Publishing, Ebooking, Poetry: Oh My!

Hello again!!

I'm a little late into my first post of December, but...Happy December! December is always a great month for me, because its my birthday (on the the 4th :), its Christmas, and it means that a NEW YEAR is just around the corner! Gotta love that!

So far, the month has been treating me well, and I have been enjoying the things/people around me. Of course, my ever-elusive job search continues, but I've been more proactive in putting myself (and my resume) out there, so it has been pretty productive this month. Also, I had a BLAST at the Trey Songz concert for my birthday! He's one of my all-time favorites. Check out some pictures from the concert at Madison Square Garden!

 I was supes excited!

 My sister, Kendra

 I was happy I brought her with me!

 Miguel, one of my faves, killed the stage!

And of course, Trey :)

I couldn't really get great shots of Elle Varner, who I'm OBSESSED with, because the lighting wasn't that great during her set. All in all, I had a glorious time, and will be seeing Trey in concert again!

Now that we got that out the way...

On to the subject of this post! I'm ecstatic, beaming, and jumping out of my seat because...

I'M PUBLISHING AN EBOOK!!!

I KNOW RIGHT?! I'm publishing. I'm floored with the idea. I have been wanting to publish for so long, and have wanted to go the traditional route (get an agent, get a publisher, yadda, yadda), however, this is the day and age of DIY! And with so many opportunities at my disposal to do this on my own, how much of a fool would I be to not capitalize upon them? The internet is chock full of resources to help me do this, so I plan on using that as a big time aid!

This will be a book of poems, a poetry collection if you will. I know poetry isn't flying off the shelves nowadays, but I am confident in my talents, drive, and passion! Every one is always online today too, and have all sorts of devices & tablets they can't live without, so I figured an ebook was great place to start to get my work to a large audience. :) I'm nervous of course, but optimism is fighting those nerves tooth and nail!!

I want a creative way to stay in contact with  you all, so should I do update videos, or posts? I'm not sure, but I have LOTS of awesome things planned for this book launch, so get ready! God is awesome, and I've prayed about this, and I feel like this what he is telling me to do! He's been telling me for a long time!!!

I'm finally listening.

While this process is going on, I would like for you guys to email me: jaidathewriter@gmail.com, or message me here on TJRD.

Happy Holidays!!

xoxo, Jay

I can't wait!

What I Learned in College Happened Outside of The Classroom

Hi loves,

Enjoy a free verse poem from me today. Stay encouraged! :)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I licked the pavement on a Friday

I remember because it was very sunny.

I thought about my first love during the plane ride

and wondered if he’d still love me after I put on the freshman 15. (20).

I clung to my Daddy’s jacket when we walked

I was fresh to the ways of this town, this experience.

I smiled during the orientation

When a boy from Brooklyn introduced himself.

I cried my first night alone in the dorm

because I wanted to sleep in my Daddy’s hotel room

so a piece of my roots who rooted for me was near me.

I had fun at my first social

and laughed when the tan girl from Ohio sent me a smiley face.

She and me laughed even harder together

when the brown boy who was a local danced with us in the street.

He and I cried together once we realized

that we were put on this planet to do more

and we were put in this college to do more

than party like privileged suburban kids.

My heart opened up as I sang with the choir

and I laughed with the boy with the glasses

and got drunk with the girl with the gap

all as we sought to seek His plans for us.

I marveled at the girl who promised to endure

at the talented one who studied so hard for a major she hated

at the curly-haired one who had so much love to give

at the freckle-faced one who always laughed at my jokes

at the adorably curious one who had a flair for fashion.

In this place, I opened my legs on stage and flashed the world

and learned how to let my lady parts tell stories.

I opened my mouth and taught and healed and cultured and composed.

I opened my soul and let the hawk in.

Only, its icy coldness warmed my spirit.

©Jaida Triblet 2012

Happy Winter Part 2.

Well the weather outside is frightful...

