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The seventh chapter of What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth is now available.

This chapter explores the rise of the parallel economy, the fracture of trust in legacy institutions, and the resilience that carried us through.

2021 was the year the country diverged.
Federal mandates, the Afghanistan withdrawal, and the tightening of institutional control pushed millions of Americans toward alternative systems. Independent creators rose as Big Tech aligned with government pressure. Rumble, Substack, Locals, and GiveSendGo became lifelines for those who refused to surrender their voice. People were choosing where to place their trust, and they could support the voices they wanted to hear directly.

For my family, the Hill Country became a refuge. Life wasn’t locking down. It was opening up.

👉 Read Chapter 7: The Parallel Path now.

The sixth chapter of What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth is now available.

This chapter marks a shift — not just in the country, but in my own sharpening discernment.

After losing my mother in late 2020, I saw everything differently — the media, the country, community, family, and myself. Grief has a way of stripping away illusions. By January 2021, the country was fracturing, institutions were tightening their grip, and the media narratives no longer matched what people were seeing with their own eyes.

I write about the days surrounding January 6th, the censorship wave that followed, and the realignment of voices as independent creators stepped into the space abandoned by gatekeepers. I also discuss working with Blue October at the Studios at Fischer — a creative refuge in a chaotic season.

Clarity was born from loss. I realized the reckoning wasn’t coming. It had already begun.

👉 Read Chapter 6: The Reckoning Full Chapter

The fifth chapter of What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth is now available.

This chapter chronicles grief, purpose, and the quiet ways God prepares us for what comes next.

In the summer of 2020, I sat with my mother for what would become our final in‑person conversation. We talked about her retirement, our family history, the stepfathers who shaped our journeys, and the kind of love that leaves wrinkles you’re grateful for. She passed away in late October, and that loss reshaped everything — my faith, my clarity, and the way I saw the world.

At the same time, the entertainment industry had shut down. Touring stopped. Venues closed. But creativity didn’t die. I began livestreaming bands at the Studios at Fischer, working with artists like Van Wilks Band, The Tiarras, and Black Fret musicians. What started as a workaround became a lifeline — for them, and for me.

And beneath all of it — the livestreams, the election fog, the media fractures, the cultural exhaustion — I felt the quiet pull of something larger unfolding.

👉Read Chapter 5: The Loss Full Chapter

The fourth chapter of What Was Meant for Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth is now available.

This chapter walks through the moment the “new normal” began — lockdowns, mandates, contradictions, and the widening divide between what we were told and what we saw with our own eyes. 2020 didn’t arrive with fanfare, but it didn’t take long for the world to shift under our feet.

January and February still felt normal. I watched FOX Business less, and more YouTube with the growing constellation of independent creators I’d discovered over the previous few years. 

Then March hit…

👉 Read Chapter 4: The Pandemic Divide Full Chapter

The next chapter of What Was Meant For Harm: A Media Memoir of Faith, Fracture, and the Fight for Truth is officially out.
This one marks an independent shift—not just in what I watched, but in how I thought.

From FOX to YouTube.
From headlines to frameworks.
From institutions to individuals.

This chapter walks through the cultural chaos of 2016–2020—#MeToo, media‑framed events, shootings, censorship, the rise of independent creators, and the moment I realized the old media map no longer made sense.

It’s the story of how I found voices who didn’t pretend, didn’t hide their biases, and didn’t claim to be authorities. They were honest about their imperfections, and that honesty mattered.

👉 Read Chapter 3: The Independent Shift Full Chapter

Read Full Prelude Here