Hello & Welcome to expresspassion4life you amazing awesome human!        My name is  Jodie Spartz , I was born and raised in the heart of  Philadelphia, Pa.  I have been weaving stories together since I wrote my first one at 9 years old! Growing up in Philadelphia, I learned early on that life isn't always a straight line no matter how much I wanted it to be. Life is a series of peaks, valleys, and unexpected turns. For a long time, I thought I was just "surviving" those turns. But looking back at the miles I've traveled- from the energy of  Philly,  where I became a Certified Peer Specialist, more info here:    https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2017/youre-a-what/peer-support-specialist.htm .              T hen I became a Behavioral Health Technician aka BHT more info here:    https://www.gcu.edu/blog/medical-studies-sciences/what-behavioral-health-technician ...

    Remember book reports when we were in school? For some they were a dreaded terrible thing, for others they were fun ways to recall your favorite book and an easy format to tell someone what the book was about. I've decided to post some reports of books I've read recently; let's jump right in. This is the first book read for 2026. I came upon this book in South Central Los Angeles at a community resource fair. I was stopping at each table to see what the organizations have to offer.  When I walked up to Cover the  Homeless ministry table I immediately felt Ms. Rose's welcoming spirit. We spoke briefly about what Cover the Homeless does and she let me know that she founded the organization and that she also wrote a book about her life and what brought her to the point of starting this organization. I was immediately intrigued and purchased the book. She signed it for me and gave me her telephone number. That was a year ago now , I never called her but after reading...

      Happy New year ya'll! If you are reading this and you've been reading since last year, I absolutely love you and thank you for riding along. I do this for you, to entertain you and to help you reflect on your own life and change whatever you want or need to change. My journey is far from over, I thought things were about to happen as simple as 1,2.3 when I arrived here in NYC. I had a plan, I knew exactly what I was about to do and I was confident that nothing would F it up this time! Boy was I wrong, nothing went the way I thought it would for 2025. Like everything fell apart so dramatically, I thought to myself; I must be cursed why does life feel like I'm being waterboarded everyday. Now what changed those thoughts was the same drama I was living.              When I arrived in NYC in June I was staying with a friend in the Bronx. I stayed there for two months. The plan was to stay until January, but I couldn't because thos...

  Remember book reports when we were in school? For some they were a dreaded terrible thing, for others they were fun ways to recall your favorite book and an easy format to tell someone what the book was about. I've decided to post some reports of books I've read recently; let's jump right in. I don't know where I got this book. Trying to think about it makes my mind go blank. I feel like maybe I got it from the program I'm in but I'm not so sure. For it to be the last book I read for 2025 it was definitely educational. Author:    Suzie Orman  Title:   The Money Class  Main Characters:   Suzie Orman and the reader Setting:   In my mind this class takes place in a in person or online classroom. In reality the setting is wherever the reader is reading. Also it was written in 2011 so one should set their minds in that year.  Plot:   T his class was literally about money and how to set yourself up realistically for your financial ...

      When I think of a Crossing Guard I think of a person that  ensures people, especially children, cross streets safely by pausing traffic, leading people, and keeping an eye out for hazards This requires sharp observational skills, quick decision-making, and clear communication to manage traffic flow. They report unsafe driving or conditions to authorities. They use stop signs and signals to pause vehicles in safe gaps in traffic, protecting people on their way to and from school or other locations.      That is an exact description of what a Crossing Guard does. This Philadelphia Native is the most amazing Crossing Guard and he has exceeded all expectations. This man does not just cross these adults and children he goes above and beyond. Passing out encouragement, sometimes advice because it is asked of him. When these adults and children come out of their homes they are excited that he is there. They stop and talk with him, they share their life ...

      My day started off very good actually. Sometimes I wake up moody and emotional but this particular day I was hype and ready. It was Saturday 12/6 the day I had been waiting for all month. It was Chestnut Storytelling time at Pete's Candy Store and it was the last show of the year along with it being a dressy occasion. I worked on my look all week I decided to go Afro Centric and it came out beautiful. Now here I am dressed, looking in the mirror practicing parts of the story I was going to share. Showtime was 5:30pm. It takes me an hour to get there because I catch two trains the F & the G. I yelled "She Ready" and headed out the door. The commute to Pete's went smoothly, the last show of the year was fantastic and I left on a natural high as usual. Happy with the way the audience responded to me and happy to get these stories off my chest because there are soooo many lol.        Now, I travel by myself a lot especially at night. I sometimes ...

