It took me 12 years to realize I’m worth celebrating — even if my birthday’s not — Each spring of my childhood, I practiced tornado safety drills with my classmates. These drills would always happen near the end of March when Ohio would run a statewide test of its emergency warning system. The midsized automotive city where I grew up is anchored right at the summit of…

I haven’t spoken to my parents since Tuesday. I’m not the only one. I’m a first-born son to parents from Toledo, Ohio whom I love dearly. My parents, flawed as I believe their political beliefs to be, did a great job in raising me. My Dad’s dedication to his small-business…

Today, I logged into Twitter and saw this.

Today, DKNY launched an initiative in partnership with the New Museum that seems empowering on paper: through the New Museum’s New Women’s Project, the fashion label will help shine the spotlight on five up-and-coming female artists. This completely fits in line with Donna Karan’s ethos. For the uninitiated: Donna created…

When I read the statement that Heathcliff Berru put out in response to the cascade of accusations concerning his abhorrent maelstrom of sexual assault, I cannot say I was surprised by the way that he handled it. While his statement reeks of whatever Brooks Brothers suit Berru’s lawyer was wearing…

In August 2013, I was coming back from a business trip from Chicago to New York City through a detour in Atlanta, a counterintuitive layover that made about as much sense as, well, any joke ever told by Dane Cook in a public setting. As expected, my flight was delayed…

Dear Dan, I always screw this up. I always forget the anniversary of your death. I look it up. It was on October 1, 2009, when you took your own life. I always forget the date of your death because the weather that day was about as out of place…

EDIT: To this day, this piece still gets traffic and engagement. For something published organically on Medium, this is significant. I thought it’d be good to update folks on where I stand on this, given this piece came out even before Bernie Sanders had announced his candidacy for the presidency. …

Edit: Update added to this article at the bottom. Like Path and Diaspora before it, born out of various issues of malcontent with mainstream social media platforms, here we are again. …