Brandon’s Note: This series is all about getting to hear from members about how they made it to their first meeting and their experience in the space. I hope you get a direct sense of all the different paths that lead to book club and a first hand perspective of what it’s really like in the room. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

“I moved to NYC in October of 2017. I moved here for a job, but my wife and I are both born and raised in Seattle, and had never really left. It was somewhat of a daunting idea of moving. I was super excited about it, because I used to work in music. I managed artists and I did music journalism, and the idea of looking at concert calendars and seeing what happens in New York was like a dream. So that was a drawing factor in addition to just a good job opportunity.

That first year in Brooklyn for me was about finding community, finding people to connect with, finding things to do. I love going to concerts, but I can't do that every single night. I had been following Brooklyn Circus, I grew up in the prime street wear and men's clothing era, (when brands like) The Hundreds were coming up. I saw Brooklyn Circus had posted something and tagged Yahdon. I found a book club on their Instagram page, and the first thing I saw was Yahdon hosting an event with Dave Itzkoff, who had written the Robin Williams biography that I just finished. I was like, "Dope. I'm going to go check this out."

It was cool seeing how Yahdon moderated that conversation. I started following him on Instagram, and saw the book club again. I waited before signing up, but it got to the point where I was like, "All right, I'm going to give this a try. I've never been to a book club before." My only perception of book club was, my mom had a book club, and I knew it was something that older people did. I didn't have any friends that did book clubs or anything like that.

But again, I was looking for community. "I just need to try this. There's no reason to hold off." Signed up. When I got that book in the mail, I was like, "Oh. It's an Iverson book. This feels a lot less daunting being about basketball, something that I love, and Iverson, someone who I grew up watching." It was such a perfect introduction because it really did lower some of the, "I have no idea what to expect, or what types of books they are, or how to think about them." It really made it an easy introduction and transition into the club.

Reading the book and what was interesting is, I was a huge sports fan growing up. I felt like I knew everything about Iverson, and I've never liked Allen Iverson. He was just one of those guys that everyone loved. And because everyone loved him, I was like, "Nah, I'm not going to like this guy. I'm going to root for Vince Carter. He's my guy." It was one of those things.

And I knew that Iverson had real financial struggles, I knew he had gone through some stuff, but I don't think I knew the depths of it. What Kent Babb did so amazingly was breaking down the endearing elements of Allen Iverson with the problems he faced, and just some of the things that he was not mentally or emotionally prepared to deal with. It really created so many more elements that aren’t typically brought up around the subject of Allen Iverson. There's things that you won't like. How he deals with relationships, how he blew off some opportunities. But then you take the flip side of, how did he get here? There are layers of this guy where he seemed to have wanted to try, wanted to do better. There was just so much working against him from the beginning. It was dope to unpack that.

I mostly walk in a room and I'm like, "I'm not going to say a word. I'm just going to chill in the back of the room, watch what's going on." I think there were a few reasons why I felt comfortable enough to talk in that first meeting. The topic was just engaging to me because of drawing out a human being like that and being about sports, as well. Part of it was just the general energy in the room. You walk into that room and I think it does engage people in a way that a lot of other rooms don't allow for. And a lot of that is on Yahdon, but most of that's on the rest of the community that is honest and invites that energy.

Something that is great about all the meetings is that there's such a diverse set of perspectives, I end up walking away like, "I don't think about things like 90% of the people in the room at any given meeting." I go from having what I think is a holistic perspective to, "Wow, mine is very narrow when I put all this together." The ability to think through things, or the ability to ask yourself questions becomes so much more dynamic. I remember just leaving that meeting just in awe of that.

It was just dope seeing a community of people. Fashion was part of it, but then just the honesty and conversation. You don't walk into many rooms and see people open up, be vulnerable, be real. It was just welcoming. From the second you walk in, people are cool. You'll connect with them before or after book club. So it is just a rare space, and I appreciate being a part of that. It's still dope that everyone is committed to it virtually and I can't wait to get back to being in person.” - Jake as told to Brandon

Jake's First Book Club Meeting