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?