🌿 Dispatches from the Jungle 🌿

A Queer Expat Blog for the Bold, the Curious, and the Deeply Alive

Welcome to Dispatches from the Jungle — a lifestyle blog at the intersection of queer identity, creative freedom, and midlife reinvention. I’m Waymon Hudson: a late-deafened writer, Broadway musical creator, and marketing futurist living loud in the jungles of Costa Rica.

This isn’t just a blog. It’s a digital campfire — a place for stories about joy, grief, surf sessions, messy growth, and gorgeous resistance. Whether I’m writing about life as a queer expat, the behind-the-scenes of building a Broadway show, or what it’s like to rewire your life at 45, you’ll find it all here. Raw, real, and radically hopeful.

Subscribe to read about:

🌈 LGBTQ+ life in Costa Rica and beyond

📖 Memoir-style reflections on healing, identity & reinvention

🧠 Marketing insights and brand storytelling with soul

🏄 Jungle living, dogs, and imperfect adventures

✨ The creative chaos of art, activism, and starting over

Ready for a blog that doesn’t just inform — but connects, uplifts, and sparks something real?

👉 Subscribe on Substack or explore the latest dispatches below.

🌟 Featured Posts🌟

Miss Addie stands center stage in the Velvet Boot nightclub set, hands raised as she sings with power and vulnerability, surrounded by the queer community she is finally stepping into.

I Carried the Sound: When Broadway Passes the Torch of Legacy

How Miss Addie becomes the Velvet Boot’s new heartbeat... and how queer survival becomes triumph in Broadway's Speakeasy: A New Musical.

Close-up portrait of Waymon Hudson with soft snowflakes in his hair, looking off-camera with a calm, introspective expression. Shot outdoors in winter. Image highlights the emotional, intimate tone of his holiday single “Christmas in the Quiet,” an orchestral ballad about grief and quiet Christmas moments.

🎶 Christmas in the Quiet: The Holiday Song for the Empty Chair

“Christmas in the Quiet” is the holiday song for the years we don’t talk about—the ones filled with memory, grief, and the ache of an empty chair. Here’s the intimate story behind Waymon Hudson’s newest winter ballad.

The Watchers: Broadway’s Anthems of Witness

“The Watchers” is the queer spiritual core of Speakeasy — a sacred Broadway anthem about survival, chosen family, and the power of witnessing each other.

💡 Creative Work & Process

Go behind the scenes of big ideas — from writing a Broadway musical to building a personal brand. These posts unpack storytelling, artistic process, and the messy, magical journey of making something that matters.

I Carried the Sound: When Broadway Passes the Torch of Legacy

How Miss Addie becomes the Velvet Boot’s new heartbeat... and how queer survival becomes triumph in Broadway's Speakeasy: A New Musical.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Nov 296 min read

Miss Addie, portrayed in Speakeasy: A New Musical, standing tall with quiet confidence, framed in warm stage light. Her gaze is unflinching — a portrait of strength, truth, and the evolution of Broadway’s women from caretakers to revolutionaries.

Women of Broadway: The Matriarchs Who Remember

Broadway’s women of color have always held the stage — but for queer Black women, the song was never theirs to sing. In Speakeasy: A New Musical, Miss Addie breaks the silence, turning memory into rebellion and love into legacy.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Nov 155 min read

A performer in La Cage aux Folles stands in a spotlight wearing a sparkling gown with purple sleeves, arms raised mid-belting the defiant finale “I Am What I Am.”

All That I Am: When Queer Broadway Characters Refuse to Stay Supporting

When Queer Broadway characters stop hiding behind the jokes and start demanding to be seen, the result is electric. In Speakeasy, Merc’s “All That I Am” turns vulnerability into power — and the supporting character into the soul of the story.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Nov 85 min read

🎶 Dance Pop: Talk With Your Hands — Where Sound Ends & the Body Speaks

In the club, no one can hear each other — and that’s the beauty of it. Talk With Your Hands is a dance pop anthem about connection beyond words, where touch becomes the language and rhythm is how we understand each other.

My Music: Through My Skin

Waymon Hudson

Nov 73 min read

The original Broadway cast of Rent raises their fists in unity during “La Vie Bohème.” The diverse ensemble celebrates chosen family, queer identity, and resistance during the height of the AIDS crisis — symbolizing how Broadway turned pain into protest.

Broadway's Hidden Ones — Queer Survival in Plain Sight

Speakeasy: A New Musical captures what Broadway has always known: queer survival is defiance in disguise. From drag bans to police raids, this is how we keep singing.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Nov 16 min read

Two young men in Catholic school uniforms lean in for a kiss in Bare: A Pop Opera, a cult-favorite musical exploring forbidden love, faith, and queer identity. Warm lighting heightens the intimacy and emotional tension of the moment.

Queer Broadway Longing: Love in the Shadows (and the Spotlight) That Refuses to Hide

From Wicked to Speakeasy, queer longing has always shaped Broadway’s heart. This piece celebrates Merc — lover, liberator, and proof that queer love belongs in the spotlight.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Oct 256 min read

Alan Cumming in theatrical makeup and suspenders lounges against a dark background, cigarette in hand. His smirk and sharp eyes capture the defiant sensuality of the Emcee from Cabaret — a symbol of queer resistance wrapped in charm and danger. #CabaretMusical #QueerBroadway #BroadwayEmcee

Broadway’s Queer Emcees & the Power of Invitation

Broadway’s queer emcees do more than introduce a show — they usher us into spaces of rebellion, love, and truth. In Speakeasy, Merc’s “Come to the Speakeasy” joins that lineage, inviting us to a sanctuary where queerness takes center stage.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Oct 194 min read

Broadway Confrontation Songs: Rage, Grief, and the Ghost of the Soft Boy

Broadway’s confrontation songs show the fight between who we were and who we become. In Speakeasy, Rome’s “Last Call” carries the heartbreak and fury of a man torn between vengeance and love.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Oct 124 min read

🎶 Before I Go by Waymon Hudson — A Quiet Goodbye That Comes Back Louder

He whispered goodbye every morning before his feet hit the floor. Before I Go is a breakup song about soft strength, quiet endings, and learning to love yourself more than the silence.

