab dinner from Tin Roof. At the recommendation of our cashier we ordered Mochiko Chicken on Garlic Noodles, Pork Belly on Rice, Ulu Mac Salad, & Birthday Cake Bibingka, I unfortunately don’t have any pictures from this meal to share with you all. On the way back to the condo we stopped at a natural foods market & stocked up on a few items we figured we could use for snacking throughout the week; mangos, papaya, pineapple, cassava chips, Paia Gelato, juice, Hawaiian Suns, etc. When we got back we broke out the food, ate on the balcony, & I had a religious experience with a mango.

Am I about to devote an entire paragraph to a mango, you bet your ass I am. So, we get back to the condo, we’re plating up the to-go food we got from Tin Roof & I decide we need a little side of produce as well, & cut up a mango. Now, this mango was from a local mango farm called Yee’s. Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand can be found in Kihei operating mostly mid-week & weekends (closed Mondays & Fridays). The mango I had the privilege of consuming was a Golden Glow Mango which is apparently akin to the Alphonso Mango of India, which is said to be the best mango in the world, go figure it’s banned in the US cuz we can’t have nice things here, you know, like universal healthcare…ANYWAY, this was the sweetest, creamiest, most perfect mango I’ve ever eaten in my life, so naturally I filled the rest of the trip with my daily portion of them.

We went to bed fairly early on, because, you know, travel exhaustion & minimal sleep & we prepared for another busy day to follow.

END DAY ONE

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DAY TWO

We woke up around 6:30 AM partially because circadian rhythm, partially because we were told by the woman at our rental car agency to get breakfast at Kihei Caffe, who gets a line fairly early, & partially because we had a day planned that was full of a lot of driving & a lot of hiking. We got to Kihei Caffe around 7:15 & the line was already wrapped around the building. It was moving fairly quickly so we decided to risk it. While in line I popped into Lava Java Coffee Roasters & I got us each a Granita, which is a frozen mocha with a little extra love added to it. The line only took us about 15-20 minutes before we were at the register ordering. I, once again, had the cashier order for me. She selected Loco Moco w/ Kalua Pork, Papaya Delight, & French Toast w/ Bananas & Macadamia Nuts topped w/ Coconut Syrup. All of it smacked but despite my sweet tooth I think my favorite parts of the meal were the first two items!

We immediately left breakfast & started our climb up Haleakala. I guess now would be a good time to mention the one time my superpower didn’t work. I tried to get us reservations for the sunrise at the summit of Haleakala…it sold out in 15 seconds BUT on the flipside of the same day, my superpowers pulled through! You see the previous day when our driver had dropped us at the wrong rental service something piqued in my brain. What if this “wrong” local rental service is actually the right local rental service? So, as we drove, I had Evan look up the rental agency & request a car from Friday-Tuesday when we were departing. THEY HAD ONE! ONE SINGULAR CAR LEFT! AAAAAND IT WASN’T SOMETHING THAT WOULD REQURE ME TO TAKE OUT A SECONDARY MORTGAGE ON THE HOUSE!!!!

The drive to the top of the volcano took us about an hour & a half but along the way you pass through some beautiful parts of the island! From the blue jacaranda trees to the eucalyptus groves there is massive monstera & pothos growing everywhere, its worth the climb for the drive alone. The summit & crater of Haleakala sit within Haleakala National Park, upon the top there is an observatory as well as a small visitors center. We walked around the top before making a slight decent down to the trail that leads into the crater. The whole hike is about 11 miles in total but we decided to only hike down to a small ridge in the center, about a mile or so down.

Haleakala is one of only a few energy vortexes on this planet. In addition to its measurable energies it is also sacred to the Hawaiian people & I can absolutely understand why. The air feels different here, not just because of the altitude but it feels charged while at the same time being very soothing. Where the trail steepens at the ridge we stopped & did a brief meditation. The wind whipping through your hair, the soft brush of the red volcanic ash over your skin, it truly is a magical place & I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to spend even the smallest amount of time there.

Feeling energetically a new, with a caked on layer of red dust & definitely a slight sunburn in spite of copious amounts of sunblock, we ascended the slops back up to our Chevy Cruz & began the winding decent back down the sacred mountain, our next destination being the Highway to Hana.

Halfway down the mountain we realized that we had rapidly burnt through our supply of gas during the climb & were in need of a refuel if we were to make it around the rest of the island. Fortunately the small town of Kula exists. We found this adorable gas station & general store run by the cutest elderly couple. Their whole business was cash based & the store was truly a perfectionists nightmare. I loved it. Next door to these modest lots sat another, Grandma’s Coffee House. Feeling the post hike grumblies & a tad under caffeinated we stopped in for an Iced Coffee, a slice of Coconut/Banana Dream Cake, & a Coconut Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie!

Refueled we pressed on through the up country til we came upon MauiWine. We hadn’t planned to stop but the place was aesthetic AF & I’m a sucker for a tasting menu of any kind. We were told the current wait for the wine tasting was about an hour & since we had places to be & people to see, i.e. trying to make it through to the Seven Sacred Pools, we decided to grab a bottle instead & save it for consumption when we got back to Kihei. They had quite a few Pineapple & Lilokoi (Hawaiian Passionfruit) Wines but the somm on duty recommended a sparkling white grown on island called Ulupalakua Blanc de Blanc. With the bag secured the voyage continued.

If you’ve never driven the Highway to Hana it’s actually a fairly daunting experience, especially for those who would consider themselves not the greatest of drivers & especially in a Chevy Cruz…The drive is absolutely beautiful, there’s no denying that, & I was more than capable of driving it but majority of it consists of one-ish lane roads with no shoulder that are often times either not paved or are paved in the most peculiar of ways. It however cannot be overstated just how beautiful this drive is. You find yourself, over the course of around two hours or so, transitioning from biome to biome as you wrap around the island of Maui. You go from upcountry to lava fields, from lava fields to rocky herding lands, from the herd lands to grassy farms & then finally into sheer jungle. The amount of biodiversity & different landscape is astounding.

We got to the Seven Sacred Pools a little late, really only having about an hour to hike it before the National Park closed so unfortunately we only got to go up to the first of the seven major waterfall. The beauty of the drive, the sense of adventure, the falls themselves, & what was to follow really made the trek worth it though; it’s just for next time I’ll plan to be there a little earlier so I can see it all!

Slightly saddened that we couldn’t get a swim out of the day (you can’t swim in the pools anyway) we continued on down the road toward Hana. Along the way we rounded a corner & found a line of cars parked off to the side of the road with a ton of people just standing around. At the end of the line of cars sat a covered pickup adorned with palm fronds that was blasting reggae. In front of the car stood a family of four; mother, father, & their two boys both no older than four. They were standing in behind a wagon with a machete. In the wagon, & in the back of the pickup, were mounds upon mounds of fresh coconut. Remarking at how cute the roadside set up was we continued on past the stationary vehicles til we noticed several people on the road crossing the bridge ahead. As we cautiously passed them we noticed all of these people were walking up to or returning from a beautiful waterfall that sat just off the road to the right. I knew immediately we had to stop. Evan, on the other hand, was hesitant but I veto’d his apprehension & we turned around.

I quickly parked the car, grabbed my swimming suit & my GoPro, & we too headed over the bridge to the falls. The path down to them was an easy decent freshly paved with mud from the frequent traffic of the dampened returning from their swim. Down the garnished path of giant pothos & slick black lava rock we found a nook to store our towels, clothes, & phones & slipped into the mirky pool the sat below. The water was frigid, but oh so relaxing after a long day spent sweating in the blazing sun & humid jungle. We found our way across the pool to a small cave tucked away at the base of the falls & sat there watching the water rain down from above. We were then met with the sounds of horns blaring. Not sure if they were from park rangers or a flash flood warning we shot out of the water & quickly gathered up our belongings before making our way back to the car. We were met on the bridge by one of the National Park rangers who lovingly asked how the water was & said she herself would have stopped if she didn’t have to be elsewhere.

Returning by way of the family selling coconuts I paused to ask them how much each of their drupes were selling for. I was told $10 cash which I happily paid & they hacked me open a fresh coconut. The water within was sweet & refreshing & they explained that they were continuing a tradition passed down from a gent who used to sit by the falls & weave palm frond hats, a shrine to whom sat across from where their vehicle sat. I thanked them for the coconut & we continued down the road.

From the park ranger at Seven Sacred Pools we got the recommendation to stop at I Lava Tacos. I Lava Tacos sat inside a large community of other food trucks but they were the only one open at the time of our arrival. We ordered the freshest Fish Tacos I’ve ever consumed, the most amazing Guava Wood Smoked Marlin Dip, & a Carne Asada Tacos. Truly breathtaking food! The owner, Justis Andrada, was such a cool guy & was more than happy to show off his amazing culinary prowess!

With full bellies, warmed hearts, & in the fading light of the sun we continued our way around the island back home to Kihei.

I think if I have one regret for the entirely of this trip it’s that we didn’t spend more time in Hana, it seems like a remarkable place full of lively people & incredible culture. I’m also sad we missed the views on the east coast of the island in the sun’s absence but I’m sure we’ll be back soon to take them in!

END DAY TWO

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I’m more than excited to fill you in on more of our Maui adventures but it’ll have to wait til next week when we’ll get to talk Scuba amongst other things!!!

Until next week,

C

Blog: But Like...Bro, Where Have You Been?

Hi!

Did you miss me? I sure hope you did haha.

