I'm Hunter Biden. You've never actually heard from me.

My tattoo— Let me explain, because I have now been asked this 1000s of times. My Mom was from Skaneateles Lake. My grandparents owned and ran the Hunter Diner in Auburn, NY. Beau and I spent our summers with my grandparents on Owasco Lake. It’s my favorite place in the world. It is home to me. I tattooed the map on my back. Sorry QAnon / 4chan / Insane Twitter.

.@HunterBiden is breaking the internet. Turns out he had a lot to get off his chest. Our episode of my podcast is out NOW.

Just saying… No Democrat has won the White House this century without a Biden on the ticket.

To everyone so eager to cancel someone for a tattoo they got at age 22, a drunk text, a selfie they took in the middle of a mental health crisis: Show us your laptop. Show us your iCloud. Open your entire digital life to your worst enemy. No context. No filter. No explanation. You won’t. You won’t because you know what I know. Any one of us, frozen at our worst moment, photographed in our lowest hour, looks like a monster. Looks like a stranger. Looks like someone who deserves to be cast out. That is not who we are. My mom and baby sister were killed in a car accident when I was just a kid. Cancer took my brother Beau, my best friend and my rock. I battled alcoholism. I battled addiction. I chose the coward’s way out more times than I can count. For years I believed the defining chapters of my life were written by tragedy, loss, and shame. I no longer believe that. Pain can shape us. Loss can humble us. Failures can leave scars that never fully fade. But none of them have the authority to define us. And it sure as hell ain’t the critic that counts. That authority belongs to us alone-the person in the arena. Every setback presents a choice. Play the victim, or cut the bullshit and take ownership for who we become next. Life does not determine our character. It reveals it. Again and again we are asked the same question. When shit happens, what next? We are not defined by what happened to us. We are not defined by the worst photo, the worst text, the worst tattoo, the worst night. We are defined by the person we choose to become. And by the courage to choose that person, every single day. So before you reach for the gavel - show us your laptop. You won’t. The whole world saw mine. And I am still here. Still becoming. Still choosing. Still standing. That is the only definition that matters.

Art and Recovery

How do you best support someone in early recovery?

On today’s episode of Idiocracy-The Reality Show. Brought to you by World Liberty Financial (an Uday/ Qusay production) Seems like President Trump is losing some of his mojo. Napping at home in the Oval is one thing, but on date night with Dolan at the Garden??? Get that man a Diet Coke. Sadly none of the cool kid celebs are coming to his $60M Wrestle Mania birthday bash… at least Lindsey G will be there! He loves wrestling. I’ve heard he might be entering the cage himself. At 6’3 224 lbs he is almost in the exact same shape as the 6’4 238 lbs Jon Jones in his prime. Amazing genes I guess. Thank goodness he did wake up long enough to end the war in Iran. Again. Again. And stay tuned for a preview of next week’s episode where once again the war in Iran will be over. Again.

Things the recovery industry will not tell you: 1. The drug worked. That is why people use it. Not weakness. Not moral failure. A neurological event so complete and persuasive that any honest account of addiction has to start there. The problem is not that the drug fails. The problem is that what it does is unrepeatable, and you will burn your entire life to the ground trying to get back to a place that no longer exists. 2. Shame is not guilt. Guilt says I did something bad. Shame says I am something bad. Guilt is appropriate. Shame is a cell with no windows. Most people use the words interchangeably. That mistake is lethal. 3. You cannot shame someone who has already named the thing you are holding over them. Say it first. Say it in plain light. The weapon drops. 4. Guilt can coexist with self-respect. Shame cannot. You can hold the damage and the dignity at the same time. I know because I live there. 5. Radical honesty does not give you back who you were. It hands you the clean slate of who you always wanted to be. The mask comes off. The cartoon other people drew of you stays on the page. 6. Nobody gets clean on a winning streak. 7. You have to be almost self-delusional in your forgiveness of yourself. (Go watch Chase Hughes) 8. The greatest sin was not the chaos. It was the absence. Being unavailable to the people who needed you. 9. Sustainable recovery starts with one thing: honesty with yourself. If you love an addict and want to help, that is the only door in. 10. I am only an expert on my recovery. Nobody is an expert on anyone else’s.

In recovery we learn the whole point is service. Showing up for somebody besides yourself. That’s leadership too. Setting the tone. Right now the tone is vengeance and yeah, I get the anger. But anger isn’t leadership. It’s tyranny. We can and should reach for each other. Demand better.

Big love to @HunterBiden for dropping by the tenth annual LA BULLA exhibition! Pictured here with his favorite piece, "El Santo Contra La Tiranía" by @tracychavez17 😅 All the art is available on our site!