My name is Sarah Kelley Felicia Jackson. Felicia is my 8th grade confirmation name. Yes, there really is a Saint Felicia, but please don’t ask me what she did. All I know is that s–t was dramatic, sexy and awesome.
I live in Queens, NY with my hair. My hair has taken on its own life and personality due to my unhealthy daily obsession over whether or not I should leave it curly or blow it out straight. This battle for my hair’s mortal soul comes from my bi-racial background. Having an African-American father and white mother is excellent. But a hairstyle that is so dependent on the amount of moisture in the air was a big part of my childhood identity crisis. (For the record, my mother is Irish but you rarely hear “Irish-American”. I don’t want you to think she fled to America during Ireland’s potato famine. She’s from Upstate NY.)
Fortunately, I had plenty of brothers and sisters to commiserate with, and eventually celebrate the phenomenon that is bi-racial hair. (That’s me, in the biggest yellow coat ever made.) We are each other’s best friends and worst enemies. There is no one on the earth who can make a Jackson laugh harder than another Jackson. But you are expected to BRING IT every time. In fact, my sisters recently expressed their concern that I was 17% less funny due to my recent switch to vegetarianism. The Jackson family is a tough crowd. Tough, but fair. I’m updating my act to include my new love affair with alternative sources of protein.
Speaking of food, I totally love it. In fact, I loved it a little TOO much back in the day…about 60 lbs too much. Being close to 200lbs in high school is not as much fun as you might think. After college I quit smoking and started running my face off. To date, I’ve run 5 half-marathons and one, ONE New York City marathon. WARNING: Marathons are 26.2 miles, for real. Also, your hair looks terrible at the end.
Mo through Fo, I write and produce promos for Comedy Central, and I hump it. Yes, my co-workers are hilarious. No, I have not met Jon Stewart. Yes, I get to wear jeans at work. No, it’s NOT a great idea to blow your hair out straight when directing a shoot in the woods. (The smell of the products required to make the magic happen is a magnet for gnats, mosquitoes and every other microscopic winged creature in all of Christendom.)
I have a regular Buddhist meditation practice going. I don’t subscribe to any one tradition really, but I do love me some Vipassana meditation. Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield are brilliant and need to adopt me as their spiritual daughter. But I also think Susan Piver, a Shambhala meditation teacher, is lovely and amazing. Norman Fischer, an American zen monk, is beyond cool. In fact, my first meditation retreat was at a Zen monastery. It was very rewarding and crazy hard. Difficult to sum up here, but I definitely had a teary breakdown on the second day, “Doesn’t anyone else just want to get out of here and watch “Project Runway?!”
Buddhist teachers say that every moment of your life is an opportunity for awakening. You shouldn’t push away or attach yourself to any one awesome, annoying, or boring life event. Just relate to it wisely, mindfully and compassionately. “It’s all workable.”
So this blog is just another part of my practice, I guess. If all of it really is workable, that means my family, my job, evil mosquitoes at shoots, marathons, my ethnicity and Project Runway are all steps on the path to enlightenment. Right? Yes. No. I mean, maybe? Well, we’ll see.
In the interest of balance, let’s close this entry with a picture of my hair blown-out. Remember, it’s all workable. Even the freaking hair.
Subscribe to sarahcentric by Email
Twitter
Facebook
25 Comments
Well my dear daughter, you have done a nice job with your blog. I hope you are able to keep it up to date because that is very important. What an amazing world we live in. The Internet has really leveled the playing field for all of us. I need to get more serious about making use of my many talents for fun and profit. I hope I have not waited too long. Your example is a big help to me.
THE DADSTER
Wow! Sarah… Way to go !! I love your blogs, I wish I could write like that. Your mind must be on overload, no wonder Zen is needed to bring you back to ‘reality’. Where do you get all these whacky ideas from? I love the way the layout looks, too. Terrific job in creating a webpage. Keep it up, Dadster is right, keep it up. Most of all stay healthy, all those cookies might ruin your smile, so don’t forget to brush each night, no matter the hour. All the best from the Cape.
Hans
Sarah,
I can’t believe how much you have done since our first LWL get together- you are both inspiring and funny. I can’t wait to make your brownies and cookies. I wish you the best of luck and millions of hits.
Very impressive my dear sister. I love you and i shall return.
Just wanted to let you know that my internet travels brought me to your site this AM and put a smile on this strangers face.
We actually have quite a bit in common- I once had to speak in Spanish in front of an entire packed church for a special event - I’m Puerto Rican (but I don’t speak spanish….shhhhh…don’t tell anybody) 20+ years later I’m still referred to as the little girl who threw up on the Bishop….
Maybe someday we can have cyber-cocktails (an extra cold extra dirrrrty gin martini for me!!) and work out a manifesto for Maximum Comfort.
-Mari
currently in a ratty NYU Alum sweatshirt and red fuzzy socks….
Mari,
1) I am so jealous of your outfit right now, I can’t stand it.
2) Did anyone think that perhaps we were secretly savant-like geniuses with our second language abilities…or rather, the ability to make a language UP?
3) thank you thank you THANK YOU for reading!
-Sarah
Hey, I just Stumbled Upon your blog (if you don’t know Stumble, find it!!! I’d say it qualifies as a Maximum Comfort item, if you’re into lazily meandering around the ‘net in bed with a laptop for hours on end, looking for nothing but random entertainment) and I think you’re a kindred soul. In fact, I’m bookmarking your blog — it’s like therapy to me, someone similar (but not too — I cannot deal with running, for example) going through a lot of things I am and giving advice cleverly disguised as personal experience.