Soooooo, I’m going to cut right to the chase on this one, make it a little easier on all of us. Rip off the figurative bandage….all of this sounds very dramatic, it’s really not. I’ve been two places. I’m going to start with the second primarily because it was definitely the more fun of the two by a million & a half miles. As I’m sure many of you saw all over my social media accounts, I was in Maui! Yes, it was as amazing & yes, I’m ready to sell everything & move there tomorrow. On the other hand, the first place that I was……not so fun. I was sick, like “hacking up my lungs in bed for two weeks straight” sick. Like “completely lost my voice, barely slept cuz I was coughing all night” sick. Like “had to go back to the doctor a week after my initial diagnosis to get a new diagnosis” sick. Like…well…you get the point…

I will spare you the gruesome details regarding the color, shade, volume, & consistency of the gunk I was having to evacuate from my lungs as well as the lengthy states of lethargy it induced & instead will leave the “sickness” portion of this blog at this. We still have no idea the root cause of my phlegmy ailment, however it did appear to be bacterial, opposite of the initial diagnosis I received from doctor #1. They ended up treating me with doxycycline, an antibiotic sometimes used to treat bronchitis, malaria, & other more deeply set, non-sinus, bacterial infections. And while I am better, immensely so in fact, I still am in recovery mode for it, especially where my voice is concerned.

On the other glorious, beautiful, & immaculate hand was Maui. I don’t want to say too much about Maui here & now, simply because I’m saving it for later blogs, there’s a lot to tell there! So for this section of the blog I’m going to leave it at the following. To all the wonderful folks I met along the way this last week, thank you for making my trip such a vibrant & comforting experience. I am so happy to have met each & every one of you & for the often lengthy gestures of hospitality you each showed me in your own unique ways. You truly made me feel right at home.

I know this blog post isn’t as long winded as I normally am; I didn’t anticipate it being so, especially since I got back into town Thursday night, late. I just wanted to come on here to give you all a little information into my sudden disappearance & tell you that moving forward for the foreseeable future, blogs are back! Next week’s will definitely be about Maui, the following may also be. It’ll be full of pictures & videos & stories & all the wonderful things our modern brains crave, so stay tuned for that! In the interim, I look forward to interacting with you all over socials & hope you know just how excited I am to share my magical experiences with you all!

I hope you have the greatest of weeks!

-C

Blog: Coincidence?! I Think Not!!

…Let’s start here

Coincidences. Let’s talk about them. I’ve been thinking more & more about them lately, partially because they keep popping up in my life. Which is itself a coincidence. Or is it? You see the more coincidences pop up the more I think I’m beginning to believe in them less & less.

A dear friend of mine is a very successful life coach. He, in his years, has met many a successful individual & we were once talking about this very topic together. The reason we were discussing the topic was because we had met one another by coincidence. We happened to both be in a place we were seldom in, at a time we were seldom there at. He has since become friends with my friends & I with his! Anyway, back to the topic at hand. One of the people this friend has met in their life freely offered up the key to his thriving success. It’s one rule & it’s a very simple one.

There is no such thing as a coincidence.

This man’s philosophy in life & the thing in which he owes his success abides by that one simple rule. When met with something he would normally deem a coincidence he takes it as a sign & follows the coincidence to its natural completion.

This discussion took place between my mate & I years ago & for whatever reason….call it coincidence, it’s been dancing around in my head for the last few weeks. So I decided to lean into it! The crazy thing is, the more of these little anomalies occur in my life, the more I follow them, the more I believe in them as more than just a passing “huh” moment, the more of them seem to pop up in my day to day life. Usually the things that lead me to these moments are a pull I feel from within whether it’s text this person or go to this place or post that thing it always leads me further down the rabbit hole. The odd part of this whole experience is that I’ve started not only to lean into them but to believe that they will occur. I have gained a newfound faith in the reoccurring bizarre moments that make everything seem to click together.

So clearly I’m being contradictory to what I’ve stated above when I said the more coincidences happen the less I believe in them but with that statement I am speaking specifically to the exceptional nature of coincidences themselves. I’ve begun to believe less in coincidences & begun believing more in them being part of the natural flow of life.

I think a coincidence is merely a sign, a little nudge from God or the universe or whatever belief system you subscribe to that you’re headed in the right direction, that the path you’re following, the path laid out before you is the correct one. Clearly, the friend of a friend I mentioned above would agree with that. You see when we try to resist our lives & resist the things coming to us along our path we find the more the path will urge us back to it. Think of it like a rubber band, your fate, your destiny, your whatever awaits on one side of it where you are on the other end. The more you try to pull away, to divert your course, the more resistance you’ll be met with. If you go with the flow & lean into these God given opportunities you’ll face less resistance & have more & more, let’s call them coincidences, come your way. You’ll be living in the un-stretched rubber band free to move around without pull back.

We’re all looking for signs, screaming for them usually. But I promise you they’ll never show themselves in abrasive ways, that’s not how these things are communicated. Only in the silence, in the observation, in the instinct will you find your signs. Quiet your mind, trust yourself, trust the voice inside you leading you forward, it’s there for a reason. Coincidences are your signs from the divine. They’re the things you’ve been begging to have reward your faith. So don’t ignore them.

Blog: The 28 Lessons I Learned From My 28th Year (Deep Dive)

The 28 Lessons I Learned From My 28th Year

(In No Particular Order)

-We’re all a whole lot more connected than we think.

I don’t entirely know how I mean this. When I went through & wrote each of these this was the last one I did simply because I don’t know how entirely to put it into words, but let me try. I think from a spiritual standpoint this is true; we’re all brothers & sisters but I also mean from a ecological stand point. The decisions that are often made to cut cost or make a profit end up not only harming the earth or the integrity of a business or relationship but they often also do damage to other human beings whether the effects are immediate or take their sweet time showing up. We are all linked from an energy standpoint too I guess. We’re all made of stardust. We all contain matter from the beginning of the universe & we all contain matter & energy that has been transferred from something else to us. By the food we eat, the air we breathe, etc, we are all sharing the same finite matter.

-It’s okay to let go of hope for an apology you may never receive. (See Blog)

Not going to go that deep into this one simply because I wrote a whole blog post about it. What I will add is if you’re holding out hope for the apology you’re probably not going to receive then you’re keeping energy, both physical & mental, you’re not fully living in the present moment. You’re also carrying around a lot of heavy feelings that burden you for no reason.

-A lot of the world’s problems could be solved with a little less selfishness.

Climate change, poverty, slavery, they’re all linked in the fact that they require someone to give something up to solve them & often times that something doesn’t require a massive change in their life. Take COVID for example. Countries that implemented mask mandates & hard lockdowns didn’t suffer nearly as badly as the US did, has, & continues to do. Some countries are even completely out of the COVID muck & are living maskless, normal lives. But of course it “infringed on people’s civil rights” to mandate masks or to require people to stay home & thus we are still in the midst of it. Not to mention the aspect of mask wearing that literally could save someone else life but you know, screw other people as long as I can not have a little piece of cloth over my face.

-You’ll never have the answers to everything & there’s beauty in that.

We have many religions in this world that tote this same idea. Some better than others, but the general concept is still there. We as humans always want to know why everything around us happens & the more we discover the more questions we have. I think when you take things as they are & leave a little room for the divine it creates space for majesty. After all, only about .00000001% of matter is observable to the naked eye. What happens in the other 99.99999999%?

-Money is a resource, it carries no charge or intent.

I think so many of us are taught growing up that money is the root of all evil, that it’s only good for corrupting & only obtained & sought after by the greedy. I couldn’t disagree more. Do I think money is saintly? No. Money, a lot like water is a resource & an abundant one at that; it is meant to me spent, earned, traded, used, etc. When you lose the emotional value you’ve invested into it suddenly the stress of not having enough of it fades away. There are always ways to make money, always way to alleviate the burdens of desire for it & I think some of the most successful people in the world would agree with that. I’d point you to a friend of mine’s book, “Rich As F*ck” by Amanda Francis, she covers this a lot better than I ever could!

-Held anger, resentment, or disappointment fester & manifests physically.

There’s a true story in a book I’ve been reading (this is the prologue to the book, not the whole thing) about a woman who's husband takes his own life & leaves her to tend their two children & home, along with her career in neuroscience on her own. He didn’t leave a note, didn’t even try to make up an excuse or a lie about where he was going. He just walked out the door. The woman harbored feelings of resentment, anger, frustration, hopelessness, grief, etc. & within six months of her husbands death she was unable to walk. Her problems continued when she developed ulcers in her mouth, her hair started falling out, she stopped being able to produce saliva, & doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. The woman began therapy, began meditating, began to take back her own life & dismissed the dark, heavy feelings she’d held onto for so long. In addition to all of this she was given a new hope for life, started focusing on the small things around her that brought her joy. Within a year she was walking again, another six months later the ulcers cleared up, another year later her body started producing saliva again. There are countless stories like this where people are forced to carry heavy burdens on their heart or mind & develop illnesses directly correlated to what they’re holding onto.

-You are enough just as you are in this moment.

This one is simple. To quote Amanda Francis “you are worthy because you are.” You are made in the image of God, all of us. If that’s the case then there’s something divine about each of us, a divine spark. You are worthy of love, worthy of your dreams, worthy of happiness not because of something you did but simply because you are. Believe that!

-Paint your nails, wear the dress, be authentically you. (See Blog)

Once again, see blog haha. Life is far too short to live worried about what other people think of you. Be whoever the hell you want to be, if it brings you happiness live in that happiness. You are not responsible for someone else’s, only your own, so live bolding & unapologetically authentic to the ghost that occupies your shell! Adorn your earthly home however you see fit!

-Working out your mind is just as, if not more important, than working out your body.

