Monthly Archives: May 2007

Postcard from the Slope

COMMUNITY BOARD 6 APPROVES 9TH STREET PLAN

Streetsblog and Gowanus Lounge report that the transportation committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6 voted unanimously last night to approve DOT’s traffic calming and bike lane plan for Park Slope’s 9th Street.

It was also requested that the DOT build a bike lane along Prospect Park West, undertake a curbside management study and that the agency monitor the effects of the new street design.

Seeing Green had this to say about the meeting.

What was missing from it all was a feeling that maybe, just maybe, the roads could be for us all… bikes, cars, trucks, buses and walkers. Being a strong proponent of shared streets, it was sad for me to see so many staking out their personal positions without regard to the larger picture.

Civics and Urban Life

A WOMB WITH A VIEW: MUSICAL ABOUT ALTERNATIVE INSEMINATION

A WOMB WITH A VIEW (May 22 – June 3), by Debra Barsha, a Park Slope composer and music teacher who was included on the Park Slope 100, explores a year in the life of a lesbian’s journey through the process of alternative insemination.

From collecting donor samples in her living room, to having her partner (a NYC police officer) inject her with fertility drugs, to her day-to-day job as a 4th grade theatre teacher in a Brooklyn private school, this primal rush to beat the biological clock is not your ordinary view of conception. As one fashion conscious 5-year-old put it, “all you need to have a baby is an egg and a perm.” Debra Barsha writes and stars in this inventive, uproarious piece filled with storytelling and song. CAP21’s Executive Artistic Director Frank Ventura directs.

COLLABORATIVE ARTS PROJECT
18 WEST 18th STREET
FOR TICKETS: 212-352-3101

Civics and Urban Life

EDGY MOTHER’S DAY EVENT NEEDS BARTENDER

Anyone want to bartend at the Edgy Mother’s Day Event? Email: louise_crawford@yahoo.com

Brooklyn Reading Works Presents:
THE EDGY MOTHER’S DAY EVENT
ON MAY 24, 2007 at 8 p.m.

THE OLD STONE HOUSE IN PARK SLOPE
Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
Contact: Louise Crawford: 718-288-4290
www.brooklynreadingworks.com

So what’s an edgy mom? Moms (and one dad) who write fiction and non-fiction about motherhood with smarts, humor, creativity, and a healthy degree of love, awe, skepticism., sarcasm,, irony, and grumpiness.

Don’t miss this stellar group of fiction writers, journalists, poets, and bloggers:

Susan Gregory Thomas (author of “Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Mothers and Harms Children”), Amy Sohn (“My Old Man” and NY Magazine columnist), Louise Crawford (AKA Smartmom), Sophia Romero (“Always Hiding” and Mom After-Hours Blog), Tom Rayfiel (“Parallel Play”), Mary Warren (AKA Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary Blog) Jennifer Block (“Pushed”), Judy Lichtblau, Alison Lowenstein (“City Baby Brooklyn” and “Mommy Group”), Michele Somerville Madigan (Wisegal).

Five bucks gets you in. Free cocktails. Great fun.

Smartmom

TOO MUCH ON SMARTMOM’S PLATE

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Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper

Smartmom feels like her life is spinning out of control. She’s
vastly over-committed and finds that she has less and less time to do
the things she really wants to do.

Many of her friends feel exactly the same way.

Mrs.
Kravitz juggles a busy job as parent coordinator at a local elementary
school with her involvement at Old First Reformed Church. On top of
that, there’s her children’s complicated after-school schedule of piano
lessons, tutoring, Brownie meetings, Irish step dancing classes, and
play dates.

Add to that getting dinner on the table, cleaning the
house, dealing with her son’s severe allergies and being a great friend
to many people — her life is like a speeded up ride on the Cyclone.

Divorce
Diva is breathless with all that she’s got going on. In addition to her
daughter’s busy school and after-school schedule, Divorce Diva is a
freelance magazine writer with a business to run, who is also in
training to become a personal coach.

And if that wasn’t enough,
she bought a toy poodle last week on a whim while shopping for a
cockatiel to replace her dearly departed one. Birds are fairly easy,
but this toy poodle is a handful, even though she only weighs a single
pound.

The little poodle had a seizure last week, and Divorce Diva had to race to Animal Kind on Seventh Avenue.

