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Reflections While on the Run Pt 1

Event: "K for the Way" Book Launch, Harlem School of the Arts, Harlem, NY

Event Date: Thursday, October 19, 2023

Kicks of Choice: Fragment Design x Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Retro Low

Thoughts captured on October 26, 2023


What’s good y’all,

There’s been so much going on that I realized it wasn’t going to be realistic to capture everything in long form and in real-time. So I made a decision to lock in on socials with some shorter posts. But I promised myself that I would sit down and capture some of this goodness I’ve been living through. The only issue is, there’s just not enough damn minutes in the day! But I wanted to reflect on this welcome to the world maneuver that “K for the Way” is getting to experience. There’s gonna be a few parts, so bear with me as I get these thoughts together for you about these seven events in sixteen days…

Writing is a straight labor of love. It simply won’t work unless you LOVE it, and you’re doing it for the love. For me, it’s both for the love and for the culture – I’d want to do this no matter what, so it’s a blessing I’ve got the opportunity to make it happen.

But the other side of this thing: writing is a vulnerable place. With any art, you create out of passion, so it’s a part of you. But when you let it out into the world, it almost feels like you’re walking outside naked: you just don’t know how people are going to consume and receive it, live and breathe with it. So it’s a tough spot to be in, when you walk into the world and ask folks to think with you and try to follow your logic…

But lemme tell you something, the Harlem School of the Arts launch was EVERYTHING for me. I couldn’t have planned it to happen like it did if I tried. I’m still speechless and awestruck but also just humbled and honored by how it went down. My family was there (including my dad, who got off a plane in Newark and found his way to Harlem with his luggage), friends from Sunday School, friends from Junior High School (#204AllDay), unexpected friends from High School, unexpected friends from college, people from my old job, people from my new job, undergrad students from NYU who I didn’t know, but whose professor sent them uptown (when one of them said to me “thank you for this – representation matters. We’re all in STEM, but this was so inspiring,” it was moving beyond measure). And big shout out to the homie DJ Boogie Blind who came through: knowing that DJs who are in the book are showing up and supporting this work is the highest level of compliment there can be. Because it lets me know that this thing I was doing for the culture…well, the culture approves!

Shout out to Cathey White for being in the building to sign prints and posters of her incredible record crate cover art! And a special shout out to James Horton, and Claudia and the homie Don up in HSA – they made it feel like HOME for real. And it made sense to be in a school for the Arts to talk about how it’s possible to see your dreams come true through living a life engaged in artistic practices. So I’m just excited to have launched this most important project uptown! And that’s word.

I got more reflections soon…but dayuuuuuuuuuuum, was that not enough already!?!?!

Peace and love,

Todd




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