As we age the neuroplasticity of our brain begins to fade away. We begin to form nerve clusters that help us to navigate day to day life on autopilot. Skills that we had to learn become second nature to us; driving becomes easy, cutting up veggies gets done in seconds instead of minutes, we easily sew or knit or whatever it is in life you do that’s second nature to you. In the same way we form these clusters of neurons for skills we also form them or memory & thus these things occupy our mind & make it harder for us to form new clusters in our brain. But modern research has actually shown us that our neuroplasticity never in fact goes away, unless you have a degeneration of one form or another. In fact, our brain can be reworked & improved upon daily! This comes from reading & learning but it also comes with being present, not dwelling on the memories you have or not allowing the things in your life to become automatic. By being present, realigning your life & your mind, mostly through conscious meditation, we are able to continue the neuroplasticity of our adolescence into our adult life & further on still. Working out your mind keeps you young & spry, it keeps you open to new ideas & experiences, & it doesn’t limit you to routine.

-We don’t give ourselves nearly enough grace.

I’m pretty good at grace when it comes to other people, I feel. I often forgive a little too easily or have more patience than I feel most would especially in a service setting. So, why don’t I extend those same courtesies to myself? Why am I so much harder on myself than I am to other people? Is it because I feel in control of myself? Is it because my opinion is the only opinion of myself that truly matters? In a sense, probably “yes” to all of those. We expect others to extend grace to us & we ourselves extend grace outwards but seldom is it reflected back within ourselves.

-Life is meant to be spent living, not sat at a desk.

I don’t know if I’m the only one but the idea of a 9 to 5, a job spent in a cubicle or sat at a desk sounds like a death sentence. It sounds to me like a one way ticket to depression town for me & that’s something I try to avidly avoid. We as humans crave novelty, it’s what makes us feel alive & y’all, that ain’t it.

-If it takes 60 seconds or less do it immediately.

This is more of a productivity thing than anything, if a task you need to accomplish in your day will take 60 seconds or less, do it immediately! It’ll be done & won’t continues cluttering up your mental to-do list.

-You don’t need a special occasion to treat yourself or those around you.

Why do you need a special occasion to do the things you want to do, to have the things you want to have, to dote upon those you care about? Why does it have to be your birthday for you to get a cake or to indulge in a nice meal? Why does it have to be a holiday for you to celebrate life with your friends & family? I understand if you take about the sparsity of it that it may devalue the meaning or feeling but wouldn’t we all love for it to feel like it’s our birthday a little more often than just once a year?

-Stop calling them cheat meals, it promotes shame.

This relates a little into my rant about the 75 hard challenge but for the love of holy God above, stop calling them cheat meal. Stop shaming yourself for eating the things you want. I understand indulgences aren’t meant to be a daily occurrence but why punish yourself for eating what you crave? Instead of viewing them as a cheat, view them as a reward for all the hard work you’ve put in!

-Never feel bad or guilty for spending money on the things or the people you love.

See above, money is a resource. Just because someone doesn’t understand something you love doesn’t mean you should love it any less. I’m not saying constantly blow your bank roll but just as you are worthy simply because you are, you are worthy of having the things you want out of life simply because you are. Money comes & goes, experiences are sacred.

-Taking the time to clear your mind of the BS on a day to day basis does wonders for your creativity & your mental health.

Whether this takes the shape of meditation or journaling I highly recommend it. We let our brains get so fogged up with the things that really don’t matter or the feelings that we can’t do anything to change in that moment. Taking the time to simply clear the mental air, to note the things occupying your headspace, frees up so much cognitive room.

-If you wouldn't stand up for yourself why would you expect someone else to?

This one I’m still a bit iffy on. What I specifically mean by this has to relate to those times in which something happens & you think “huh, why didn’t then stand up for me?” When the real question should be “why didn’t I stand up for myself?” Now, naturally, this doesn’t apply to those instances in which you stand up for yourself & the situation continues to deteriorate & the people around you do nothing. I’m talking about owning who you are & being confident in that & knowing your worth & what is a respectful & appropriate way in which you should be treated.

-You never know who needs a bit of daily encouragement or kindness; have patience & be compassionate.

I try to practice this one daily, especially to randos I interact with in public. These can be as simple as complimenting a barista’s pin or genuinely asking someone you’re interacting with how their day was, taking a wholehearted momentary interested in the life of a stranger. This doesn’t just apply to strangers of course, I encourage you to randomly text your friends & tell them how beautiful they are or how much you appreciate them. You never know who is having a hard day, who is doubting themself, who is struggling. Be kind & spread love everywhere you go, even at the Target checkout.

-You will never know the degree to which someone has or has not suffered in their life or which engrained systems have suppressed them. Stop telling them they’re wrong for feeling the way they do.

The reason this popped into my head mostly has to do with the racial equality movements of the last year. So often I see people trying to excuse the experience of someone else simply because that isn’t their lived experience. “They should just work harder, they shouldn’t have worn that/they were asking for it, they have the same opportunities as me,” these are all things that diminish someone else’s lived experience & the pain that experience has caused them. Stop being a selfish asshole & think of someone else for a change! This applies politically as well…naturally.

-The eyes are truly the windows to the soul, masks proved that.

For those that actually spent the last year wearing face masks it’s become overly apparent just how much you can tell about a person simply by looking into their eyes. You can often see their joy, their exhaustion, their wonder, their pain simply by observing the little space above their nose & blow their brow. It’s truly extraordinary just how much we humans wear our heart, not on our sleeve, but behind our eyes.

-We live in a system that puts profits over people…but you knew that.

Nikola Tesla was nearing his 50th birthday when he had a breakthrough around energy. He was on the verge of discovering a limitless, clean source of energy. So what happened? Nik pitched this idea to his backers, capitalists, & all of them pulled their funding. Not because the idea wasn’t sound, but because it would infringe upon their profits. The same goes for the modern food/medical systems in the states. So many things are deregulated or legal for human consumption that would otherwise be outlawed. Why? Because we live in a for profit healthcare system. If you keep people sick & needing medical, business will always be booming.

-Conventional retirement sounds like a nightmare, quarantine proves that.

The idea of sitting around, doing nothing sounds horrible to me. The idea of my daily routine becoming so predictably mundane sounds like Hell. I’m not saying retiring is a bad thing, but the slow pace retirement we’re often presented with feels like murder.

-The more you give, the more you receive in all aspects of your life, but be sure to take care of yourself too.

Being a helpful person if very rewarding, especially when it comes with no ties or catches, but if you’re sacrificing your health & wellness to save someone else’s over & over again you’re going to crash & burn. Being a giving person is a beautiful thing but don’t give all of your energy & light away! Don’t forget you’re worthy of it too!

-If you are someone in a position of power; socially, financially, from a cooperate standpoint, etc, it is your responsibly to stand up & speak up for those farther down the ladder than you.

Hi, music industry, looking at you! I have so many friend, colleagues, whatever what all share so many of the same stories. One of the people we know ends up “making it” & all of the sudden they’re a ghost. Of course they fake niceties to you at the supermarket & ask to hear what you’re working on but how many of them actually help the next people in line? This isn’t just the music biz either, there are so many instances I’ve seen of people too selfish or self absorbed in the “me, me, me” of it all they leave other deserving people behind or they vote in favor of themselves instead of the less fortunate or they trample all over people on their way up the ladder. Don’t be like those people, I’ll do my best not to be.

-Your home is meant to be personal, fill it with the things you love & the things that feel like you.

Woof, we spent a lot of time in our homes over the span of 2020 & boy did my home begin to not feel like my own. I was never one to really invest in decor, to put stock in the little kitchity things that fulled the nooks & crannies of my dwelling but the longer I stuck tether to this abode, the more I feel passionately that it should reflect me as a person. The more I personalize my house with quirky things that bring me little sparks of joy the more at home I feel & in turn the more comfortable with myself I become. Having an outward expression of what lies beneath helps to solidify the feeling of self.

-Extend joy & love outwards, always, but for God’s sake extend it back to yourself as well.

Is there a greater emotion than joy? Is there a greater feeling than love? No. I’ll answer for you & the answer is no. People often reflect back when they’re presented so why not look for a little bit of love to be sent your way. I am someone who has a very difficult time with self love, I was raised in a world where pride was the greatest sin one could commit & where self betterment was contrary to God. I struggle desperately to show myself love & that also stems from me feeling like no one could possibly love the person that I am underneath. Fortunately I’m working on that & you should too but the best way to receive love & joy is to give it!

-We give far too much of our energy to the past (grievances, trauma, etc) & the future (worry, anxieties, anticipation) never living in the moment & being present.

I mentioned this a little above, but how can you expect to be present when you’re constantly worried about the future or constantly stuck reliving the past? We get into these patterns of life where we do the same old things over & over always anxious over the future when in reality we’ve already written it. How can you expect your future to change when there’s no differential in your present? Thats the same as the definition of insanity; doing the same thing over & over again & expecting a different result.

-Not enough people read or actively do things to expand their minds anymore.

The number of people I know that actively read has got to be around 10% at max. No joke. No one reads anymore & those that do often don’t read about anything new. The read something in the same genre or topic as they always do. They read strictly non-fiction or fiction. They limit their world view to whatever they’ve deemed legible & don’t try to expand outwards from there. In a similar vein to many people go to the same vacation spots, the same restaurants, do the same things, hang out with the same people, etc. We grow & adapt from changing situations. It also does wonders for your ability to empathize which we are severely lack in.

Blog: The 28 Lessons I Learned From My 28th Year (List)

The 28 Lessons I Learned From My 28th Year

(In No Particular Order)

-We’re all a whole lot more connected than we think.

-It’s okay to let go of hope for an apology you may never receive. (See Blog)

-A lot of the world’s problems could be solved with a little less selfishness.

-You’ll never have the answers to everything & there’s beauty in that.

-Money is a resource, it carries no charge or intent.

