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.          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...