10 Years of Single dadventures: a letter to myself

Chad Travis Milner, Ten years in business ain’t no chump shit…don’t ever forget it. In the summer of 2012, you were 26, and began to see some light after the darkest 16 months of your life. You became a father February 14, 2011, your partner diagnosed with terminal cancer days later, you moved thrice in […]

Unpacking Peace of Mind: November 1, 2011

October 31, 2021 To read the original post from 2012, click here. Ten years ago, I left my friend Chase’s apartment in Mt. Rainier, Maryland. As he left for work, I began the final leg of my drive from Buffalo to my new home, Newport News, Virginia. I could have made the 10-hour trek in […]

There’s Beauty in the Withering: October 22, 2011

Listen to Podcast version, Read it Because I Wrote It, here. October 22, 2011. A week before, Timile and I said so long to our daughter. Cydney was the first to move from Buffalo to Virginia, Timile a week later, and I the weekend which followed. Before their departure, my mother in-law asked for power […]

A Critical Mind

Around 1am on a humid 4th of July, I waited outside of my friends’ hotel in New Orleans’ French Quarter. I came to New Orleans for my college roommate’s wedding; and after the nuptials, shooting a music video at the reception, and a drink in hand for the past nine hours, it was time to […]

Basketball…In Memory of Mr. Payne

This was written April 28, 2020. With the recent passing of my former basketball coach, Mr. Payne, I felt compelled to share… I had a rough day. There was a lot on my mind, and it thwarted every attempt I made to work. The words did not flow from my fingertips to Microsoft Word at […]

My Complicated Relationship With Discernment

Merriam Webster defined discernment as 1: the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure: skill in discerning. 2: an act of perceiving or discerning something. Google defines it as (in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding. Perhaps some of my complication with my gift of discernment […]

Getting High and Watching Yo Gabba Gabba!

For almost three years, I have had a standing date night with my daughter, “Pit Stop Fridays.” We kick our weekends off at a nearby eatery in Merrick called The Pit Stop, order the same food, go home, and watch Netflix until we pass out. It is a rare occasion for one of us to […]

My Ode to Self-Care 48: “Rich is Gangsta”

“Last night, I had a dream about you. You were older. You were driving home from work, in a very nice car, to your very nice house. The sun was setting and you were able to look back at everything you’d been through and say to yourself “I made it.’” Timile Brown told me this […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 35-“Yours”

One of hip hop’s greatest assets and cultural contributions to society is its roots in exploration. Since the days of the park jams, DJ’s raided record collections and stores for rare breakdown sections to garner a reaction from their audience. The first response is “What is this?!” then one must find it. As the music […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 32-“Shaolin Style”

Richmond County. The Forgotten Boro. Shaolin: Staten Island…. Often, when one envisions New York City, images which come to mind are Manhattan’s skyscrapers, the icons who have called Brooklyn home, the Unisphere symbolizes Queens as the World’s Borough, and an interlocked NY worn all over the globe signifies the greatest sports franchise: the Bronx Bombers. […]