the raffish story

the raffish, established in 2017, evolved from a friendship between Justin McKee and Caitlin Davis, who’d met the previous year while living in New Orleans, Louisiana. Caitlin had come up in the diverse suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, in a clan of artists who saw their fortune change dramatically after the housing crisis of ’08. She’d been enrolled at DePaul University studying communications but was forced to withdraw to help support her family, who ultimately lost their home, sending Caitlin on a turbulent journey to self-sustainment. Justin was raised in Northern California, by an immigrant family of working-class raconteurs. Following the 12th grade, he followed a wayward muse that saw him traveling to play music on street corners and at cocktail parties, freelance writing while toiling in a tango bar and working as a sign painter. They crossed paths in the Deep South during the incendiary summer of 2016, and in trips through the Mississippi Delta and on neighborhood porches back in the Crescent City, they committed themselves to fostering dialogue and exploring the dissonance of our times. In print and online, they published the work of prisoners, laborers, combat veterans and others, with the intention of effecting a more compassionate world through storytelling. In 2018, they relocated to New York City, and the following year Caitlin left the project to pursue her deferred dream of higher education. Supported by extraordinary contributors and loyal readers, Justin continues to carry the banner and dutifully curates the uncommon stories of the raffish.