-Held anger, resentment, or disappointment fester & manifests physically.

-You are enough just as you are in this moment.

-Paint your nails, wear the dress, be authentically you. (See Blog)

-Working out your mind is just as, if not more important, than working out your body.

-We don’t give ourselves nearly enough grace.

-Life is meant to be spent living, not sat at a desk.

-If it takes 60 seconds or less do it immediately.

-You don’t need a special occasion to treat yourself or those around you.

-Stop calling them cheat meals, it promotes shame.

-Never feel bad or guilty for spending money on the things or the people you love.

-Taking the time to clear your mind of the BS on a day to day basis does wonders for your creativity & your mental health.

-If you wouldn't stand up for yourself why would you expect someone else to?

-You never know who needs a bit of daily encouragement or kindness; have patience & be compassionate.

-You will never know the degree to which someone has or has not suffered in their life or which engrained systems have suppressed them. Stop telling them they’re wrong for feeling the way they do.

-The eyes are truly the windows to the soul, masks proved that.

-We live in a system that puts profits over people…but you knew that.

-Conventional retirement sounds like a nightmare, quarantine proves that.

-The more you give, the more you receive in all aspects of your life, but be sure to take care of yourself too.

-If you are someone in a position of power; socially, financially, from a cooperate standpoint, etc, it is your responsibly to stand up & speak up for those farther down the ladder than you.

-Your home is meant to be personal, fill it with the things you love & the things that feel like you.

-Extend joy & love outwards, always, but for God’s sake extend it back to yourself as well.

-We give far too much of our energy to the past (grievances, trauma, etc) & the future (worry, anxieties, anticipation) never living in the moment & being present.

-Not enough people read or actively do things to expand their minds anymore.

Blog: Yeah, I Guess I'm A Red State Blueneck.

Earlier this week the social media platform Tik Tok shot another independent artist’s song up the charts premiering it at #1 in all of country music & #4 in all music charts on iTunes. This time, however, I had the privilege of knowing one of the writers, Nell Maynard. Nell is a frequent co-writer & friend of mine & I honestly couldn’t be happier for her & this major win! The song in question is called “Blueneck” performed by Chris Housman, written by Housman, Maynard, & Tommy Kratzert, & produced by Kratzert & Matt Geroux. If you haven’t hear it I’ll attach it below, definitely give it a listen:

Music video for Chris Housman's new country song "Blueneck" (2021). Listen to the TikTok star his latest original song here!https://www.tiktok.com/@chrishous...

The song, if you didn’t click the above link, details what it’s like being a liberal redneck, or as the term has been coined here, a blueneck & I think its success out the gate is no accident. You see there are a lot of us in this world & in this industry who love country music but don’t align with the often bigoted stereotype that comes along with it. I think when you tell someone you work, listen to, perform, or write country music there’s a certain assumption that comes up in their mind around your political beliefs or the way you view human rights issues when for the most part, especially amongst the younger country music industry itself, that narrative is false. We as liberal fans & creators of the genre have been mostly excluded from the narrative of country music in favor of party songs about trucks & beer or loud boasting right leaning artists so much so that the stigma remains regarding country music but dear lord is this a much needed breath of fresh air.

I grew up loving country music of the late 90s, 00s, & 10s (up to a point) where I found grounding & representation in the stories being told. At a certain point, that shifted. We went from heartbreak ballads & story songs to just straight up Yee Yee or songs without purpose. I often find it ironic when ‘country purists” say pop country is killing country music when in reality pop country is one of the few forms of country that is maintaining the heart of country music, which boils doing to telling an honest story. Within the last year especially it seems the gates of relatable storytelling are once again being blown wide open in favor of demographics that are typically not represented in country.

I think it is worth noting that Housman is an out, gay country artist (as is Nell). Hailing from Kansas, much like myself, Chris embodies the country lifestyle & legacy & is more than worthy of inclusion in this genre. However, I fear that much like Mickey Guyton, Chris will face adversity simply for being who he is. As much as it pains me to admit, country still has a lot of gate keepers in the industry & in the fan base lest be forget the attempted “cancellation” of Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush.” Housman’s story is one that so many living in rural America face, we’re often forced to blend in or fake who we are as a survival tactic or we’re forced to alter parts of ourselves simply to fit in. That’s precisely why this song debuted at #1. This song blew up because so many people out there, like myself, like Chris, like Nell, feel exactly like this song’s album cover; we are little dots of blue swimming in a sea of red.

Think I’m even the slightest bit wrong? Go read the comment section on the link I inserted. Go to Chris’s Tik Tok & read the comments on the video he posted for the song. Go look at his instagram story. There is an overwhelming amount of people who didn’t know how badly they needed this song to validate who they are, to show them that they’re not wrong, that they’re just as valid in country music as their redneck counterparts. Country music is changing, quickly. This is evidence & a half of that, just like Guyton’s “Black Like Me” or Maren’s “Better Than We Found It” show. I for one can’t wait to see the direction it’s heading & hope to be a active part of the change as well! Until then I guess I’m a red state blueneck.

Congrats to all involved in this song! I’ll post the lyrics below so you all can give them a read!

Grew up with cornfields in every direction That's where I learned all of my lessons About life and living without fences In the land of the free to have opinions If you gotta job, you oughta make a living George Straight or George Gay, there's no difference People need help and I think that we should listen Three chords and my truth is I'm a good ole boy with a bleeding heart Just a homegrown hick with a hybrid car I think y'all means all and I know we all Just wanna know that we belong There's a lot more color in the mix Whеn you're loud and proud out in the sticks I am what I am, you get what you gеt Yeah, I guess I'm a red state Blueneck My American dream is wide open spaces Plenty of room for us all to be safe in Yeah, that's a future that I'm chasing So I'm gonna go make it I'm a good ole boy with a bleeding heart Just a homegrown hick with a hybrid car I think y'all means all and I know we all Just wanna know that we belong There's a lot more color in the mix When you're loud and proud out in the sticks I am what I am, you get what you get Yeah, I guess I'm a red state Blueneck Yeah, I'm a red state Blueneck Can a country kid wanna see the glass ceiling shatter? Wanna see a world where Black Lives Matter Liberty and Justice for just some of us Ain't how the heartland brought me up I'm a good ole boy with a bleeding heart Just a homegrown hick with a hybrid car I think y'all means all and I know we all Just wanna know that we belong There's a lot more color in the mix When you're loud and proud out in the sticks I am what I am, you get what you get Yeah, I guess I'm a red state Blueneck Yeah, I'm a red state Blueneck Yeah, I'm a red state Blueneck

Blog: *Insert Number* Hard Challenge

I’m not sure if any of you have heard of the 75 hard challenge, it was a daily challenge proposed by Andy Fricella. It isn’t exactly a diet plan or a fitness plan, though that is a part of it, instead it is branded as a test of mental fortitude. The rules of the challenge are as follows.

• Follow one diet plan of your choosing (no alcohol & no cheat meals allowed)

• Two 45 daily workouts (one must be outdoors)

• Take one daily progress picture

• Read ten pages of a non-fiction self improvement book per day

• Take a daily 5 minute cold shower

• Intake one gallon of water per day

While I won’t go into the logistics of why I don’t think the 75 hard or for that matter Whole 30 lead to positive life changes or permanent ones, I will admit the challenge has its merits.

A few friends of mine have taken the challenge & completed it in its entirety & while I’m sure most would attest that they don’t regret the experience it’s not something they’re actively looking to undertake again. I aimed to create it in a better form, in a manner that personalizes the experience for me while creating lifestyle change that I could use moving forward.

As many of you can probably tell from a lot of my previous blogs I eat paleo quite often, following more of the primal side of the diet. One of the beauties of paleo/primal is that it has room for forgiveness asking you to partake in it 80-85% of the time instead of forever making you long for the foods you love but can no longer consume. Paleo also has the benefit of allowing some alcohols but those derived from paleo approved sources which for a wine lover like me is a major win. My modification of the 75 hard challenge follows the diet of my choice, paleo, with the inclusion of two cheat meals & the occasional bottle of wine or cocktail.

The next aspect of the challenge is the physical side of it. 45 minutes, twice a day. An hour & a half total. Every. Single. Day. Y’all that’s just downright unhealthy. Your body needs rest, it needs time to heal. I know training hard leads to amazing results but there has to be a conscious effort into maintaining the body involved as well. My modification; seven & a half to eight hours of exercise per week. It allows you to workout hard for longer amounts of time while still allowing yourself & your body to rest periodically, to take a day off. The 75 hard challenge would tell us that resting would require us to restart the challenge, I would rather you come out the other side a healthy, happy human.

I’m just going to outright tell you I don’t do the progress pics. I think looking for progress day to day to day minimizes the growth you’re actually achieving. It’s also an easy way to get discouraged. Not looking different enough from the day before or the week before is what leads so many into self deprecating habits or toxic mindsets. Your body fluctuates 5-10 pounds a week anyway in addition to the fact that working out is literally tearing down muscle to rebuild it. You’re going to look “more cut” & less so from day to day, documenting such doesn’t feel like a healthy way of viewing that.

I started this challenge with the thought of making the reading 10 pages of anything. I think I’m sticking to that. We as humans don’t read enough. I would say out of the people I know only about 5-10% of them actively read books. That’s sad. I think if a challenge incorporates reading in any form & gets people to actually read then it’s a win in my book (see what I did there?) Read what you’re passionate about, it doesn’t have to be the book that makes you realize you have too many attachments or that you have the ability to be superhuman or manifest money. Read what you love, it’ll improve your brain & open up your mind, screw the requirements.

