A semi-regular dispatch on culture, music, design, nature, and the world we’re building.

There's a stack of books by the window. One is open to page 43.

I f you’re reading this, it means you’re here at the beginning, right on time. Welcome to the very first episode of The Valedictorian Perspective — a newsletter meant to help shape and define the world we’re creating.

Before we get into music, film, design, and everything else shaping this issue, I want to share the bigger story.

The Valedictorian Hotel is the world we’re building toward — a boutique retreat in Upstate New York shaped by nature and our take on culture, design, great food and beverage, slow mornings, incredible music, and the kind of atmosphere you become part of.

It’s a place for the rule breaker, the wry academic, the class clown — anyone who moves through the world with curiosity and taste. The kind of people who recognize the feeling that hits when game recognizes game.

Everything we make — from playlists to apparel to these dispatches — are artifacts from that universe. Creativity, design, music, wellness, and pretty much just cool stuff that speaks to us. The ideas and moods that move you, spark something, or set you off in the best way.

If you want to see the early sketch of what’s coming, you can step inside here:
→ thevaledictorianhotel.com

This newsletter is the blueprint.

Here’s a look at what’s inside: our first product launch, the Origin Tee, new music from De La Soul, a retrospective on OutKast’s Aquemini, a rundown of the films and books expanding how we think and create, and a look at how we’re building wellness, F&B, and intention into the brand.

01 / Our First Product Is Live

The Origin Tee Has Officially Launched

T he Valedictorian Store is now live, and our first product, the Origin Tee, is available in limited quantities. This is our foundational piece, designed as our first mark in the world, one that sets the tone for everything that will follow.

It’s our take on what makes a T-shirt essential: 100% cotton, ultra-soft and heavyweight, dense and smooth with a premium drape. The front carries our signature flower doodle, placed on the left chest in deep purple; the back features our bubble-letter wordmark in Turkish Cotton White laid across an oversized channel-orange flower. Together, the construction, weight, and artwork create a shirt with structure and intention, a piece that feels purposeful, luxurious, and lived-in from day one. It’s the best-drape T-shirt you could own.

Only a few remain from the first drop.

Or visit The Valedictorian Store to see what’s live now. More designs, silhouettes, and textures are already in the studio. This is only the first chapter.

02 / New Music We’re Playing On Repeat

A curated mix shaping the Valedictorian mood. Layered, intentional, exploratory and fun. Built for long drives, nights out, and creative inspiration. It’s the soundtrack to the lifestyle, brand, and world we’re building.

New + Notable Album: De La Soul — Cabin in the Sky

De La Soul is back with Prince Paul in their first album since the passing of Dave (RIP Trugoy) in 2023. It’s fun, expansive, and surprisingly uplifting, a full-spectrum tribute that keeps their signature playfulness, depth, and meaning intact. It’s the classic De La vibe — and the guest list is stacked... Black Thought, Q-Tip, Yukimi, Common, Slick Rick, Bilal, Killer Mike, Nas and more. They're just so good. It's a must listen.

New + Notable Singles

Yaya Bey – “Ten Fold”
Yves Tumor – “Berghain”
Kaytranada – “TIMELESS (Deluxe)”
Mega Simone, Pale Jay & Johan Hugo – “Give Me All”

Album to Revisit: OutKast — Aquemini

With OutKast’s recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, there’s no better time to revisit Aquemini, the record where Andre 3000 and Big Boi stretch hip-hop into something visionary, genre-fluid, Southern, psychedelic, and eternal. Big Boi brings grounded swagger, Andre goes cosmic, and the production blends funk, blues, gospel, and futurism.

“Aquemini” still hits like prophecy. “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” remains one of the coolest seven minutes ever recorded. “Da Art of Storytellin’” is pure narrative elegance. And Raekwon delivers his best verse ever on "Skew It on the Bar-B". This is the album you put on when you want to remember what innovation sounds like.

Artists in Heavy Rotation

Sault, Stella, Sonnyjim, Khruangbin.

Find these and more on the Valedictorian Playlist.

Cold pine and woodsmoke drifting through an open door.

03 / Books We’re Into Right Now

A curated shelf for clearer thinking, deeper feeling, and sharper creativity. These are the ideas shaping the lifestyle, brand, and world we’re building.

The Creative Act — Rick Rubin

A quiet, philosophical guide to making anything with intention. Creativity here is not presented as a rare talent but as a way of noticing. This one helps you see, refine, and trust your instincts.

Nonviolent Communication — Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D.

A framework for communicating needs without turning every moment into conflict. It is about clarity, compassion, and emotional fluency, and it makes relationships, leadership, and love noticeably better.

The Peacock and the Sparrow — I.S. Berry

A beautifully written espionage novel with cinematic pacing and real psychological depth. Atmospheric, morally complex, and emotionally gripping. This is one to sink into.

Into the Magic Shop — Dr. James R. Doty

A neurosurgeon’s memoir about meditation, compassion, the mind-body connection, and the science behind possibility. It blends neuroscience and what feels like magic, and shows how attention and emotional regulation can reshape a life.

The weight of the wool blanket, having just warmed on the radiator

04 / Film: The movies we've watched and returned to

T he films we’re watching and rewatching, the ones that shape our taste, match our mood, and make us feel something real.

Ronin (1998)

A masterclass in tension, clarity, and momentum. John Frankenheimer’s Ronin is one of the most precise action thrillers ever made, the kind of film that never raises its voice yet still holds your attention completely. Clean lines, cold streets, clipped dialogue, and car chases so grounded they feel physical.

