Thank you Gary L Taylor for nominating me. Normally, I’d crack a joke or pretend I didn’t see it, but not this time.

I’m a 25-year-old Social Work grad student whose life has been shaped by mental health struggles. I’ve been hospitalized, institutionalized, and arrested along the way. Those experiences were tied to those struggles, but they were still my choices, and I take responsibility for them.

I started this Substack after one of those choices turned my life upside down. Writing became an escape. In many ways, it still is.

I’ve never really thought of my readers as a “community,” I never see myself as someone who could build one. Yet here we are, closing in on 400 subscribers, which may not be a community to me, but is nearly 400 people kind enough to read something I write. Whether you’ve read everything I’ve written or just stumbled on one post, I’m deeply grateful. I share my voice hoping it reaches someone who needs it. If even one person laughs, thinks, feels seen, or is simply entertained for a moment, that’s a win.

So, about me: I’m a nerd. I lift heavy things for fun. I devour movies and history. I love both kinds of football. I like girls. And well, I’m pretty open about all of it here.

But if there’s one thing I want you to take from this, it’s this:

Share the part of yourself you’re scared to show. It might just set you free, and it might move someone else too.

Now I nominate Anomie, Candy Downs, imi, John Murphy, Kiwi’s Stories, Morana In Chaos, Helen Higgins, Moe Writeous. Tell Substack about yourself, and if you guys don’t do it you smell and are a loser.