Honestly, I didn’t know that the shower was part of the challenge. I may have to throw that in haha. I mean at the end of the day cold showers have a lot of very great health benefits! It raises your metabolism, it increases your circulations, it boosts immune function, it reduces muscle soreness, & the list goes on & on. I know it may not be for everyone but I think I’ll actually incorporate it slowly, dropping the temperature over the duration of the shower instead of taking the polar plunge every single day.

A daily gallon of water is a great goal to strive for! Sometimes though a gallon of water can be too much or even too little depending on how much you weigh. I think the typical rule of thumb is that you’re supposed to drink half your body weigh in ounces but you also have to be careful not to dilute yourself. Adding a little sodium to your first glass can help to prevent that or even drinking something else with a little bit of electrolytes will do the trick!

In addition to these changes I’ve taken it upon myself to add in two more daily challenges.

• Something Creative/Journeling

• Meditation

Your something creative can be anything. It can be painting, writing, designing, playing an instrument, creating a floral arrangement, trying/coming up with a new recipe, just something that engages that left hemisphere of your brain. I often find myself getting frustrated as a songwriter because I can’t tap into my creativity when I want to. This is a good way to flex that mental muscle & establish the neuroplasticity to make your creativity an easy asset to call upon. I also count journaling under this daily task. I think journaling can take a few very helpful forms & often helps clear away the fog hiding all of your great ideas from you. Just journaling about your day, about what’s weighing on your mind or heart, about emotional baggage you’re still holding onto can make all the difference. Likewise writing poetry or a short story helps to get the juices flowing & stretch your creative neural pathways.

The last addition is meditation. Much like reading I think too few people actively practice meditation. Meditation is not just some mystic Buddhist art it is a way of centering yourself. Of coming back to the now & helping to experience your life as it happens. Too often we’re anxious about the unknown future or depressed about the past that way or the way things have change, meditation’s goal is to recenter you in time & in yourself. It is the inner work that we all should be doing. It is the quieting of the mind that allows our problems & areas of weakness to rise up so that we may look at them in a new light, dissect & transform them so that we can let the past, the future, the whatever go & simply be. I have found in the last two weeks of daily meditation that my joy & energy are elevated, my anxiety & depression have almost faded completely, & I am an all around more fun person to be around. If meditation is a new experience to you I highly recommend Headspace on Netflix, they also have an app!

The final step of my “…whatever” hard challenge is forgiveness. This is the key. Forgiveness. There are going to be days where accomplishing all of these things is impossible. There are going to be weeks you don’t meet you exercise goal or don’t read enough & y’all, that’s okay. Really. The difference is that you forgive, let it go, & try to do better the next day or the next week because that’s how we grow. That’s how we become better, not by hard restriction & rule, but by freedom & grace. I don’t want this life style change to be something I do for a month & a half then abandon, I want lasting change. I know, much like the 75 hard challenge isn’t for me, that this might not be for you & you may need to make your own modifications to it, but if you want to change your life for the better there are healthy ways to do it. Do what works for you, what makes you feel fulfilled, what makes you happy, healthy & expands your brain. Hold yourself accountable; set reminders on your phone, set a calendar on your fridge, try it with a friend or loved one. Do something that keeps you on track & keeps you motivated. I can honestly say in the week or two I’ve been doing this my life is improved; I’m sleeping better, I have so much more energy, so much clearer skin, my chronic allergies are hardly noticeable to me. I feel great & I want you to as well. So take the challenge! Make up your own, make it practical, & make your life as you want it to be because you deserve it!

Much Love,

C

Blog: A Year Of COVID & The Lesson Within

Well. Here we are. A year later & still, we’re here…well, at least many of us are.

I was talking with my friend Lindsay the other day & she brought up a time during the first two weeks of quarantine in which I offhandedly made a comment something to the effect of making plans for when life goes back to normal in just a couple of weeks, little did I know just how wrong I was. I guess hindsight is 20/20 but man, has it been a year.

I entered quarantine on March 12th, 2020 as many of us did, fully expecting life to be back to normal by April. I couldn’t have imagined a year later finally, just now, getting glimpses of the light at the end of this miserable, virus laced tunnel. I guess that’s a clear sign that fortune telling isn’t my calling.

Pre-quarantine I’d planned out my year right up until about midsummer. I was planning to fly to Barcelona in order to premiere “Obliterated” with Hektor Mass, I was in the studio, in the middle of recording “When He Was Me,” & had planned a post-Stagecouch radio tour for the UK in late April/Early May. Needless to say none of these things ended up happening. I’ll be honest though, I held out hope for those last two, especially in the early days, but blatant government mismanagement quickly put an end to those plans. I really didn’t mind the first two weeks of this whole mess. It felt like a little vacation, a respite that the entire world was taking together, a massive global inhale. I think things changed around the time of my 28th birthday. April 16th.

I’ve always been of a mind that we as humans should celebrate the anniversary of our own births joyously; doing the things that make us happy despite exterior input or perceived extravagance. I tell my friends often to celebrate their birthdays by doing something they’d be thrilled to do alone & if others choose to join & be a part of that, great! If not, then your day is still your own & yours to celebrate however you see fit. I was incapable of doing what I wanted for mine this last year but fortunately I am surrounded by a lot of amazing people who threw me an incredible virtual birthday despite the circumstances. At the time I was doing daily “silver-linings,” essentially little videos I’d post on my instagram story that were meant to put a little bit of hope back into a wildly uncertain world. Eventually those faded out, not out of lack of desire to create them but more out of fatigue & in my mind, lack of visible hope.

This past year hit me hard. Luckily I have been fortunate enough not to have lost anyone near & dear to me as so many have but as someone who has struggled their entire adult life with depression, things really haven’t been easy. Where a lot of people were able to continue working virtually, I had been doing supplemental work in person, a job I could no longer do. In addition to that, the job I’m passionate about, music, came to a screeching halt. All the progress & momentum I felt I had made or was making felt like it’d been thrown out the window. On top of all of that I found myself in the high risk category for COVID, having spent the last year & a half dealing with respiratory issues so my options for work were limited, further so perpetuated by the surmounting unemployment crisis we’re facing in this country.

It’s hard to find inspiration as a songwriter in a life without novelty buried in the monotony of it all. It’s hard to get up every day to the same Groundhog’s Day hellscape & try to force inspiration & drive. Coasting becomes your default, simple tasks being to feel like unscalable mountains, & your life becomes a stagnant void where you always feel like you’re just sitting around waiting on your life to begin all the while aging. Harder still is watching how truly selfish some of your peers can be. So many continued life as if nothing was happening; people played shows, went to massive get togethers, went out, all while completely ignoring CDC guidelines that could have helped return life to normal for all of us long ago. Trust me when I say, those of us who have been doing out best day to day will remember who you are.

COVID has shown a light on just how much some member of our society just don’t give a shit about others. This was further magnified in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement that happened over the summer & the divisive at best November election season. We talk a lot about how much we care for those around us or practice religions where that is one of the core tenets but when it really comes down to it we have a massive shortage of empathy & compassion. For me the last year has proven that ten fold.

We have to be better. We have to see the struggling, the hurt, the disenfranchised, those without privilege, or those at high risk of whatever (not just COVID) & put our selfishness aside to truly help out “the least of these.” This pandemic & the last year have provided ample opportunity for that & we as a society have fallen short time & time again. Even within the last week & the surmounting hate against those in our asian communities, we have fallen short. It’s disheartening, it’s frustrating, & it’s down right infuriating. I hope we will do better. I hope on the other side of COVID-19 lies a brighter world & I guess in the end that’s what I’m holding out hope for. We have to be the change we want to see, the burden doesn’t fall on others. I choose to see the message that the divine has nailed into our heads all year long & accept the challenge. Will you do the same?

Blog: What Is Grief If Not Love Persevering?

Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m not here to spoil the ending of WandaVision for you all, nor am I here really to review the show either. In reality I wanted to talk about something very much outside of the show itself. If you haven’t been watching WandaVision, Disney+’s excellent show about Wanda Maximoff & her endless grief you’re seriously missing out, especially if you’re someone who claims to be a Marvel fan. I know a lot of us, myself included, weren’t exactly hype over the reality bending sitcom that the show initially presented itself as but boy was I wrong to feel as such. You see, the MCU aside, WandaVision paints a very interesting picture of how we as humans (or super humans) handle grief.

(MCU Post Avengers: Endgame Spoilers To Follow)

At the end of Avengers: Endgame we are left in the fallout of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes having to sacrifice a great deal to save the universe at large from Thanos & his plan to (successfully) wipe out half of all life in the universe. A study of grief & loss in it of itself especially the first act or so, Endgame concludes with the funeral of Tony Stark & the retirement of Captain America, the respective friends & families of whom are left to mourn on their own as they go their separate ways. Each of these groups of individuals have their own support systems in place to help their grief & consul them with the exception of Wanda who after losing her love, Vision, in Infinity War is left with no one. Truly no one. And there in lies the true tragedy of Wanda Maximoff.

Wanda is an outsider to the rest of the Avengers at the best of times. Entering the MCU as a follower of Ultron, Wanda reluctantly becomes an Avenger with a little talking up from Hawkeye before losing her brother, Pietro, in the ensuing battle. At this point in the timeline Wanda has known her fair share of grief. Having grown up in war torn Sakovia, Wanda & Pietro lost their parents to violence at an early age. Following the Age of Ultron Wanda is inducted into the Avengers & basically becomes the linchpin that the events of Civil War revolve around. She is tossed in the middle of a conflict by people who treat her as an outsider, as someone who doesn’t entirely belong. Only Vision, a fish out of water himself, seems to care to show Wanda genuine kindness & humanity.

