WE DESERVE AND CAN DO BETTER.

Not for attraction but for getting traction out of rage, because I was yesterday years old when I realized that high on the list of what inspires me is a watching a mediocre white man move with the audacity only a mediocre white man can have.

Anyway, this was a fun little challenge for me — took about 1/2 an hour to write and about an hour to record, not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

about what he must think

the future is going to be

when…

the ballroom he wants

is not for good things to flaunt

it’s to protect him

from enemies, so many enemies

not of us, but of him

and it’s clear he considers us

closer to them

when the outer reaches

of who he sees as mattering lives

is ballroom-size

Jamal didn’t give it to us and Jamal can’t take it away.

This video, my work and my platform are for Black women and those who love Black women.

If that aint you - this aint for you. And so while your presence, comments, questions, suggestions are allowed - everything is allowed - they are not needed, they are not wanted and not welcome.

Proceed accordingly.

If the arguments you’re having now are the same ones you’ve been having since 2016 — why?

The frustration I’m feeling/raging against is a big part of what inspired good people — the game I created to provoke good folks into having conversations that slip underneath the labels. You should get it.

janicelagata.com/goodpeople

We are being distracted to and from death.

I this theory… if you wouldn’t do what you’re doing if less than 10… wait - let’s make this biblical and say 12. If you wouldn’t do what you’re doing if only 12 (or less) people consistently supported you - you’re doing it for the capitalism AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FINE, but be for real and be honest. First, foremost and especially with yourself. Because there are a lot of people cosplaying as aspiring world changers right now — pretending they’re doing what they’re doing because they really want things to be different, but every time they get the chance, as soon as they get it, they do things the old way. They softball the questions and soften the language, they try to find middle ground with election deniers and PDF hiders, they give air to and circulate hateful rhetoric under the guise of “commenting” on it, they talk about what Trump’s probably gonna do next, then shrug their shoulders and keep talking, talking, talking - because they don’t want to be revolutionary, they just want to be on the record.

I don’t believe anything is true because it’s in the bible, I believe a lot of things are in the bible because they are true. Life AND death are in the power of the tongue. Both. All the time. So all that talk you’re talking — what is it bringing to life? And what is it putting to death?

I’ve got other stuff I have to get done today, so I’m not gonna get all the way on my soapbox, but I will say: Likes and follows are the crypto-currency of social capitalism. Woe to you content creators who are unprepared in all ways for the day when the internet goes dark. Who aren’t gonna know who you are, what to feed your ego or how to measure your worth when there are no likes to be counted.

And who are gonna find yourselves stranded with people who don’t share your worldview because you got so caught up in getting as many people as possible to like you, that you never got around to getting connected with the people like you. Because that’s what this time is about. I’m sure of it. We’re supposed to be strengthening our root systems. Moving closer to our core, away from the surface.

And that’s what good people is all about. Getting to the core, traveling away from the surface. Because a lot of y’all are bullshitting and wasting time. Purposely having the same arguments today that you’ve been having FOR YEARS and claiming that it’s purposeful. It’s not. There’s no purpose… well, no good purpose in arguing with anyone about whether or not Christians can be Democrats. You might as well argue about whether or not the earth is round. In fact, I’d rather speak with and spend time with a flat-earther because — who cares? What is this obsession we have with making sure everyone agrees on stuff that has zero effect on day-to-day life? Just let it be. If you don’t believe Christians can be Democrats, bless your heart. And stay away from me. Because you’re an idiot and I don’t need or want you on my team. In fact, the only thing I would ever want less than you on my team, is for me to be on your team. Because it’s just labels. And at this point, all the sticky is gone, so it’s just tiny sheets we use to paper over all the truth that’s just underneath. And just underneath is exactly where good people lives.

good people

the name of the game and the only folks who can play

good people take turns placing choice cards into 2 worlds. // Each choice shifts the balance, as neither world ever gets more than one ahead. // Along the way, action cards, disrupt things, shifting ideas, resources, and alliances. // When the worlds are complete, all good people decide which world they want to live in and why.

I make games, y’all! And this is the first one I’m sharing. So get over to janicelagata.com/goodpeople now, so later, you can reminisce about you were one of the first to recognize its worth when it first came out.

Why Sinners Is Going To Lose

janicelagata.substack.com

I love us. And I just want us to be free of all this.

Free of the burden of everybody else.

Let ‘em fight. And let them have it. The label of Christian, of Progressive, of Democrat, of whatever non-Black people are clinging to keep from:

* having to plainly state their personal beliefs

* losing the plausibility of not knowing exactly what kind of people they value the opinions of.

For a long time, I thought people were lost in the sauce, but now… I think they like it. They like being in a melting pot of liberal thought, to be seen marinating near the more flavorful - being softened, but still fundamentally the same.

