Hello from an airport bar in Chicago, deep into a gin and tonic that has me in a contemplative era. I’m in the midst of filming Our Block, a series I’m flying around the country for with a production crew, working to record and honor Black stories. We’re doing big, scary new things with other people’s money (we crowdfunded for this).

I have to remind myself that I prayed for this shit. That missing the feeling of bae’s arms around me as we fall asleep, melting in the hot midsummer sun while filming on a sidewalk trying not to let my face show the bead of sweat dripping down my back, making graphics at midnight bleary-eyed, is exactly what I asked for.

I did this. I practiced being on camera. I worked on my narrative storytelling. I built professional networks I could lean on and learn from. I literally put my face on the internet asking people for money to make this happen.

And now the hard part happens. And its not really hard because of the long days or the heat, but because my brain keeps asking, “what if we fuck this up?”

What if we miss something? What if I’m not actually ready to host my own series at this level? What if we can’t raise the funds to do it the way we want to do it, the way we think we should do it, to tell Black stories with dignity and joy?

Well as my best friend likes to remind me, we’re doing it bitch.

So here I am in Chicago sitting across from my producer, having wrangled 8 bags of gear through an unclear check-in process, now finished with stage one of the scariest shit I’ve done in a long time. And in about an hour we’ll head toward Oakland to do it all again!

This shit is slow as FUCK.

I’m used to working mostly solo. I typically ideate, film, script, manage partner relationships, even tweak my website late at night, alone and without help. Though I do have editors who edit most of my videos so I can focus on the rest (shoutout to them bc they truly keep me afloat some weeks), it’s usually me filming and making it happen irl without input. Doing something like this requires a whole lot of patience.

Graphics have to go to the team for approval. Scripts need to be reviewed together. Partners have to be pitched. Interviewees pre-interviewed, called, confirmed with, and interviewed again on camera. A whole host of people have input on and a stake in every step of this process. That means it moves a lot slower than I’m used to. But I can already see from what we’ve done so far that I could never do this alone. Not the way we’re doing it now.

Local knowledge is key.

We posted online surveys asking folks for input on the cities we’re filming in. We hit up friends and family. We were so deep in our research. And still we finalized many of the spots we wanted to film at when we were on the ground. Some of them are historic but have no website or listed phone number, let alone social media, so we had to walk in without prior notice and finagle permission. Others simply don’t show up in the top rankings and listicles that inform our media perspective. But a phone call or two from our Associate Producer from Chicago, Richard, and things became clear almost immediately.

We need more time. More money. More everything.

And not because I want to be working at this intensity forever. I do NOT (cue the high pitched laugh) and will be taking some time off with my man expeditiously when I’m home. But because there’s so much out there that we just don’t know about. So many stories. So many people doing incredible work. We have just scratched the surface and our conversations in Chicago have touched on art and its ability to speak truth to power, trauma and legacy, what it really looks like to create safe spaces by us and for us, and more.

I’m really fucking proud to work on this project. And as hard as it is, I can’t wait to show it to you.

We’re hosting an IRL fundraiser at Hill Prince, a Black-owned bar on H Street in DC, from 3-6pm. Me and Michael (Creator & Executive Producer of Our Block) will be on site to chat about the series, creativity, crowdfunding, all of it.

We’ll be screening a sneak peek of what we’ve filmed so far, with two episodes in the works, and at LEAST two more being filmed in the coming weeks.

And we’ll have a raffle and prizes from some incredible local businesses including:

At the urging of this community, we’ve also re-opened the online crowdfunder for Our Block. Any donors, new and old, will also get access to the sneak peek (it’ll be sent out shortly after the event in DC).

With this round of funding, we’re aiming to support post-production for the four episodes we have slated so far, covering things like: editing, sound design and mixing, music licensing, and marketing and promotional material.

Any additional funds raised beyond the goal amount will be used to make a more robust season one, hopefully adding additional episodes if possible.

I appreciate you for being here, and for giving me space to process and dream. Now let me go finish this drink and hopefully take a nap on the way!