Free Agency Vol. 35 - Real Yearners Only

Floetry whispering poetic confessions, Tamia hitting those impossible notes in "So Into You," Dru Hill begging on "Tell Me," Joe promising to be "All The Things," AzYet harmonizing their hearts out, and Charlie Wilson carrying the torch from one generation to the next - they're all practitioners of the yearn. You know it when you hear it. The crooning, the dramatic hand movements reaching for something just beyond grasp, the sincerity that refuses ironic distance. You know it when you feel it, that emotional resonance that hits somewhere between second-hand embarrassment and profound connection. Even the uncles, those pioneers of the art form, are on tour this summer, proving that yearning never goes out of style.

This is where the yearn lives - in that vulnerable space where emotion trumps calculation. Community requires an element of the same thing. Someone has to care deeply enough to keep showing up, to keep nurturing connections, to keep doing the work when it doesn't 'make sense' on a spreadsheet. Just like those R&B vocalists who abandon cool detachment for raw emotional expression, meaningful communities are built by people willing to risk looking too earnest, too committed, too invested."

You’re either in one, building one, or connected to one. That matters, because that’s where growth is coming from and being sustained by.