The
poodle recovered after spending the night hooked up to an IV, which was
a good thing because it gave DD a chance to take a breath.

Then
there’s Mrs. Cleavage, who’s a regular perpetual-motion machine. She’s
single, unemployed, and can no longer afford to live in Park Slope, so
she lives in East New York and subways with her son to PS 321 every
morning. Then it’s off to the big city for a temp job and back again to
the Slope to pick up her son after school.

In her copious amounts
of free time, she sends out cover letters and resumes, looks for a new
apartment, writes her blog, Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary, and attends to her
own personal writing, for which she has won numerous awards.

It’s enough to make anyone want to take a nap.

So
you see, Smartmom is in good company when she says that her life is out
of control. Last week, over momtinis at Black Pearl, another busy
friend suggested that Smartmom make a list of everything she’s doing.

It
was an interesting exercise. After compiling the entire list, Smartmom
understood why she feels like Sybil (it’s not the multiple personality
disorder, but simply that she’s trying fit a whole lot of life into
that small, overweight body of hers).

So what could be eliminated from the list? Not much it turns out:

• She must remain a good mother to Teen Spirit and the Oh So Feisty One and be there for them when they need her.

• She must remain a good wife and friend to Hepcat and give him the love and support he needs.

• She has to work to pay the bills, oversee the family’s finances, and take care of her home (at least, nominally).

• She has to be a good daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and member of her extended family.

•
She has to honor her creative side and work on her novel, her column,
her blog, which are all parts of her life that give her great
satisfaction.

There are plenty of things that sound expendable, but on further review, aren’t:

• She wants to keep organizing Brooklyn Reading Works, a monthly reading series at the Old Stone House.

• She wants to stay involved with Blogfest, an annual gathering of bloggers.

• She really should keep participating in her weekly writer’s group.

•
She really should keep co-editing Pandamonium, PS 321’s poetry magazine
but she’s under doctor’s orders not to do it next year.

• And how could she bail on helping to organize Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice in Park Slope on June 23?

• And she wants to keep doing her monthly work-shift at the Food Co-op.

Whoa.
No wonder she’s has no time to meditate, to exercise, to read, to run
in the Park, to have a mammogram, to catch a show at the Brooklyn
Museum.

Buddha knows that Smartmom is spreading herself a bit too
thin. And she’s learned the hard way that doing too much can really
backfire.

She screws up; she forgets meetings; she hands in her
Smartmom column late, and Dumb Editor gets mean [Dumb Editor note:
“mean” is a subjective term].

She neglects her other responsibilities. She’s out of shape. She’s not taking good care of herself.

Yet she has no problem seeing when her friends take on too much or say “yes” when they should be saying “no.”

She told Divorce Diva that getting that little toy poodle might put her over the edge.

She warned Mrs. Kravitz that becoming a church elder might be pushing the envelope.

She
counseled Diaper Diva that taking that freelance job with the
looney-tunes producer might put her life into a tailspin (and give her
less time with Ducky).

But you can’t keep a good woman down. They
want to do what they want to do because they feel passionately about so
many things — even if they wear themselves out in the process.

Smartmom
tried to take her own advice. It is so obvious that she needs to prune
the tree of her life and prioritize. But it’s not so obvious what
should go.

Well, it’s a tough call. Saying no isn’t as easy as it
sounds. Still, Smartmom may have to pass on quite a few of her
activities or at least get a whole lot better at delegating. She’s
already found someone to replace her on the poetry magazine (Buddah
bless her) and a committee of bloggers (oy vey!) wants to take over
Blogfest for next year.

Now all it will take for her to get
something done will be to stop going out on Seventh Avenue, stop
answering her Razr, stop hanging out in the lobby at PS 321 after
dropoff, stop responding to e-mail.

Maybe next year.

Atlantic Yards

NO DECISION ON EMINENT DOMAIN AND MUCH MISINFORMATION

Got this email this morning from Develop Don’t Destroy:

Before we go any further we’ll state it simply: There was no decision today on the federal legal challenge to New York State’s and Forest City Ratner’s abuse of eminent domain. Any news reports saying so or implying otherwise are misleading.

There was much confusion (read: underinformed mistakes made) this morning regarding some legal news related to “Atlantic Yards.” Each news outlet covering the story got a little piece of it wrong, but the Daily Intelligencer blog of New York Magazine got the story lavishly wrong (they have since corrected their errors and NoLandGrab has reported on the Intelligencer’s mistakes).

