HeyJaredCribnotes: A Field Guide from the Front Porch
Notes on power, culture, and survival—written as letters. Rooted in Black brilliance. For people paying attention.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 15, 2026
Latest issues
Crack kills...and So Does Racism (opens the original)
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💌 Dearly Beloveds,Last week, we buried Aunt Cousin Sis.Some of you met her in the last issue.If you have to ask how one woman gets to be Aunt, Cousin, and Sis at the same time, you did not grow up in a Black Southern family.She and my mama were the bridge between two generations of children whose mama was Big Ma.Now half of that bridge is gone.We went back to Alabama. Back to the land my family has left and returned to for generations.My little brother was wrecked. Somewhere in the grief, he ask
Are You Not Entertained? (opens the original)
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💌 Dearly Beloved,This wasn't what I planned to write today.My brother called me the night before last.He asked if my mother had told me the police showed up in her driveway and harassed her — about a week ago now. Her own driveway. Seventy-seven years old. They were just doing their job.I said no. She hadn't told me.Then he told me Cousin (Aunt) Sis was in hospice. I knew about the surgery — my mother had called me earlier in the week to tell me about the complication, the fluid, the way she wen
All Around the World Same Song (opens the original)
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Cribnotes is part field notes, part cultural commentary, part love letter to the people holding communities together.<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="806" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uNhI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progr
The Constant PIP (opens the original)
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💌 Dearly Beloved,I have been on a performance improvement plan for more than a decade.Nobody called me into Human Resources. There was no formal write-up. No list of measurable outcomes. No 30-, 60-, or 90-day review.Just the persistent sense that how I move through the world requires continuous correction.Too direct.Too analytical.Too much feeling.Not enough inquiry.Wrong delivery.Missed the cue.Should have known.So I kept trying to improve my performance.The problem is, nobody ever told me wha
Back Inside (opens the original)
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Cribnotes is part field notes, part cultural commentary, part love letter to the places that raised us — this one's about school buildings, the people who fight to keep them, and what gets lost when nobody has to.💌 Dearly Beloved,If you grew up below the Mason-Dixon, you know July 31 the way other people know the first frost. It's not a date. It's a door closing. Everything after it — the school supply aisles, the haircuts, the last cousin's visit — is just counting down to the first week of Aug
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