Introduction

A not-so-new beginning

Anytime I’ve stopped writing for awhile — whether it’s a reality born out of mental health struggles or peak survival mode — the idea of returning to myself lingers in the back of my mind, growing and stretching until I’m all consumed by it. Each time becomes more about the journey than the destination. I find myself caring less and less about perfection. I want the words to spill out of me. Envision the liberation of a dehydrated-turned-replenished river. Once its dam is broken open, the stream is free-flowing and urgent. 

This version of me is similar.

My words will no longer be contained. Neither will my emotions.

You Don’t Seem Like a Crier is the result of my incessant desire to allow vulnerability to make its way into my work, unabashedly. This newsletter is an unapologetic reflection of me, Alexis Dove, my musings on the culture, self-discovery, love, Black womanhood, and other things that make me emotional.

I do cry, and this past year I’ve cried the most that I’ve ever cried in my life. So, this newsletter also acts as a form of protest, inspired by an insecure person who inappropriately evoked the ‘Strong Black Woman’ trope. They told me, verbatim, that I don’t seem like a crier, based off of a shallow perception of me. I reject that. I thank them for lighting a fire in me to do so, but I mainly thank my loved ones for encouraging me to put myself out there.

This is for them, and this is for me.