How Litty Balances Self-Care With Emotionally-Charged Performance During Pride

For Pride Month this year, we’re spotlighting members of our extended community, including folks we’ve collaborated with and deeply admire. Our goal is to offer a softer take on Pride and capture quiet moments of joy, rest, and reflection. For Jade Jones a.k.a. Litty (they/them), that’s enjoying an indica cultivar (AKA strain), or the occasional sativa, after acting in theater productions. Below, find our conversation with Litty about keeping things quieter and slower with cannabis. 

Follow Litty on Instagram and find our collab with them on The Travel Agency’s Instagram.

TTA: Pride can be loud, but it can also be quiet. What does a softer, slower Pride look like for you this year?

LITTY: My Pride will be a little bit softer this year because I’m working on this amazing world premiere in D.C. that highlights Black queer masculine love. It’s called “We Are Gathered” and it’s by Tarrell Alvin McCraney, the writer of “Moonlight.”

We don’t really see a lot of Black queer masculine love in the media. America is scared to see two Black men embrace their softer side. That’s what this show really highlights, and also the shame that comes with being gay.

I live in New York, but I grew up in D.C., right outside the capital in Virginia. To be able to do this play steps from the White House is super important at a time like this.

It feels very empowering. I’m non-binary and this is my first time playing a non-binary character on stage. It feels very important for me to be able to show the world my artistry through the lens of a character that’s so close to myself.

TTA: How do you care for yourself — mind, body, spirit — during a season that asks you to be visible?

LITTY: Self-care right now during this Pride season is looking more like focusing on my physical health, working out, getting rest — a lot of rest, because rest is resistance — and spending time with people who allow me to be 100%, unapologetically my full self.

Pride can be stressful — there are just so many events going on. Pride, at one time, was really a celebration within the community, and now, I feel like it has drifted out into being more of a national celebration, which makes it a lot bigger, a lot more in your face, and a lot less insular.

To care for yourself during Pride, I think it’s key to choose events that are important to you… Why are we celebrating this? Are we just going out and doing poppers and, like, dancing to have a brat summer? We can do that any summer.

I’m celebrating Pride because, for so many years, I was not proud to be who I am. … Before I went to college, praying when I was religious, I told God, “I know I’m gay, but please do not let me come out. Please don’t let me cut my hair. Please don’t let me get a girlfriend. Please do not let me get the urge to do that because I want to remain like everybody else.”

TTA: What is your relationship to The Travel Agency? What about the brand connects to you?

LITTY: I am one of the founding budtenders of The Travel Agency. I started before the first location in Union Square even opened. I’ve been with The Travel Agency for about two years now and have been a brand ambassador for about a year and a half. I’m very fortunate that they also allow me to do what I need to do for my career, which is theater.

I really like working for The Travel Agency. [The Travel Agency allows] me to be flexible. They’re very supportive of my theater and performing career.

I like the culture. I’ve met a lot of…very creative people. There’s been a lot of networking I’ve been able to be a part of, too.

TTA: When you think about your wellness practice, where does cannabis fit in, and how does it support you?

LITTY: My routine is super grounding. In this industry, it’s really easy to have your head in the clouds and…I’m very busy. I’m always running [around], and I need my routine to stop me and say, “Hey, look, you are a person. You are a human being. You are not a machine. You are not a robot.” It doesn’t matter if it’s 20 minutes or five minutes. [My routine] gives me clarity on life.

I started [consuming cannabis] on a regular basis when I was [21] years old. Now, I’m an everyday [cannabis person], morning and night. [When I got into this], it was with friends. It’s super important to have a supportive group. It’s all about who you surround yourself with. … I started with friends and it was more of a social thing, and now I’ve incorporated it into more of a lifestyle.

It’s really important for me to get my rest with a busy show schedule, and it’s really important for me to do the things for myself that I love to do, which is… cannabis. I love to roll a nice fat blunt after the show. I call it smoking the show off.

And after the show? Well, I don’t roll it after the show. I usually roll it before so I can have it immediately when I’m done and just shed that [on stage] character, because “We Are Gathered” is very heavy. It deals with Black queer love, Black queer trauma… every Black queer that I know has some form of trauma. It’s really important to not just take care of myself physically for this show, but also mentally.

TTA: Has cannabis ever shown you something about your identity, your joy, or your limits that has surprised you?

LITTY: I used to just be on 100 all the time. Cannabis has shown me that I can relax. I didn’t know [my] anxiety was through the roof.

TTA: Describe a time when cannabis helped you come back to yourself. What did that look like?

LITTY: Sometimes, it can feel like you’re in this cloud and you don’t even see. If you don’t stop and take the time for yourself that you need, you can just choke on that cloud. As soon as you take that moment… to just stop and do what you need to do for yourself, whether that’s breathe or smoke a blunt or take some CBD, that cloud begins to go away. You begin to see. You begin to get that fresh air, and you begin to see the sky. But it’s so hard because when you’re in that cloud, sometimes, you don’t even know that you’re in it.

TTA: What does your ideal cannabis ritual look like, from setting to sensation?

LITTY: I will usually have something rolled up already in the morning. If I don’t have a show in the morning, I’ll take that morning to get a nice cup of coffee and a blunt… a little wake and bake. I’ll go outside and just listen to the birds, take in the environment, and count how blessed I am to be here doing this. And then I’ll start my physical self-care. I’ll go to the gym and do all that stuff.

A big self-care thing that I do is I have a looper. I’m a musician, a vocalist, and I can make my own songs on [my looper]. On my days off, this brings me so much peace.

TTA: If your smoke sesh had a mood, a vibe, or a soundtrack, what would it be?

LITTY: My soundtrack would be some Erykah Badu. If I could describe my vibe in a color, it’d probably be purple.

TTA: Do you lean more toward indica, sativa, or something else? How does that choice support your state of being?

LITTY: I used to be a sativa person, but I’m now an indica or hybrid person. … When I was younger, I was more into sativas because I was going out. I was using it as a party [experience], and now, I’m like, “Give me that indica so I can pass out.”

I try and stay away from sativas unless I’m doing something really creative, and then, my cannabis [consumption] is super intentional. If I’m just chilling, if it’s a midday thing, I’m always a hybrid person.

Fly hybrid, indica, or sativa style with The Travel Agency

Maybe you’re like Litty in that you lean more toward indica or hybrid, or maybe you prefer sativas. You’ll find plenty of options at The Travel Agency for however you prefer to reach your destination. Sink into bliss, soar into energy, settle into a midday groove — it’s all on the menu before, during, and after Pride Month.