James Jackson, Jr.┃#TheseAreMyMemories 📸: @marqwallsnyc Earliest #StrangeLoopBway memory? “When I first moved to NYC, I kept finding myself in audition rooms full of other 6ft tall, Black, gay men with shaved heads. They would tell me about this crazy composer named @thelivingmichaeljackson and how I should never sing his material because I’d be blacklisted in the industry. And then I encountered Michael’s music and it spoke to the core of who I am as a human being. I think as Black, gay men in the industry, we had all been told that there were certain things we couldn’t do or say in order to be successful and Michael’s music confronted that directly. #StrangeLoopBway is one of the first professional spaces that has ever invited me as I am. This experience has taught me that there is more than enough space for ME.” What advice would you go back and give yourself on day 1 of your #StrangeLoopBway journey? “Don’t listen to people who think they know how to run you... because they actually don’t know anything and are just old. There’s always going to be people that have opinions of you, but know that you can still do this. You’re supposed to be doing this. And there’s someone out there who NEEDS to see you doing this because they’ve been told the exact same things.” What do you hope the legacy of #StrangeLoopBway will be? “I hope that there will be rooms of people that look like me and us making decisions. I want the people up at the top of those rooms to be able to look around and see a bunch of different looking people who have lived drastically different lives from each other. The next generation of storytellers are COMING and I am so excited to see what they do.”