By: Gabriela Yareliz
Another Monday underground. I am reflecting on the beautiful lunch I have in my bag of vegetables and salmon made by my husband. Grateful. I listen to a podcast about burnt out women whose husbands do nothing and then, they wonder why their wives are raging women— I thank my lucky stars I have a husband who is generous, creative, caring, and he gets me treats. Heart of gold, I tell you. I have a chef quality meal on this N train. (The podcast is also about not living out of survival, which is a really good conversation).
We aren’t always surrounded by safe people, though. This reminds me of an anecdote I read in Kelly Oxford’s Substack about Nina Simone. Apparently, she played at a restaurant in Europe, and they then walked back on the contract and didn’t want to pay her. She calmly explained the contract and pulled out a gun. Long story short— they paid her. The world sometimes complains about women, but it has the women it creates. I see this in the work sphere a lot. They don’t want an assertive woman, but they treat women poorly (often, it’s other women treating others poorly, too). Sometimes, we’ll be safe and show up soft. In other scenarios with unsafe people, we need to show up with the spirit of Nina Simone.
There is a girl whose hair is curly and long, and she looks like something out of a medieval fairy book. She has these metal bird plates stitched on her purse and also stitched into her shoes. She is obsessed. Next to her is a less whimsical woman in a gray pinstripe suit, white blouse and a fiery red bag. She balances a small bodega cup of coffee in her one free hand. She has big blue eyes and short blonde hair. Reminds me of Julianne Hough. I wish them both a spirit of preparation to match the challenges ahead of their respective days.
The sun is golden as we hit the bridge. There are delays, but I don’t care. It’s a day filled with meetings. Sometimes, you just have to say, I’ll get there when I get there.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 