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.          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 New York City Plot:   This story was about two elementary school girls that took on the dream to become a published author.   Personal Endorsement :   This was a really good book and it shows what can happen when people have support within their dreams. It shows the power of friendship without jealousy or envy. It also shows the power of focus and what can happen when one doesn't give up on ...

     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...

        After the injury everything changed. Being laid up like that with no help. I had to hobble to the market only to be ran over by crowds of people that I couldn't keep up with. Being left by the Lyft because the driver couldn't figure out how to come around the corner. Just feeling helpless, abandoned and stranded. Feelings like this will put things in a different perspective really fast. Some people out there have major support and people around to help when things get tough and some people simply just don't. For me I'm one of the one's that don't but I find that strangers are always kinder to me than my own family who is by society's standards supposed to be our first safety net & supporters.       N-E-how being laid up like that and alone I had more uninterrupted time to think than I ever did in my life. Self reflection questions that I never even thought of started to pop into my mind. The first one was career wise. The question was ...

  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 grew up with my Grandmother and we had a library house. There were all kinds of books everywhere. There were 3 floors & on each floor there was something either educational or fun to read. This book belongs to my favorite uncle and it's been in our family library since 1995. No it's not actually about what the title says. I mean it is but not really. We're about to get into it now. Author:    James K. Van Fleet Title:    25 Steps 2 Power & Mastery Over People  Main Characters:    This book didn't have characters per say. There were true accounts of people's experience after using the advice offered.  Setting: ...

     You know that feeling when you need a job BAD! You fill out a bunch of applications and either nobody's getting back to you or your just getting a bunch of rejections. It's a wild feeling but I definitely can relate. That's how I was feeling this past June into the beginning of July. I had been in NYC for a month. My side hustle was not popping all like that and my savings were no more. I woke up one morning just feeling over it for the most part. I made myself a cup of coffee and turned on the Bronx news. Low and behold they were having a job fair and it started in a couple hours.         I was about to do absolutely nothing that day, so I got myself up and got ready for the job fair. I showed up soon as it started. I interviewed for a couple jobs and they said they would get back to me. I was feeling defeated, I was hyped about the on the spot interviews and really hoped I'd be leaving with a job that day. Before giving up hope, I mosy...

   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 came across this book in ChinaTown Queens NYC. I was on my way to the 7 train and this man was selling books on the street. I started to look because I can't deny a good book sale. I was attracted to this book mostly because of the title. The man said that he would give me the book for $3 but I only had $1 in cash and he didn't have      cash-app. He was nice enough to give it to me for the buck. Author:   Nina LaCour Title:    We Are Okay  Main Characters:     Marin & her Gramps, Mabel & her parents Setting:   A Upstate NY college campus & San Francisco California Flashbacks   Plot:    This story is ...

    Being apart of the Drew Barrymore show was a life changing experience. I was literally emotionally triggered and healed all at the same time! Let's go back to the day before the show, Tuesday September 16th. I had a overnight shift at work and wouldn't be getting home until 5:30 am and the show starts letting people in at 10 to 10:15 am. I was tired but I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by. I haven't been in a studio audience in years. The first time was in 2018, I went with a senior citizens home located in Philadelphia PA. We rode to Connecticut for $3 to the Steve show. Steve was Jerry Springer's body guard and he launched his own show if you didn't know.      Now because I didn't know how the line situation was going to be and I wasn't sure how my priority ticket worked I decided to be there at least by 9am. Working off  an hour and a half of sleep I showed up only to find out I could've gotten a extra hour of sleep; because pri...

     Welcome back, now where were we; ah ok so I shake off the rather painful sprain. I hop on the bus go home and rest for two hours. My ankle isn't hurting so I decide to go to my night job. On this job I'm standing and walking for four hours. I worked that shift like nothing happened. It wasn't until an hour before it was time to go that my knee started hurting. I kinda thought nothing of it since it was already slightly injured. I left work and headed home. I had 15minutes to shower and get ready for the day job.        As I stepped into the shower My right leg buckled and I looked down and my ankle on my right leg was swollen to the size of a white potato. I thought to myself, maybe I should just call out and stay home. My legs aren't in good condition and working on them any further wouldn't have been a good idea. I also had to call out of the day job the next day which was Tuesday. I rested for the day and decided to go to my training  on W...

