Mark your calendars!

I'll be reading one of my short stories at the venerable KGB Bar, Thursday, August 17 (that's a week from tomorrow!). The reading is from 7-9 pm.

Hope to see you there!

I do have new posts in the works but my new schedule for summer (12 hours at school on Thursdays) means a shift for MLP, probably to Tuesdays. Stay tuned for posts on design parties, Spanish, theories of learning & adult development, and of course short shorts, story snippets, and links/info on stories I've got coming out this summer in other publications. And if you're reading this, thank you!

I read "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" this summer. I enjoyed it, for the most part, and recommend it to anyone interested in cities (especially the first two or three parts). I've had some psychogeographic mental bubblings of late and may start posting things of that nature soon. Stay tuned. In the meantime, a bit about Ms. Jacobs.

I went to see my friend Euna's band Greenpoint last night. They performed at the Manhattan Korean-American Association of Greater New York, for amateur band night. Euna rocked the electric harpsichord while the front man resurrected Jim Morrison, Ray Charles, and Bob Marley in throaty blues songs with a touch of Mick Jaggeresque dancing, wagging his teased tea hair, his sunglasses glinting in the lights . The Doors covers riled up the previously sedate, seated crowd (save the one fellow up front who periodically danced in circles ecstatically, and the occasional silhouette of a head-banger for the punkier rap-metal band prior). Greenpoint sparkled as the last act and put a smile on my face. Fun was had by all.

Just to impose some order in the chaos, MLP will be updated once a week, on Thursdays. Perhaps with extra tidbits to chew on as I encounter them.

I spent the weekend at an intensive workshop in developing classroom materials. I came away with a lot of ideas for a slew of situations, and I also came away with a story idea. I don't know if it was something specific at the workshop that stimulated this, but what I do know is I was frustrated having to pay attention and participate and not whip out a notebook and go into my own world.

This has been a bit a of an internal Cerebral Death Match for me the past year. I care about my students (when I have them), I want to pay attention, but the intellectual stimulation sends me off on mental tangents that seem to fall through the cracks because I can't always stop what I'm doing to write an idea down. And then when I do sit down to write on my own time, lesson planning or curriculum development or school ideas start nattering away. (Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.)

I wonder if I'd gone into another field (like my failed attempt at bartending) if I'd have more time to think about writing and actually write, or if I'd be stimulated less and thus have less ideas.

Collectanea, put out by the NY Collective for the Arts, is launching its first issue (including my story "Bastille Day") online on March 1st. They're having a launch party at Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction on Tuesday March 7, at 7 pm, which should be a multi-media wonderland. I'm excited.

So this is a tentative dip into the very crowded blog pool. I know I'm so late in the game. This is just a place to post news and maybe occasional thoughts/observations about writing, teaching, cities, and other things. Hopefully as I get the hang of the ladybug some order will make itself apparent.