 Hello all, and welcome to Winter! One of my favorite times of the year due to my birthday (December 4), Christmas, family, and foooood. :) I just want to give a quick update on everything that has been happening in life. I usually would do this in anachronistic order, but let's have a little order here, shall we people?

1) I weight watched, then I stopped. I want to say I was just happier with being fat. But that's not the case! I just got lazy and fell off the weight watchers bandwagon. It was cool at first, losing 10 lbs of water weight within the first few weeks while I was living on my own in Chicago, however, once I came home and no longer had the funds to buy my own groceries, well...let's just say points were irrelevant next to eating whatever free food was in the refrigerator. But before you call me a fat give-up, to my credit, I have joined a gym for a year's membership, and make it there as many days a week as I can. I have also managed to maintain my weight, not watch it increase. Yay! Let's go healthier/new me!

2) I made a little (blood) money. Okay, it wasn't really blood money. But I had to shed blood, sweat, and tears to get up at 4am to make it my new job by 6:30 am in the Financial District. It was decent money selling medicare insurance for a company that shall no longer be named, however, after reading a blog post by the beautiful Riva on her website, I decided that following my dream was much more important than making a quick buck and having the life sucked out of me.

3) I am writing again. Hence this post! I'm super excited, and looking forward to what my mind/hands will produce in the coming days.

4) I love the people around me.

5) Happiness is taking time, but I'm so focused on it (and God).  Things aren't perfect, and tears come very often, but I feel confident in knowing that with my efforts and God's love, I will truly attain the happiness in which I am seeking. It may not be in my way, but it will DEFINTELY be in His!

Thanks for reading/loving with me!

Until next time,

Jay <#

Why College is for Suckers & I Should Have Worked at McDonald's (Happy Winter)

Why college is for suckers and I should have worked at McDonald’s

By Jaida Triblet

Take a few moments to look back on your life. You’re born, and your parents have huge hopes for you; they want you to grow up to be an upstanding citizen, get married, give them grandbabies, possibly make them rich – but the one thing they want you to have is something they themselves may have not had – a college education. If your parents are like mine, chances are, they know nothing about how the actual process of college works – so when it comes time to apply, they’ll give their input and sign FAFSA’s, but you may be pretty much on your own in working out the logistics. So who does a young, hopeful, naïve teenager on the brink of graduation turn to? More than likely, there have already been teachers, principals, and other educators bombarding you with college info since you still had snack time at school. Remember, your fourth grade teacher who always said that you had to understand fractions if you wanted to get into a good college? Exactly. They brainwashed you into thinking fractions was a major, and everything you did from that point on would affect if and what college you went to. So, fast-forward to the last semester of your senior year. You’ve already heard how important college is.  I got questions and statements such as- “You have to go to college if you want to make a lot of money. Besides what else are you going to do with your life with a high school diploma? Manage a McDonald’s?” Looking back, I should have taken that idea and ran with it. Had I been managing a McDonald’s right now, living of the slaving of money-hungry, saggy-pants wearing, Nicki Minaj worshipping teenagers, I would be living in a penthouse on Park Ave right now. Instead of where I am now- fresh out of college with little experience, not many connections, a liberal arts degree, and a student loan balance that could pay for two penthouses on Park Ave. Like many of us, I listened. I listened to the teachers and educators, who told me I had to go to college, pursue my dreams, learn something other than a trade. What they were telling me was that I had to make myself virtually unemployable, because while I was in class learning about the rhetorical techniques Shakespeare used to convey tropes and themes in Taming of The Shrew, someone was somewhere learning how to wire electrical outlets, or how to do medical coding billing. They would be hired within 6 months of graduation. Me, on the other hand – well let’s just say employers are not lining around the block waiting to hear me discuss Shakespeare. Don’t get me wrong. I loved college. It was a sound and worthy investment, chock-full of tremendous opportunities and experiences I would have never had had I not participated in it. However, I see the world much differently now. I was told that college was a guarantee to a successful future. What I learned was that college is a gamble in which you risk that success depending on what major you choose, what internships you do, or what connections you make, which means, nothing is absolutely certain after you graduate except that fact that you will owe Uncle Sam some money and you will gag at the smell of tequila shot. While college taught me some useful techniques that will put me ahead of the job-searching competition, I wont lie - I wish I had chosen a more marketable major, or had been better at math or science and had not loved books so much, or had listened to my fourth grade teacher. But although I’ve incurred enough debt of someone twice my age at this point in life, I’m always open to new experiences, and stay hopeful about success in my future. I wonder if McDonald’s is looking for managers?