  J odie Spartz : I conducted an  interview with a street Homeless woman, I met her when I was homeless in a shelter in Los Angeles. She was actually my roommate. She had been from NYC to different parts of California and is now somewhere in the cold Midwest, all trying to survive and stay alive!  We are going to start with Wednesday 11/5/25.   She called and stated: I have just realized we can't talk very long cuz it kills the battery very quickly and I can't charge it anywhere until tomorrow. I have to get in this car and stay because the battery is unhooked and I don't have a key. That was pretty much the whole conversation that day.  Jodie Spartz: I told her to do what she had to do and we would talk when she could. Friday 11/7/24 she texts:  Any chance you could do a GoFundMe for me, your illusive friend so far away, who has this habit of (how did you put it? hurting myself to help someone), well let me tell you about Tracy who hasn't been seen for 2 ...

      I met this beautiful young woman while working one of my NYC jobs she took me under her wing and helped me navigate the systems . When I met her she had a huge scar across her face. I always wondered how it got there but didn't have the courage to ask. I mean I don't know why I was nervous to ask but she ended up telling me one day and what did I say, omg can I put your story on my blog! The answer was yes. So what does any of this have to do with a chicken?        When Trisha was 15 years old her mother told her something that nobody would've believed unless they were deep into spirit magic. No average person would've done this and as she tells me this story at 42 years young she still doesn't know if she would've listened but hind sight is 2020 they say. It all started one day when Trisha's mother woke up from a deep sleep and a disturbing dream she immediately ran to Trisha's room to wake her.        "Listen daughter", she ...

       On Saturday November 16th 2025 I had the pleasure of attending my first OpenMic at Queens Central Library. I have never shared my poetry in front of an audience before. I write a lot of poetry but it never occurred to me to share it. I was so glad I didn't sign up to go first, it was the other poets that gave me the courage to share. I was going to pick one but I ended up sharing two. My appearance isn't in the video, because I was the one recording it; maybe next time I'll ask someone to record for me. The headliner was Jacqueline Jones LaMon. She is an acclaimed poet and author of...                                                                                                What Water Knows,  https://nupress.northw...

 Remember book reports when we were in school? For some they were a dreaded terrible thing, for others they were fun ways to recall your favorite book and an easy format to tell someone what the book was about. I've decided to post some reports of books I've read recently; let's jump right in. I received this book from one of my co-workers at Chuck's Ace Hardware in Pineville Louisiana. He said that he gave it to me because it was a book about a writer and he felt that even though it was a young adult book I would draw some inspiration from it and I surly did. I enjoyed this story cover to cover and would recommend any aspiring writer or anyone for that matter to give this book a read it is worth it!          Author:   Andrew Clements, Illustrated By Brian Selznick Title:    The School Story Main Characters:     Natalie Nelson , the writer, and  Zoe Reisman , her best friend Setting:   This story takes place in...

     The birth of Hip Hop is highly debated. The wave hit like a thief in the night. It hit the radio, movie screens and spread rapidly and soon break dancing, graffiti, MCing and DJing went around the world and back. I found it interesting that in the beginning back in the early 1970's there weren't any rap records. There were poetry records and you always had James Brown preaching the funk; but to create Hip Hop the DJ's took records that were already made preferably two of them and mixed them back to back. The parts that had no singing were MC'd over. There was no needle dropping, no rapping just music. That was hip hop, blending two records together and getting the crowd hyped up. Nu Sounds was rocking the set pre 1975 and the first park jam in Queens was at Lincoln Park in 1977 hosted by Geechie Dan.         The only way a person could listen to Hip Hop was live, in it's early days because at that time it had not been recorded yet. Then event...

    On October 31st 2025 I attended the Tamron Hall Show as an audience member. It was a fun experience. I met new associates networked a bunch and even got to talk to Tamron and laugh. The line was long and it was about a two hour wait before the show started. Priority tickets help a lot because you don't have to show up as early as one should with general tickets.       They had a great show prepared for us. It was pressure because it was all about sex! I became friendly with a mother and daughter and a beautiful woman with a bad ass fur coat. After the 4 of us met we were inseparable. Our row of seats went like this; me on one end of the aisle, the mom next to me, her daughter next to her and fur coat on the other end of the aisle. The first guest was author Laura Berman, PHD. She came to discuss her new book Sex Magic . It's about taking your body, mind, and relationship to the next level with spectacular intimacy. Funny thing I just wrote a book called...