JONES,DURAND - Wait Til I Get Over - Blue Jay

Durand Jones's Wait 'Til I Get Over is a memoir and a love letter.

It is the story of Jones's life, his growth and revelations, the

wisdom of his hometown and the wisdom he could only gain

once he left. In it, he writes through Hillaryville's contradictions:

the pristine beauty and the ragged roads; his teenage desire

to leave and his adult desire to honor his tangled roots; the

plantation history and the ups and downs of the Black community

that made homes of this reparation town. "Hometowns have a

way of keeping a part of you," says Jones, "and if I'm making

something young-me would be proud of, Hillaryville is a big part

of that." Jones finds something transformative in his memories

there and the life he has led since, ultimately claiming and

embracing his whole self.

The result is vulnerable, personal, touching on Jones's

relationship to church life, to his mother, to his queerness, to

his worth. "I wish I could tell my younger self 'you don't have to

stick to the dreams people have for you,'" says Jones, "'you can

dream bigger. You are more than capable, you are more than

able. I think about some nerdy punk kid in the rural south who

needs to hear that now.'" Wait 'Til I Get Over does exactly that.