Night On Broadway....Night with America

Last night i got the pleasure of going out into my wonderful city, Los Angeles and experience the world lining the streets of Broadway. It was amazing to see so many people coming out to enjoy the arts, culture, music, food and everything else the festival had to offer. Everyone was there, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, kids, grandparents, best friends, lovers, everyone! The great melting pot that is LA was there and it was beautiful to see and experience.

During these crazy times in our country it was a much needed getaway from the chaos and get back to being....human again. Enjoying life and laughing with strangers. Dancing the meringue with a handsome teenager. Cheering when your favorite old school song came on. Eating food from all over the world. Talking about Star Wars with someone who notices your fandom. High-fiving grandma and grandpa for cutting a rug. Seeing amazing theater performed for free. Riding a ferris wheel in the middle of the block. Petting huge dogs. Watching little kids blow bubbles with all their might! And realizing you can't cover the whole thing in one night but it was fun to try!

This is what America is about. Coming together for the common good. There were protesters but they were chanting something we all felt. Flags from all over the world flew in the night sky. It was simply beautiful and amazing to experience.

I know i needed the break from such an exhausting week of resisting the evil that is trying to rule over us now. I needed to dance in a crowd at my first Silent Disco hosted by some of my absolute favorite DJs. I needed to smile with strangers. I needed to hug strangers. I needed to release the stress and just get back to living my life for a moment. And i got to do it with my best friend and partner in crime like always.

The road of resistance is long, hard and worth it. We can either sit back and let it screw us over or stand up and fight back. I choose to fight back daily any way i can. But we must remember to not forget to take care of ourselves. We can't forget to love the people immediately to our left and right. We can't forget to laugh, dance, eat, drink and be merry. We all deserve a break from the madness. It doesn't mean we aren't fighting. It means we aren't going to let the fight put a dark cloud over us. Love wins always. There is a time to fight and a time to dance. Last night, i danced and now i'm ready to get back to the fight!

Thank you to the creators of Night on Broadway, it's sponsors, its participants, its volunteers and of course my KCRW family. It was a great night i think we all needed and appreciated that much more after a long week. Stay strong my fellow rebels!

Peace For Me

Sometimes, even at the strong suggestion against it from our friends, we have to close chapters with people. I do it for my own sanity and peace. I do it to show forgiveness for my own lack of great judgement. I also do it because sometimes I don't want the person who treated me not so great, to feel that bad about it. This usually only happens when I believe the person is a good soul overall, they just made some shitty choices. Also, when I'm not really damaged or even scarred by their actions, it's much easier to give them a break and call it a wash. 

People tend to just want to bash someone because it didn't go the way they wanted. One little slip up and they tar and feather the poor soul. So what, they did the typical douchey douche thing. You didn't lose anything in the situation. You might not gain anything either, so really, there is no need to crucify the person. Granted, thinking about taking a metal bat to their knee does cross my mind. But say a public shaming or evil laced phone calls isn't needed. Show your resilience and strength by forgiving and moving forward. I know for me, my spirit is happier when I do that. I can lay it all to rest. Delete all the memories, texts, photos all that and let it fade from memory in time. 

IF by some chance the person didn't take up too much of your time, you got lucky and it's easier to shake off. Alas, the longer folks absorb and abuse our time, the longer it may take to remove them from our lives. But it will happen, you just gotta let time do it's thing. And don't beat yourself up over it too much. We all have a little masochist in us. And we all know when we should STOP doing something. But if we consciously ignore the gut and do something that we know will probably upset us down the road, then we also consciously accept the consequences of the masochistic actions we take. So own your stupid leaps of faith that ended up with you splattered on the floor of regret and self pity. Hopefully you learned something after the splat. I've learned something from this splat indeed. I can't say I will NEVER do it again, I just know I'll have a better look if something similar comes around again. 

We are only human. And we will hurt one another even when we mean not too. Doesn't mean everyone is out to get you and you should "trust no one". Just means you gotta watch folks more, guard yourself but don't close yourself off to everyone. There are still amazing people out there who want to make you happy. And you need to continue going and making people AND yourself happy. So not to use a completely overused saying now but yeah...let it go, forgive and keep moving forward!

This is dedicated to my girl Tierra who has taught me in her own way, to not take certain situations so seriously and just live your life.