To cut to the chase: There is NO news on the federal eminent domain lawsuit—Goldstein v. Pataki—filed by 13 “Atlantic Yards” footprint property owners and tenants. That lawsuit alleges that New York State’s use of eminent domain for the project is a violation of the United States Constitution. If the plaintiffs win that suit, “Atlantic Yards” as proposed cannot be built as their properites are located where the developer wants to build the project, including the arena. On March 30th in front of New York Eastern District Justice Nicholas Garaufis there was a three-hour oral argument on the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Today marks seven weeks since that hearing and both sides await Judge Garaufis’ decision. For an in-depth report on the substance of the March 30th hearing, go to the coverage from Atlantic Yards Report.

What New York’s press corps was trying to report today was that a Manhattan State Supreme Court case—Anderson v. ESDC—was dismissed yesterday by presiding Judge Tolub. That case involved 13 rent-stabilized tenants who reside in the proposed “Atlantic Yards” project site. They argued that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) does not have the legal authority to terminate rent-stabilized leases, that that authority is held by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). Judge Tolub did not dismiss the case on the merits, but instead ruled that the plaintiffs’ claims belong in the Appellate Division where they now intend to go.

While we fully support these tenants’ defense of their rights, this case has no relationship to or bearing on the federal suit–Goldstein v. Pataki–or the state lawsuit challenging the “Atlantic Yards” Environmental Impact Statement–DDDB et. al. v. ESDC. et. al. Anderson v. ESDC has entirely different litigants and attorneys, is not funded at all by the DDDB Legal Fund and was not organized by DDDB.

Postcard from the Slope

BROOKLYN BLOGGERS ON BROOKLYN ROUNDTABLE TONIGHT

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18reporters
Reporter Roundtable is a 30-minute weekly public affairs talk show on Brooklyn Community Access Television. The show will be available for viewing here. Watch the show tonight at 9pm. Time Warner 56; Cablevision 69.

I think we all look very pundit-y. Brownstoner said he’d heard that it’s a good idea to sit on the bottom of your jacket to keep it from riding up. I couldn’t do that. Lumi thought she was having a bad hair day but I think she looks fantastic. Doing our cutaways (the reaction shots) was probably the weirdest part. We each had to act like we were were listening by nodding our heads and wordlessly reacting to what was being said (even though nothing was being said) for about a minute.

I used to be a film/video editor so I know all about cutaways. They are essential for smooth editing of interviews and the cutting out of awkward pauses, ummms, etc.

The impact of Brooklyn blogs was the roundtable theme. Pictured right to left: that’s me, OTBKB, in the brown jacket, Jonathan Butler of Brownstoner Media and Lumi Michelle Rolley of No Land Grab in the bright red jacket. Our moderator was, far  left, Ted Hamm, founding editor of the Brooklyn Rail.

Roundtable created a nice montage of the Blogfest, with excerpts from various speakers and nice shots of the event set to music.

 

Postcard from the Slope

KHALILI GIBRAN SCHOOL FINALLY HAS A HOME

It looks like the Khalil Gibran International Academy finally has a home at the Brooklyn School of the Arts on Dead Street.

Phew. It’s been a long and contentious road but the two Parent-Teacher Associations at the Boerum Hill school are backing the plan to house the school in its building, despite complaints that they had absolutely no say in the decision.

The school generated controversy as the Department of Education tried to shoe horn it into two existing school buildings in Park Slope and Boeurm Hill.

Opposition from parents (on charges of overcrowding) was strong when the plan was presented after the fact at an “emergency meeting.”

Misinformation and misunderstanding of the school’s mission was only a small part of the problem. But cries of overcrowding were key to parent’s opposition at the Brooklyn High School for the Arts, which also houses Math and Science Exploratory middle school.

Mostly, administrators and PTA’s felt they had no say in the decision. THey say they were informed after the decision was a fait accompli. That more than anything caused feelings of anger.

Today’s Brooklyn Paper features an interview with Khalil Gibran International Academy Principal, Debbie Almontaser.

A native of Yemen and a longtime veteran of the Brooklyn public school system, Almontaser began her career in education at PS 321 where was a school diversity consultant.

