Laurinda D. Brown

If you’re an artist lacking inspiration, please watch “American Symphony” on Netflix.

I bought the Tea Lady and me a Stanley cup because everyone else is doing it.🤷‍♀️

The reality, though, - as I try to find space among our sea of Yeti cups - is they will eventually join the Yetis and live happily ever after in our abyss of beverage containers.

The 1980s Merriam Webster definition of hate is no longer applicable. 👊🏳️‍🌈

How my day started...

1. I woke up at 1:23 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep.
2. I will only have two classes this semester as opposed to the six promised.
3. The cinnamon rolls are taking forever to RISE.
4. I'm a bystander in a battle that has nothing to do with me but being blamed for throwing grenades.

The way I'm processing it...

1. God knows why he kept me awake and will allow me to sleep peacefully tonight without melatonin.
2. I will have Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to promote my book and play without disrupting my institutional responsibilities. Additionally, I can focus on my dissertation and a new client's project that's worth more than what those six classes would've paid.
3. I sold out of cinnamon rolls first time out and already have orders for shipping early next week.
4. Sure, some dogs' barks might be worse than their bite; however, no one knows when a dog is rabid until it's too late.

Stay strong because I sure as hell do.

And I came out SWINGING as one of many talented guest speakers at this year’s Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans this coming March!

Many of us will make NY reVolutions instead of NY resolutions because we keep coming back around to the same s**t. - LDBJ

My Indie Publishing Friends…

How much are you selling your paperbacks for these days?

I’m trying to see something.

So we drive all the way to Flowood for Bojangles chicken just to find out they only serve tenders?🤬

I KNOW y'all heard me screaming when Nunez offered me an African-American Lit class and Dillard requested a creative writing (fiction) course next semester.

Thank you, God!!!!

Praise, God! 🙌🏼
I’m entering the final week of in-person classes at DU, and I’m elated to say I’ll be teaching a fiction course next semester which has fueled excitement among the English majors. I received a new office so I “could hang my Prince pictures and really feel at home.” I remember my godmother, Rita Dorsey, once told me, “Take pride in an ego wall. You would have earned it.”

Oh, and that meeting I was called in to last month? I was asked to pen a play to be produced by the department.😉 I’ll keep y’all posted.

I would like to congratulate my students who put on two outstanding performances in front of TWO packed houses yesterday. They were meticulously entertaining, and I saw them at a level exemplary of growth and commitment. I rarely get to take pictures of and with them, but Mrs. Young asked if she could get this shot for me. Throughout the process, I’ve recognized those who want to see the creative process through and those who possess love, passiona, and raw talent for the arts. I was almost able to sit through the entire show.😬

A multitude of thanks goes out to the students and staff of JDCSD as well as the community who filled nearly every seat of the venue to witness the power of our youth’s creativity.

Wish I could get at least an hour of sleep before this 6 a.m. call time.😩

In the midst of prepping for today’s TWO encore presentations for the JDCSD staff and students, I met with Superintendent Ike Haynes. Let’s just say the performing arts program will be around for a long time to come. I love seeing everyone smiling.☺️💙😬

Please DO NOT open this! I ain’t having NOTHING!

It’s time!!!!💙💙💙

COME THROUGH, JEFF DAVIS! Y’all snatching these tickets up like fish plates on Fridays! I see you!

Let’s keep it up and show these kids they are WORTH IT!

Less than THREE weeks away!!!

Today…

Was a blessing for me but a lesson for them.

When I screw up, my kids know I own it. This morning I neglected to introduce my former Magee students to the JDC babies. Magee sat on one row. JDC on the other three. Even at breakfast, they were separate.

On the grounds in the midst of sweltering 98 degree heat, one group refused to take pics with the other, but both groups, in the absence of the others inquired about the other. “Well, you know we’re rivals.”

“Not while with me.” I was firm, taking into account the energy I’d unintentionally created. “We’re not on anyone’s field right now.”

After lunch and before the van pulled off, I turned to the back and owned my mistake and made everyone introduce themselves. They realized, in some way or another, they knew or recognized each other. “So you’ve spent all day in this negative space only to realize you could’ve been talking the whole day!”🙄

Help them burn these invisible bridges and build new ones.

Today was good for them. I’ll write about it in a serious way one day.