Things are different around here. I know.
That’s because I’ve grown.
I’m sure you have, too.
So the rules of engagement have evolved.
When I started Medicine Cabinet Radio I had big ambitions.
Still do. But I was naive and inexperienced.
Having identity crises every day I worked on a newsletter about ‘the kind of writer I wanted to be.’
But I experimented a lot. And I learned a lot.
The experiment continues. Except now, I have a firm identity that is separate from my life as a writer.
And I’ve grown as a business owner.
I love it here. If you’ve been reading me since 2021, you know that I’ve struggled to make sense of who I am.
I was angry for a while. I had a right to be.
This newsletter gave me space to process.
The circumstances of my life at the time made me fairly mute in real life.
I struggled to find my voice.
I’ve found my voice and my stride and my power.
I learned all types of shit! Even in the last month.
I sent you an email for the first time in a while in October with a different set of eyes, at a different stage in my journey as I make changes to my business strategy.
Again: I’ve shifted.
That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
You do stuff. It works or it doesn’t.
You review your variables. You try again.
With new knowledge comes new experiments.
I will get back to some kind of regular programming but I need feedback from you.
Did you read my last email?
The one before that?
I got you, read here.
But let me ask you this: is there a question that I’m not asking you that you would like for someone to ask of you?
I’ve heard a similar question is great interview question. I’ve prompted myself with it, too. It goes more like: what’s a question you’ve always wanted someone to ask you?
I am trying to figure out who you are while I have you here.
So I can speak to you better.
So I can support you better.
So we can enrich our lives and have fun together.
And maybe, occasionally, or regularly fuck some shit up.
I’m not interested in forging ahead without a response from you.
No response from you means that my communication is not landing with you.
I’m not connecting.
Please feel free to unsubscribe, if these evolutions don’t interest you or speak to you.
No sweat.
But I am in your inbox to connect with you.
Maybe this will help you…
For a while now, this phrase has been bouncing around in my head to describe how I think about The Cabinet. “Think On Being meets The Economist. For Black women. On the move.”
It’s very strange.
Since I started The Cabinet, even when it was only a podcast, I envisioned the podcast as a resource for the woman who needed targeted advice for navigating an increasingly uncertain environment as a Black woman.
It had to be spiritual and emotional support while simultaneously supporting her political development and increasing her awareness of her economic advantages and disadvantages. Because she is carving out her own path in the 21st century.
She is radicalizing as she evolves. She needs therapeutic support and resonant, accessible, guidance on how to see herself as a member of a global economy of people who are, as I say, ‘on the move’ or cannot be neatly categorized.
This aligned with my interests and lived experiences with magic, leaving the country, and running a business.
For two years and counting, I studied the relationship between law and medicine. I studied power dynamics by reading a range of theory. I studied a concept known as ‘political economy’ and Black women’s role in it. And I studied sexuality.
Then I was introduced to a concept known as ‘feminist political geography.’
All of my research, reading, and study was to figure out how to keep Black women safe.
This has turned into a book of essays. Because the work is too intensive to be shared online at the stage of growth I am in in my business.
I discovered that writing and discussing taboo subjects mattered to me, just as much as having conversations with Black women about what’s really possible for us economically under late-stage, (colonial racial) Capitalism.
I also discovered that doing that work… is hard.
It’s even harder doing it alone. Without significant investment.
So I pivoted.
I decided that the work would be funded because it mattered.
And I needed a way to enjoy my job and meet Black women where they are.
In order for me engage the labor-intensive, intellectual work with you, I need to know that that is a priority for you.
But what I’ve observed in my conservations with a few Black women in my life and what I’ve seen online is that there is a need to identify and embody one’s own power first, before doing all’at.
Do you agree?
Am I missing anything?
What have you enjoyed most about Medicine Cabinet Radio in the past? Is there a specific topic you'd like me to cover or explore? Your input is invaluable in guiding this evolution together.
Please comment or reply to this email.
Tell me: what do you need?
What do we need to be engaging together?
All my love,
Candace