I’ve been blogging for a few years now, but I have never taken a moment to fully introduce myself. So, here we are.

When I initially began this blog it was as an extension, and eventual replacement, for the “For Your Black? Conscious” newsletter I started during my years in Chicago. The original intent of the newsletter and blog was to update others on community-relevant issues of social justice and how individuals could become involved and help to bring about change. Once it became solely a blog, it shifted to something more.

Prior to having my own website, friends would ask me about music, and even to write album reviews for their sites. Eventually, I began to do the same here, while also introducing other topics that are of interest to me.

I am a queer-identified woman who loves music, romance, books, travel, education, black culture, other cultures, and essentially, all things beautiful. With this, you have why I’m here.

I want to share the things that I love with the world. That has always been me at the core, an educator. If I felt like I knew something that could improve or benefit a person’s life, I wanted them to know what I knew; the same goes here.

Books for me are magic, a free way to escape and imagine a new world that goes beyond what you can see before you.

Music has been able to make me feel so much of what I may not have had words for at a time. There are artists who just get it. I like to share when I find those gems so that others may have the same pleasure of experiencing it.

Culture is all around us. We all live on this planet and should all be engaged in making it a safe and welcoming place.

Staying in Love? I’m such a classic romantic. I believe in courting and the exploration of getting to know a person. I also enjoy the level of security once you’ve been with someone a while. What I explore here is how do we navigate from falling in love to staying there; it’s an exploration for us all.

Travel reflects my love of travel and how being queer and black sometimes interacts with these spaces. I will be talking about trips I’ve gone on in the past, and ones I have coming up.

I hope you come on this journey of life and exploration with me.

-Ms. Malcolm Hughes