Jessie Newburn – Page 26 – Jessie Newburn Writer

2019: A year of getting out of my comfort zone

Stories big and smallJanuary 24, 2020195Views 0Likes 0Comments

Happy (Lunar) New Year, ya rats! (Though this story is about 2019, the year of the pig.) As I look back on this year, a clear theme emerges: Getting out of my comfort zone! The TL;DR version — and this is a long post — is this: I moved three times in ten months;…

No wrong turns

SynchronicitiesDecember 31, 2019258Views 0Likes 0Comments

Yesterday, while out driving, I thought I made a wrong turn. It was an easy fix and I knew what to do, but when I made the “wrong turn” this is what I saw: A complete and full, beautiful, vibrant rainbow... One of the most vibrant rainbows I’ve seen in years. #NoWrongTurns #JustLife #AlwaysSeeTheMagic Happy new…

Flat tire

My books ... and bitsNovember 14, 2019267Views 0Likes 0Comments

One of my Uber Chronicles stories. My next ride is to ferry a woman from her home to her tutoring gig (her car has a flat tire) at a nearby learning academy. She’s thin, a mom of two, married, Black, mid-30s and delightfully smart. She’s getting her Master’s degree in education and plans…

Fire by the water

ExperiencesOctober 20, 201946Views 0Likes 0Comments

Super lovely party in Annapolis last night. Cj and I have had, from the get-go and still do today, some sort of party-throwing magic going on: he's got the fabulous home, yard and waterfront space, and he's great at getting the party space set up and rallying friends to come help. I've got the hostessing…

Early days FB strategy and policy

Other WritingSeptember 30, 2019298Views 0Likes 0Comments

For the near-ubiquity social media as a phenomenon, and most certainly a force, experiences today in 2022, it wasn't always this way. As a matter of fact, it wasn't always this way not too long ago. Like 2011, for the sake of this story. For This reason and That I found myself in the role of "social…

Got a Spare Million?

Other WritingSeptember 16, 2019392Views 0Likes 0Comments

There are Dear John, Dear Friends of XYZ Cause and even Dear Abby letters, but have you ever seen a "Dear Millionaire" letter? I wrote this direct mail piece for a small-but-mighty residential youth program looking to run a capital campaign to build a new residence for the young men in their program. Got a Spare Million?…

Rockin’

ExperiencesJune 29, 2019173Views 0Likes 0Comments

Sometimes the stars just align. And the moon, full and risen, lights the night. As Life would have it, I got to see Trevor Hall and Nahko (neither of whom I'd heard of before attending the concerts) at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Colorado. It was lovely, epic, wonderful, exquisite. I was with a group, on…

We’ve always known the foundation was rot

Things I PonderJune 2, 2019426Views 0Likes 0Comments

To all of my GenX friends here, it’s time to become — to acknowledge ourselves as — leaders. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a leader in politics on an issue of local national or international concern; if you organize your daughters’ swim team annual picnic; or if you’re on your community’s Neighborhood Watch team . What matters is that…

Manifesting toads

Little BitsApril 10, 2019184Views 0Likes 0Comments

Well this was most certainly an odd moment. I was sitting outside late one evening, talking with a woman I'd recently met. She started telling me how much she was afraid of toads and how there was a toad in her backyard that would always come out when she'd go out back for a smoke. It…

What my friends say

My books ... and bitsFebruary 9, 2019239Views 0Likes 0Comments

Doubt I'm the first, nor will I be the last, writer to turn to friends to ask for a book review. Here's what some of my friends had to say after reading one (or more) of the Uber Chronicles' books. ~ You tell great stories! Keep them coming! My sister drives Uber & finds it entertaining…

Mama somethin’

ExperiencesJanuary 15, 2019229Views 0Likes 0Comments

Back in the day, when I was trying very much not to get a playa name (a nickname used in the Burning Man community), there was a moment. In this moment, I had my back to a group of campmates, when someone shouted out, "Hey, Mama J;" and I turned because I knew they were…

Earth, wind and fire

NatureDecember 16, 2018188Views 0Likes 0Comments

We can pretend we're all modern and sh*t. We can wall up in our houses, our structures, our vehicles. We can turn the heat on when it's cold and the AC on when it's hot. We can eat exotic fruit flown in from wherever during whatever month and think nothing of it. But, dang, there are…