Why I Returned to Washington, DC

That was a helluva ride. But I'm home.💗

DC to DC via the southern route, the middle route and the northern route – and it took about 10 years.

Here I am, enjoying a glass of Bordeaux while Stella rests. We're enjoying the Tabard Inn – the oldest hotel in DC, employee-owned, and even these tiles are social change art.

It feels really good to be home. Like my heart is growing even more being back on the game board. 💗

Like I never left – but thank God I left.

DC needs some sort of change. Like a new approach to work together versus all the binary party stuff. But I understand this system. I appreciate it – always have.

I've been thinking a lot about Ben Franklin – his legendary salons with extraordinary artists and performers and stories.

About our work at ChangeDAO as a way to create these moments.

About building non-commoditized space for these collisions to occur.

I've been inspired by Bell Hooks, Martin Luther King, Jr and even old Henry David Thoreau. I heard their stories, too. And more deeply and intentionally, about the shared values in movements of culture rather than trends of issues.

That we are all "same same but different."

I left to find out about love. I'm returning to put love back as the driving force for change.

Tonight I get to sit and grieve the young man I was – and toast the man I am today. Tonight I get to open a new chapter. Tonight, I get to rest up for the extraordinary journey my soul has always asked of me.

I am home. I am here for a purpose. I am here to bring about change with culture, art and stories.

And, as always, with a dash of innovation and an extraordinary passion for the genuine love that I feel – and that I know exists in the hearts of all those around me. Faith, love, justice, creativity – these are my principles. I get to continue trying to put them in action and that feelsgoodman.jpg.

Originally posted on Linkedin and reclaimed for my own publishing platform.