GIVING FLOWERS: Cory Townes
Giving Flowers is a series where I show appreciation thru words and photos to those who show appreciation of others.
Man, where do I begin..
Cory Townes is many things — your girl’s favorite DJ, plug of all plugs, photographer, writer, and so much more — but most importantly, he’s a great man, he’s my brother, and he’s one of the kindest, genuine men I have ever met.
For a little backstory, I’ve probably known Cory for north of ten years. It’s been a minute. I’ve been able to witness his journey firsthand throughout all these years, and even with all the change, one thing’s stayed the same.. the brother shows love. When I told him I wanted to sit with him for this feature, I was glad to sit down and just have an intimate, introspective convo about life, our journeys, giving back and more.
When I got to his crib for this chat, we greeted each other with a hug (as we always do), and quickly kinda got into chatting about therapy. I’ve personally been going since 2017, so when I found out Cory recently started going, I was hype and wanted to hear more about that journey. Seeing my brother be honest and vulnerable for the sake of being good to himself, so he can also be good to others, was mad inspiring. He also shared a story about how he recently got to see Deepak Chopra lead a meditation ceremony fresh off a flight and lemme tell you, I was hating — haha!
One thing I mention a lot regarding Cory is this: when I moved here a year ago, he was the first one and the main one to really give me that ill, NYC introduction. I mean, legit everything — where to go, where not to go, introducing me to this and that person, spreading my name around, bringing me in his space, everything you can think of. Whoever he knew, I now knew. Wherever he was at, I was at now. We’re friends, and tbh, that's just how Cory is, so it’s not surprising — but he didn’t owe me that and it meant the world to me. Still does. During our chat, we spoke a lot about the importance of food and how bonding over a good meal is like nothing else. Hell, the first thing we did when I moved here was talk about life plans over amazing Thai food in Fort Greene. Cory, we gotta run that back!
Similarly to me, Cory is bound to have a camera on him, no matter when/where you see him. I love the photos, of course, but what I love more is how he uses photography to really help build and create more community. It’s almost like a badge of honor to have a photo taken by him and people really talk about it in that manner. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Check out his shots right here.
To be honest, I could talk about this man forever and ever — but I’ll let you hear from the man himself. I asked Cory three important questions and he gave me some answers y’all really need to dig into, for sure. Check out those answers below, plus extra photos from our in-home shoot right in Cory’s crib in Bed Stuy. Keep up with him on Instagram as well and go show dude some love.
All photos taken by me on a Yashica T3, a mix of Ilford HP5 and XP2 35mm film.
Me: Philly’s your hometown and you rep proudly, but there’s no denying NYC’s your second home as you come up on your ten year mark. How important has it been for you to give back and build community here? You really look out for so many people, including myself.
Cory: Ten years in New York sounds crazy, I won’t lie to you. For me, I’m bugging out because I feel like I can remember so vividly the feelings of moving here - the nervousness, the excitement, all that. Moving to NY was a big leap for me, especially at that time where I felt myself reaching the glass ceiling of what I could be in Philly, and I knew that I wanted to see if I could be a big fish in a big pond. And I’ve been blessed to achieve that in some ways since I’ve been here.
But I’ll be honest with you - community is what’s kept me thriving here, especially over the last couple of years. I felt more comfortable living here and being my true self after finding people that allowed me to be that, mostly all of them being from Philadelphia themselves. We all could relate to our various dreams and goals but also aligned with each other with HOW we wanted to make it here. And from there I’ve been blessed to have people around me that have similar senses of love and growth, and at times I’ve been able to lean into them as they have leaned into me, you included. I know what it’s like to move to this new place and genuinely be in awe of it, and it’s helpful to have folks around you that can help guide your way so that one day you can be that guide for someone else. New York, specifically Brooklyn, NY is the shit. I love it here.
Me: You and I spoke a lot about therapy and I’m really glad you’re going, man. I’ve been going since 2017 and really value the importance of it. For anyone who might be considering going for the first time, you mind sharing any advice, benefits or things you’ve learned so far?
Cory: Therapy’s been a trip, man. *laughs* But in the best way possible. So for me, I feel like I’ve been able to get a grasp of who I am over the last couple of years and have begun to understand myself a lot more - why I do/don’t do certain things, how I react to stuff, etc. So finally getting into it, I found myself very open very early with my therapist, I didn’t have the hesitation of saying certain things or expressing certain emotions that I might have if I was talking to the homies. I could keep it 1000 with him about a lot of the things I’ve been dealing with, stress, anxiety, depression. And no exaggeration, my life changed when my therapist brought actual labels and terms of expression to a lot of the things I’ve been struggling with since childhood, because it let me know that I wasn’t crazy or tripping or weird, and that I wasn’t alone.
I think everyone’s journey into therapy is different, but one piece of advice I’d suggest is go into the search for a therapist knowing what you’d want in them. I knew I needed my therapist to be Black, to be between 30-50, I was open to them being either male or female because I saw genuine benefits from both. And I was lucky enough to find someone on the first go-round that really works for me. Therapy’s been tight, man, I can’t lie. And I can definitely see the benefit in it for people, specifically my people.
Me: If you’ve got one thing you want folks to remember you for, what would it be?
Man. This is incredibly hard, for a bunch of reasons, one because I remember at one point I didn’t want to be here anymore and this question came up to me as an almost reality. But if I was to be remembered for something, I hope it’s that I was someone who genuinely loved his people and those around him, someone who saw the stars past the clouds and genuinely tried his hardest to grab each and every one, someone who lived up to the name and heralds of his family and represented them to the best of his ability, and as someone who tried things over the years with various instances of success and opportunities for growth and finally found that the music, which had been there all along, is what would bring him that sense of peace and happiness.
I know you said one thing, my bad, but if I could get that across to the world, I think that’d be pretty cool and I could live with a job well done.
