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insertmetaphorhere

@insertmetaphorhere

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Jasmine, in bloom
Dancer, singer, actress, princess, superstar ⭐️
Love is the only thing that matters.
🇹🇹 ❤️

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As I look back on the last 12 months I cannot say I would trade a single moment of grief for any of the wonder I have found in its wake. It taught me to see my own pain reflected in others and learn to forgive them as I’d forgiven myself. To love unconditionally. Even with the broken bits.

There are some who believe stoicism can only be achieved by moving through life unaffected by the world around them. And while it may feel righteous to think ourselves above the fragility of human emotion, the fact remains that the child within us is still there—begging to be loved. We cannot deny them.

Stoicism is not about feeling nothing. It’s about feeling everything! Acknowledging the words that bubble in the back of our throats before we shove them down like bile, out of shame and fear. But those words are crucial! Shout those words. Write those words. And when you feel ready, share those words.

I have a hungry mind and a quick tongue. I cry at the drop of a hat. My feet are calloused. My hands are gentle. I’m wild and kind and a fucking force to be reckoned with. I love to teach and be taught and I’m endlessly curious.

I’m the Sun. A butterfly. A rainbow. The willow-tree that lowers its branches to shelter you on a rainy day. I’m the best and worst parts of you just like you are the best and worst of me. I’m my mothers daughter, happily caught somewhere between the child I once was and the adult I always dreamt I’d be.

But most importantly, I’m someone new every day. My only constant, as sure as the stars above and stones below, is that no matter what I will (try) to be a better person than I was yesterday. I’m only 24, which is hardly a drop in the ocean of existence, but I just want to say that it does get better. And it is worth the wait. by @insertmetaphorhere

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16

a year ago

Summer’s end has arrived to trouble the bees and the butterflies 🌞

And as the Geese fly north I’ll squint through complicated eyes and watch the final shadows of all the love this summer has borne. It leaves me with smiles and laughs and plates of sausage and boiled eggs between dirty sheets.

I loved my wild and precious summer. On to the next 💛 by @insertmetaphorhere

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2

19 days ago

What a lucky duck am I.

The weeks leading up to my 25th birthday were challenging to say the least. Most of yall know the details and I don’t want to waste any more time harping on about the trials and tribulations leading up to it all. What I will say is that this somehow ended up being the best birthday of my life. As I stood in a room with my family and some of my closest friends from high school, college, and beyond and watched them sing songs and be merry together— I realized just how rare of a moment I was experiencing and how much I have to be grateful for.

I am grateful for all of them. For the music that makes my heart sing. For the 25 years I still got with my dear Gamps, which is more than many are lucky enough to have.

I am grateful for my best friends for always picking up the phone. For never judging me. For letting me trip and fall and make mistakes and always being there to pick up the pieces. For offering the help I’m too ashamed to ask for.

I am grateful for the support system that has surrounded me throughout these trying times, making sure I am fed and adjusted and not losing myself to sorrow.

I am grateful to be me. To be a giver. To know, by the ripe age of 25, how to be kind and considerate. To be unanchored by the burden of avoidance and cowardice. To be fearless in my pursuit of happiness, even when it means having tough conversations. To be the kind of person kids run to in a crowd when they can’t find their adult. Or the first call someone makes when they need a loving word.

I’m grateful to not be a man in my mid 30s struggling with arrested development. Spending my evenings alone in a chair, eating the same bland meal night after night hoping that the men of barstool sports might string along a sentence interesting enough to distract me from the debts of my sports betting.

I’m grateful I have a Gamps who even from the other side, sees the things my soft heart refuses to, and insists on protecting me no matter how much it may hurt.

I’m grateful I’ve never had to lose me. And that I get to be me now, and nobody else. To live my life in pursuit of love and happiness. And to be a butterfly 💛 taken in The Good Place by @insertmetaphorhere

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24

21 days ago

It’s Amy Winehouse’s birthday today and she came to me in my dream last night so of course I’ll repay her kindness by finally posting the videos from the tribute concert I did in her honor 🫶

This is Our Day Will Come from her Lioness: Hidden Treasures album 🦁💓 by @insertmetaphorhere

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0

a month ago

I really want to say something beautiful about this man and all he meant to me. I’m supposed to be a writer and all. More words are coming, I promise, because no one deserves them more than my grandfather. But every time I try to type out a goodbye I lose it again. For now I’ll tell you all that my grandfather passed away this Tuesday. As much as I never wanted this day to come, I am so so so grateful I was able to say goodbye to him and that he left this world surrounded by his family and his wonderful care team. He was such a wonderful man, and I know that’s something people say whenever anyone passes, but I cannot stress it enough when it comes to him. I will find more words soon but for now I’ll just say thank you for everything Gamps. Your Jazzy G will love you forever and ever. by @insertmetaphorhere

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39

a month ago

Doesn’t get more divine feminine than fringes and fishnets 🤘🎸❤️

@3dollarbillbk
@gpcabaret

📸: @dovitsky taken in 3 Dollar Bill by @insertmetaphorhere

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19

3 months ago

Just a quick recap of the summer so far 🫶 by @insertmetaphorhere

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26

3 months ago

Jasmine Elizabeth Belfast here going on record to begrudgingly admit that deep DEEP *deep* down… I do secretly love Long Island. And new adventures with loved ones of old definitely helped as well 🫶🇺🇸 taken in East Marion, New York by @insertmetaphorhere

