Veneranda Jade

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

  • Home
  • About Me/Contact
  • The Move Commences
  • Search
  • AUTISM KEYNOTE RESOURCES (Password Protected)
  • Video Access (Password Protected)
Skip to content

Month: June 2019

June 30, 2019

I love my therapist and my therapist loves me

When my therapist gives me advice in Star Wars terms because we’re both nerds.

June 28, 2019

Pride Eve

I was gonna make a one minute video but I can’t because I wanna feel free to talk about what happened tonight and I…

June 27, 2019

That one time? At Peter Luger?

When I was 20, back in 2000, the man I would marry (let’s call him Shmanny) worked for a tech company in Tucson. Now,…

June 24, 2019

Miscellany

I decided to stop talking about the guys I go out with because, well, 1) I have to stop treating real live people like…

June 19, 2019

High functioning according to whom?

From the outside I look normal. Well, fat and normal. Well, fat and maybe a bit eccentric. I’ve got red lipstick on, my bangs…

June 17, 2019

All I wanted was a Pepsi

When I was three, I asked my dad’s secretary why she was an “India.” An “India” is a rather derogatory term in Spanish with…

June 17, 2019

And these children that you spit on

To invoke a great writer, Chinua Achebe, things fall apart. Last October when I decided to move here, to Brooklyn, I thought I had…

June 14, 2019

We’ll fill in the details a bit later, but for now, a one and a two and a…

June 13, 2019

Two nights left…

This could be the PMS talking. Or just the existential angst that visits upon me at my birthday like some Dickensian ghost come to…

June 13, 2019

Just the facts:

Saw Rooney (well just Robert Schwartzman) at Murmrr last night Hung out with Nathalia Met her friend Bob, who is an acclaimed music producer…

June 10, 2019

And the beat goes on: my bullies, my autism, myself

I think I hit Christina once in second grade. I say “I think” because I don’t remember doing it even once, but repercussions were…

June 9, 2019

An embarrassment of riches

Alright, alright, alright. I’m exhausted, but you knew that already. I’m at La Esquina being *forced* to drink free sangria given to me for…

June 6, 2019

One year later…

Look, I can’t tell you the foolishness I got up to last night, but I’ve got a few thoughts: • A Colombian-Israeli Jazz musician…

June 4, 2019

One revolution, two revolution, three revolutions of GovBall

Two years ago today I was lamenting my trip to NYC, something that I’d parsed over a thousand times, because I really liked the…

Archives

Blog Posts By Date

June 2019
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« May   Jul »

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 171 other subscribers

Instagram

vene_la_green_eyez

1.20.2009 We bought tickets the night of the elect 1.20.2009
We bought tickets the night of the election. As soon as they called Michigan. “If Obama wins....we’re going to the inauguration.”

Even on the flight itself everyone was ecstatic. People sang hymns.

I was terrified of the cold then. It was 14 degrees out and I dressed up as the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man. We had to wake up early to take the Metro into the city. There were swarms of people. But no one pushed. We were all going to the same place at the same time. The Mall. To witness history. 

The throngs of people amassed at the checkpoints onto the Mall and it became obvious that we had to keep walking back until we could find a way on. We walked and walked until we were by the Washington Monument, way too far to see Obama with our own eyes. But they’d erected giant screens down the length of the Mall so we could all see it. And breathe, finally, after eight years of what we thought then was the worst it could possibly get. 

A short nine months later, I’d be back in D.C., this time to attend a concert at the White House. What a crazy good time that was.
I talk to this man almost every night. He has his I talk to this man almost every night. He has his own ringtone so I know when he’s calling. It’s Darth Vader’s theme because, if you couldn’t tell by the resemblance, he’s my father. Richard Aguirre. Ricardo. “Dick Uh-guire”. Gordo. 

He taught me to fish, to ride a quad, to play pool, to drive stick, and how to talk sense into a man, even when he’s your own dad. 

He’s got the charisma of ten regular men and better luck too. The guy works hard and plays harder. At close to 75, he can still kick ass and take names on the golf course.

I’ll never not be #daddyslittlegirl . He’s the only only only man I’d ever allow to call me “baby.”

#immigrantswegetthejobdone #firstgeneration
10.23.1993 Just by luck my mother, my sisters and 10.23.1993
Just by luck my mother, my sisters and I came upon a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the United States #Capitol. President Bill Clinton, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, Justice Blackmun and various dignitaries were in attendance. President Clinton gave the speech I’ve recorded in the following slides. The statue of Freedom, newly restored was placed atop the Capitol by a helicopter. Liza Minelli sang America The Beautiful. This is my America. And I take the words of our forebearers to heart. It is up to us to ensure a more perfect Union for those who follow. We owe that to the future
#oneminuterundown #gifted #firstgrade #lefties #le #oneminuterundown #gifted #firstgrade #lefties #lefthandedproblems #tomsawyer #detention I’m never gonna learn #nogalesarizona #nycstorytelling
#fbf NYE 2004. Back in #tucson, a million years an #fbf NYE 2004. Back in #tucson, a million years and several lifetimes ago. This NYE was solemn but lovely. Brooklyn cheered outside my window and fireworks crackled in the sky. My father called at midnight (my time) to sing”New York, New York” to me.
A little wisdom from a little bear A little wisdom from a little bear
Halloween 2017. A boy (he really was...a first yea Halloween 2017. A boy (he really was...a first year grad student) asked me out on a sort of date the night before at @clubcongress when I was dressed as Michelle from #romyandmichelle (which took place in a fictional school in Tucson). 

