Dear Reader:

If you don’t know me IRL, I’d like to share a few facts about myself, so you know what you’re getting yourself into.

First, I grew up in what could be considered a “raceless” country. Meaning, my homeland predominantly houses a darker-skinned population where complexion—not race—is the name of the game.

Second, I’m a trilingual TCK, immigrant and U.S. citizen who does not self-racialize (shocking, I know), and who has long challenged America’s dangerous and delusional “race” system from a sociological and theological stance.

For decades, I have studied complexion-centric behavioral patterns to inform my thinking on the invention of race—while also relying on my lived experiences and Scripture to make a little sense of my existence—and I can confidently state that I hate my calling.

While this is the sad case, I committed to pursuing my calling until my death date,  following an accountability call with a compassionate pastor I connected with in 2024, plus a compassionate Christian content creator I connected with in 2025.

Third, as a survivor of torture and other forms of abuse, I am officially tired of processing or “healing” my traumas.

Fourth, as an earthling who is aware that billions of humans endure horrors every day, I struggle to understand why G-d bothered creating us, though I suspect love has something to do with it.

Fifth, whether you identify as a thirst-trapping Christian, a sage-and-Holy-Spirit Christian or a Jesus-is-my-husband Christian, I feel it’s important for faith-based content creators to disclose what denomination they’re affiliated with. While I review theological perspectives from various Christian denominations, the doctrines I subscribe to pull from the Baptist denomination, plus the Red Letter Christians Movement.

On a related note, I am saddened (but not shocked) that most churches in America haven’t said one word about the genocide in Gaza, or the horrors occurring in Mali, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. I highly, highly, highly recommend that Believers re-read the Book of Amos (especially the fifth chapter), and basically, the entire Old Testament, as these books are loaded with justice-seeking language.

Sixth, I have no qualms about admitting I am a sinner, meaning I often “miss the mark.” Here’s a sample of my character defects: I curse at times, I can be judgmental, I’m not always the first to apologize, I’ve made statements that I deeply regret, I am not always kind or patient (TMI: this is especially true when I’m on my cycle), and I don’t always trust G-d. Instead of adopting a doom-and-gloom attitude about sin, I remind myself it’s a gift to learn lessons that check my mortal ego. And, (non-violent) mistakes are an opportunity to do better.

Seventh, I’m a neurodivergent and dyslexic essayist with more issues than Vogue (as the meme goes), so I apologize in advance for the typos and syntactic errors you’ll encounter in my written works. No matter how many times I proofread my reflections, I often miss one or more stylistic bugs.

Lastly, I exist in a biased bubble where I am daily reminded that I don’t belong on this brokenhearted Earth. I choose to write about my pain, my joys, my frustrations, my doubts, my grief, my mistakes, my hopelessness and my hope, so you don’t feel alone in this challenging (cruel) experiment called life.

Appreciate your reading time,

Your melanated neighbor