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13

3 months ago

Extra extra!! 📢
We shall have a special appearance from Jasmine Belfast tonight!! Happy Pride everyone!
.
Don’t forget to join us for our Open Mic Afterparty hosted by our very own Vibes Engineer, Lauren Dortch-Crozier!!
We already know of some excellent acts coming to celebrate with us and you do not want to miss.
Tickets for show proper are $25 online and $30 cash only at the door!
We will not be back soon after this, so if you’ve been waiting to see us, now is the time💚🏳️‍🌈✨🦄
•
Join us for our special Pride Was A Riot Edition Thursday, 6/25 at 7:30pm at @pangeanyc
.
Ticket link in bio!!!
🎵🎵🎵
#familyliquiddinner #cabaret #thedindingirls #livemusicnyc #pridenyc @kileyetling @jessiebangarang @ladocro @jelleyphish @nick.cocks taken in Pangea by @insertmetaphorhere

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4 months ago

We “clopened” A Siren’s Prayer on Wednesday and my heart could not be more full. I am so endlessly proud to have been a part of this project that my dear friend and sister @galactic_kim has poured her heart and soul into for the last few years. When we first did this show last June I told Kim that this story was life changing in all the best ways. This story serves as a reminder to all black and brown people, and especially to our women, to never underestimate the power and magic that lies within our core. It also found me at a time that I needed to remember that the love between sisters, friends, family, and community is worth more than any of the romantic love we lose ourselves chasing after.

This cast was absolutely stacked and I am so grateful to have been able to spend the last month creating with friends of old and new. I love you all dearly!

Extra special thank you to @judsonchurchnyc for housing us and for all of your help putting it together, to our director @lamontwalkerii for never giving up on us and for pushing us to challenge our own mental limits, our stage manager @lily_vanner for always having everything anyone ever needed ever, and our music director @foxindigomusic for all the endless plunk tracks I requested and for helping my siren find her voice. And of course, to Kim, created this whole thing in the first place. Your talent is out of this world, but you shine in my eyes even more offstage being a driving force when it comes to uniting communities and strengthening our bonds. You have healed more people than you know. I am so grateful and honored to call you a friend and a sister.

Stick around and stay tuned, this show is going to change the world. taken in The Gym at Judson by @insertmetaphorhere

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7

5 months ago

My friends and I joined Ricky’s family and loved ones in Laredo this Tuesday and laid him to rest. The journey there and back was quite emotional for a number of reasons, as I’m sure you can imagine. No one ever imagines they’ll have to say goodbye to a friend so young and so precious. Ricky was tenacious and bold and so incredibly fearless. I was in awe of him from the moment we became friends. I had no idea someone could be so sure of themselves. He was never afraid to speak his mind. Place a boundary. He made his feelings known and demanded respect in every form. He knew exactly what rooms he belonged in and was never afraid to walk out of the ones he didn’t and start fresh. That was the biggest lesson he ever taught me.

Austin, Texas was my home for such a short amount of time but as I drove through the streets that have lined my memory for years now I realize it really has always been my home, because home is where the heart is. These people and I have known so many different versions of each other and yet the love still remains. And in Ricky’s absence we’ve learned to hold each other a bit closer. Ricky ended every phone call by telling me to “be safe”. If I had a dollar for every time I echoed his words to these people in the last week I’d have been able to buy another ticket back by now.

Life is short. And it is unpredictable and it is fragile and we all know this, but it is another thing entirely to really truly have to feel the consequences of that brevity. The scary truth is that none of us know whether we have tomorrow to do that thing. So call your mom. Send that risky text. Double email that job. Say yes to those after work drinks even though you’re exhausted. Take that class. Live a little more for your loved ones who no longer have the chance.

In honor of Ricky I will be tenacious and brave and true to myself. I will be relentless in my pursuit of happiness. I will dance and laugh and love openly. I will reach out often, and tell you when I am thinking of you, and say I love you just because I can. And that way, a little piece of my best friend’s immortality can live on through us all. You will never be forgotten. Te amo, my love. taken in Austin, Texas by @insertmetaphorhere

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6 months ago

I don’t want to write this post. I don’t want to accept that an any of this is real. I haven’t known a life without you since I was 17 years old. You messaged me on Snapchat a few days after our ensemble group chat was created and told me I felt like a real ass b* tch and that we should be friends. And we were inseparable ever since.

None of this feels real and nothing I say feels like it can do you justice. You were a force of nature. You were so generous and so loving and so bold and so fierce and so funny. I will miss our sleepovers. Splitting a bottle of sutter home white zinfandel and sh*t talking all night. I’ll miss our late night trips to Walmart. Dancing by your side. Hearing you sing. Our 3 hour FaceTime calls. Hearing you ask “b*tch is that my hoodie/shirt/onehitter/lighter/waterbottle/etc.” cause yes it is and of course it was.

So much of me is made of you. Your recipes are in my kitchen. Your clothes are on my back. Your jokes are in my heart. Every song you ever put me onto. Every potential duet and monologue and scene. Every celebrity crush. Every silly innuendo. Every insane story.

We should have had more dances. We should have had more duets. You were supposed to meet my kids and be in my wedding. You were supposed to be staying with me in a few weeks.

You made me better. You pushed me to demand more for myself. To see my talent and to never settle for anything less than what I deserve. You were my loudest cheerleader. Yours is the first voice I hear before I do something I’m scared to do.

I don’t know how to be me without you and I don’t want to be. I keep wanting to call you to process this together. To update you on all the people you’ve brought together in your absence. To tell you about the impact you made on so many people. I never once thought I’d have to do any of this without you with me. We spoke every day but I should have called more. I should have replied faster. I should have hugged you harder. I wish I loved you harder. I should have told you more. You were my constant. My sweet prince. The rat king. My best friend. I love you so much. I don’t know what else to say. I don’t ever want to say goodbye. But rest easy my love. by @insertmetaphorhere

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25

6 months ago