Why do I tell you all of this? Why give you the MCU wiki page on Wanda for the purpose of discussing grief? Because perspective is important, as is recollection. If you’re an avid MCU watcher you’ve no doubt noticed Wanda being sequestered to being a side character throughout the films despite her overall importance to the plot of each film she is featured in. I think this is intentional. She is meant to feel alone, isolated, because that is what she is. Wanda is a tragic character destined for misunderstanding & that is why taking the time, as Marvel/Disney+ have done, to give her breathing character moments is so important & relatable.

Wanda’s grief is poignant to us because she is forced to save face & continue foraging through her life without taking the time to offload the accumulating grief & pain she is baring. She is forced to be strong, to be an Avenger because people are afraid & don’t know how to handle her emotions & her sadness. Wanda is forced to carry these things on her own until she cracks, until she can no longer hold it in any longer & has to find some way of coping with her sorrow in a manner most would deem unhealthy.

So often we do exactly this; we don’t make the time or have the energy or the support systems in place to allow ourselves to truly face the things the are weighing us down. We mask our pain, we bottle it up, we let the rot fester until it consumes us because we decide that’s easier on our peers than honesty. We don’t want to inconvenience people or come of as weak so instead we self destruct. This is beautiful illustrated in WandaVision. Wanda had no one left to turn to, no one left to hold her & consul her so she creates them. She fell down the rabbit hole into a fantasy that ended up doing harm to those who happened to be caught in her orbit simply by proximity.

Gah, there’s another statement to be said here about the ending of this series but I won’t spoil it, especially since we’re still within 24 hours of it having dropped.

We have to be more self aware, we have to give ourselves more grace & love. We have to recognize the signs that tell us to stop & grieve; to process the emotions & trauma we are going through because if we don’t, no one will. The world will just keep chugging onward piling on new experiences & fresher wounds that just stack on top of the ones we haven’t taken the time to heal until we can no longer take it & we break. We have to show ourselves a little of the love we’ve lost along the way because as Vision so beautifully stats, “what is grief if not love persevering?”

WandaVision is a beautiful look at the consequences of grief avoided. It sees the beauty in the sadness & illuminates pain in a way that is relatable to all. Give it a watch & don’t forget to check in on yourself from time to time.

Blog: Representation In Country Music

I’m not sure if you followed the news coming out of Nashville this past week but for those of you that may have missed it, something revolutionary happened on Wednesday. In a Time Magazine article that dropped around 10 AM Eastern on Wednesday TJ Osborne, of The Brothers Osborne, came out as gay making him the first openly gay major label country artist.

Here’s the article in question, it’s definitely worth the read:

This is a significant milestone in country music for a few reason not the least of these being that almost a decade & a half prior Shelly Fairchild, a Sony signed artist at the time, was dropped by her label because it got leaked to them that she was lesbian.

Shelly commented on Wednesday’s events in an instagram post here:

While I viewed mostly overwhelming support for TJ’s bravery from folks of all walks from around the internet I began to notice a few comments that sought to diminish the effects of truly what he had done. I’m sure a lot of these comments were well meaning but there were a large cluster of comments similar to the following:

“Who cares what he does behind doors, it doesn’t effect their music.”

or

“I’m straight! See, nobody cares. Why do we feel the need to announce this to the world.”

I think TJ himself diminishes the impact that his actions have had & how they will ripple throughout all of history going forward. He mentions in the article that part of the reason he felt he needed to make his sexuality public was that people might think it odd if he were to just show up at an awards show with a male date. His actions, however, cannot be overstated. What TJ has done is open doors for LGBTQ country artists that were previously sealed pretty tight simply because they didn’t fit the mold of “Straight, White, Cis Male.”

I’ll be the first to admit our genre of music has a historically conservative audience; hell I myself have battled with that in the past being a fairly liberal, all accepting human. It’s still hard to carve out a niché as an artist of color, it’s still hard to get “unique” sounds & stories to mainstream radio & labels, & it’s even still incredibly hard for female artists to make it in Nashville but this is progress is being made in the right direction. Country is not a genre limited to the white yokel, despite what stereotypes would say. Some of the biggest country fans I’ve ever met are people of color or members of the alphabet mafia & their stories deserve a platform to be shared as well. It’s clear Nashville is, at the very least, attempting to make steps in the right direction; embracing TJ & signing/promoting artists like Mickey Guyton, Jimmie Allen, & Willie Jones but there still seems to be some major resistance to change. For every black artist or female artist signed there seems to be five white male artists signed. It almost feels like the industry is trying to counter balance or compensate. And I will admit as a straight passing, cis, white male I’m a part of the problem, but I choose to be part of the solution.

This industry needs to be more open to change, more open to different stories being told because dear lord am I tired of the truck/beer/party songs. Country music deserves to be an ever evolving story told by a beautiful mélange of people from completely different walks of life instead of the same damn things over & over again. People are starved for representation in their media, they’re starving for someone who looks like them or has the same sexuality, gender identity, etc. to say that you can do this too, that this can be their dream as well. That their stories have value & are equally important to the culture at large. It deserves to appeal to a mass audience, not just the rural white American. Country music deserves to evolve just as the listener base has, it deserves to be a platform where everyone can tell their stories, not just the privileged. TJ’s openness & the acceptance of said openness is definitely a step in the right direction but we still have a long, long way to go. Representation matters. Openness matters. And the continued acceptance of both matters. We must continue to do better.

Blog: Reclaiming My Creativity & Reclaiming My Voice

I know, I know. I’m a day late on this one.

Apologies.

I, of late, have found myself bumping into limitation. Whether it’s limitation around the current state of the industry/the world, limitation around the things I think I are feasible, or limitation around when I feel talented or have a free flow of creativity; I keep finding myself hitting walls.

Now I’m quite certain a lot of these are limitations self imposed by my own mind, by my own subconscious because I had the man in the mirror telling me I wasn't enough. He would say that I wasn't rich enough, wasn’t connected enough, wasn’t related to the right people or that I couldn’t write good enough songs, couldn’t sing well enough, didn’t have the right charisma to find success in the music industry. And quite frankly that’s all a load of horse shit.

I began going into writes & going into studio sessions putting immense pressure on myself to “perform.” I thought I had to come up with the most cleaver lyrics, the greatest hooks, but every time I went to write I felt like the song I wanted to write was locked away from me on the other side of an invisible barrier. I felt I couldn’t access the parts of my brain I wanted & it became so insanely frustrating.

I will admit that part of my issue, specifically when it came to the pressure I was putting on myself around vocal performance came from being on the flip side of several months therapy for vocal cord dysfunction. I felt like I’d lost my voice, like every noise that came out of my throat was pure, stinking garbage because once again, comparison was the thief of my joy…a common theme in my life. So, much like Irma S. Rombauer had to do for cooking, I had to rediscover the joy of singing.

What had once been a liberating platform for which I could openly express emotion & passion had become the thing I dreaded most. I hated the sound of my voice on recording, I hate the way I thought I sounded in a mic, so I barely sang for about a year because doing so filled me with nothing but shame, defeat, & terror.

I honestly have two things to thank for my vocal recovery, outside of therapy. Greg Breal, a dear friend of mine who became my vocal coach & musical theater. It’s odd, rediscovering something, especially when that something has been such a pivotal point in your life but it’s really a lot like having coffee with an old friend; the foundation, love, & admiration are there but you’re seeing it all in a new light, through a different lens, & with new, completely separate life experiences under your belt.

I started singing because of music theater. I started my music career on a stage telling stories through music. That’s what led me to country music, a genre that, used to at least, be about telling stories through music. The reason music theater became my beacon once again was due to COVID. I found myself, as many of us did, trying to fill the time we had while trapped inside, so I began rewatching musicals. (You can probably thank Hamilton for that desire.) Rewatching naturally shifted to going back to soundtracks which led me naturally to Wicked.

…I actually think it was Tik Tok that led me back to Wicked thanks to illegal recordings of Jessica Vosk belting her face off during her tenure as Elphaba on Broadway. At any rate Defying Gravity, as it always does, got stuck in my head. The line I found myself repeating over & over & over was:

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you can't pull me down!

I couldn’t escape it. I couldn’t get it out of my head for the life of me, I think there was a reason behind that. I took the song to Greg in the summer, where I’d been singing pop, country, & originals with him, I decided to try music theater one week. I decided to sing Defying Gravity. Greg loved it. He told me it was the freest, most passionate he’d heard me sing in a long time so I ran with it. I began playing piano singing it, singing it in the shower, while washing my hands, in the car, but I strangely never listened to it, I let it become my own living with the lyrics & feeling its energy.

From there it went from “On My Own” & “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Mis (a show I actually loathe) to “Go The Distance” from Hercules to “Out There” from Hunchback of Notre Dame (a seriously underrated Disney movie.) Then Folklore came out.

I am unabashedly a Swiftie, I think Taylor is one of the greatest songwriters out there & I think she has navigated the music industry magnificently. Folklore was an album that at its core was minimalist. It was often piano, vocal, guitar, & drums with a tiny bit of production & that made it extremely accessibly to me, the quarantined singer-songwriter. I could probably sit at my piano & play you the entirety of Folklore in my own keys.

I was sitting there plunking on the keys one day when I realized something. I was humming. I was audibly making music with my voice subconsciously, something I hadn’t done in months. I had done it. I had reclaimed my voice, I had grown accustomed to its new way of opportunity, to its new life. I began recording again, I began releasing music again, I began posting videos again. The progress was slow & I am still learning & adapting but I’m finally back to loving my gifts & the music I can make with them.