In the interview, Almontaser, who was cited as one of OTBKB’s Park Slope 100, spoke with The Brooklyn Paper about her school and her vision.

Civics and Urban Life

9TH STREET SAFETY AND BIKE LANE MEETING TONIGHT

TONIGHT: The transportation committee of Community Board 6 is meeting to take up DOT’s 9th Street Safety and Bike Lane plan.

A small but vocal group of 9th Street residents don’t want to see this plan go forth. This group seems to have influence on Cmmunity Board 6. According to Streetsblog, “they enlisted the support of State Senator Eric Adams, who represents the two blocks of 9th Street closest to Prospect Park and Assembly Member Jim Brennan, who has written a letter in opposition to the plan despite an overwhelming number of calls, letters and visits to his office in support of it.”

This important meeting will be at 6:30 pm at Old First Church, 729 Carroll Street at 7th Avenue.

Postcard from the Slope

MIDWOOD STUDENTS WRITE STORYBOOKS TO ZIMBABWE

The Daily News reports that students at Brooklyn’s Midwood High School wrote and illustrated about 100 original storybooks which they will send to a school in Zimbabwe this fall.

The books are part of a program dubbed the “Children’s Storybook Literacy Project,” which was started by teacher Maureen Cox started September with students who needed extra help with reading and writing. She soon expanded the program to include other students.

She was helping these students improve their literary skills. Sounds like it was a great ideas.

Postcard from the Slope

CAPATHIA JENKINS AND LOUIS ROSEN RETURN TO THE OLD STONE HOUSE

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I got an email this morning from Louis Rosen about the show he is planning for the Old Stone House.

CAPATHIA JENKINS & LOUIS ROSEN: SOUTH SIDE STORIES
An Evening of Song to Benefit The Old Stone House

DEAR BROOKLYN FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS:

I wanted to let you know that my splendid collaborator, Capathia Jenkins (a 2007 Drama Desk Award nominee), and I are scheduled to perform our second benefit concert on behalf of The Old Stone House on Saturday night, June 16th. The proceeds will go to supporting The Old Stone House’s rapidly growing arts programming, including this summer’s Piper Theatre at OSH’s production of Macbeth, Brooklyn Film Works and the excellent Brooklyn Reading Works.

The performance will mark the Brooklyn concert premiere of the songs from our recently released and highly acclaimed debut recording, South Side Stories, songs of youth, coming of age and experience, inspired by the Chicago neighborhood where I grew up. We’ll also be offering a “sneak preview” of a excerpts from my newest work for Capathia, Giovanni Songs, on words by the renowned poet Nikki Giovanni. Capathia and I will be joined by two splendid musicians, the pianist Kimberly Grigsby, and Dave Phillips on acoustic and electric bass.

The evening is being billed as a “Champagne Cabaret,” which means champagne and dessert will be served at 8 pm, and the concert will begin at 8:30. Last year’s benefit sold out—the room only holds 90 people—so we hope that you make the scene.

The Old Stone House is at J. J. Byrne Park at 3rd Street and 5th Avenue.
Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door.
Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.nycharities.org, or you can RSVP by calling 718 768 3915.

By the way, the South Side Stories CD s now available for downloading at www.itunes.com, www.rhapsody.com and most other online sights, as well as available for purchase at www.cdbaby.com, and in Park Slope at the Community Bookstore on 7th Avenue.

Best Regards,
Louie

P.S. For those who would like to read what critics have had to say, here is a sampling of the press we received when we performed the New York premiere of South Side Stories at The Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub last winter, and its world premiere in Chicago the winter before that at The Steppenwolf Theater.

From Bloomberg News’ Jeremy Gerard, Nov.1, 2006: “Jenkins will knock you flat….I’ve never been so seduced by music completely new to me yet as embraceable as any from the classic American songbook. Don’t miss this show!”

From the Chicago Tribune, Kerry Reid, December 21, 2005: “In South Side Stories, Rosen has created a fine and sometimes somber portrait of heartbreak and survival, joy and its absence, and love that endures even when the objects of that love are long vanished.”

From Cabaret Scenes’ Tesse Fox, October 29, 2006: “Capathia Jenkins is gifted with one of those rare voices that makes pouring out one’s soul into music seem effortless. And when she is singing the music of Louis Rosen, she makes that soul into a thing of rare beauty and power….A wonderfully emotional celebration of life that can appeal to every musical palate.”

