This is the week of May 11, 2020.

There is more Ramadan. And not much else, huh?

Mother’s Day has passed, and the calendar is on a quiet spell for a bit.

I became a student again this week. Two graduate-level courses. I wrote this post.

I am adding a new feature to my Musings posts. Each week will include a Pic of the Week.

Some image that was taken by me or of me that I want to highlight for the week. That’s all!

These are my top ten (shareable) thoughts in this week’s rhapsody of Miss Jae’s Musings:

1. Music. Badu and J.Scott healed the planet last weekend, as we all knew they would. They healed the Black community and many Black mamas raising Black sons. The syngery, the love, the peace, and music, and the vibes–where do I begin? I specifically enjoyed witnessing a duality of feminine power. As one woman was more hype and glowy-y sippin on her wine, the other was more chill and soothing sippin’ on her tea. Both demonstrating to us that femininity, artistry, and musicality is not one thing and that you must bring your own identity to it. There is room for both, and that’s pretty damn attractive. Speaking of attraction, my partner totally asked for a ‘hall pass’ on Jilly from Philly. My answer was a resounding yes! First, she’s Jill! Second, you can definitely bring summa’ ‘dat energy home and it’ll be alright. Now, Jill. If you are reading this Sweetness, I only ask that you give him back, mkay? Peace!  #blackgirlmagic

2. GRE. Guys! I received my writing score, and I am happy. A small piece of me wishes I would have scored a half point better, but again—I am satisfied. So, onward and upward with this graduate school application. Send me blessings, please. Thanks! #gradschool

3. Learning Curves. Shout out to my web publishing teacher from high school. I had to figure the HTML code to my site this week to connect readers to my blog via email. I had to teach myself how to route this process, but the coding language came back to me some 18 years later. If you know me, you know that I love learning, but I cannot stand riding the learning curve. I did it, though. To pat me on the back, you should subscribe. (Scroll down.) Seeing all the confirmation emails in my inbox makes me feel good about the labor I put in. Thanks in advance. #studentforlife

4. Life and Death. Sometimes, I think about time-space realities. Then, that causes me to think about my own mortality. I have spent quite a bit of time processing death as a phase of life and being okay with it for myself and for all the deaths I have and will witness. There is so much that I do not know. Most of the time I choose to sort through what I do know. I know that I do not control Father Time or Mother Nature. I also know that while I do have some time, I am clueless on when that time will expire for my life. So, I choose to spend my time being me, learning me, and sharing me so that my unique individuality is present, my self-awareness and expression evolves and illuminates, and so that anyone in my reach feels and experiences it to the point that my absence post-expiration is overwhelmingly felt. Remembering Little Richard and Betty Wright today—two superheroes whose time expired this week. #manageyourtime

5. Holidays. How was your Mother’s Day? Y’all know I am Spanish in my head, right? I was fed a Spanish-inspired brunch. By the way, brunch is my favorite meal on Sundays. And, I love to eat meals that I do not have to cook. I was hooked up with the three-stranded cord: my favorite cuisine for my favorite meal that was prepared by someone other than myself. What a beautiful trilogy. #blissfulness

6. The Foolishness. If you think it is okay for an adult to orchestrate sexual acts among (a) minor(s)…wait—why am I even having to compose such a sentence? Do y’all mean to tell me that grown women are paid by adult fathers to perform oral sex on their teenage son(s)? And in some cases, these same women have already serviced the fathers? Scary. The list of things NOT OKAY with this is too much and too disturbing to type. The energy to properly dissect and discuss this I do not have. Moving on… #nottodaySatan

7. Video Editing. I am not “good” in front of the camera yet. I blink too much, and I say “you know” way to often which is odd because I don’t do that in real life. I cannot stand filler words and even though we all say them from time-to-time, I didn’t like how dangerously close I was to abusing that phrase. It was so much effort to re-shoot my latest vlog, but next time it will be better. I think. I hope. Learning curves are painful. In the words of Les Brown, “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.” So, there’s that. #greatnessinthemaking

8. That Old Time Religion. In skimming a reader’s comment and in turn the author’s reply about a passage in her [the author] book, the commenter was in her feelings about the “spare the rod, spoil the child” rhetoric. I would like to invoke a call toward intellectualism and literary critique. Actually, I will lessen the critique to comprehension. We live in the Digital Age, the Information Age, a time where sophisticated computers live in our hands and information breathes at our fingertips. We must de-board the Regurgitation Information Train where we recycle without verification. Simply put, the Bible does not say “spare the rod, spoil the child.” It just doesn’t. #knowbetterdobetter

9. Werk, Werk, Werk. This week, my director responded with a “wow” and “you are good” in reply to my latest submitted project. Makes me kinda’ proud, you know? #sogoodtheycantignoreyou

10. City Walks. I hit the pavement for another walk this week in hopes of some fresh air and sunshine. As I walked under the bridge, I spotted a church passing out large brown paper bags. I figured they were “care packages” being passed out to support the community. I kept it moving. But, once I circled back an elderly Black man (some of my favorite strangers to encounter on the street) yelled out, “Hey! Y’all know the church ova’ ‘dere passin’ out bags. ‘Dey got groceries and all the udda’ whatnots in ‘em.” He caressed his large bag and raised it as he called out. It hit me. I am not in need. The feeling of gratitude rushed over me like lava escaping a volcano, and in that moment I remembered an old saying that someone from my childhood quoted rather often …”’tis betta’ to give, than receive.” How true. I have been at both ends of that table, and while I have no issue accepting assistance when needed, I would much rather be in the position to give. #attitiudeofgratitude

~Love, Light, & Musings