My Search for a Purpose

Happy New Year & Happy Last Post of 2020.  December I was not excited to turn 23 on the 2nd, as I described in my last blog post . But I'm thankful for Cherice for being on the phone with me at 2:14am as I turned exactly 23 and the time I spent with Tone and Kema just chatting and chilling! On the 2nd, there was also a wonderful advent service through Yale. Apparently this celebration is the littest in person, but I'm thankful for the company I had while watching it on YouTube live with Tone. :) On the 4th, Clique surprised me with a nice Birthday Zoom! It was so good to catch up and play Among Us.  Throughout the week of the 6th, the only people I saw were delivery drivers because I ordered takeout too frequently... the isolation was NOT great for my mental health, but it was good for the progress I made in my finals! I studied well for History of Early Christianity, got my Exegesis done for Old Testament Interpretation, and wrote a Funeral Sermon for Pastoral Perspectives

Dang Jamal! Back at it again with another late blog post. 😬😬 ~Aaaaaanyway~ November The month started off with a very small, but nice Virtual Emmaus Reunion. It was a nice time spent just chatting with the Greens and Rachel about life and the future of Emmaus and all that.  On the 2nd, I had a meeting with the Associate Dean of Student Affairs here at Yale to offer some programming for students over our ~extremely long~ winter break. It was a nice conversation where we talked about the future of YDS events and what could be in store for the Spring Semester.  On the 4th and 6th, the other YDSG 1st Year MDiv Rep, Crichelle, and I held office hours to talk to some of the people who are part of our cohort. It was a nice time to get to know some of the people we're going to school with! I'm hopeful we can continue to offer times like these in order to get to know our class a little bit better and to build community.  Throughout the month I had conversations with multiple people ab

Hello and Happy Late Blog Day! Y'all already know that life is a LOT lately so I am not pressed about this post being late! Also! Happy 5th Anniversary of My Search for a Purpose. Thank you to those of you who have followed my journey since my first post on October 24th, 2015.  Here's an overview of the past month:  October: Wowie wow! October started off much better than September ended. I'm thankful for the closer connections that I've made with the people in my life and for the few times I allow myself to take a break from homework in order to catch up with friends from afar.  I'm thankful for the friends who understand the stage in my life that I'm in; who get it when the phone calls become a little bit more spaced out as I get a little bit more stressed out The month started off with me really kicking off my job with Tsai CITY as an Events Specialist. My supervisor, Abby, and I get along really well and our conversations are always refreshing. My tasks are

Hello and Welcome to a New (two week late) Blog Post! This post was originally meant for the end of September 🙃 so here's an update for that month:  September: The month started off with the beginning of classes! Which is going to be the majority of this post, soooo details to come! I got to know some community members through some cool resources that YDS has to offer like DivOut, the Marquand Gospel and Inspirational Choir (MaGIC), and Yale Black Seminarians.  I joined a prayer-and-just-generally-forming-community-group within the smaller, congregationalist institution within YDS, Andover Newton. This group has been such a joy to attend on Mondays! You know I'm still having my therapy sessions to keep me relatively sane :) I had an ordination conversation with my pastor, Lonnie. It feels really great to be supported by my church family in this journey that I have embarked on.  Jane finally came back to Connecticut and we got to spend some much needed time together. I always f

Hello and Welcome to the actual last post of my PRIDE! Blog series. Light Blue , Pink , & White: An Exploration of Gender Identity This post is going to be relatively short when compared to the rest of the series because the concept of gender exploration is still super new to me and I'm not the most comfortable being a resource for others in, what feels like, my limited view and experience.  This post is meant to act as a marker of significant times in which I became aware of people's ability to define themselves outside of the gender binary and how I've come to experience this identity. The stories that I will share have much more detail than I'm going to explore in this post, but I want to respect people's privacy and well-being; the stories will be brief.  My first encounter with someone who identified outside the gender binary was in my freshman year of undergrad. This person became a really good friend and was gentle in their corrections of pronoun usage.

Hello and Welcome to the last blogpost in my PRIDE! Series! August At the end of July, Beyoncé released the film companion to her love letter to Africa- The Lion King: The Gift - "Black is King" on Disney+. While I remain challenged and continuously grapple with this presentation of the music, her status as both Black Woman and capitalist, and her vision of Africa, I cannot underestimate its beauty, captivation, and the wonderful story within and surrounding the music of the album. I appreciate "Black is King" for what it is and will always attempt to understand its- and her- limitations as part of that appreciation. On August 1st I moved into my first-year apartment for grad school and on the 2nd I officially met Will in person! I am continuously blessed by his presence, how much he challenges me, and the strong friendship we seem to be building. I'm grateful to have him become more and more of what I define as home and family and I'm excited to have him as