Introducing – Jaycee

“Welcome to Audible Edibles, you melomaniacs! You just bought a ticket for the Magic Carpet Ride of my life. Join me as we “break on through to the other side” and I spin some self-deprecating, deeply personal, and wit-filled stories on the metaphorical turntable that expose my soul and are laced with that powerful drug we all know so well – MUSIC.”

JC: Where I come from? “Let me tell ya ’bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees, and the moon up above, and a thing called “Love”. After that and a trip down the birth canal (my mom is a Saint!), I was born into a blue collar family across from a steel plant in Lackawanna, NY. My parents split when I was three and although my dad was born in the same house in which he took his last breath, I have moved my belongings in and out of about 26 “homes” over the course of my 44 years here on this spinning globe. I have worked and lived in several major cities, including Chicago, DC, Miami, and NYC; traveled to numerous states; and visited many countries. Meeting new people, seeing how they live, and immersing myself in their beautiful cultures have all helped to shape me to be a resident of the world. So where am I from? In this lifetime, I like to think that I am from Everywhere.

JC: I have always been drawn to the fullness of life and the ability to suck the nectar from it, and I feel like the 50s pin-up girl is the embodiment of that. She was a business woman who knew the power of being coy, flirtatious, and curvaceous, and she knew how to work that, which is sexy and strong in my eyes. I am not tiny and I have been likened to a Callipygian Venus myself, so for me the hips, breasts, and luscious behinds we women possess all reflect an ample ability to survive and thrive in life. Women whose bodies are strong and not frail are truly a wonder to me. I honor that. They can carry the weight of the world and, yet, can flick it off with one switch of the hip. Kinda like me…

JC: Wanderlust! I’m definitely afflicted by it…and conflicted by how to answer this because I have a million and one favorites! I have trekked mountains and sailed rivers to reach indigenous Colombian communities. I’ve trudged through sludge in Haiti to harvest moringa with locals. And, I have sipped the finest wine made from grapes harvested from the vineyard of one of the world’s oldest religious lay Orders, in a castle perched atop Roman ruins, but the trip that I hold most dear to my Self is the journey of my heart. Though costly at times, the beauty has always outshone the beast, and the memories are indisputably the best of my life. Allowing myself to be open, feel love, and fuck fear led me on a journey to my partner who will be known henceforth as “M”. Thank God he and I have such tremendous imaginations because for the first year and a half that we knew each other, through our journey of our hearts, he and I only spoke through letters. In those expressions we would take each other on trips with our words, with each word painstakingly chosen to express a specific thought and to elicit an exact emotion in the other. To feel your Self break open and grow and see another do the same is an incredibly life-changing journey. Certainly better than any plane ride to a far off destination I could ever conjure up.

JC: My dad used to lightheartedly joke that I was conceived on marijuana and pizza, both of which were definitely had while listening to some damn good music. I mean, anybody who has ever smoked weed knows that pizza, weed, and music is the most delicious metaphorical ménage à trois. When I think about it more, it wasn’t a moment that sparked my love affair, rather a person. His name was Guy or Waddy or Don, depending on whom you spoke to at a particular chapter of his life. But, to me, he was… Dad. Of course, my dad couldn’t sing a lick and I don’t think I ever heard him sing. It is my mother who has a beautiful voice and loves to sing in the car, and whose claim to fame is teaching her two children and her grandchildren how to shake and shimmy our hips like dance hall Sex Pistols. She has the talent. She was a flutist. She isn’t tone-deaf like me. I learned the technicalities of it all –how to sensually gyrate my hips– from her. Holla! As for my love of records, it was my dad who brought out his collection and splayed them on the rug with me. I would tell him what I liked about a particular record, and he would share a story with me about his life and how the songs on the album played a role. Most of them entailed illicit drugs and hedonism (Note to Self: Share with the RA family in a future post my father’s story about taking a sheet of acid and Quaaludes while listening to The Velvet Underground’s “The Gift”), but it was the 60s and early 70s, and that is besides the point. Looking back, telling my dad that I really dug the Stones’ “Some Girls” album because the faces and the hairstyles were exotic different to me was the catalyst for conversations with my dad. And those conversations helped me to see my dad as a human. No matter how unorthodox our relationship was, those stories he shared caused me to think more and to fear life less, and they certainly helped shape me into the person I am today.

JC: I am really stoked to open this Pandora’s Box that is Audible Edibles with the RA audience. This is just as much an experience to me as it is for each person reading this, and I am excited for the catharsis that they will be on the receiving end of. I ask that if something I write resonates with you, makes you pause and causes you to dive deep, or makes you smile and helps you to understand yourself and the world around you better, please email me with the link in my bio (below) & also share it with the people you love and with those you think would appreciate it. Oh, and in the spirit of full disclosure, my given name is Jill, but I love my special nickname “JayCee” so much that it is one of the seven tattoos I have permanently inked on my body. 😉