Weekly Goals

1.) Read 40 pages of "You Don't Know Me, But You Don't Like Me" a day since it has to be returned next Thursday (5/1).
I didn't quite read 40 pages a day, but I'm halfway done the book and should be done by Wednesday. I'm loving it so far and it's making me want to go to the Gathering of the Juggalos, but I'd definitely go with someone so we'd have each others' backs. I really like what Nathan Rabin had to say and I want to use it for my "What is a Juggalo" piece (I'll probably add what a Juggalo meant to me when I first became one at 14 and use what I have now as what it means to me at 24).

"Yet people looked down on Insane Clown Posse and Juggalos. The perception conformed to narrow, reductive stereotypes about how poor, uneducated white people think and behave. The irony, of course, is that people who know nothing about ICP - yet very strongly believe that their music is worthless and their fans are illiterate and racist - are doing exactly what the accuse ICP of doing: forming concrete ideas about how an entire group of people think and act based on their appearance, place on the socioeconomic ladder, and the kind of music they enjoy" (Rabin 52).

Ah, yes, I have had this happen. I remember a former professor actually commented on something and said, "shame on you, you are an educated woman, you shouldn't be listening to this trash" or something to that effect. I deleted it and laughed: I may be educated, but I can relate to the music and they have been there for me for a very long time. I've always been judged on my appearance, I know in high school people used to be intimidated by me (I dress like a "freak") until they got to know me and thought I was the nicest person in the world. I mused to myself today at work: Ah, yes, the FBI must have fun with me. Being a Juggalette (Juggalos were classified as a gang) and knowing Arabic, yep, they're having a field day as we speak: Juggalette and al Quaida member. God, what a pile of cow manure, but it's a good laugh.
Maybe this should be an essay and have the poem attached.

2.) Work on some writing pieces for various folders.
Here are a few pieces I worked on this week:
"Compassionate Choices "   by Grateful Jess
"Nightmares (Columbine: 15 Years Later)"   by Grateful Jess
"Chinchilla Love (A Rondeau About Squig)"   by Grateful Jess

3.) Review 3 different authors this week.
Yep, read some very interesting pieces. :)
Review of "Mom"
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4.) Continue with NaPoWriMo.
I really love the New York Style concept that I wrote for April 21st, I just thought it was rambly about Monoxide so I rewrote it like Frank O'Hara wrote his:

Monoxide has received my handwritten letter!
I was browsing around Instagram and Twitter,
it started raining and sleeting,
but dad said it was snowing,
and when it snows, the roads close
from ice, so it was really snowing and
sleeting and I was so bored inside,
that I totally forgot I wrote Monoxide
a four-page, long, drawn out, handwritten letter
for Christmas and to tell him that I loved him
and admired him and he gave me the strength.
As I was sitting inside on this snowy February day,
at noon or was it one o'clock or two?
When I turn away from the window where the cardinal sits
and suddenly I see a headline
MONOXIDE HAS RECEIVED MY HANDWRITTEN LETTER!
there is plenty of snow in Roseville;
there is no sleet in Cleveland or Detroit or wherever he is now,
but I have not been to the concerts
and I feel perfectly disgraceful,
however, I plan to change that when I get to Michigan,
I'd love to meet and hug you, to shake your hand,
oh, Monoxide, I hope you didn't mind my letter!

Yep, I like this one better than the one I wrote originally for NaPoWriMo #21.

What else I have been doing this week:

I ran reviews of the apartments I posted last week. Apartment 1 got the best review . Apartment 2 was meh, but I think I might visit it. Review. I'm going to look at more apartments tomorrow. My one boss at the library was giving me tips on looking and she said to me, "We consider you like a daughter. We only want the best for you because we care about you!" and gave me a hug. It was so nice. I know they're worried and I know some want me to stay; I am going to miss them, but it's time to explore. I'll be keeping in touch and of course, I'll show them pictures before I move to reassure them. I think that would be okay, right? I should expand to what I wrote for ThankfulThursday and include the library: everyone I work with at the library has been family for the past eight years. It's hard to believe I started working there at 17 and have grown up there. See, that's what I want in a job: I want to grow with a job, that's important to me.

Speaking of work, as the meltdown I had the other day about finding work subsided, I thought about what I have to offer to a company or whatever line of work. A few of my friends suggested health care and I remember what an old nursing teacher told me in high school after a writing assignment: "You're a really powerful writer. You clearly empathized with someone in this piece and did a lot of research. You'd be better off in advocacy or social writing. You could make a difference." An elderly man today lost his 20 year old mentally handicapped child. He was panicking when he came into the library looking for him. I saw the grandson earlier that morning and walked around the library with him in search of the grandson. When he wasn't in the library, I asked him if his grandson liked playgrounds, but he wasn't sure. There is a pedophile alert in this area and I was getting worried myself, so I told my coworker that I'd be right back because I was going to help this gentleman find his grandson. We walked outside and I showed him the way to the park. The park is somewhat big and a bit of a walk. We looked everyone and then man said to me, "this is awfully nice for you to do this, miss. Not many people would have helped." His wife was up near where their grandson's bike was parked. We canvased the whole playground and park area; nothing. When we trekked back up to the entrance of the township building, I saw two women that worked for Park and Rec, asked if they saw an African American young man about 20 years old. They knew who he was and said he was in the handicap stall in the girls bathroom on the lower level. So, I went to the bathroom and talked the grandson out. Apparently he got into a fight with his mom and he went off… he said to his grandfather, "I'm so tired of people looking for me and caring about me!" and started rambling. The grandfather thanked me up and down for my help. It was about a 20 minute search; when I got back, my shift was over and my coworker said to me, "that was very nice for you to do that, it's nice to help out. However, don't tell too many people in here because they would have told you not to get involved." It hit me at that second that maybe so many people over the years and through my hardships had that attitude and didn't bother to help - I really dislike that attitude, especially when someone could be in danger and others are panicking. I'm glad I never had that attitude and usually I disregard that attitude.








The writer is the engineer of the human soul.

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Lambeau Leapin' Through Wisconsin  [E] #1908946 Genres: Travel - Sports - Entertainment by Grateful Jess

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