From the Chicago Sun-Times, Hedy Weiss, December 20, 2005: “Something quite magical can happen when a composer has a specific voice to serve as his muse. Consider the case of Louis Rosen and his songbird of choice, Capathia Jenkin’s performing Rosen’s nostalgic, romantic, emotionally charged song cycle, ‘South Side Stories’s.”

From The Jewish Exponent, Michael Elkin, October 26, 2006: “In a way, Rosen’s collaboration with singer Capathia Jenkins, his musical muse, gives voice to two peoples, blacks and Jews, in a harmony rarely heard offstage.”

OnlyTheBlogKnowsBrooklyn, Louise Crawford, November 6, 2006: Here’s what I was thinking after Capathia Jenkins’ and Louis Rosen’s tight, moving, musically glorious show at Joe’s Pub last night: How lucky they are to be working together. And how lucky we are to witness the on-going story of their unbelievably fruitful collaboration. Great, great show.”

Postcard from the Slope

FIFTH AVENUE FAIR: THIS SUNDAY

Bob and Judi of Bob and Judi’s Coolectables wanted to make sure that everyone knows that the Fifth Avenue Fair is THIS SUNDAY!!

The Fabulous Fifth Avenue Street Fair
Sunday May 20 11 am – 6 pm
Sterling Place to 12th St.
Arts and Crafts section from Berkely to Carroll St
Antique Auto Show 1st st- Garfield Pl
Puppetry Arts- for the kids- make puppets and portrait tiles(to be used in the Brooklyn Hospital Mural) 5th ave and 2nd st.
Live Music all over
Great food from your favorite 5th Ave. Eateries
Kids rides by JJ Byrne Pk.
Check out the events at The Old Stone House
Antiques, Gifts, Jewelry, clothing and so much more
A whole neighborhood of fun

Civics and Urban Life

BLOG OF THE DAY: LISTEN MISSY

Check out Listen Missy. Photographs, musings, and this post about subway theme songs.

I’ve long thought that subway lines have theme songs, although I haven’t yet gotten them all figured out. I regularly ride a number of lines and they each have their own personality, not just in terms of the kinds of people who ride them–although that’s part of it–but in the train’s general demeanor. Like how the 4/5 at Borough Hall is always reliable although sensitive to crowding if I arrive in the morning 5 minutes in either direction of my usual time, that the 2/3 is like the 4/5’s bratty younger brother, always dirtier and never coming when you call. The G? Hell, forget the G if you actually need to be anywhere on time. If you’re not beholden to the clock, it’s fine, but if you’ve got a class at Mark Morris or a movie or a performance at BAM and you arrive at the station at 7:00 for a 7:30 curtain and the train doesn’t show until 7:25 and you could have walked there faster and ever since you’ve just decided the B63 will do you better, well, the G is the stupid, flakey hippie you can’t help but like a little bit. The F, like the L, hangs with the hipper people, is always crowded and, if you need to catch it during rush hour, good luck to you and don’t be surprised if you’re forced to wait it out, like sitting along the bleacher benches at the school dance in the gym before you get your turn at an awkward slow dance.

Civics and Urban Life

HERE’S WHAT’S FILMING IN PARK SLOPE

BABY MAMA WITH TINA FEY, AMY POEHLER AND SIGOURNEY WEAVER

Movie trucks were parked on Seventh Avenue, Garfield and Carroll Street. Craft services was in front of Key Food. They were filming in Community Books Wednesday morning. They were in Tempo on Fifth Avenue in the evening.

Director:
Michael McCullers
Writer:
Michael McCullers
Genre:
Comedy

Plot Outline:
A single professional woman (Tina Fey) opts to hire a surrogate mother (Amy Poehler) so she can have a baby and keep her career on track.

Civics and Urban Life

FAIRWAY GETS MASTERWORK AWARD

This from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — The Municipal Art Society of New York presented Fairway Market at Red Hook with a Masterwork Award for Best Neighborhood Catalyst at its awards ceremony held May 9, at the General Motors Building Fifth Avenue Plaza in Manhattan.
The Neighborhood Catalyst Award “recognizes a new or a newly restored building that is spurring revitalization in the surrounding neighborhood.”

