About the Authors

1/2/2018

Hello everyone,

My name is Riakeem and I am the author of this blog, "Everywhere Heroes." I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing from Emory University for what feels like a lifetime ago back in 2013. As a 90s kid, 1999 still feels like it was "just 10 years ago," and it is odd to shake the idea that now, in 2018, 1999 was almost twice that in time ago.

I started this blog near the end of 2014 when I was a year out of college and practically unemployed. My idea then was to talk about a subject that I love - heroes! My goal then, and now, was to explore heroes on a deeper level, and in so doing build an audience interested in the discussion of heroic characters and that character archetype. Additionally, I wanted to explore non-traditional characters that may fit the archetype, or that I found were simply heroic. Well, 2015 arrived and by then I was actually unemployed and didn't have the time to keep up with the hobby I started, and when I found comfortable employment I fell into the trap of living the simple life of worker bee #74 (don't look that up. It is not a reference). But 2015, 2016, and even the most recent 2017 have all flown by and I have done very little to keep the flame of creativity burning bright, so this year I plan throw everything at the wall, and see what sticks!

I have always wanted to be a writer, not because I have a love for any form or medium, but I am passionate about telling stories, and it is what I want to do with my life. I absolutely love telling stories, reading them, playing them, watching them and generally experiencing them through any medium I can. This blog is an experience for me to get closer to stories by taking time to be introspective on the narrative structures, the characters presented, and thinking about how these stories shape us and help us define who we become. It is my personal believe that every story ever presented has a hero for a protagonist, because often it takes a courageous action to achieve what you want, and every character that is worth anything wants something! That is what pulls us closer to stories, because we want something, and we are connected by sharing our desires and wants. You want your younger brother to stop bugging you while you hang out with your friends? Well your story begins when you decide what you are going to do to stop him. You want to tell your mom that you're not a little kid anymore, so you decide to show her by taking more responsibility around the house? Well then, your story begins at the first action you take to make it happen. The readers, watchers, listeners, players, and everyone who interacts with your narrative who will connect MOST with your story are often going to be those who have wanted the same thing in a similar way. It usually happens that we seek out characters who can identify with, and are often unsympathetic for those to whom we cannot relate.

So, I write that to say that 2018 is the year where I take all the that I want to do and start doing them. I am going to throw it all against the wall - My YouTube Channel, teaching myself how to play the piano, reading and writing every day, singing in the shower a whole hell of a lot more to the music that I love, being more romantic with my wife at random moments, and writing posts for THIS BLOG! In so doing, I am the hero in my own narrative, just like you should be the hero in yours! There are, quite literally, heroes everywhere. Grab all your courage and throw it all against the wall.