My 7th grade Spanish teacher, Mr. Raider, told every class he ever taught the same story. He had spent his early childhood in India while his parents were missionaries, and adjusting to the States in his teenage years was difficult work. He did everything to fit in, and it wasn't until his adulthood that he went back to visit. While walking through the streets with an old friend, they passed a woman begging on the street. He turned to his friend and said something to the effect of "if only she had come to the States as well, she could have been somebody". According to Mr. Raider, his friend looked a bit shocked, and paused before saying, "Of course she's already somebody. Everybody is 'somebody'". 

         

         Mr. Raider is probably unaware of how long the story stuck with me, or how grateful I am that he took the time to re-tell it. I agreed with the sentiment, but wanted so desperately to be somebody. To matter. As much as I could echo back that every single person was already somebody, I didn't think I was.

     

          I struggled with substance abuse, violent relationships, and destructive behavior in my late teens and early 20's. I was charged with a DUI in September of 2021, and was forced to face the facts: I needed help. I needed to change. 

     

        I found the way back to myself by looking past myself, and instead to each and every person I knew, loved, admired, disliked, envied, missed. I really believed they all had an inherent value, an inherent sense dignity and worth despite the flaws, and learned to see the reflection of it all in myself. 

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        I'm making this album to tell everyone what I've learned; that EVERYBODY is somebody, and that giving to the world is what makes you feel PART of the world. 

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