Ep. 166: The Expectations Keeping Black Men From Being Themselves with Cito Blanko

In XYBM 166, we sit down with Cito Blanko, musician, poet, and educator, for a return visit that goes deeper than the first. Fresh off tour, Cito gets real about what it means to actually feel your feelings instead of just surviving through them, the version of yourself that broke the inner child’s crayons just to make it through the world, and why being wack again, starting over and sitting through the awkward middle, might be one of the hardest things you can do.

He also opens up about depression, losing friends to suicide, and how boxing taught him to breathe between punches. He talks about a relationship built on a deep friendship, and having a partner who advocates for him when he starts talking to himself in ways he never should.

This is for any Black man who has learned how to push through everything without ever really feeling it, and anyone trying to understand whether the version of you that helped you survive is still serving you today. Tune in on all podcast streaming platforms, including YouTube.

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