Still fundamentally dedicated to the lie: A good god sometimes needs good people to do evil things to accomplish his good and perfect will.

Still willing to just look the other way as long as the level of noise being made by the harmed doesn’t become too noticeable to not say something about. Like the hum of a refrigerator, there’s a dull roar of dehumanization that accompanies the practice of capitalism. And non-Black people have NEVER not been overlooking some extra level being dished out on us.

And that’s why this current time is very confusing for them. Those people’s president has ushered in a new level of equality — he loves and is loyal to no one. He sees every average American as equally unimportant and expendable. And so now average American’s have taken to the streets because average people being bothered and brutalized by government employees is just beyond the pale. Meanwhile, Black people been over it. And the perception is that we’re “sitting this one out” and not as engaged as before, but the truth is we’re just unimpressed. The Non-Blacks are DOWN BAD. Struggling. And this is our baseline. Not one Black person I know has stopped or stepped down on any of the justice/spiritual/SOUL work they were doing before White Jesus took the wheel.

But so far, we are doing a really good job of not letting non-Black emergencies affect our urgency. And I love that for us, because ain’t no we. I want those people and their president to have the world that they want. Truly. I just don’t want to be part of it and don’t want any part of it. And there’s no good future that requires us to compromise — the old world is over. There’s no upcoming election that will be a big enough reset button. Whatever’s next, needs to be new. Instead of trying to find middle ground between Black lives mattering and the white supremashit need to murder — how about we just start envisioning, talking about and working towards a future apart from each other?

Five years later, as some of y’alls white faves are JUST now getting comfortable with saying “You should leave your megachurch.” and “Evangelicalism might be problematic.” — I want you to clock it —

Black women be knowing, and y’all don’t be listening.

(ps… I remixed/recut this for my portfolio — if you’re looking for a mixing/mastering engineer, get at me. https://soundbetter.com/profiles/703527-janice-lagata#)

You don’t need to get better at the parts of the process that are not your strong suit - You need better people.

Let me introduce you.

Thanks for stopping by Live. Love. Lagata.! This post is public so feel free to share it.

StoryTell School is starting soon!A ten week screenwriting course for artists & storytellers, whether they want to be screenwriters or not. Classes begin Feb 8th.

StoryTell exists for the stories that must be told. Do you have one?

(promo code: EARLYBIRD2 for $95 off)

TEN WEEK COURSESUNDAYS // FEB 8TH - APRIL 12TH$121 [Special Birthday Pricing] until Friday, January 23rd

$321 after 12pm ET Saturday, January 24th

janicelagata.com/storytell-school

**Capitalism has us all messed up, we equate just having with being worth something but I am very unimpressed with people who have a lot, but do nothing good with it — and that goes for money, power and life itself, it’s fine that i’m still here - yay but if just not dying is all I have to show for 2025, I mean that’s not nothing in these United States but Donald Trump accomplished the same thing…**

So what I want/need for my birthday is: Nothing. Or specificity — to feel like I did something (anything!) useful with the last year. At this point we all know the five love languages are an evangelical scam but I do like words and if you’re going to give me some, I’d like them to be the kind I can use and hang onto, so if you’re going to say something please make it something kind or encouraging about something I made or did in 2025. 🙏🏽

And if you’re like “What the heck did you do?” That’s an excellent question and the answers you seek can be found on my website — so get over there and listen to some of my music, watch my films, join my school — Look, what I’m basically trying to do here is trick you into spending time with me, doing something I enjoy. 🥳

So please — for my birthday, give me 15 minutes. And then, if you want, say something specifically nice and/or nicely specific. 💁🏽‍♀️

**And/or for bonus points, be a pal and pass it on. Recommend me to someone for something I’m good at.

Please and thank you.

Anyway — hope you’re doing as well as you can be and thriving as much as possible in this hellscape of a timeline.

Black women be knowing, y’all.

Anyway, if you see Evangelicalism, tell him it's on sight.

So something I started working on over the summer and then dropped and then put on the backburner and then remembered and finished a few days ago, is an audiobook version of the divide - my book of poetry about race and American Christianity. I wrote it and first released it in 2017 aka the first year of the first Trump presidency and as I was editing a…

My final post for 2024. Is it late? Yes. But in another way, time is a construct so… still yes. Anyway, THANK YOU to all my subscribers, this post doesn’t even talk about what I’m scheming/dreaming up for 2025, but if you’re here, have no fear - I’m sure I’ve got something for you in the works.

ps… For anyone not subscribed here, but who wants to watch …

Audiobook in the works.To get a read-it-yourself copy: https://a.co/d/3ztveHb

Audiobook in the works.To get a read-it-yourself copy: https://a.co/d/3ztveHb