The Soundbites Poetry Festival is on the Horizon. My crew and I rehearse regularly. I barely made it through the last rehearsal. That night, one day after my cousin's birthday, I remembered something. That memory inspired me to bring myself to the precipice of emotional fracture before stepping on stage or practicing. I go harder. It makes me a better performer. It took some recent pain for me to remember the initial need for me to perform in the first place, and how all of my demons point back to the moment that allowed them to emerge.

Aliyah, thanks for the conversation that allowed me to do this. It is time that people knew the truth about who I am, why I do what I do, and what my company represents.