Movement of Jah People

I’m not a huge fan of the Grateful Dead, but must admit it’s been a long, strange trip since our previous post. In the past year I’ve been kicked out of a halfway house because of no income, slept in a drug dealer’s car for a month, figured out how to live in a 5′ x 5′ storage unit without being discovered, then saved by a person who unexpectedly became a lifelong friend. This tale is more about survival than hardship, as only once did I feel really, truly lost in the sauce. But let’s move on with lessons learned.

One thing that held me together this whole time was my faith in God. Having learned how to turn prayer into a dialogue with the Lord, I remained committed to attending Church every Sunday, “come hell or high water” (as Hurricane Erin currently bears down on the Carolina coastline.) Whilst living in New Haven I “Church-hopped” from Spanish pentecostal to Caribbean soulful to traditional Episcopalian accented with a jazz twist. I like to say that with any Church I attend, I go for the faith and stay for the music, and this remained true in all the above cases.

When I was rescued from sleeping on a yoga mat in the House of U-Haul , it entailed a scaled-down move to Hartford and more Churches. For those who don’t habitually travel by bus, Sunday mass transit sucks, with routes diminished to one trip about every 90 minutes, thus the closest sanctuary within walking distance generally ruled my day. Providence landed me veryclose to some righteous congregations, including the Asylum Hill Congregational Church (neighborhood locals Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher-Stowe both worshiped here and are memorialized with plaques in their respective pews) and Immanuel Congregational (ICC), with an amazing choir and massive pipe organ on which I was actually blessed to play a few notes. (Shout out to Pastor Dr. Jay Terbush from ICC who still keeps in touch.)

Once settled in Hartford, I scored a very pleasant part-time job working in a teaching kitchen connected to a high-end culinary retailer, offering gourmet adult cooking classes twice a week. The good news is that the Chef, a CIA alum (Culinary Institute of America, not the other one) expertly shared his 25 years of experience, and I learned a ton. The bad news is that students were encouraged to BYOB and imbibe during class – a bad combo for this head bottle washer, for when it was clean-up time I took full advantage of any liquid leftovers.

That said, one blessing from this gig allowed me to assist the ICC folks each week during the winter when they cooked in their Church’s ample kitchen for the City’s warming center, feeding the homeless and disenfranchised. Using resources from my job, plus experience from having previously run the Caring Hands Soup Kitchen in Kingston NY, volunteers from the Church and I in February and March prepared some amazing home-style hot dinners for 50+ people each week. Here’s a fave, mac & cheese with hot dogs (if you don’t believe it’s delicious, please try it sometime):

Alas, all good things come to an end, as spring arrived and it was time to move on to, let’s say, more tropical endeavors. In May I was blessed to stay in a very hip room with kitchen privileges at Namaya House BnB in Hartford’s Blue Hills section (big up Kemali!) until providence again lent a hand as I qualified for Social Security benefits and found my own clean and renovated affordable living space, not far away in the North End, a primarily Jamaican-Spanish neighborhood.

The litmus test for any ‘Yard’ (as Jamaicans call their home island) restaurant is their version of jerk chicken, and believe me I’m still testing the dozen-or-so “shacks” within blocks of my new apartment. To be fair, let’s just say they’re all delicious yet I still have two or ‘tree to go (so far the stand-outs are; West Indian Jerk Center on Albany Avenue and Jamaican Jerk Shack at the wondrous food court in Parkville Market, with mad respect to the fresh veggie patties at Scott’s Bakery located around the Capital city.)

Jah continued the blessings when I found a new Church just one block away, Walk in the Light Deliverance Ministry (https://www.witlchurch.com/); a small congregation with MASSIVE righteousness. After two months of attendance, I finally found the nerve to ask and play with the band on their very cool (and dormant) vintage Hammond digital organ, and it has turned out beyond gratifying. Now there I sit every Sunday, trying to keep up with the seasoned veterans and praying my fingers find the right notes. A challenge worth rising to!

Again, we gwan wit’ de faith but stay fi di music, as Jah provide di next chapta, where praise and hymns grant full circle blessings. Watch ‘dis space for next post drop, Ya seen?? God is Love. Selassie I.

###