I want to backtrack a wee bit to talk about writing. Yes, I am still writing & yes, a lot of the songs I’ve written recently are songs I’m very proud of because I’ve realized the only thing limiting me was myself. The only thing restricting the ideas I had & the words I wrote was myself. Much like my journey with my voice, I am reclaiming my creativity, becoming more comfortable in the unknown, & becoming reinvigorated knowing I can write kickass songs. I started journaling daily, creative writing, free writing, whatever. Just getting ideas out. I started to write out the restrictions in my life; what I was afraid of, who I was angry at, what I was holding onto that it was okay to acknowledge & let go of. I found peace & granted myself forgiveness & grace & almost immediately the ideas started pouring back into my brain.

I’m still grappling with my fears especially when it comes to solo writing but I’ve decided it’s time to move on. It’s time to be a confident human who deserves success, who deserves a flourishing career in this industry. I’ve decided I am an amazing vocalist, an incredible songwriter, & a worthy artist. I am worthy of my dreams, of my talents, now I just have to get out of my own way & let them shine. I am limitless, & strong, & more than capable. Yes, something has changed within me & something is truly not the same. I’m so over playing by the rules of what someone else or what I say should limit me.

It’s time I try defying gravity.

Blog: It’s Okay To Give Up On The Apology You May Never Get

Hi folk!

Interesting topic for this week’s blog, no? I’m sure the title put some people on edge before I’d even began but I felt compelled to write about this, this week. I actually started jotting down ideas for this blog throughout my week as I’ve been reading more introspective literature & doing more personal evaluation all in the name of trying to clear the debris that’s gotten in the way of my creative processes especially when it comes to writing. As I’ve stated before in blogs, specifically those regarding the state of the world or the way people treat other people, I have often found myself dwelling on anger. Not an emotion or a feeling I typically enjoy & usually, despite my sign (Aries), something I maintain fairly well outside of the flashes that occasionally arise in me. I was angry & I couldn’t for the life of me pinpoint what was causing it.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of journaling, answering some difficult questions about myself; the emotions & memories that live inside of me, amongst other things. I was prompted one afternoon to answer the following question:

“Why Are You Angry?”

My first response was “psh, I’m not!” That was a lie. You see, deep down I had this building, nagging rage that I couldn’t explain & really sitting & reflecting upon this question brought me to the realization that I was angry. In fact very much so.

The next prompt was:

“Is there anything you haven’t forgiven yourself or someone else for?”

That’s when it struck me.

You see I’d been dwelling upon this desire, this festering, insistent desire that I knew was farfetched at the best of times & was ultimately bogging me down. I was waiting for an apology that knew I will probably never receive. That’s a hard thing to live with, especially if that person is no longer in your life & even more so if that person is still a constant in your life but nonetheless we all still live with it.

We’re all human, we all make mistakes, we all hurt each other & sometimes we don’t realize the extent to which we’ve done damage to another person. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’ve done anything wrong. And that’s where this gets tough. It’s one thing entirely to ignore the pain you’ve caused someone out of pride or spite, it’s another thing entirely to be completely oblivious to it. But it doesn’t matter.

Let me say that again, it. doesn’t. matter. Bottling hurt helps no one, it benefits no one, the only thing that it does is harm you. Holding onto hurt leaves a piece of you in the past, it holds you back from growth & from realizing your true potential. Sometimes you just have to let it go.

There is peace in that, forgiveness. There is light, unfettered freedom. I’m not saying you have to ignore what someone has done to you, but I am saying that you can give yourself permission to let it go, to let bygones be bygones. I know that sometimes we so desperately just want someone to say “I’m sorry” for them to do the bare minimum & acknowledge what they’ve done but when everything in your gut is telling you that it’s never going to happen what good does it do to hold onto that distain?

I just wanted to come on here tonight & much like Elsa give you permission to let it go. To start a fresh, new day & be at peace. Acknowledge the pain, dissect it, but don’t keep holding onto it. You deserve better than that, you’re worthy of feeling better than that. So just let it go. I know it’s not always that simple but it is. It’s okay to say “thank you for protecting me, for making me feel like I’m deserving of an apology but you’ve surpassed your usefulness in my life & in my mind, but it’s time for me to let it go.”

You’re worthy of being at peace, of feeling light & unrestrained. Love yourself enough to see that.

Blog: Wear The Dress

Self confidence is a lot like a day at the river. Some people are fearless, swinging gallantly into the current without a care in the world. Others of us are a little more timid, entering the water one step at a time, carefully calculating each submerged rock, cranny, & finding footing before we shift our weight & commit to the step. Then, there are those who spend their whole lives sat on the banks, never knowing the joy they miss, always wondering what might be.

My first thought in making this analogy was to make it about a pool; same concept, different aptitudes. The reason I chose the river over the pool boils down to one thing. The current. You see a pool has minimal current at best while a river has the potential to sweep you off your feet & carry you away. A river has a higher threshold for fear & therefore is something we deem to be more dangerous. You see those who would deter you from entering a pool are few & far between (that is unless you’ve got your phone in your pocket or it simply isn’t the time for swimming.) Where as those who fear the current more readily voice their opinions & hesitations.

So how does this all relate? What does this have to do with my title, “Wear The Dress?” Allow me to explain. You see, a few months ago something entered the collective consciousness of American society that I feel has yet to have fully exit its media cycle; Harry Styles wore a dress on the cover of Vogue magazine. For whatever reason a lot of right-wing pendants were infuriated by this & became all up in arms about “the fall of masculinity” & the “loss of manly men.” Notice how I said American society above, majority of other countries couldn’t have cared less. I, myself, was so blown away by the sheer stupidity of this backlash that I went out & made a post in solidarity with Styles where I myself wore a dress.

See below:

Before you come for me, yes, I know that Harry is not the first man to wear a dress for a photoshoot, that’s part of why the controversy is so outlandish. I also understand that this look is not for everyone & you know what? THAT’S OKAY!!!!! But isn’t it incredible to be able to have the freedom to express oneself outside the confines of the status quo in a manner that does literally no harm to anyone else?

I’m sure if you’ve made it this far into the blog you’re beginning to ask yourself, “what’s the point?” I’m getting there I promise, but pretext is important. You see there’s a really lovely quote that Rick Barker, Taylor Swift’s former manager says when he’s dealing with artist that I think applies perfectly lot life as well. It follows:

“I have artists that come to me every day asking me to make them the next Taylor Swift & I tell them no. Not because I don’t think I couldn’t do it but because there’s already a Taylor Swift who is doing the best “Taylor Swift” that anyone out there is going to do. So you go do the best “you” that you can do, because there’s no one out there who is going to do a better “you” than you can.”

— Rick Barker

We are each unique in our own way, the status quo is just an illusion, it is a prison that restricts us. It keeps us from being who we so desperately know we are & want to be. It is the naysayers sat on the bank telling you you’ll never survive the current because you dare to be different from them, you dare to live freely & express yourself boldly without limitation. The dress is not for everyone but then again neither are blue jeans, neither are painted nails or certain lengths or styles of hair but if that’s what makes you, you & makes you feel the most you then by all means wear them & wear them boldly. I understand that to a lot of us these little things are the great plunge from the rope swing into the river so I would challenge you to find your wading steps. Paint one nail, wear it out, see how you feel. Remember that bravery is not always grandiose & brazen nor will you always feel comfortable in your bolder steps but give yourself the patience to live in them & accept them as a part of yourself if you so feel they are.

Don’t for a second think that this is limited to your outward appearance or your public presentation either; your inner machinations are just as important, if not more so than the statements you provide externally. Love who you love, unapologetically! Stand up for what you believe is right. But at the end of the day be sure to check in on yourself, be honest & vulnerable, don’t judge the things you find based on how the world tells you that you should. You are enough, you have always been. You have everything you need contained inside the vessel you inhabit & that is beautiful, powerful, & inspiring. You never know who needs to see the person you are living bolding & unapologetically, you never know whose life you might change or even save just from being you.

So wear the dress.

-C

P.S.

I wanted to end on that point but I also felt inclined to level with you & tell you that this blog is as much for you, the reader, as it is for me, the writer. I’m having to unlearn a lot of things the society I grew up in taught me, I’m having to come to terms with myself & who I am wholeheartedly. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of it makes up me. And believe me, I have my days of doubt & struggle just as much as you do but I am working on it & I’m giving myself patience & grace in the meantime.

Blog: Happy 2021!

Well we’re back!

I promised myself, as well as you all, that I was going to get back into blogging in the new year. It’s something I’ve sorely missed & based on the amount of you that I know have read them in the past, so have a lot of you! I’m going to do my best to be as consistent as possible going forward, not just in here but also with music releases, shows, videos, etc. because I’ve fallen behind.

I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, because I am truly done living in 2020, but I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the damage that our lost year did on yours truly.

I’ve written a lot in the past, quite openly about my mental health struggles. There’s no doubt 2020 reaped havoc on my mental health plunging me head first back into depression & a brain fog that’s intolerable on its best days. It’s incredibly frustrating. This last year has been especially hard on those of us who perform for a living, who are out here chasing a dream that felt like it had to be put on hold indefinitely. I already felt as though I was slipping through the cracks of the music industry, this all just magnified that feeling.

In addition to my mental health, my physical health has drastically diminished over the last year. I was in fairly decent shape going into march; I was working out consistently, eating really well, but all of that went out the window after march when hardcore workouts became all but impossible.

You see, I’ve dipped into this lull that I’ve spent the latter part of last year trying to claw my way back out of. I try to make a change, to get back to being productive, to being better at self promotion but I slide right back into it. Objects in motion & all that, but I want to change that, nay, I need to change that. I need so desperately to move forward, to make progress, to feel like myself again because I am suffering. My mental health demands it, my physical health demands it, I must make the change & be better.

