Just in Conversation Justin Baker

Sometimes one finds themselves in a period of disillusionment, the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be, or things should be … you fill in the blank. I’ve found myself here lately. And maybe you have too. The times we’re facing are unlike any […]

Dr. Valerie Bullock has been an anchoring influence early in my adult life, and I’m sure several others can say the same. Throughout the years, what started as a guiding presence has now grown into a mentor, teacher, leader, and friend. Much of my thirst for adventure and the search […]

There are times when the world feels overwhelmingly vast and difficult to comprehend, too large to experience it all. But there are also those little magical moments when the world feels quite small. I had this experience this past year, in the height of the early days of the pandemic, […]

When we were kids we climbed trees. Now as adults we climb walls, both physical ones and the ones we create. In this season, I talk to my childhood best friend, some important women and men who were key mentors and influencers in my life, a close adult-hood friend that’s […]

Music was my gateway into curiosity, a way to express the questions tumbling around in my mind, and to spin a thread to the past to try and understand this life. In my later years of college the real journey to finding my voice began. I was not alone. So many of us were searching for ourselves in the mirror, on a stage, in a recording. Who were we? My friend Dion Isaiah also found a light at the end of a long wandering road of misidentity, uncertainty, and an urge to break free to find himself. The road to finding his voice.

Sometimes I find it helpful to remember that our existence is a continuation of all those that have gone before. We’re carrying the torch onward from stories, ideas, and movements sparked from lives long ago. This curiosity to explore the the spaces and places just out of reach is what led me to meeting a new friend, Pete Dring. Pete lives in York, a historic city on the northeast part of England, and where, as a surprise to him, many years ago, I began a friendship on a chance meeting in the streets of York one evening.