Love from Minneapolis,
Kristina
Yep, so you do need to do The Opposite and let some woman in India you’ve never met paint your portrait while you spill your dreams in New York!
(Did I mention I also trained for the Marathon? And I dream about running?)
Cheers!
Kim
Kristina,
Thanks to you, I am now busily trying to unlock the mystery that is StumbleUpon. It’s a little complicated, but I am certain that if can provide me with another outlet to exercise Maximum Comfort, it is well worth it!
Thank you so much for reading!
Sarah
Sarah…you are the funniest person I know…seriously…this blog is hilarious…
Thought I’d pop in over here - reading you on Savor made me hungry for more!
As a fellow 1/2 black and 1/2 white Irish girl - I too must say that at almost 30, I’m still struggling with what to do with my hair too! Let me know if you ever figure it out!!!
Love the blog - keep it coming!
Hey Andrea…
Thanks so much for stopping by, totally appreciate it.
Perhaps there needs to be a whole line of hair products for the bi-racial woman?! Ahhh, I can dream right?
-Sarah
Haha, but Buddha had a tree to lean against, didn’t he? Where is the tree for the new meditators? At the most they give you a cushion. I was doing zen meditation for awhile (at a “zen center”) but eventually gave up on it when I was stressing myself out trying to be present in the present, haha. Now I do yoga and pretend that it is pefectly normal to lie with my neck on the ground while holding my ass in the air. How is the meditation working out for you?
Excellent blog, Sarah! Very entertaining and extremely well written. Keep writing - I’ll come by again soon to see your latest posts.
Chad,
Meditation…umm, it’s goin!
It’s so strange. Somedays I feel like some Buddhist rockstar, but most days I just feel like a really quiet nerd in the city. But that’s the point I think…proving to yourself daily that everything changes, but you can sit in the middle of it all.
Yeah, Zen is no joke. If you’re interested in some good Mediation 101, definitely check out any of the writers I reference in my blogs under the Buddhism category. I highly recommend Susan Piver. Very cool, thoughtful, funny meditation instructor in the Shambhala Tibetan tradition. You can find her link on my blogroll.
Best,
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I actually found your site through the Ladies Who Lauch email blast you sent out. I have been looking for a new blog design, so when I saw your email I thought I’d link on over and check out someone else’s blog - it’s awesome. And you are hilarious. You have made me laugh over and over on your site. I was in NYC back in October for a Budhist Meditation Weekend with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach - so reading about being thier love child cracked me up. Lovely (but unfortunately not in a British accent).
Anyway - just stopped by to say I love your site, content and look, I cryed laughing at the scene of you paying with a chocolate bar, and I hope all is well. (also just a disclaimer that there is no spell check on this little comment thing - and I need me some spell check to apear semi-literate. So my apologies)
Jill
http://theduchessguide.com
http://duchessinc.wordpress.com
Hey Jill,
Thanks so much for taking the time to check my blog out! I am soooo jealous that about your retreat with my Mom and Dad, Jack & Tara!
They are both so excellent I can’t stand it.
Happy Holidays!
Sarah
Hey Sarah,
I also heard about your blog though LWL… I’m really liking the design… Especially the blue background pattern. Very cool look.
And by the way… You’re hilarious! Keep up all the entertaining posts… Good stuff like this makes the Internet a happier place.
Sarah,
So have you ever googled your name just to see what comes up?
Well I had nothing better to do at 1:33 in the morning (yes I know I should have been sleeping). So I googled my name and your site came up because we have the same name. Now I would say that is pretty weird but at the same time I know way too many other Sarah’s to really think much of it.
I just wanted to let you know that I thought you were really funny and I like the site (although sleep deperation might be starting to affect my thinking).
So good night,
from the other Sarah Jackson
Oh so I completely for got to mention (defenatly need to sleep) that I also run. And eventhough I’m not yet 18 (few more months to go
) I have already run 4 1/2 marathons and hope to one day run a full marathon. So now you know another Sarah Jackson who also runs and I should add that my mom is irish and I too have way out of control hair so maybe we should just blame the irish 
I found your site through Joy the Baker and love it. I consistenly fall on the floor laughing every time I read one of your posts! And I love the look!
i love learning all these wonderful things about you and seeing where your creative mind will take you (and us!) and I think your hair looks fabulous any way you do it….and I think you look absolutely stunning in the last pic and absolutely adorable in that pic of you as a little girl.
I can’t really explain how I landed on your blog but, i really enjoy reading such a unique and diverse way of life you lead. I find it to be very admirable and inspirational. I will continue to visit check for updates. Hope all is well. Love the hair. Kind of Leona Lewis thing you got going on.
I just recently found your blog and it is super fun. I think we are on the same wavelength in some areas, I watch too much of CC, I <3 <3 Persepolis, me and food are in a life-long affair, and I am an aspiring NYer. I can’t connect about the hair tho. I’m bi-European;half-Irish and half-Italian (a common mix in the NE but I’m sure you are aware of that), and my hurr (as we say down in the south) is straight, straight, straight. Getting it to keep curl could be a full-time job. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you
Hiya Sarah,
Was Googling et cetera and up your blog came. Must have been fate…fantastic!Am at work and have spent the last half hour reading your blog. Must get some work done. Can you tell me who won the whole Tim Tam coffee prize though? Your blog has now been saved as a favourite, so keep it up woman! Take care