By: Gabriela Yareliz
There we were, J and me, memorizing Super Bass by Nicki Minaj for our law school clinic’s talent show/ karaoke night in this tiny basement establishment in Greenwich Village. I can still rap parts of it.
This week, I was heartened to see the greatest female rapper of our time address the international community on the targeting and murdering of Christians in Nigeria and the world at large.
So, Nicki was speaking truth to power, and Rep. Thomas Massie was keeping it #sassywithMassie in D.C. (iykyk) Massie is a figure I admire along with Rand Paul. Men who piss off both parties. That’s what makes them iconic. Bless these independent figures with a passion for truth.
I was also happy to see Emilie Hagen and Denise Bovee in D.C. being #sassywithMassie.
I finished Margaret Atwood‘s fab course on writing. I am almost done with Aaron Sorkin’s. The wheels in my brain have been churning for days, at faster speeds. Don’t you just love the feeling of learning?
Thank God the nightmares have stopped. (Been laying off the melatonin).
As I write, I score a seat on the train, barreling toward Times Square, but before I got a seat, a little Asian girl was hugging the pole I was trying to grip. Aside from all of us being annoyed because anytime we grabbed the pole, we also inevitably grabbed a good handful of her staticky hair, her weird pole hug made me think.
As she hugged the cold metal rod, resting her face on it, I couldn’t help but wonder about how differently this girl sees this metal rod. The rest of us barely want to touch it and only grab onto it to avoid injury, meanwhile, she is resting her entire face on it. Kids believe anything. They disregard certain things that make us more apprehensive as adults. Now, I am not saying rub your face on every metal pole that at one point was enveloped by people’s nastiest parts on a NYC subway, but I am asking, what adult stiffness can we let go of and how can we adopt a more childlike carefree spirit where appropriate?
In my headphones, Candace Owens is reading off license plates and speaking like a car rental catalog (we are truly gripped— her latest phase of investigation is giving us life). And November feels like it’s officially winter. It has been a bucket hat week for me.
Ok, last thing… our Seven Days of Gratitude start tomorrow on Modern Witnesses. I love taking a pause to embrace gratitude. It’s a part of my daily routine, but to reflect on the entire last year is always special. What a year it has been. Crazily, it’s almost over.
The common theme in everything I see and listen to is— what are you doing that is life-giving? The world needs more people who are truly alive.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 