All of that being said, as I’ve stated before on this platform, I loathe new year’s resolutions, they aren’t practical or helpful, but I do emphasize the point of self growth quite often. If I were to categorize my growth I’ve shriveled quite a bit, I’ve stalled, I’m stagnant. I need to grow again, to flourish again & the only way to do that is with work. Growth takes work.

So here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish. Consistency.

Blogs. Every Friday.

Vlogs. Once A Month.

A return to tubesday?

…

We’ll see on that one haha.

Definitely more singing though!

More self promotion, more fan promotion, more fan interaction.

Finally launching the merch store!

Rediscovering my passion for solo writes.

More singles. More music.

More collabs.

I need you all to hold me to these things. I need you to message me on Friday evening if a blog hasn’t popped up yet to say “hey! get to writing!” I need you to ask about new music, let me know which things you loved & which you hate. I want to hear from you all as fans. I want to know what you’re looking for from me as an artist, what you wish I offered more of, what drew you to me as an artists, etc. I whole heartedly want to include you all more on this journey, because the truth is, without you all I’m just a sad boy with a guitar haha.

At any rate I want to wish you all the happiest of 2021s. I’m pretty sure it’ll be easy to beat last year but I’m really hoping we can knock this one out of the park!

Much love to you all, thank you for the support & happy new year!

-C

Blog: Thankful!

Happy belated thanksgiving to all my American folks! I guess also a happy super belated thanksgiving to my Canadian folks as well! I hope it was a safe, civil, calorically dense holiday for you all!

I think it’s time I got back to blogging, the US election is over, a lot of us can breathe easy now & for that I am thankful. In fact, in the spirit of the holiday, I thought I’d make a list of things this year that I’m thankful for. I know we’ve had a hell of a year & for a lot of us, myself included, gratefulness seems like a taboo subject at this point. This year has been beyond exhausting for a lot of us, especially living in Tennessee, especially those of us in the entertainment industry who feel like our job is impossible right now. I wanted to take the time & reflect on the aspects of this year that are bright points in my life!

I’m thankful for time, thankful that I’ve had the privilege of reflection, thankful I’ve been able to slow down & find answers within myself as well as externally.

I’m thankful for answers, I’m thankful that my health issues are finally being resolved & that the cause has been discovered & the remedy is being administered.

I’m thankful for strength, I’ve battled some severe moments of depression this year, those disheartening moments when you find out the people you love aren’t who you thought they were & look out more for themselves than those in need.

I’m thankful for love. I’m thankful for those who care for me through my valleys, through my bolder moments, though my pain & my shortcomings.

I’m thankful for introspection, for all that I’ve learned about myself. I’m thankful for the courage I’ve unearthed in myself. I’m thankful for the self acceptance I’ve developed.

I’m thankful for support. I’ve thankful for those who have stood by me over the years, for those who have gone out of their way to help me achieve my dreams. I’m thankful for those who listen to my songs, who read this blog, who watch my videos.

I’m thankful for contentment. I’m thankful for finding peace in the hurricane, for learning to live in the uncertainty, I’m thankful for patience.

I’m thankful for progress, not only internally but also in my career, despite the COVID conditions. I have my first ever label release coming up, I’m thankful for that!

I’m trying to live a more grateful life & not get caught up on the little things. I’m trying to be a happier person, to not be so angry at the world all the time, something I’ve really struggled with especially over the last year & its political season. I’m still learning everyday, still trying to grow & be more “me” day by day.

All love to you all, I’m thankful for you & wish you well during the holiday season to come.

Blog: Why No Blogs?

Where have my weekly blogs gone? Why have they disappeared? Well to be fair, they haven’t, I just haven’t been able to post any of the ones I’ve drafted. You see I’m angry, I’m actually beyond angry, I’m livid & it’s not something I can hide any longer.

Every week, for the past whenever I’ve sat down to write a blog. In the past I’ve written on political issues, social issues, recipes, recommendations, details on song construction, etc. I usually try to write what is on my heart for that week to keep things current. That being said, the last few weeks, months, etc. what’s been weighing on my heart is the state of this union & quite frankly, I’m disgusted & I am tired.

I see so many people out here making excuses for the monstrous behavior exhibited by the current administration of the United States. Too many people are okay with the actions of the president & his gooneys, too many people have grown complicit. It seems daily that another new atrocity is unearthed around the Trump administration but a lot of people I know & care about don’t care. At all.

Do you know how hard it is to make something care about something that doesn’t effect them? Do you know how hard it is to try & force people into having an ounce of empathy, into having seeing the what the consequences of their vote have had one marginalized groups. Do you know how infuriating it is to try to show people what is happening just for them to chalk it up to fake news or choose to remain complicit?! It makes it incredibly hard to believe that someone loves or cares about their neighbor when they turn a blind eye to the suffering their chosen leaders inflict upon them.

I’m not going to get into the specifics of Democrats vs. Republicans, I’m not, mostly because the past has shown me that people simply don’t care. Their feelings are easier for them to digest than facts. I know this goes both ways, but we have a wanna be fascist regime in office. I’m not speculating, I’m not hyperbolizing, the things they say are literally fascist/authoritarian rhetoric. I’m someone who has voted on both sides of the aisle BECAUSE I do the research, I look into the problems & see who has the solution that makes the most sense. I do the research. I’m also someone who considers themselves very politically literate so being dismissed as “whatever” “you don't really know” is frankly insulting.

Your black brothers & sisters are crying out for help, your immigrant brothers & sisters are crying out for help, your low income families are crying out for help, your LGBTQ children are crying out for help, your veterans, your Latinos, the Earth we literally all have to live on, are all crying out for help & you’re turning their back on them. All for the sake of an “R” on your ballot. I’m tired of it. Grow a little damn empathy & see how you’re hurting those you claim to love. Open your eyes.

This country WILL NOT survive another four years of this current administration. Do I think the alternative is without fault, hell no, but I see a chance to course correct the destruction & divisiveness of the last four years & I’m taking that, as should you. If you want this nation to continue, if you truly believe the tenets of the Constitution then for the love of God save this Republic.

I’m sorry for the rant but I’m so, so tired. Your neighbors are so, so tired. People are literally out here fighting for their basic human rights & you can’t be bothered to give a shit. Time to own up & open your mind.

Blog: Lover In The Sheets, Bigot In The Streets

Hi folks, how’re we doing? I hope the answer is incredible!

Earlier this week I had the privilege of consuming Homecoming King by Hasan Minhaj, his hour & some change comedy special on Netflix. In said comedy special Hasan effortlessly balances comedy & tragedy by telling the story of his life as an Islamic Indian American living in California. Hasan’s experience that he describes has a definite through line that carries across time & is still very poignant today, despite most of it having happened over ten to fifteen years ago. It is a point that I found extremely relevant to our modern political climate here in the state, though I think it translates overseas as well. Hasan, who rose to prominence through The Daily Show with John Stewart as well as his own show, Patriot Act, lays out this ostracizing of groups he refers to as “the other” within American society & highlights a problem that many of us who identify as “not racist” seem to want to ignore. I think this blog will end up being something similar to my blog regarding LGBTQIA+ affirmation but it incorporates the broader topic of not only sexuality or gender identify but also race. These topics have commonalities, though they are altogether inherently different. However, for the sake of this argument, for the sake of “the other” we’ll be incorporating the two together as I’d like to further add to Hasan’s point. I think the best place to start here is with the simplicity that Hasan distills this down to. One simple phrase that I’m sure we’ve all heard or thought;

What. Will. People. Think?

You see in Hasan’s narrative he comes face to face with two very distinct types of racism; having his family threatened & the windows of their car smashed out the evening of September 11th, 2001, and not being allowed to take his white date to prom because there were going to be pictures, evidence she had gone with someone they considered to be “other.” Naturally I’d like to focus on the latter here as the former, while it still runs rampant, at the very least is outwardly & actively frowned upon by those who actually have a brain between their ears. I want to talk about that silent form of bigotry, the kind that sneaks up, that makes you lock your car doors in that “bad” neighborhood, the kind that says “love the sinner, not the sin,” the kind that causes you to save face. That’s they kind I want to shine a light on here.

You see the most heartbreaking part about Hasan’s story, to me, is not necessarily that it happened, because any person of color will tell you, racism happens just as any LGBTQIA+ person will tell you homophobia/transphobia happen, just as any non-christian will tell you xenophobia happens. (Not that it’s okay that they do, but they do happen.) The thing that is heartbreaking is that Hasan thought these people were different; this was a white family who under normal circumstances had welcomed him into their home, had broken bread with him, treated him like an equal, had gone as far as to tell him they loved him but when it came time to do so in the public eye their love had conditions. Hasan couldn’t go to prom with their daughter not because “they didn’t love him” or think he was a stand up lad but because there would be pictures of them together, people would see their daughter with someone they considered to be a part of “the other.” At first a lot of us may be thinking, shame on them, I would never, & that may be true, you may never but I can’t help think further down the rabbit hole on this.

Let me ask you this. How many queer individuals have “accepting” parents that introduce their partner as their friend or roommate? How non-binary or trans individuals have people in their lives that don’t honor their chosen pronouns? How many people exclude a particular person because they wouldn’t fit the rest of the group simply based on their racial or religious background? How many keep in tact the boys club solely on merit or shame other cultures simply because they don’t understand them & have no interest in trying to? Isn’t it amazing how loud actions often contradict the words of those who claim to not have fear or prejudice living in their hearts?

What will people think?

Screw that.

Who the hell cares?!

Love with conditions is neither love nor is it worth your time. If your precious image is more important to you than loving another human, and I mean truly loving them as they are, not as you’d like them to be or as society or your faith says you should then you are no better than those who scream slurs from the side of the street. Be better. Choose to be better, choose love first, we’d all be a lot better off.

Much love to you all,

Thanks for reading!