Fireside E-ChatRecently, I flew on an airplane for the first time in over a decade. Sitting still in a cramped seat while soaring 30,000 feet above the Earth at a speed of 500mph was not a comfortable experience for me. The turbulence was the most unpleasant part. With nowhere to go and my life in the hands of this machine and those trained to operate it, I took out my books and my notepad and got back to work on a future video. No matter how much my surroundings bothered me, as long as I didn’t look up and I kept working, I thought I would be okay. 2025 has been the most transformative year of my life, and it’s not even over yet. I have filmed and released 5 videos a week on social media since New Year’s Day (195 so far). This, combined with my continued efforts to share my documentaries online, has resulted in a combined view count of 500,000 across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. I’ve also been able to screen my films over 60 times so far this year and engage with thousands of people between Albany and Harlem. I share these numbers to illustrate our success in sharing these important stories both in-person and online, without needing to conform to any larger entity’s preference on “what ought or ought not to be taught”. In a day and age in which traditional media is dying, the internet is where people go for entertainment and education. This has made our grassroots strategy not only successful but also the new standard of our age. I am proud of what my team and I have been able to accomplish thus far, and I look forward to what we may be able to do as we continue to expand and grow. Most importantly, however, is to acknowledge that none of this would be possible without all of you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I know I probably don’t have to point out that many of the stories I present contain very serious themes, depicting some of the worst traits and behaviors of people. The relevance and connection to current events is a topic that I have never shied away from in discussions with followers, but as we’ve flown through the months of this year and felt the turbulence become more and more severe, I find myself unable to simply ‘look down’ to distract myself. This is both because I feel it is irresponsible to ignore the injustices occurring right before our eyes, but also because when I do try to bury myself in work, I find the only difference between the events I’m covering and the ones I’m trying to escape from is that one is monochrome and the other is in color. This makes it clear that distractions are futile, especially when I can’t trust the plane we’re in or those flying it. Now more than ever, these are stories that need to be told, but I also can’t pretend that doing so hasn’t taken a toll on me. We can’t pretend not to be human and feel the extraordinary weight of the times we’re in, but I believe it is within these feelings that our true strength emerges. Empathy is the only antidote to hate, but it requires us to be vulnerable. Apathy is easy, but vulnerability requires so much strength, and often it will throw us through the wringer. This is why the journey cannot be made alone. Through community, we will be able to combine our empathy into a force powerful enough to adequately combat the threats we face today. Only through our shared vulnerability do we stand a chance at being able to build a better future.
"These are times that try our souls…Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
-Thomas Paine: American Crisis
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