Category Archives: Friends

Friends

Friends, how many of us have them?

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A selfie after a show in Spain. I thought my make-up was good that night and I happen to look sorta serious.
A selfie after a show in Spain. I thought my make-up was good that night and I happen to look sorta serious.  Also, I did have on clothes, btw.

We love our friends.  We love sharing with them and laughing the evenings away together.  Nothing compares to this for making the heart happy!  In fact, it has been said that laughter is the best medicine.  I believe this.  So, I always want to be extra lenient and forgiving with my friends and I hope they always will be this way with me also.

But once a discussion that wasn’t so pleasant has come between you, things can change.  And after you call and call, with no return of your call, you start to wonder if things can ever be the way they once were. This is a heartbreaking place to be.

For me, the door will always be open to the possibility of improvement.  Friends are that valuable.

But there is something that friend needs to know, as I patiently wait on their call- which will only be about a minute long and full of excuses, but will still brighten my whole freaking day, because I think you’re wonderful.   This, however, also makes ME very special too.  Because I can see what’s great about you and can deal with what stinks about you!  That’s not everybody.  Not everybody is banging your door down to do that.  That’s me.  You must recognize this, quickly.

And you must know that you will receive a tongue-lashing and an in-depth explanation of what you have done, from my perspective.  You will have to listen.

Now, can you handle that?  That is the true test of friendship.

Got something to say?  Drop me a line…

Friends, Reviews

A Road to All Things Beautiful

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The path to the Beach. In the Hamptons
The path to the Beach. In the Hamptons.

The road.  We all have access to it.  Because here’s the thing….its not an actual road.  Its a state of mind. To write fiction is to gladly get lost in another world.  You could be next door or in another universe, it all depends on your mood.  It is true freedom and this is why I love it. But to create those worlds you need  knowledge and experience.  So this past week I hadn’t written much and felt a bit guilty until I had this epiphany. You have to get out!  Between living and creating, there has to be balance. So this week, I have taken time to do some beautiful things that have made my heart smile!!! It started with my beautiful gig in the Hamptons.  It’s a nice feeling to sing with your toes in the sand!

My mic stand, looking out at the beach.
My mic stand, looking out at the beach.

Then, I was able to see our friend Arjuna Routte-Prieur’s Art Exhibit at a gallery at Snug Harbor. When I met this young man he was just a creative 10 year old with pictures on his mother’s fridge and now we selfishly share in some of the pride felt by his awesome accomplishments! Check out his beautifully thought provoking work!

Arjuna's work.
Arjuna’s work.
Arjuna Routte-Prieur
Arjuna Routte-Prieur

We took the girls out for a boat ride, along with some of Ella’s friends.

Ella and her friends on the boat.
Ella and her friends on the boat.

 

I finished my library mystery, set in 1885 in Denver.  Not my favorite time period for Black folks,  but still a beautifully written and  interesting story…

Sandra Dallas- Fallen Women.
Sandra Dallas- Fallen Women.

Last but not least, I decided to braid my hair for a portion of the Summer.  Braids and Summer go hand in hand to me, but I wanted to try it on my own.  I hate sitting for hours and hours in the salon and I cannot take the pain. So for the first time, I did these Senegalese twists…  Here I am make-up free and tired, but finished.  Cheap, painless and easy!

My Braids.
My Braids.

Life.  There’s beauty in it all!

Got something to say?  Leave me a comment.

Ciao.

Friends, Reviews, Uncategorized, Writing

Introvertology Interview

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Can Introverts do this? Yes we can.
Can Introverts do this? Yes we can.

After posting about being an introvert in the music business, I made a few new friends.  Thea at introvertology is one of them and I am honored to be one of the first people invited to an interview for her Introvertology site.

I had no idea that writing my (introverts in Music) article would strike such a chord, leading me to new connections to people who not only understand us quieter types, but who are also coming into their own pride in ownership of their introversion.

And in contrast to being quiet, I love how speaking up and voicing our opinions never fails to lead us right where we belong, with people who understand us, think the way we do and like us.

As the world gets louder, it can become very daunting.  So, it’s nice to have an experience like the one provided by this interview. It’s a reminder that we can still be heard in the middle of the noise.  We can still effectively share information that helps us continue to define what being an introvert means for each of us.

The girl in that picture above is an Introvert (among many other things)!

As G.I. Joe would say, “Knowing is half the battle.”

Again, thanks to Thea@Introvertology.

Check out their site.  It is awesome and it has some great information for introverts and others.  I especially enjoyed the article on ways that introverts can relax.

 

Don’t forget to leave me a comment.  I love hearing from you.

Friends, Uncategorized, Video

Career Day in NYC Public School & Detrimental Advice

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Career Day at P.S. 161
Career Day at P.S. 161

Today Michael and I were honored to be invited to participate in P.S. 161’s Career Day.  It brought back old memories from my student teaching days.  And it has me wondering why some of us parents give our children such detrimental advice.

First of all, it was a challenge to accept the invitation, because we have Olivia, our 18 month old with us at home everyday.  Finding care, once in a while as opposed to having a baby sitter on a daily basis can be difficult.  Most of the babysitters we know have sucked their teeth and lost their patience with us for the last time because of our off and on need of their services.  They want more permanent work and we get that.

Sometimes we’d just like to have dinner and see a movie, but finding good babysitting is rarely easy. We ought to know, we found babysitters for our gigs all over the world with Alejandro Sanz, but it took a team and there were always glitches.   In the end, persistence prevails, for great and  small things alike.

We found a babysitter as late as yesterday evening and had a wonderful time at P.S. 161 today, talking about what we do and singing our song Dance.  We visited a special ed. class, a 3rd grade class and 1st grade class. The students were all lovely and bright, with hugs, smiles and lots of questions-many of them, unrelated to music- like are you married and what’s your cultural background, etc. Curious minds.

Afterwards, the adults gathered for lunch in the library, where we shared stories from the day.  I couldn’t help but shake my head when one lady told us about a boy who said he didn’t need to study because he was going to play basketball when he grew up!  I actually had a student at a different school, tell me nearly the same thing years ago.  He only showed up half the time for that after school reading program and one of those times he told me that his dad said he didn’t need any of it (the reading classes)!

Great teachers can do amazing things with young minds, but it amounts to nothing if parents don’t reinforce what’s learned, or at least support those efforts by encouraging the child!  Everybody knows this already, right?

So who are these people?