An Ode to Self-Care 43: “Ribbon in the Sky”

In the summer of 1991, my aunt told her five-year old niece and nephew she would be away until they were in fifth grade. My sister and I did not quite comprehend what she meant about college or time apart for a period equivalent to our lifetime. Without allusion to anyone’s age, my aunt was […]

My Ode to Self-Care 42: Right On Time

Dozens of essays ago, I wrote about my college roommates, Devin and Walter. In 2005, Walter was a recent seminary school graduate, was 11 years our senior, and worked as an administrator at Morehouse College. Despite our difference in age, the three of us got along. One night, the three of us sat in our […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 41-“Sugar”

This is one of-if not-my favorite essays I have written, ever. By far, the stories with the greatest entertainment value over the past nine years have been the ones I have accrued as a widowed man, back into the dating world. As I have stated earlier in this series, somehow, when I came up with […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 40-“Pups”

For a solid year, I have watched my nephew tilt his head and stretch his neck, to measure how much more he had to go before he stood taller than me. At the start of the summer, I still had him by a half inch. By the time July came around, the roles had reversed, […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 39-“Definition”

In the past three months, I have written more on this site than I have in three years: sixteen posts in 2017, one in 2018, nine in 2019, and twice in 2020 before I started my ode to self-care. I may not have shared much; however, I have written a solid 200,000 words in my […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 38-“The Feel”

Solo with the braids used to get busy…with all the humility in the world, I can assure those who knew Chad Milner throughout the first decade of the aughts would tell you the previous statement is a fact. This is the name I am referred to with affection by those who were well acquainted with […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 37-“Kush:

It’s been long-forgotten and oft-considered forgettable; but I love the first single from the oft-rumored, oft-delayed, and never to see the light of day, Detox. “Kush” came and went because it was formulaic: Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg tag team for another big record, with piano keys on fortissimo; but the 2010 version, so we’re […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 36-“If You’re a Player”

In the fall of 1998, I sat in my grandmother’s basement and watched Rap City on BET. On this particular episode, on the campus of Howard University, Joe “Cleezy” Clair interviewed a young Terius Gray alongside his cohorts. He wore a backwards baseball cap, with his rap name, Juvenile, inscribed on the part which faced […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 35-“Yours”

One of hip hop’s greatest assets and cultural contributions to society is its roots in exploration. Since the days of the park jams, DJ’s raided record collections and stores for rare breakdown sections to garner a reaction from their audience. The first response is “What is this?!” then one must find it. As the music […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 34-“Focus”

When Fabolous Sport blew up, those in tune with New York’s mixtape circuit knew Joe Budden was on deck. As one third of the Triangle Offense, he was a fixture and favorite on DJ Clue tapes. One could argue Clue had the greatest incubator and farm system in hip hop history. If Nas, JAY-Z, B.I.G., […]