Ever since he was a teenager I have seen Yasser Tejeda open doors. I mean this literally. We grew up only blocks apart in Santo Domingo. I have memories of running into him with a flimsy guitar case hanging from his back as he hailed down a carro público — dilapidated vehicles from decades past which serve as one of the city’s main forms of public transportation. Even back then, his name circulated the local music scene. He was one of the guys often referred to as un berdug

The most impactful insights from my yearly review.

Turning 40 on tour, I doubted my body could handle it. Then I watched a 70-year-old jump into mosh pits nightly. Your mind is a liar—here's the proof.

When I was fourteen, my dream came true. During the mid-nineties I was a kid in the Dominican Republic, watching MTV like millions of others around the world. I was a fan of the music of the era, tuning in between playing video games or running around outside. But one day, through the pirated cable on my parents' TV, I discovered Green Day. From there, my interests took a sharp turn. Soon, I was skipping sunny afternoons outdoors to stay inside, rewatching their videos, and

“How does that make you feel?” was a question I long avoided. For Caribbean men, being asked to express our emotions can feel like an insult. Our guard stays up, and we deflect and suppress open dialogue. We walk around with chips on our shoulders, stacking them up into walls. Enclosed we remain trapped in our ways. Last summer marked the end of a two year journey with a therapist who challenged my one-word answers when she asked how I felt. “Fine” wouldn’t cut it. After our

When I was twenty two I answered an ad on Craigslist that changed my life. “Do you like cool people and love art? Do you want to work at a fast growing company with unlimited earning potential? Apply today. FUN PEOPLE ONLY!” At best, I was naive for having responded. That same week I went in for a job interview at the company’s headquarters in Orlando. The office manager greeted me in a stylish lobby and had me fill out a form that asked about my favorite kind of art, and wha

We all tell stories. We cast them from the magic-8-ball of our minds to help us make sense of the world. These stories are how we interpret our experiences. They are our imagination hard at play. When I hear my neighbor berating customer service people on the phone, I tell a story about who he is. Why he feels entitled to yell at them is his own story. The difference in how two people perceive a hundred dollar bill has to do with their stories about money. Our collective beli