the reading

It went well. Lots of good friends were there--including a number of FIT colleagues, and even some current and former students. A very warming experience!

reading from Little Star next Friday (biting nails now)

Please join me if you can for my first nonfiction reading!

Amy Lemmon and Marissa Miley
Friday, January 25, 7:00 pm
KGB Bar
85 E. 4th Street (Between 3rd and 2nd Aves)
NYC

Amy Lemmon is the author of the forthcoming poetry collections Fine Motor and Saint Nobody. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, New Letters, Verse, Prairie Schooner, Cincinnati Review, as well as other magazines. She is Poetry Editor of the online literary magazine DUCTS.ORG and an associate professor of English at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Amy will read from Little Star, the prose memoir she is working on at Paragraph.

Marissa Miley is a 27-year old writer living in Manhattan. She is co-author of Restless Virgins: Love Sex, and Survival at a New England Prep School (William Morrow 2007), and has been featured on NBC¹s Today Show, NPR, Oprah Radio, Fox News, Star Jones, and other television and radio shows across the country. Marissa is currently working on a second book of nonfiction and, to stave off lethargic writing during the cold winter months, training for the New Jersey marathon.

for more information:
http://www.paragraphny.com/events/2008/01/25/

or

http://www.kgbbar.com/calendar/event/2008-01-25_paragraph_maris.html

the poopie post

First, a disclaimer: Mom, please do not read this post. I'm serious.
So tonight I was cleaning the bathroom and realized that the main reason I could never, ever offer my place as a crash pad for writer friends coming to NYC for the AWP Conference: not the postage-stamp size of our home, nor the two little imps who live there and rise at 6 a.m., nor the probable appearance of a cranky Estranged Spouse. Simply put, I am embarrassed by the way we live. Take our toilet, for instance (take our toilet, please). If I used the bathroom at someone's house and it was as disgusting as ours was a few hours ago, I would be completely grossed out. As I scrubbed the neglected toilet I remembered that Bobby had two friends over yesterday for a playdate, and hoped for their sakes that the most egregious, er, deposits were very recent.
(Mom, if you're still reading, you really need to stop now.)

I was also reminded of the perils of potty training Stella and the utterly inadequate capacity of pull-ups at her age. During a visit to Grandma's, Stella woke up early and wandered downstairs only to make a poopie mess. My kindly mother went to get Stella first and, horrified, revealed that she had found feces on the kitchen floor. She actually pronounced it "Feece-us," and I was reminded of her grandmother, my Great-Grandma Gladys who used to call that instrument with black and white keys a "pie-anna."
(You can't say I didn't warn you, Mom.)

This is all to say that when you're faced with a crappy situation, the best way to deal with it is with humor. That, and a good pair of rubber gloves, and some strong disinfectant.

And on a more serious note, I hereby put out a second request for any advice about potty training from parents in T21-land! Tara, are you listening?

adventures in brooklyn, ch. 2: williamsburg

Hip as I am (ha ha), you'd think I would have spent lots of time in one of greater NYC's hippest neighborhoods. But the truth is, I've only driven through it a couple of times. Until last night, when Carly and I had a lovely dinner at Baci & Abbracci and then went to an excellent reading, including poetry by Joy Katz and Catherine Barnett, part of Nicole Steinberg's Earshot Reading Series at the Lucky Cat.

The train ride was only around half an hour, and I had a lovely walk down Bedford Avenue with its groovy shops, bars, and restaurants. I will be back during daylight hours to procure fromage et charcuteries at Bedford Cheese Shop, and under cover of darkness to try more of the places to eat and drink.

good news is always welcome

An amazing young woman, Karen Gaffney, has done an amazing thing: She swam across Lake Tahoe. Watch the new video here.

HURRAY KAREN!!!

Thanks to Tricia for linking to the video (and if you want to see pics of an adorable little one-year-old who happens to have Down syndrome, check out her blog)!

hooked by the hook

So my first official literary event of 2008 involved a pilgrimage to a neighborhood I had only visited once or twice before: Red Hook, Brooklyn. My friend Joshua Furst was reading at the legendary Sunny's Bar.

In addition to a wonderful short story read by Josh, the audience was treated to a fascinating history of Red Hook by Francis Morrone and a tale of a Spanish solider in Flanders by Rebecca Pawel.

Cool neighborhood, great venue, great readers, and definitely worth the trip. I will be back!