I learned how to play Spades at Kent State University. Around that table — surrounded by friends, found family, and loved ones — I found myself. I learned who I was, how I communicated, how I trusted, and what it meant to be in a room with people who felt like home. That experience never left me.

Years later, as a culture and music journalist with bylines in Black Enterprise, ESSENCE Magazine, EBONY Magazine, BET.com, and Okayplayer.com, I kept returning to that same truth: that the moments where culture, creativity, and communication converge are the most important ones. Play has always been one of those moments. The table has always been one of those places.

That love for my people and for the art of gathering birthed Love, Peace & Spades™. Not as an event series, but as an intention—to create modern-day hush harbors through play, leisure, and connection. I believe that games like Spades, Bid Whist, Tunk, and Dominoes are more than entertainment. They are heirlooms. They carry memory, strategy, trust, and joy across generations. And they deserve to be preserved.

This work is personal. It’s an act of revolutionary resistance. And it belongs to everyone who has ever pulled up, sat down, and played. To those who've helped build this table—and to those still finding their seat—there’s always room for more.

— Kevito Clark
Founder, Love, Peace & Spades™