According to The Municipal Art Society, “Developer Greg O’Connell has converted an abandoned, city-owned warehouse into a sought-after Red Hook destination for both local residents and tourists.

Adaptively reusing the building to accommodate a Fairway grocery store, an outdoor café, and apartments, Mr. O’Connell also took full advantage of its unique waterfront location, creating an on-site ferry dock offering NY Water Taxi service on weekends.”

O’Connell remarked that the project has served as an anchor for economic development in the community. Since Fairway opened last May, retailers have increased their business, vacant storefronts along Van Brunt have filled up, and Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies down the street is reporting more walk-in business than in the previous seven years.

“I’m very honored to receive this award, but I feel a bit like that book The Little Engine that Could when I look around and see the other projects in Manhattan that are receiving this award,” O’Connell said. “It’s pretty impressive.”

As part of O’Connell’s team, Susan Doban Architect, PC, was responsible for designing the mid-19th century building’s interior courtyard and 45 apartments above the Fairway Market. The apartments combine residential living with artists’ studios, reflecting O’Connell’s dedication to the creative community.

Postcard from the Slope

WHAT WAS THAT SMELL?

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Got this note from a reader of OTBKB.

Just wondering if you awoke to the same smell outside that my husband
and I did this morning (and yesterday morning). Some kind of exhaust or
fumes (burning jet fuel? burning rubber? chemical leak?). Both mornings
around 6 AM, the offending fumes came swiftly through our open windows
(it’s been hot!) and filled the entire apartment, where they lingered
for over an hour. Is it just us? We are on 2nd btw 7-8 in Park Slope.
Any info would be great. Thanks! :)

postcard from the coast

LETTER FROM ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE

Here’s a letter to the editor of the New York Sun from the Anti-Defamation League about the Khalil Gibran International Academy:

To the Editor: The recent controversy over the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, set up to teach Arabic language and culture in addition to the usual courses, has unleashed unfounded attacks against the NYC Department of Education’s new high school, accusing it of being a madrassa and a haven for Islamic extremism (“A Madrassa Grows in Brooklyn,” April 24 and “Madrassa Plan Is Monstrosity,” May 1).

These attacks have also been personally directed at KGIA’s principal, Debbie Almontaser. The Anti-Defamation League has a long history of working with Ms. Almontaser through our anti-bias workshops.
Through joint coalition work in Brooklyn against hate crimes, she has demonstrated her support for the civil liberties of all people. She is deeply committed to creating an inclusive learning environment that embraces the unparalleled diversity in New York City.

To help support this goal, we are in discussion with Ms. Almontaser about implementing our A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Institute anti-bias training in KGIA.

The school’s Arabic language requirement, combined with conflict resolution and international diplomacy training, opens the possibility of creating a well informed generation of leaders.

The Khalil Gibran International Academy is just one of several in the New York City school system devoted to teaching a specific language and culture; the others include Russian, French, Spanish, and Japanese.
These schools are open to all students and those who choose to attend can be enriched by the added dimension.

Joel J. Levy

New York Regional Office

BROOKLYN READING WORKS

EDGY MOMS: FREE COCKTAILS

39548814m
Brooklyn Reading Works Presents:
THE EDGY MOTHER’S DAY EVENT
ON MAY 24, 2007 at 8 p.m.

THE  OLD STONE HOUSE IN PARK SLOPE
Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
Contact: Louise Crawford: 718-288-4290
www.brooklynreadingworks.com

So what’s an edgy mom? Moms (and one dad) who write fiction and non-fiction about motherhood with smarts, humor, creativity, and a healthy degree of love, awe, skepticism., sarcasm, irony, and grumpiness.

Don’t miss this stellar group of fiction writers, journalists, poets, and bloggers:

Susan Gregory Thomas (author of “Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Mothers and Harms Children”), Amy Sohn (“My Old Man” and NY Magazine columnist), Louise Crawford (AKA Smartmom), Sophia Romero (“Always Hiding” and Mom After-Hours Blog),  Tom Rayfiel ("Parallel Play"), Mary Warren (AKA Mrs. Cleavage’s Diary Blog) Jennifer Block ("Pushed"),  Judy Lichtblau, Alison Lowenstein (“City Baby Brooklyn” and “Mommy Group”), Michele Somerville Madigan (Wisegal).

Five bucks gets you in. Free cocktails. Great fun.