     Let me just say when the energy that runs this planet says move you move. I'm happy to say my living situation has changed dramatically. I'm still working my part time job which is seasonal. I found another part time job that will take me into June 2026. Finding full time work is a whole nother job in itself. I don't have a clue as to how all this life stuff works or why none of it makes sense, but I'm alive until I'm not so I'm here for it.       Everything is going pretty well if I must say so myself. I have a couple friends now and the overnight job is definitely popping. It literally feels like being in Highschool hanging with the homies while y'all get y'all work done. Since moving I've had to readjust to my travel times, but I'm closer to the overnight job. The day job is about the same distance as it was before; an hour and a half away. Which is not actually convenient, but I gotta make it do what it do.       This is how I e...

  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 was given this book by an owner of a cannabis farm in Northern California. I spent 3 months harvesting marijuana. It was one of the best experiences in my life. The cabin we stayed in atop a 4,000 ft mountain had a rather interesting book case. I asked the owner if I could swap a book for this one and he obliged. I'm glad he did because I learned so much about this. Culture/ Religion that I didn't know about and clarification on things I did.  Author:   Lenoard E. Barrett, Sr. Title:    The Rastafarians  Main Characters:     The Author and the Rasta's he interviewed  Setting:   A lot of this book took place on the island of Jamaica in 1997. It g...

  Hey family thanks for tuning in again!    Wellness over Illness                              Eat Well 2 Live Well by now Y'all know I'm a foodie & that i enjoy taste that tingle my tongue! it makes me so happy that I get to embark in the pleasures of life & that so many different taste are introduced into my 🌎!  So let's jump right in & see what I have for y'all this time. Milk Chocolate Pistachio Milkshake. The milkshake for me was underwhelming, all the goodies on top were the bomb tho! This can be found at  https://maxbrenner.com/   Quinoa chicken chickpea salad with avocado. This was everything! A True delight to my taste buds.  https://maxbrenner.com/   Cheesesteak waffle sandwich. This was my sister's order. I tasted some of it & I can use the word delish.  https://maxbrenner.com/   One must order this fondue upon visit. Just a little bit ...

  Hey family welcome back! As you know if you've been following my story, in Los Angeles I was a personal in home assistant. It's a job through that App called Home A Glow. If you like to clean and help people organize it might be a helpful part time job for you. N-E-way this job takes me a lot of places and into a lot of people's homes. Since being in NYC I've been able to travel around the different borough's and help make people's lives more manageable. A couple weeks ago I came upon the most interesting home I have seen in my life outside of YouTube. It's located in City Island NY, it's so beautiful there. The views of the East River are simply breath taking.      The owner of this home is a young woman in her 50's that has survived the ugly battles of divorce and is caring for her son who is challenged with high functioning ADHD. She has truly made her home her sanctuary. Upon entering it felt like walking into a huge boat. I was so impressed an...

        The crazy thing is I've probably always been winging it...                            I don't think there was a time when things made sense in my life ever. I be wanting to make one of those crime boards with the yarn, pictures & push pins and stand there and figure for hours where it all went wrong. Trust me guys I wanted part 8 to be better.  I don't know if you guys were rooting for me but I sure was. I'm tired now ya'll, let's just go right in. I've been in NYC for a little over a month and I have no idea what's going on. I am very perplexed about my living situation. My cleaning app won't let me charge over $16 an hour which is B.S. because in Los Angeles I was able to charge $20 -$25 an hour. I probably could've charged $30. N-E-Way I was able to find a part-time seasonal job. One morning two weeks ago I woke up down on my luck and I was watching the Bronx news. I ...