This letter went to Write On subscribers on October 23, 2026. Want the next one in your inbox? Sign up here.
It’s been a while since I had the chance to email you. Things have been busy on my side, and when I saw that my last email was sent in 2025, I had to pause.
Much of 2026 I feel as though I’ve been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, in all the best, and some of the worst ways.
My word of the year in 2026 is Fluent.
I wrote about why, and what discernment has to do with it.
building
Building Fluently
Speaking the language of AI, I’ve spent most of the year building my businesses and the nonprofits I’ve been lucky enough to serve.
- 29 Dines piloted Harvest and Thrive, a culinary arts and nutrition program, at 10 school sites in the Morongo Basin.
- Latimer Digital pairs a network of trusted collaborators with AI agents to help organizations grow.
- Adobe Mara Arts started as a Friday night activity at Black Cactus Co-Working and grew into my vision for an arts and culture district in Downtown 29 Palms.
- Food Tribe, my old project, has enjoyed a new life leveraging some of the technology and infrastructure of Claude. I’ve been exploring ways to invigorate the brand
read
What CRCD Reminded Me About Building With, Not Around, a Community
My buddy Gerrell and I visited Malik Books at Crenshaw Mall for a book signing with John Hope Bryant. A few days later he invited me to check out his office at the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, and I got to bring my brother.
build
Building With Claude(isha)
I do believe AI has a place. I encourage us all to build responsibly, without judging those who are experimenting too harshly.
Two pieces on how I’m doing it: I Gave My Business a Second Brain and What the Machines Can’t Hear.
more writing
Also on the blog
- Judgment vs. Discernment: The Man Who Never Tasted Chocolate
- Everyone Has a Plan: Calibrating Capacity Before You Get Punched
- What Black Week LA Taught Me About Building Something That Outlasts You
media
Fall Recommendations
Reading: Cities of Salt · Capitalism for All · Interpretable Context Methodology (Paper)
Listening: My October 2026 Playlist can be described as a cinematic drift through alternative R&B, deep soul, downbeat electronic, and timeless cuts.
Watching: This month I watched Lanterns, TYSON, The 25th Hour, and X-Men ’97. I plan to write more on X-Men ’97 as this season was in my opinion, a masterpiece.
Audiobooks: Dark Field Manifestation · The Sovereign Individual · Fundamentals of Enterprise Architecture · Writing Creative Nonfiction
New · Starting November
Five for Friday
Five short things every Friday morning: what I’m reading, listening to, building, something from the desert, and a line I can’t stop thinking about. Two minutes, tops. It’s opt in, so you only get it if you ask.
Best,
Terence