Something about listening to Tank and the Bangas’ The Last Balloon finally pushed me to say the thing I’ve been avoiding for the past couple of months. I Love Us is evolving.

Tank and the Bangas dropped their latest album, The Last Balloon, today. I had the chance to hear the project early on Monday, but it was my third listen — and second one today — that really landed somewhere deeper for me. In one of the album’s interludes, frontwoman Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball explains the meaning behind the title. She says she doesn’t want to float away anymore. That line stopped me in my tracks because I realized I’ve been trying to keep I Love Us afloat instead of allowing it to anchor itself in the reality of where my life is now. The platform is no longer in the same place it was when I launched it in 2024, and honestly, neither am I.

I am officially moving forward with the platform as a newsletter and blog.

The decision came with more emotion than I expected. Since launching in 2024, I Love Us has been tied closely to my personal mission as a writer and cultural documentarian. The platform gave me space to explore Black art, storytelling, memory, performance, beauty, and the kinds of cultural moments that deserve deeper conversation than social media usually allows. It also became the clearest reflection of the kind of work I wanted to spend my life doing.

Over the last several months, my career and passions have started converging in a way that feels far more sustainable. I’ve been working to help launch and manage a publication that allows me to pursue many of the same interests that inspired I Love Us in the first place. Through that work, I’ve gained access to resources, collaborators, opportunities, and institutional support that make this kind of storytelling more viable long term. There are simply more doors open through this path, and I would be foolish not to walk through them fully.

At the same time, I realized I still needed a place that belonged entirely to me.

There are observations, essays, conversations, and cultural thoughts that do not neatly fit inside another publication’s editorial structure. There are moments in art that deserve reflection without needing to become a full reported feature. There are opinions I want to share without trying to package them into something optimized for performance. I Love Us gives me room for that.

Moving forward, this platform will function more as a living journal of cultural commentary, interviews, reflections, and personal observations rooted in Black art and storytelling. The pace may look different, but the intention behind the work remains the same.

I am still accepting pitches. I am still conducting feature interviews. I am still covering events. If you’d like to send a pitch, interview opportunity, or press invitation, please continue reaching out the same way you always have.

What’s changing is the structure surrounding the work.

I no longer want to force this platform into the shape of a constantly updating digital publication simply because that feels like the expected model. Running an independent media outlet requires enormous infrastructure, labor, and financial backing. Instead of stretching myself thin trying to replicate systems that already exist elsewhere in my professional life, I want this space to feel intentional again. More importantly, I want it to feel enjoyable.

I Love Us has always worked best when it felt conversational, thoughtful, curious, and emotionally grounded. That’s the energy I want to return to. The newsletter format allows me to engage more directly, write more freely, and share things while they are still fresh on my spirit instead of waiting until they fit neatly into a publication cycle.

I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who has supported this platform since the beginning. Every artist who trusted me with their story, every reader who shared an article, every person who sent encouragement, every opportunity that came through this work—it all mattered.

If you’d like to continue following along, you can sign up for the newsletter here:

Thank you for growing with me as I Love Us enters its next chapter.

— Thiy Parks
Editor, I Love Us