Neither of us had costumes. I asked if he had a suit. He did. He put his hair back in a ponytail and dressed as Vincent Vega. I cut bangs in my blue hair, temporarily hemmed black pants into puddle jumpers, poured fake blood on my face, and went to meet him at @sheltercocktaillounge in #Tucson.

Yes, I am the weirdo. But this is what happens to #thespians when they grow up.
Christmas time in #tucson and #nogales going backw Christmas time in #tucson and #nogales going backwards from 1994 to 1980.
#oneminuterundown #throwback to April when I was i #oneminuterundown #throwback to April when I was in Tucson and told a one minute story for @gemsstories about the time I went to @disneyland to complete a homework assignment for Jazz History class.
#nycstorytelling #brandnameketchup
#oneminuterundown #sundaynights #wishfulmakeuping #oneminuterundown #sundaynights #wishfulmakeuping #nogalesarizona #thirteen #lesmiserables #eponine #onmyown #unrequitedlove #noahwyle #keanureeves #christianbale @iammarkronson
I had the honor of getting to share a story with p I had the honor of getting to share a story with people back home as part of December’s @odysseystorytelling virtual event. I loved performing with Tucson’s best storytellers when I lived in #tucson and am so grateful to still be able to do it even though I’m far away now. The show is up on YouTube. This month’s theme: snowflake. 

Such nice things said about me. I wasn’t expecting that at all. It’s humbling to hear. 

And wouldn’t you know I’m now living in snow, far from my once desert home.
#nycstorytelling
I got the cutest sweater in the mail today. Ally S I got the cutest sweater in the mail today. Ally Sheedy in St. Elmo’s Fire meets Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club. After the day I had today, I can’t stop smiling. And if Instagram is for posterity, might as well capture the happy moments. 
#grateful #trust #alwaysfiltered
#bedstuy #sunset #timelapse #bedstuy #sunset #timelapse
@vandalsofficial #oitotheworld 12.11.2010 @clubc @vandalsofficial 
#oitotheworld 
12.11.2010
@clubcongress 
#tucsonaz
Back in the day When I was young I’m not a kid Back in the day 
When I was young
I’m not a kid anymore
But some days
I sit and wish I was a kid again
#ahmad #nogales #thespian
Great to get to talk about #autismawareness and #d Great to get to talk about #autismawareness and #diversityandinclusion with the great people at Brown Brothers Harriman on International Day of Persons with Disabilities. 

Diversity Best Practices named BBH a "Best Place to Work" on the 2020 Best Practices Inclusion Index. 

Also, I’m be really happy to not be on camera for a while making goofy faces. Zoom will be the death of this #autistic girl. #cantstopwontstop
#oneminuterundown #middleschool #choir #shakespear #oneminuterundown #middleschool #choir #shakespeare #apologyletter #nycstorytelling #nogalesarizona #wadecarpenter
@billieeilish #thereforeiam #lipsync #snapchat @billieeilish #thereforeiam #lipsync #snapchat
As per usual standards and practices, #i❤️ny As per usual standards and practices, 
#i❤️ny
(2017) I miss #diadelosmuertos in #tucson. I used (2017)
I miss #diadelosmuertos in #tucson. I used to make own headbands. It was an important part of my life in my 30’s. 

My grandmother used to clean the graves of loved ones in #nogalesarizona during this time. It wasn’t about a concocted affair. It was very authentic to who we were and who we had been going back centuries in #Mexico.

As a border kid fed on a diet of American culture, I participated in the intended erasing of who I was and aspiring to be like the American kids I saw in movies and TV. There was no one who looked or acted like us, outside of Stand and Deliver or La Bamba or Selena. And even then, they were approximations. Because border towns might as well be cultural Galapagos. Each unique ecosystems. 

But now, I get to decide what I include in my identity.  And I get to rediscover all the values, the customs and rituals, and the beliefs of the people who came before me, occultified over the centuries to escape detection. 

When I meet a stranger and tell them my name is Veneranda, they are not just meeting me, but they are hearing a name echoed through the centuries through my lineage. 

And when they see my face, it is not just me, but all the indigenous ancestors erased from our oral traditions because of the shame associated with “muddied” pasts in the Spanish caste system. 

I cannot hide who I am as long as it can be heard in my name and seen on my face. I am me because they were them. And the me I am honors my ancestors today in my own private and personal way. Hopefully they’ll help me to tell the story so I can share what it was to grow up at the confluence of so many cultures. 

A toast to them with good tequila. #salud
#writersofinstagram #nycstorytelling
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Want to read about something specific?

Recent Posts

  • Moon shots: thoughts from the salon on Marcus Garvey
  • Brooks Brothers Date Rapists: the obligatory Promising Young Woman post
  • A case of the Mondays
  • 1.20.2009: A new hope
  • Look, I told you guys a million times, I ain’t no grasshopper

Top Posts

  • Brooks Brothers Date Rapists: the obligatory Promising Young Woman post
  • Apomorphine
  • 2020: an Earth odyssey
  • I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose*
  • Moon shots: thoughts from the salon on Marcus Garvey
  • Friends in low places
  • What’s my age again? Neurodiversity, executive functioning and time management
  • A case of the Mondays
  • Nothing’s gonna stop us now
  • 1.20.2009: A new hope
venerandajade

venerandajade

View Full Profile →

Thank you

Thank you for coming to this blog and reading my posts. I hope you get something from coming here. I hope to see you again. Drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you

Copyright Veneranda Jade. All rights reserved. | Powered by Powered by WordPress.com.Writers Blogily Theme