25 for 25 / a birthday celebration.

Hey friends! My 25th birthday is this Friday (woo!). <3 To celebrate my birthday, I'm wanting to finish up a couple of projects that have been lingering for a little while due to lack of resources/discouragement.

So, I'm offering a photo mini-session package called 25 for 25. I'll be booking 25 photo sessions at only $50 each (usually $150). Mini-session dates can be booked for anytime, but must be booked by June 25th. $25 deposit is required to book a date. You'll receive up 25 photos in return.

• reprinting and resending On Becoming Gold books to waiting customers, as well as fulfilling new book orders.
• securing a fulfillment service for On Becoming Gold books to ensure the shipment process and take away my tracking/lost order worries.
• finish re-recording vocals for my new single, Blackbird! (!!!!!!!!!!)
• start work on recording new singles, videos, and promo material forthcoming.
• pay my sweet, sweet band for all of their extra hard work this month.
• begin wireframing for my multi-media, photographically-driven collection to be shown First Friday in October (save this date, bb's).

Creative setbacks are very, very real and can be hella discouraging. If you're interested in supporting my work as an artist, this is perfect. I'm super thankful for the opportunity to offer something that not only celebrates the intensities of being a creative entrepreneur, but also helps move things in the direction they should go! Can't wait to talk more. Reach out to me through the form below to let me know that you're interested in a shoot!

Name *

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email Address *

Subject *

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Thank you!

gemini mix: a summer playlist.

taria person's book release + celebration - a photo essay

There are people who sweep through our lives. Even if they are just passing through, they paint our experiences of them in sweet and lasting ways. For me, Taria Person has been one of those people.

I met she and her wife, Chanel, two years ago through poetry. Person and I were both performing as part of a collective of poets called The 5th Woman. During that time, Person shared a poem that both broke me and put me back together again. I was so moved, that I wept. That poem was called, Brick House, which she later published in her recent collection, Rainbow Elephants.

The magic in Person's poems is conjureless. Her flow carries the kind of ease and peace that people work their whole lives for. I look forward to the day when her work might be squeezed between the mouthfeel of Nztoke Shange's verses and the pigmented vignettes of Alice Walker's autobiographical sets. When I read or hear Person's poems, I feel allowed to see myself and say "welcome home".

Another of my favorite pieces in her book, Rainbow Elephants, is called The Essence of a Woman. Person writes of the internal and eternal parts of women that are meant to be celebrated. She writes,

"she died to be born again
giving birth to styles
spritzed up like a bow tie
an up do
perfect image of a statue
wearing haikus on her hips
(that's where the switch comes from)"

Years ago, I asked Person to share with me some piece of wisdom that might guide my writing process. She said to me, "Go outside. Take a walk. Be in nature. Let the poems come to you. Writing isn't hard. It's the listening that we have to get better at."

Today, Person goes by the stage moniker, The Realest Person. She is now based in Chicago, IL and may be found on Facebook and Instagram (below). To purchase a copy of her book, please contact her directly, here.

I cannot spend my whole life running away from tension + a photo essay

I cannot spend my whole life
running away from tension;
from the tight and holy places,
where the joy is to allow.

if I run, then the earth
will croak and sing,
the sweat and sweet
without me.

and my later years
will be spent back-ped'ling
through naked "what if onlys";
childish, lonely in the dark.

no--yes, I choose the tension;
the tight and holy places,
where peace is light of knowing
all is safe here in the heart.