Coming From Where I Come From: An Outlet Journal

by Joe Allen

Overview

Coming From Where I Come From is a guided outlet journal that uses music to unlock memories, emotions, and truths we've learned to bury. Designed for those who've had to stay strong for too long, this journal invites honest reflection, healing, and storytelling - not just for self, but for the next generation. Because where we come from deserves more than survival - it deserves restoration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798319654748
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	08/07/2025
Series:	Coming From Where I Come From , #1
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Joe Allen was born in the early ’80s and raised in the heart of East Oakland, California — a place where survival often took the place of childhood. Growing up in a home led by a single mother and shaped by the absence of a father battling addiction, Joe became “the man of the house” at just nine years old. Alongside his three siblings, he witnessed firsthand the weight of poverty, the strength of a struggling mother, and the quiet pain of being unheard.

Though rooted in the church, the streets called early. Violence, trauma, and loss became familiar — including the heartbreaking deaths of three of his closest friends to gun violence. With no male role models to guide him, Joe had to learn the hard way what life doesn’t always teach young Black boys: how to feel, how to heal, and how to lead with love.

Now a husband and father, Joe isn’t running from his past — he’s writing through it. His story is not one of perfection but of progression. This journal is a piece of his healing, a mirror for those still finding their way, and a letter to the next generation — proof that where you come from doesn’t have to be where you stay.