Robert De Niro brings a restrained authority with range. Jean Reno gives the film its pulse. Natascha McElhone threads the story with intelligence and deception. Ronin, like De Niro's character, isn't loud, except for when it's supposed to be, and it's perfectly paced the whole way through. It trusts the viewer’s attention and rewards it with exceptional dialogue and acting that feel rare now. A reminder that action can be beautiful when it is built on craft instead of noise.

One Battle After Another (2025)

I loved this movie. One of the year’s most ambitious thrillers with a visceral, frantic energy that happens to and through the characters. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another adapts elements of Pynchon’s Novel Vineland (Go read immediately. Also queue Gravity's Rainbow my absolutely favorite), into a brilliant circus of adventure, emotions, personalities, principles, and the places longing will drive its host.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, paranoid, hilarious, and compelling, surrounded by an unreal ensemble that includes Benicio Del Toro (not a run if it's forever), Sean Penn, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor. The movie moves between the gritty realism of revolution, the strange comedy of revolutionaries, and the quiet terror that can accompany love. And it was shot in VistaVision. Shouts Giovanni Ribisi.

Where all you can hear are birds and the faint clatter of glassware.

05 / Food & Drink — Taste, Texture, Atmosphere

T hese are the flavors and rituals shaping our mood this season, the ones that uplift us, ground us, and influence how the Valedictorian experience will feel.

Adaptogens: Who Knew?

Basically anyone who's been paying attention.

I only got into these recently, but now lion’s mane and ashwawoowoo (ashwagandha) are going in everything: water, coffee, tea, the bath. Adaptogens are herbs and mushrooms that help your body adapt to stress: emotional, physical, nervous system stress. They support mood, energy, focus, immunity, and overall resilience in a way that is subtle, steady, and grounded. Not hype, just balance.

The ritual is half the magic. Start and end your day with intention. Drink things that support your body and sharpen your mind. It is luxury for your nervous system.

Zero Proof is Luxury (With Optional Pairings)

The shift is here. Alcohol is dead, well maybe not dead, but definitely dying. We want our luxury, self-care, zero-proof drinks. Just don't make us call them mocktails. Clean profiles, clarified citrus, infused ice, botanicals that actually do something, and simple combinations that surprise and delight. Mocktails (Ugh- send help) can be better, healthy and restorative and still feel like an indulgence. The best ones start with homemade syrups, elderberry, rosemary honey, ginger, hibiscus, mixed with tonic or soda and finished with citrus and a single herb that signals care.

Cooking — What’s Been on Repeat

Lately, this has been on heavy rotation in the kitchen: sheet-pan salmon with kale from Serious Eats.

It is simple, fast, healthy, and still feels like you're cheffin’. The kind of dinner you crave after a long day or a cold walk outside. The kale gets crispy at the edges, the salmon turns flaky and rich, and everything comes together with good olive oil (I see you, Ina), sea salt, and a bright hit of lemon. Add a little pomegranate molasses and it goes from clean and nourishing to straight-up elevated. It fits the lifestyle: effortless, flavorful, and worth repeating.

And the winter sun scatters golden light accross the floor.

06 / Wellness — Mind, Body, Spirit

W ellness is shifting from aesthetics to regulation: nervous system care, breathwork, and rituals that slow you down and bring you back to yourself. Self-care is the best luxury.

Somatic Breathing — The “New” (But Actually Ancient) Meditation

What's wild about breathing is how much of a difference it makes once you start paying attention to it. Somatic breathing uses breath as a tool to regulate your nervous system: long exhales, slow nasal breathing, cyclical patterns that tell your body, “We're good. Stay here.”

It's simple and it works. Not woo, not complicated. Just physiology doing what it's supposed to do. Add a few minutes of intentional breathing to your morning ritual and notice how much calmer, clearer, and more regulated your day feels. Once you feel that reset, it is hard to go without it.

Yoga Goes Micro-Dose

Ninety-minute yoga classes are cool and all, but the real magic is in consistency over intensity. Twenty minutes, daily. Slow. Controlled. Intentional. Enough to open the body, clear the static, center your mind, and get you out of your head.

Micro-dosing your movement builds mobility, balance, circulation, and mental clarity without hijacking your whole schedule. It is yoga for people who care about feeling good and still have things to do.

Cold & Heat Therapy Everywhere

Cold plunges, infrared saunas, steam rituals. They've all shifted from gym luxuries to self care essentials. People are not just doing them for recovery anymore. They are doing them because the contrast makes you feel alive.

Heat expands. Cold contracts. Back and forth, and suddenly your senses sharpen, your mood lifts, and your body gets a wave of clarity you can't fake. And the physical benefits are real: reduced inflammation, boosted circulation, increased resilience, better stress tolerance, sharper mental clarity.

Functional wellness with an experiential edge is the lifestyle.

07 / Closing Thoughts

So that is it. The first installment of The Valedictorian Perspective. Thanks for hanging with us. I hope we sparked something for you, a little inspiration, a new idea, a shift in mood, or just a reason to slow down and look at things a little differently. That is the point of this: sharing the world and brand we are building, one detail at a time.

Your perspective shapes ours. If something resonated, surprised you, or opened a door you didn't expect, I'd love to hear about it. Reply to this email and tell me what stood out or what you would like to see more of.

And if this issue made you think of someone who would get it, send it their way. Good things grow through the right people.

More soon.

Saúde,
Haven