To any and all Hamilton fans who may find themselves a little too obsessed with the show:

Hi, my name is Jamie, and I am a Hamil-holic.

I am assuming that if you are reading this, you too face this same affliction as I do: an obsession with Hamilton: An American Musical. Welcome to the first meeting of Hamil-holics.

For people like us, it is impossible for a day to go by without listening to the genius soundtrack, written by the even more brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda. We all know every word to every song better than we know important personal information, such as our social security numbers, or even the birthdays of our friends and family.

But our obsession goes beyond the music; we are engrossed in the story of not just every character, but the actors and actresses that portray these historical figures. We are now all experts on our country’s early history. We can recite historical details, even snippets that are not taught in our classes (i.e. that fact that Hamilton wore his glasses during his deathly duel against Former Vice President Aaron Burr). The knowledge we have gained from the show about the birth of this country has even helped us in history classes. We are also a part of history that is occurring. Some day people are going to look back on Lin-Manuel Miranda and this eleven time Tony winning musical and talk about the history it made and the fans that helped it reach its success.

We all cried as each member of the original cast slowly but surely began to depart from the stage. But we all welcomed the new cast members with wide arms. We all know the daily struggle of entering the Hamilton online lottery everyday, just to receive the rejection letter at 4pm informing us that, yet again, we did not win a ticket to that night’s performance. Our Wednesday afternoons consist of watching that day’s Ham4Ham performance online.

I have found there truly is no cure for this addiction we are all suffering from. The more I have tried to “sober up” from Hamilton, the more obsessed I become. So, I encourage each and everyone of you to continue down the path of the Hamilton obsessed. We are a group made up of every race, religion, shape, size, color, culture, and orientation, but together we make up a family of very, very loyal fans.

Hamilton has changed us for the better. We learned that anyone can start from nothing and become a someone; we learned that our legacy matters and our story will be told; we learned to never throw away our shot.

I hope that after reading this, you go and blast some Schuyler Sisters or one of the Cabinet Battles, or maybe even one of King George’s songs. Embrace your love for this community we are all part of together.

And, for those of you entering the online lottery today, may the odds be ever in your favor.

Sincerely, Jamie Kerner (Hamil-holic)