Dailyn Townes
Bio
| Writer | Sneaker Designer | Intellectual Ambivert | Book Fanatic | Ever-growing |
Every person has a story to share and a life to live, but how we live matters just as much as what we're living for; who or what is driving you?
Stories (12/0)
- Top Story - April 2024
A Hiatus Turned Reflection Top Story - April 2024
No, I wasn't dead, nor fighting off some great mystical beast tyrannizing a group of villagers. To those who look forward to what I have to say, or to put it better, write, I am genuinely sorry for my disappearance from the Vocal platform and community.
By Dailyn Townes3 days ago in Humans
You Don't Know Me. . .Yet
Unfortunately, I am just now getting around to this challenge. But hey, we do what we can with the time that has been given to us. Here is a diminutive and insightful list of the quirks and facts about me. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this; I appreciate it more than you know!
By Dailyn Townes8 months ago in Confessions
The Exchange
One day, I finally decided to venture out of my routine, which consisted of waking up, doing personal hygiene, spending devotional time with the Lord, and getting ready for the day, all while hurrying out the door with a protein shake in hand with an unnerving sense of dread and despair that, maybe today will be the day something genuinely disastrous happens - like losing my job or again getting into another car accident that, unironically, wasn't my fault but being blamed or accepting more blame than necessary to carry on my day. But today was unusually unique. Instead, I decided to bask in the glorious sunny Wednesday that was my day off and enjoy and be present in the park, residing just a couple blocks down. It was a calm and mild seventy-five degrees outside, prompting me to stroll down the block heading toward the park.
By Dailyn Townes8 months ago in Fiction
Dear Christians
Christians claim they love God, but you cannot claim you love God, who you do not see, if you hate your neighbor that you do see. Jesus preached about loving your neighbor as yourself and, in doing so, honoring not only the Imago Dei in oneself but also that of your neighbor, thus seeing the likeness of God in its respective field. Only Christians have yet to showcase this understanding. Instead, they have married dogma with the Christianity of the land, or Christian Nationalism, and made a faith once built on love, mercy, redemption, and reconciliation into a perverted version that only thirsts for power, domination, and exclusivity. This perversion shouldn't exist. This article does not support dogmatic approaches to the Christian faith, nor is this a critical critique regarding a religion I believe is foundationally founded on love, relationship, and service. While I identify with the Christian faith, I want this article to achieve a radicalized, revamped understanding of the present-day church and how I think it has failed the second teaching of Jesus: Love thy neighbor as thyself.
By Dailyn Townes8 months ago in Confessions
A Passing Moment; Monumental Growth
"I don't know what this is, what we had, seemed like a passing fad. A journey yet understood. What came between us at that moment? What did you see when you gazed into my eyes? When you saw me, what intrigued you -was it my dormant wittiness or a soft smile that soothed your broken heart? Was it the kindness displayed or compassion given? When you asked, "Who made you like this?" What did you mean? Why did you ask me out for coffee? Why did I agree? Why did we both enjoy it? Why was I anxious the entire time? Why did it seem like you weren't? Have you done this before? I haven't. Why did the conversation last four hours, but what felt like four lifetimes? Why did I feel seen for the first time? Why did I love that moment? Why did I ask you out? Why did you say yes? Why was the sushi so sapid? Why couldn't I answer your question? Why did we grow apart? Why did I write you a poem? Why did I wait to give it to you? Why did we wait to express how we really felt years later? What changed? Did we grow as time went on? Were we both immature when it happened? Possibly."
By Dailyn Townes12 months ago in Confessions
In The Hearts of Individuals
Miles' Journal Entry 2,555 I was but a wee lad when it happened, no more than the age of fourteen, whereas life as we know it changed. I remember the earth stories my dad used to tell me about how sudden destruction would come upon people unannounced if they were not careful, like the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. My dad once said a proverbial statement to me that did not make much sense at the time, but I know he saturated it with wisdom: "Son, the day a man forfeits his autonomy of choice is the day that man's soul dies."
By Dailyn Townes3 years ago in Fiction
The Question: Unanswered?
It was a beautiful, sunny day in June 2018 where I mustered enough courage to ask my crush at the time, Shelbi, out on an exotic sushi date. I never received much attention in my earlier years of high school, and for the first time, I felt valued as an individual. There was a tendency to put on a mask to present my best self. Still, if a person knows who they are, what value they bring into relationships, and how to conduct that said relationship, that mask is but a tool to hide their insecurities. Only I learned this revelation too late.
By Dailyn Townes3 years ago in Confessions
From Skin to Skin
What do you say to yourself being raised in white America as a fourteen-year-old black boy? What do you tell yourself when the media depicts white as beautiful and shows little to no concern for anyone else? What does that do to a child psychologically? It makes them feel like they were birthed in the wrong bodysuit, gazing into the mirror, seeing their melanin as the culprit, like there was a pigmentation mistake in the baby-making department, and they got swapped out for another. That is how I felt at the time. It got to a depressing point where I scoured the web, soul-searching YouTube videos of how to change skin colors and appear more white. The video response was a black man applying an excessive amount of baby powder on his face as a parody. Now, even though the video came off as satire, at the time, I was unnerved because clearly, I was facing psychological issues that took root in my childhood. From wanting my name changed to wishing to be somebody else entirely seemed very off-putting, especially as an eight or nine-year-old. I would not know how to respond if my child asked, "Why am I made like this?" and, "Why am I so ugly," especially if you heard the word beautiful and immediately associated it with your white counterparts.
By Dailyn Townes3 years ago in Confessions