Finding Creativity

Where do I find creativity

   in the forest of uncertainty

Where do I go when my niche has been nudged and I can no longer fit?

           I want to scream like the color blue.


  I want to dream in dolby stereo.


     I want to paint the sound of my heart scraping my chest,


fast, slow, i don't know, it beats arrhythmically in colors and sounds that my fingers cannot produce fast enough.

                                               I want to know my heart's true desires, yet I am afraid of the answer.


-Jay <3

To Weight Watch or Not to Weight Watch?

The age old question...at least for me.

Sooo...lately, I've been feeling really depressed about the weight I've gained over the past few years, so I've been making small steps towards changing that. I haven't necessarily been eating right, but I've stopped eating as much, and I also cut down my fast food intake quite a bit. I don't exercise every day, but I try to work out at least 3 times a week. I take the stairs instead of the elevator (sometimes involuntarily), but I am making headway into changing myself.

However, I know some friends who have had success with Weight Watchers, and even some family members who have tried it, and now I'm wondering if it is for me. I think all the Jennifer Hudson commercials (damn that catchy song!) has finally broke me down to the point where I'm visiting the WW website more than I want to admit. After taking the free consulatation which told me I was obese (OBESE?!), I am even MORE convinced that this may be something useful for me. It has routine, accountability, and guidelines, all things that would be very helpful when its hard to lose weight/eat right. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the $, the monthly fee is $18.95, add that to the cost of a gym membership fee...I don't know. Plus all the money I have to spend on healthy food?! Ugh. It's cheaper just to be fat.

What do you think?

If you've done/known someone who has done/or just have an opinion about WW and think its worth the $, please leave a comment!

xoxo,

Jay

The Only Black Girl In The Class

An essay I wrote back in my second year of undergrad...still applies today. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

<3, Jay

I liked college better when I was the only Black girl in the class. I know some of you may find this statement confusing, but let me explain myself, and then maybe you might understand.

I don't even know where to begin. As I sit here typing this message, so many thoughts are running through my mind. Living in a society where skin color allows most people to pass judgement on you is hard enough, but sitting in a classroom where you feel it happening over and over is the hardest thing of all. It never really became aware to me that I was Black or African-American until I was in a space where most of my peers looked nothing like me. I went to a predominantly Black elementary & middle school and grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood, so all I knew was Black (except for the occasional student of Middle Eastern descent), and I didn't have a problem with that. When I attended a high school with a generous mixture of Blacks and Latinos, I felt a little insecure at first, but the number of the minorities seemed to balance out, and overall, we had a lot more in common than we thought. But coming to LaGuardia has made me feel my skin color in every sense of the word. In my first semester I was in a cluster, and our study topic was "Constructing Identity." This forced me to face my ethnicity head on, tackling all aspects of what makes me me- including race, gender, and social status. Sure, there were tension-filled discussions, offensive statements, stereotypes and other epithets, but it was my best semester so far- because I was the only Black (dark-skinned) girl in the class. I mean, I already stood out, because I was different looking, but I was also smarter, sharper, and more focused than a lot of my classmates. I wasn't only the Black girl; I was the smart Black girl. Professors knew my name. I sat in the front in every class. I went to class every day. I handed in my work on time and never got lower than a A-. I was exceptional, the one and only. I felt my identity had been created.

