Fluid Memories

Facebook has a tendency of stacking up memories and presenting it to you to remember what happened on this date in previous years. Thoughts in me then flutter like doves at the vital rhythms that my life has stumbled upon. A flame is kindled and it helps me to either reassess or to claim the grain of truth of the path that I am on and the destination that I am trying to reach.

In truth, pictures do speak 1000 words. Every single one, no matter where or when it is taken, has a story behind it and can produce in our mind images as continuous and fluid as waters of a fountain. If you are a writer and ever come to a point where you are struggling for words, don’t let that wall of silence block you. All the layers of irony that a photo holds can be the starting point of another golden floral work ready to rise up and face the sun in your journal.

Maybe you will come across a picture where you had orange spiked hair. What were the circumstances that surrounded that time and place? Relay the noise and confusion that is embedded in the capture. There was a story there. What is it?  Tell it. There is a fresh and spontaneous idea in those thousand words emotionally yearning to be told.

Like for instance. The bottom is a photo of the Medgar Evers College Jazz Ensemble which I was very blessed to be a member of. There are stories that are embedded in the experience that a poem, article or song can be conceived from. I loved the photo beside it because I took a picture by a wall with a mic in it and it looks so real. Made me realize how good my eye is at producing visual imagery. The others are from me performing my original music before a crowd of my peers, another in the preliminary stages of me producing my radio show Jazz on the JNote and then another of me singing an entire song in Spanish that I had never sang before a crowd or with a band until last night. All photos show me in some way as a work in progress. Stories are works in progress. We have a story even when we come to a moment of writer's block. Find a way to break the ice and let the words flow. 

What I come to realize in looking back is the strength of steel that is embedded in who I am. I jolted from all of those things into the person I am today. The work that I pined for all my life is written in those images. And then I consider my current plight. Experience is a story. We have a story. Those 1000 words are stories. 

I am filled with equanimity for a reason. Life has been a rocky journey but there have been some accomplishments in it which I am very proud of. I have found a sense of well-being. God has been so amazing to me and I am thankful. Sometimes looking back can draw deep gloom at what you didn’t get to do and sometimes photos can feel as good as a basketball player doing a tip in with the ball and scoring just seconds before the buzzer goes off.

We may show signs of deterioration as we grow older into the person we are today but thank God for where we have arrived. 

What A Difference a Day Truly Makes

I will never forget the moments leading up to this picture which was actually taken a year ago today. 

Though it seems as an attractive option of things that I could have been doing, the other option would have been sitting home and crying about having just experienced a layoff. I had the option to invest a serious amount of time that day thinking about what
to do next. But as I look back at the year that brought me to the moments of  today, my faith in who I am and the awesome power of God was the glue that held me together.

A year ago today when that picture was taken was a few hours after I had been forced out of my seat where I had sat for over a decade and a year ago tomorrow celebrates one-year of when I radio hosted, produced and my first episode of my show Jazz on the JNote was ever aired.

I had the option of letting the idea of being without work resonate within me strongly. I had the option of letting the skeletons of doubt take creative control over my life and of
doing nothing to rectify my situation at all. I took a glimpse of what was on my calendar and realized that there was so much more to it than the glamorous fashion of yesterday, even though it just ended for me. It still was my yesterday.

I had an engagement to attend that night; the introduction show to the Fort Greene Park Jazz Festival which Eric Frazier puts together every year. I was so delighted that he allowed me to be a part of the musical festivities and wanted to be present at the first show to see what it entailed. There was nothing that was going to keep me from being there. Was it worth my time? Sure. 

I say that you can either gloat over the things that happen in your life that you must deal with or you can continue on living. One downfall does not mean that your life has ended. It means that the next chapter of your life is beginning. The next chapter included my radio show Jazz on the JNote, more focus on my music and writing,  and graduating from Medgar Evers College with honors. 

I say don’t put all your effort into letting your situation define you. I say, use your nearly bankrupt spirits to do something positive in your world that can not only benefit you but others in the process while also, replenishing your wealth of joy. When you consider the truth that at any given moment, change can happen, the idea of change can be taken seriously.

I tell you, every time I am prompted to glance down at my phone at an “on this date” post on Facebook, I find it fascinating when I take a glimpse of my current day and see in truth, what a difference a day truly does make.

And to end this post, I send love to all those in need of a boost of happiness. Here is a clip of "Cherokee" also known as "Indian Love Song" from the Fort Greene Jazz Festival which happened last year, in which I was featured and I'd like to dedicate to all of you readers.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HLiCOIxpzY&index=19&list=PLtEabtb9kz4JfOcuFHckwPhoyjqiYJTdq

Thank you for checking out my blogpost!