Tuesday mailbag

As you read this, the Levy household's en route to Ithaca, New York, to see the world premier of The Count of Monte Cristo, a musical written and composed by one of my nephews. If you click on the link, he's the redhead at the piano. A hottie, huh?

Then it's off to a Bar Mitzvah in Connecticut for a different nephew.

So I'm leaving you with a few morsels. Reviews will post magically, but I'll check in to zap spammers and such.

1. The best book I never read but never tire of flogging is Pond Scum, and it's got a new trailer the author made with his son. You probably haven't seen it because Alan is the shy, retiring sort, who has a tough time promoting himself. Yeah, right. Sorry I'm following the crowd with this, Alan.

2. Give the Poetry Foundation some love, folks! It's facing tough competition in the Webbies. Oh, fer crying out loud, it's up against Pigs Anonymous (the male chauvinist variety) and a quarry safety site. No, you don't get links. A Canadian newspaper decries the tomfoolery, but whatcha gonna do about it, huh? Go sign up and vote: once you get inside and start scrolling, it's under website>society>associations.

3. Oy, those Mommy bloggers! They're everywhere. Been there, done that. Miriam Peskowitz, formerly of Playground Revolution, is rallying us Not-Child-Free gals over the estrogenized cause du jour--publicizing all our myriad non-fiction books on The Unfairness of It All.

Here's her pitch:

Now we have a brand new idea: MotherTalk Blog Bonanza Fridays.

On MotherTalk Blog Bonanza Fridays, all of us blog together on a single topic related to a new book that's coming out. That's the idea. The more, the merrier. The more bloggers, the more we can collect your entries, work link-love and send more traffic your way, or get media attention and share it around.

Here's how it works: MotherTalk will suggest a topic, post it on our blog and email an announcement. Whoever wants to blog,  join us.  Please, please, help us spread the (word). This is not about an elite in-group with a secret code. No way, it's about sharing an experience, writing together, and feeling connected through our blogs. 

Oh dear, they can't mean "feeling connected" to me. Do they know what they're getting into? But wait, what's this? The first book is Arianna Huffington's Becoming Fearless?

Yes, I can see how The Huff--another wallflower--might need all us humble womenfolk to band together in outraged sisterhood and insist, nay, demand, that we all post Amazon links together. Anything to help the cause.

Click for details.

Comments

[Barbara Johansen Newman]

Have fun in upsate NY. I am jealous. The thought of the place makes me nostalgic. I lived in Ithaca for 3 years (78-81) ,plus other places upstate for 9.

I like Ithaca--it is the town that time seems to have forgotten in many ways. When I have visited recently I found it very easy to be transported back to a gentler time circa 1978....left me with a need to wear Indian print wrap skirts and sandals ...plus I craved home made bread, a la Moosewood and Cabbagetown.....

Oh, my. I think I am dealing with suburbia overload lately.

[alan Silberberg]

Happy travels Anne -

And if I don't shout about my book....who will? (besides all you great blogging wonders who I pester incessantly!)

Who knows - maybe one day I'll actually finish that second book to give me something new to crow about! Loudly.

yer the best -
alan

[Sylvia]

You may like a Pond Scum Video Book Review. Check it out!

[eisha]

Hey! Jules just pointed me over here - my husband just recently got hired to teach set design and scenic painting at Ithaca College. We went househunting last weekend, and I saw that set when we dropped by the theatre!

Congrats to your nephew - he seems super-talented!

[Anne]

Thanks, all. The Count of Monte Cristo was spectacular and we have high hopes for my nephew. Another musical he composed the score for (in high school, no less) is casting in Virginia this summer for a pre-Broadway trial. We're super proud of him.

Good luck to Eisha on your big move! Ithaca's a great college and pretty, pretty town.