all my ancestors known and unknown (from England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and more, before arriving in America from the 1660s - the late 1800s), for the decisions you made that led to the miraculous, near-impossibility of my aliveness in this place & time

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the many teachers, friends, and community spaces who have helped me hold the complexity of holding gratitude and grace for my ancestors while simultaneously reckoning with their active participation & complicity in the horrors of enslavement and colonization

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my deceased paternal grandfather Ron Mudd for your commitment to accompanying people through grief and death as a hospice chaplain, your advocacy for structual changes in the medical system to better support the dying process, and your writings on what you learned I in turn have learned from 

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my deceased maternal grandfather Williams Arant II for the ways your eyes lit up when you listened to jazz​, and for the many duets sung together

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my immediate & extended family for your abundant support of me, my gifts, and my calling over the years, especially:

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• my father Shannon for teaching me that you never need a "reason" to sing besides the joy of it​

• my mother Jenifer for your spiritual curiosity & fortitude

• my sister Savannah for your fiery & infectious spirit for justice

• my (two) Uncle Bills for inviting me to your band practices and encouraging my young musical spirit

• my grandmother Davalu Parrish for modeling care, determination, and a commitment to serving community

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the many mentors from my hometown of Phoenixville, PA who nurtured my potential, namely my choir and musical theater director Dr. Randi Carp and my many instructors at Vaughn's Dojang

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all those I learned from during my time at Brandeis University, especially:

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• professor Chad Williams for advising me through my Indepedent Study on "The Historical Construction of Whiteness," as well as my degrees in History and African & African-American studies

• professor Tom Hall of the Brandeis Improv Collective for teaching me that music is relational, and most powerful when it is experienced, not just performed

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all my teachers, mentors, & elders in movement, healing, and ritual work - elena, Ukumbwa, Jen, Jon, lawrence, and more

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the climate and environmental justice movement, for waking me up to the profound shifts needed on all levels of society to return back to right relationship with the Earth and each other, and for my first experiences in oral tradition songleading

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the greater-boston men's work network for the many years of emotional accompaniment, accountability, community-building, and visioning, and for sharpening my understandings of patriarchy, masculinity, accountability, restorative justice, and community care

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the boston-area singing circle community, which I have been co-stewarding since 2023, for believing in and affirming my calling as a songleader and ritualist

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the Hostel in the Forest, for the chance to experience deep relationship with land and "village" life, both as a returning guest since 2019 and during my month-long Artist-in-Residency during December 2025

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the Arnold Arboretum for the long walks, moonlit nights, sunrises and sunsets, and your beauty and teachings throughout all the seasons

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all the cultures​ who kept the traditions of embodied communal singing alive despite centuries of violence and cultural genocide, especially the african and indigenous communities of this continent of which I have been deeply inspired by

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all the musicians who have filled my life with song & inspired my musical craft - Amos Lee, Billy Joel, Jamie Cullum, Janella Monae, Esperanza Spalding, Maggie Rogers, Mountain Man, The Wailin' Jenny's, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah, Moses Sumney, and many more

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all the writers, thinkers, and poets who have inspired me - Robin Wall Kimmerer, adrienne maree brown, bell hooks, Octavia Butler, Ursula K. le Guin, Tricia Hersey, Resma Menakem, Naomi Klein, Hafiz​, and more​​​​

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all those unknown and unnamed, without whom I would not be here!