Jessica Brown

My first alarm goes off at 8:00. 

I hit snooze. 

I am up and getting dressed by 8:30. My husband, Aaron, throws on some pants and goes downstairs to make my daily, giant cup of iced pour-over coffee. I put my hair into two french braids and head downstairs to get a kiss and sip my coffee (today we are having Rival Brothers beans from Costa Rica). 

8:40(ish) I head off to work (the library), stash my purse in my locker, and grab my work laptop so I can be ready for our cluster meeting (all of the libraries in the south meet on zoom for updates and staff development). 

9:15 cluster meeting. We discuss things. 

I work on schoolwork for a while. The library is finally fully staffed with librarians so when everyone is here and on the floor, I’m floating. 

11:45 I go to lunch- early, but I didn’t eat breakfast so I’m hungry. Aaron meets me outside the library. We go to Artisan Boulanger for delicious pastries and banh mi. 

[eat, sit outside, chat with Aaron]

1:00 I meet with my psychiatrist to quickly chat about my meds and goals. 

I finish an essay on YA classics (I write it on the Outsiders, Out of the Silent Planet, and Forever…, and the trends they represent in young adult lit history). 

2:30 I get our cart ready for birding in the park, a program I helped start at the library to promote our birding backpacks! 

3:00 we are set up in the park for birding 

4:15 we leave 

Back by 4:30 (we got distracted by blimps and weird sidewalk concrete graffiti).

5:00 library closes and I head home. 

I get ready for the show, we want to be at the venue by 6. The organization I help run, People’s music supply, is throwing a show featuring wonderful musicians William Parker, Tracy Lisk, and Gary Hassay at the Black Squirrel Club. 

We take an uber, which ends up taking longer than the subway would have because our driver was slow and had a GPS malfunction. 

6:30-7:45 I ‘m hanging out before the show, getting ready to take photographs. I do photography for most of our peoples music supply shows. I chat with William Parker. I chat with friends as they arrive for the show. 

Show starts around 7:45.

Music is beautiful! Matt Lavelle opens, and then the trio takes the stage. After this all four musicians play in a quartet for two short sets. My heart feels warm. 

Show is over at 9. We hang out and chat with friends. 

We are home around 10:15 and realize we are starving. We order a pizza from Rosario’s, an amazing Mexican pizzeria in south philly. 

I spend some time after eating packing for a trip to Boston. I brush my teeth, take my meds, and have a hot shower before absolutely plopping into slumber. 

Jessica Brown is an artist, philosopher, and friend. You can find her at @phenomecology and @borbsband.