That was a year ago. This semester, things changed. I walked into my classrooms and found I wasn't the only Black girl, and I wasn't the only smart one. Always looking for a challenge, I continued to do me. I go to class every day, I hand in my assignments on time, I sit in the front of the class, and once again I was exceptional. But soon professors started confusing me with the other Black girl that sat next to me. He gave me her graded tests back. He looked at me and called her name on the roll call. He called on me to answer a question and called me her name. He called on her to present her project and suddenly she was me. Thus, I was stripped of my identity. I noticed it wasn't happening nearly as often with girls of other ethnicities as it happened with us Black girls. Is it not enough for me to sit front of your face every day, hand in A-quality work which you praise me for, and to contribute valuable input to class discussion, all so you can have the decency to learn my name? Are you a person perpetuating the stereotype that all Blacks look alike? Whatever it is, I liked it better when I was the only Black girl in the class. Then, I was somebody; not just another Black face in this minstrel show sometimes called college.

oldie but goodie..poetry performance!

Hi loves!

I just wanted to share this video from a show I did back in Februrary called Strictly Flow 2012. It was hosted by the African and Black Diaspora Studies department at DePaul University, and although I did not compete, I had the privilege of completing the opening poem! :) This is part 1 of the show, and my performance, but if you want to see the whole thing, the link to the YouTube video should be at the end of the video. This piece is called "Woman, Revived." Enjoy :)

<3,

Jay

flavaaaa

quick poem I wrote at work...I think I feel a series coming on...hehe :)


--Jay

writer's woe: (an idle mind is the devil's playground)

i cannot breathe.
my heart is suffocating its beats but does not bleed my heart is suffocating it beats but does not bleed
you are my lung.
you metaphysically morph
morphined thoughts into metaphors
mixing memories wiith things i remember.
you pump
the oxygen into my brain that
allows synapses to fire like fighter jets
a true war of the mind
ssssssss suffocating
your absence cuts off cappilaries
my heart is suffocating it beats but does not bleed
the Hester Prynne lettered hue onto these dead trees
i cannot breathe
you have collapsed and i cannot live
my heart is suffocating it beats but does not bleed
but
i
 
      stilll
                                       manage
                       to
leave a trail.

Hair Tut #1 !!

Hi lovebugs!

I have my first hair tut here for you all! It's a style I have been rocking for the past week, and I love it! Never gets old :) It's a classic style to wear to any occasion, from the most formal to the most casual! And unlike the other vids, NO TALKING! lol, enjoy <3

love, Jay :)

100 Poems Challenge!

Hey world,

I'm back after a loooongggg (but not intended!) hiatus to let you all know that I have a challenge, and maybe if you're a writer you can take it too.

The goal is: to write 100 poems by the end of this year.

For some, this may not be extremely hard, but for me, it is, since I am SUPER busy with school, work, prepping for graduation, my eboard and member organization duties, blah, blah, BLAH.  I'm tired. Sometimes lazy. Most of the time, unmotivated to write anything because I just want to sleep or watch Netflix all the time.

Lately, I've been going through a dry spell with my writing. What caused it? I have many answers for that:

1. Rejection. I submit to journals, contests, scholarships, and internships frequently, and as an English major they always ask for my writing samples. Now, I don't know if it's my content, structure, or what, but my stuff just has not been well-recieved past the stage and the classroom. That has left me feeling really insecure about my writing, and I end up with that "why bother" mentality.

2. Stress. Weird, since this used to be my biggest motivator in high school! But lately, the pressures of real life have found me not wanting to venture off into the poetic, or fictional world. I am really preoccupied with my actual self, I haven't had time to speak to my inner writer.

3. Static content. Simply, I don't feel like my writing is going where it should be. I still feel like I write like I did 5 years ago. Not good.

4. Other poets. Lol, this one is just silly, but it's true. Other poets (especially ones younger than me) make me nervous. They're so dope!

These 4 issues have been the biggest things holding me back in my writing process, but now that I've identified them, I think I'm on the road to completing my 100.

until next time,

jay