Growing up as the grandson of Johnny Cash was and continues to be an experience. Through my adolescence and into adulthood it proved to be something that needed adjusting to almost on a daily basis. Coming to Vanderbilt, I was thrilled at the thought of being a small fish in a big pond. Initially, I didn’t tell anyone about my family. I’m not ashamed of my heritage; on the contrary, it is a huge source of pride for me. There just came a point when I decided that who I was had absolutely nothing to do with familial relations, and I set out to prove it.

J. Dustin Tittle illustration