JOLT stands for: Justice, Oneness, Love and Tolerance.
It's easy to do a JOLT run....just..well....RUN! And while running it would help to think of ways you can help to promote Justice for all, Oneness; as in WE are all ONE world-wide family, LOVE because it conquers all and Tolerance as we treat others the way we desire to be treated. Running can be a very solitary sport so whenever you can, feel free to create small JOLT runs with other runners and make sure the spirit of camaraderie and togetherness is everyone's intention before, during and after the run. We can't save the world but we can all do our part no matter how small or large.
Lately, more than ever... I feel my self floating above the city, my wings growing larger with each breath I take, fluttering and pulling me away inch by inch until the city looks like a spot and the planet no more than a passing thought. My laughter has become the ripples in the sea and my tears the rain trickling across the metropolitan area. If I want to remain, if I want to connect, if I want to truly feel and experience what they call “life” I have no other choice but to cut my wings, dive headfirst into the unknown, tell gravity to grab hold of me and God to give me space and let me go.
Sometimes...when you have a gift, or feel you have a calling, it can sometimes get lost in this world's noise and confusion. The only sure way to fail is to stop trying and while it seems like you may be a little cray-cray for pushing forward despite numerous setbacks... just keep in mind that the grass does not think about how to grow, the sun does not stress about shining and the wind does not calculate where or how to blow...it just does and it always will.
Do what you were born to do, bring to this world what you were meant to and shine the only way you know how...and it will JUST happen.
People ask me why I run...I guess everyone has a different motivation. But for me...well.........I'm just preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse......(awkward and resounding silence when they realize she's serious)
Everyone
had jokes about the Jean skirt I wear for every run... so the day I run my last Central Park run...on my way to my next Manhattan home....I notice pretty much every other women I pass is running in a skirt..... This is not the first time...nor will it be the last that I leave my mark by doing my own thing but... Seriously, I
need to find a way to get paid for this...
Now after scouting for places to run I found my new haunt near the water side. On one of the hottest days yet---with me not feeling so great....did not plan on running
even 2 miles but ended up doing a half marathon by mistake. There was something magical in the air...the water looked like silver and the rocks along the shore looked like they were covered in fairy dust (Note: I didn't bring a water bottle so may or may not have been hallucinating at some point during this run) When you've
run 12 miles and all you see are hills ahead of you....hard not to
think to yeself "fudge sticks , sticky caramel and flippin' Sunday
cherry blossoms!!!!".....well that or %*-*$##&+)-&#@@$%!!!!!!!!
;))
Had a rough night last night...and about to
embark into the unknown. My life has been hard due to a mix of
circumstances outside of my control and those which are entirely my own
doing. Those who know me best know that despite it all I am
the embodiment of good intentions. Just received a text from my mother
commending me on how I handled some such "circumstances outside of my
control" and some close friends have been a mirror for me...showing me
who I truly am despite my lack of confidence. There is no doubt in my
mind, in all the years I've been around...the most important currency
you can accumulate is true friendship and love. It is the fuel by which
my soul breathes...
I've been pondering on this for some time now. Feel like the tunnel is closing and time is almost up. Things hit the head and splattered into a million pieces. And I am left with only one thought. Goodbye NYC... The city that manufactured my soul, brought me high and smashed me low, filled my heart and taught me all I know. My destiny is a splendid thing...that I cannot see from this vantage point, but I can feel it with my every breath and heartbeat. It's time to move on... yes... time to start something just for me and...new.
While
waiting for the train at 34th Street Herald Square....I watched a woman on the
other platform offer a banana to a homeless woman. I thought....how
sweet. She then went to a row of sleeping homeless men and left other
fruits on their laps...
Sometimes it seems the most difficult questions in life...have the simplest answers.
I'm no artist...well at least not a visual artist... but while riding the train today this image entered my mind and I had to create it. Think of it as a friendly reminder or a quick refresher course in love...
Walk out the door yesterday to go food shopping... before I make it down
the stairs a girl comes up to me and asks if I know anyone missing a
little boy... Yeah. That's how it started. So I say no and she points
over to a little boy who looks about 2 years old. He is wearing a
t-shirt, shorts and no shoes...its been snowing and cold in NYC so
everything about this picture is odd. I go over to the boy and an older
woman who is holding his hand. He seems oblivious of everything
and is jumping up and down on his barefoot and seems in his own world.
She asks if I know him, I say no. She explains she saw him running in
the street...I'm in shock. She asks a passing couple if they know the
kids. No. While they are discussing this in Patois I mention that the
boy must be freezing and we have to find him clothes and call the
police. I take the boy back to the front of the woman's house where we
wait for her to get a sweater and the couple goes to their house to get
some shoes and socks for him. At least 4 people including my mom and
sis call the police...they don't arrive... We ask people door to door
if they know this little boy. I ask him what his name is...he just says
"no" and goes back to playing. We ask where he lives....he just
points...in 2 separate directions... at least 30 or more minutes pass
without either the police or his parents showing up...finally we see an
old woman looking around confused and then sees us and puts her hand to
her mouth in shock. She walks over...its his "grandmother". At this
point we don't want to hand him over as we cant be sure of that and the
police have already been called. Next come his "mother" and sister.
She looks in shock and tells a story about him somehow leaving the house
when the door was unlocked. He has delayed speech so is unable to say
much... We continue to wait for the police....This all happened
yesterday...the police never showed up... There's a LOT I can say
here...but I'll just leave it at that.
And this random situation pushed me to look back into the missing boy I had joined the search for months ago... Avonte Oquendo... As I do not follow the news I wasn't aware what had happened until now...So sad... I really hope people see stories like this and we all put the CARE and SAFETY of ALL children first and foremost in our minds and actions: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/nyregion/remains-found-in-queens-are-matched-to-missing-autistic-boy.html?_r=0
I am aware my poetry is not exceptional... and yet I know from experience when I am dealing with an extreme case of writers block...the best medicine is Music, Art and Poetry. And so I find myself up after midnight, headphones on listening to "Maybe Not" by Cat Power after hearing it play during some obscure movie. I've played it twenty or so times...as I sit here in the dark...the only light coming from my laptop screen and the christmas tree still up despite the fact that christmas has come and gone...I am at an odd place in my life; an almost surreal place. And so, as I begin this journey to free myself of this writer's block, I can only imagine that what comes from my soul and touches the surface of paper...will be equally awkward...but hopefully someone, someday will find some sort of beauty in it...
Admit Time
I really dreamed
When I was new
Shot orange flowers out of bazookas
In yellow sundresses with white trim,
Walking down the beaches of paradise.
Time is a heavy sand, running through fingers
Sifting through toes and hardening the soles
To accommodate these rough paths we pave
And follow.
Dreams are nothing but sand
Running like rivers through the crevices
Of a beautiful yet
Casually Underestimated mind.
Mind…and mine
Is a black and unwanted vision
Of the world.
And so I lived comfortably in my dreams
When I was new
For they were pearly, shiny, sun filled things
Like on the tv with all the smiling golden haired cherubs
Life is never what
They want it to be.
Life is most times
Everything we don’t expect
And yet time plays on; the chords of a piano
Keeping step, tapping and moaning
An opera of a life…
An opera of a life…
Oh how time has played me…
Oh how life has dimmed…
Oh how my dreams have bled of color into simple things
All black and white, no dialogue, only muted flashes…
And yet time plays on; a song no one wants to hear
