This year’s group of talented men are literally beating the odds everyday. They are beating the odds that say they should be dead or back behind bars. They are not only surviving, but thriving.

When I think of bitterness I think of roots. Roots are not fruit, sweet and attractive, but they are just as essential to plant health. They are patient but always moving forward, growing unapologetically. Some roots are impossible or even deadly to ingest if pulled straight out of the ground, but if you know your roots, you might find that you can turn them into medicine, and although you can almost bet that it will be bitter to the taste, they are healing.

We live in a diverse country, and understanding cultural and creative expression lends itself to a benevolent understanding that expels hate and promotes equality.

People are much deeper than stereotypes. That’s the first place our minds go. Then you get to know them and you hear their stories, and you say, ‘I’d have never guessed.’ ~ Carson Kressley

Inspired by James Baldwin’s “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the one hundredth anniversary of the emancipation” originally published in The Progressive magazine, from December 1962. A piece written in a time when seemingly everyone was celebrating freedom, Baldwin takes it upon himself to iterate to his fifteen-year-old nephew who he was born to be, what shackles society would try to put on him, and his obligation to his community.