My Music: Through My Skin

Waymon Hudson

Oct 53 min read

Captain Von Trapp blows a whistle in The Sound of Music, commanding his children with military precision—a classic image of authoritarian fatherhood on Broadway.

Broadway Dads & Dangerous Legacies: When Musicals Wrestle with Toxic Masculinity

What happens when Broadway tackles legacy, masculinity, and the fear that softness won’t survive? This post explores toxic father-son dynamics in musicals — from Falsettos to Speakeasy — and how love can still rewrite the rules.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Sep 284 min read

Broadway’s Soft Boys: How Vulnerability Became a Musical Power Move

Some of the most powerful male characters in musical theatre aren’t defined by bravado — they’re defined by their vulnerability. Their poetry. Their ache. These are Broadway’s soft boys. And I’m obsessed with them.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Sep 213 min read

Cynthia Erivo performing the powerful “I’m Here” from The Color Purple, a defining example of a Broadway “I Am” song.

🎭 The Broadway “I Am” Song: Claiming Power in Musicals

In every great Broadway musical, there’s a moment when the character doesn’t just want change… They become it. And then? They own it. If the “I Want” song is a whisper… And the “I’m Becoming” song is a leap… Then the Broadway “I Am” song is the landing. Solid. Unapologetic. Full voice. Full belt.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Sep 143 min read

Ruin Me Slowly by Waymon Hudson — A Deaf Artist’s Debut Pop Single You’ll Feel in Your Skin

I may be deaf, but this is what I sound like now. Ruin Me Slowly is the first single from my upcoming album Through My Skin — a raw, sexy, and emotional project you don’t just hear — you feel. Here's why I made it, and what you can expect.

My Music: Through My Skin

Waymon Hudson

Sep 123 min read

Scene from Speakeasy musical showing Merc leading the diverse, queer patrons of the Velvet Boot speakeasy in a moment of joy, rebellion, and celebration inside the underground jazz club

The Broadway “I’m Becoming” Song: Inside Musical Theatre's Big Transformation Numbers

From hesitation to liberation, the Broadway "I'm Becoming" song captures the moment a character stops asking for permission and starts stepping into themselves. If you’ve ever belted ‘Defying Gravity’ in your car with full vibrato and zero shame… You already know exactly what I’m talking about.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Sep 74 min read

Elphaba from Wicked stands in a vast field with her arms outstretched, singing powerfully, mid-song during “The Wizard and I,” a classic Broadway “I Want” moment.

🎭 The Anatomy of a Broadway “I Want” Song — Featuring Something’s Brewing from Speakeasy

In musical theatre, there’s a moment — usually early in the show — when a character steps into the spotlight and tells us what they long for.It’s not just a song.It’s a roadmap. A key to their soul. We call it the “I Want” song — and it’s the heartbeat of any great musical.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Aug 314 min read

Meet the Characters of Speakeasy: A New Broadway Musical 🎭✨

Speakeasy: A New Musical brings the hidden queer history of 1920s speakeasies to life with a bold Broadway vision. Packed with jazz-fueled rebellion, forbidden love, and found family, this new Broadway musical reimagines Romeo & Juliet in a dazzling underground world where resistance, identity, and joy collide.

📚 Memoir & Identity

Waymon Hudson

Aug 244 min read

Back view of a man with short hair and a visible hearing aid, wearing a blue plaid shirt.

🧠 Yes, I’m Deaf. Yes, I’m a Communications Professional. No, It’s Not a Paradox.

I’m a communications executive. And I’m Deaf. And no, this isn’t a paradox. Communication is not about sound. It’s about presence. Intention. Story. Emotional accuracy. It’s about making people feel heard — not just heard by you. It’s just a different way of listening.

💡 Creative Work & Process

Waymon Hudson

Jul 242 min read

From Corporate Strategy to Broadway Scores: Thriving as a Queer Multi-Hyphenate Creative

Marketing exec by day, Broadway writer by night. I don’t juggle roles — I braid them. This is what being a multi-hyphenate looks like.

🏳️‍🌈 Queer Expat Life

Waymon Hudson

Jul 193 min read

🎭 What if Romeo & Juliet Fell in Love in a 1920s Queer Speakeasy?

What if Romeo & Juliet fell in love in a queer speakeasy during Prohibition? Speakeasy is my jazz-drenched, emotionally charged musical about love, rebellion, and found family in 1920s Chicago. It’s bold, defiant, and unapologetically queer — with a score that swings and a story that roars.

🎭 Broadway & Musical Storytelling

Waymon Hudson

Jul 177 min read

Queer man standing shirtless at the base of a lush Costa Rican waterfall, surrounded by jungle — symbolizing queer freedom, anti-hustle living, and expat joy.

The Anti-Hustle Queer Expat Life: How I Left Burnout Behind and Found Joy in the Jungle

After burnout, political exhaustion, and being harassed for being gay, I left the U.S. and moved to Costa Rica. I didn’t quit working — I quit the grind. What I found was queer joy, jungle stillness, rescued dogs, and a life that finally made space for me to breathe, create, and be fully myself.

🏳️‍🌈 Queer Expat Life

Waymon Hudson

Jul 113 min read