Honestly, I’m going to do Feel-Good Fridays. I will post a video, a picture, or a song that just makes me feel good or other people want to dance. Why? Because people get paid on Fridays and punch out from work. Because it may mark the crest of a party rising or a lover’s embrace. Because 5-6 days out of the week can be drudgery. I originally tried to do Funky Fridays on myspace where I posted songs connected to or derived from the funk (Thank you, Parliament, George Clinton, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Ohio Players, Bootsy Collins, Joi, et. al.), but myspace has pretty much become the less popular social networking kid these days.
Our first F-GF entry was given to me last Friday. Since I’ve been open to pretty much reading in a variety of places, I was invited to feature at TheFUSE, the Friday night slam at the Infusion Tea Gallery in the Mt. Airy/Germantown area. It was an exciting night to see a young slam team come together on their finals night, and they were very responsive to the work. It was a good night to pass the hat, so I made up for not selling a lot of books. Philadelphia looked out for me. However, one of the charming things about last Friday was when Jane Cassady, one of the organizers slipped a tiny, neatly folded note into my hand. “This was in the hat with the money. I thought you might like it.” She smiled and I unfolded it. You may not be able to read it from the photo since it’s backwards, but I wanted you to see how small it was.
received at Infusion Tea Gallery in Philly, 4/30/10
It read as follows:
I wish I had a
coin, bill, or debit
card to drop in this
hat tonite, but …
whenever I can get
the funds, I’ll buy your
book and make a
necklace out of its pearls
for my friends
I have no idea who wrote it, but it felt nice to know that someone took the time to write it. Sometimes, people come to readings because they are looking for someone who talks about things that are relevant to them or reflect their experiences. I am aware that some people can’t afford a lot of things right now, but if we remember how valuable kindness, time, and effort are, we can do so much that a price tag only aspires to achieving.
