I am pleased to announce my new website: Beauty and the Bug. This is a place for me to collect weekly writings and pictures of my crafty projects. I hope you'll check it out, comment, and enjoy! I'm very excited about it.

Am home! Had a blast there are some pictures here-there will be more later. [link]

Slacker Secret Santa: All of you who want to exchange presents with other Buffistas but haven't mailed me about it yet, this is your chance!

Please send your info (board name and snail-mail address) to my profile address until the 10th of December. By then, I'll match you up to pairs of givers and recipients, and let you know which is who.

Your truly,
Tiny Jewish not-Santa

Pictures of my new house without all that pesky furniture and boxes cluttering it up are here

I picked a somewhat wacky color scheme, but I think it works.

The Winter 2008 issue of The November 3rd Club is now online, featuring poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art and conversation by:

CARLYE ARCHIBEQUE, GUSTAVO ARELLANO, MADELINE ARTENBERG, MARCUS BALES, OSCAR BERMEO, ROBERT BOHM, AURORE BOREALIS, ROLAND W. CORYELL, BRIAN DAUTH, RITA DOVE, BARBARA CARIDAD FERRER, RAGAN FOX, GERALD GEORGE, KIRPAL GORDON, SAURABH GUPTA, SAM HAMILL, M. AYODELE HEATH, JOY N. HENSLEY, BOB HOEPPNER, JASON JONKER, MARTY MCCONNELL, CHRIS MOONEY-SINGH, JAMES NAVÉ, THERESA C. NEWBILL, CRISTIN O’KEEFE APTOWICZ, SHERMAN PEARL, DEB POWERS, KEITH ROACH, ELIZABETH ROSS, IRIS N. SCHWARTZ, SKIP SHEA, FRANK SLOAN, MARC SOLOMON, ARTHUR SZE, EDWIN TORRES, TONY WILLIAMS and SHOLEH WOLPÉ.

Hope you enjoy!

And we're chatting over at Drollerie Press! From 4PM EST (1:00 PM board time) until 5ish, we're talking about Rachael de Vienne's new release, Pixie Warrior. Knowing us, the conversation will eventually turn to zombies. It's free-wheeling chat. Come join us!

[link]

Something that started off as a coding proof-of-concept / keep-Sox-sane-during-the-move project has started to take off, and I wanted to invite you to come visit, comment, and, of course, send me your thoughts (and serial-comma notes).

As some of you know, DH and I are big travelers - and we've taken our daughter along with us since she was 11 months old. When we started traveling with her, I was all over the interwebs, looking for other parents' stories about what they did and how they traveled. Most of what I found was product-oriented, which sometimes wasn't terrible (that's how I found my Ergo), but I wanted something that said 'we tried this and it worked, but that didn't and man what a mess...' as well as how tos for traveling the way we liked (independently) with a child. There were some, but not many. There wasn't a real community for like-minded people.

This fall, I started writing some entries about traveling with our daughter. Luckily, with Sparky's encouragement and bright ideas, I added more things, like packing-lists and a (very small but soon to grow) conversions page for food and the like.

And in a great moment (trumpets, fanfare, glitter), another fantastic writer whom you may know joined me and began posting about traveling with her son. I have a feeling that there are a lot more of us out there (here especially).

Come check it out, comment, tell me what you think - and if you're interested in posting, let me know. Thanks - and with ever-increasing awe about the fabulousness of b.org peoples - Sox

www.travelswithchild.org

ps - profile addy is good if you want to reach me.

Most of you know about my involvement with the SHU (Special Handling Unit) girls at Nidorf Juvenile Hall. I've been working with them for almost a year now and it has been a truly enriching experience. There's T, an avid reader who loves Maya Angelou and who recently requested Shakespeare's Sonnets; J, who is on book 5 of the Harry Potter series and recently finished (and loved) Watership Down; L, a reluctant reader who has discovered a love of graphic novels (Duck Prince is her current favorite) and has also begun requesting memoirs; and so many others who are thankful for the donations received.

BEYOND 4 WALLS BOOK DRIVE

Reading changes lives. We ask you to partner with us to impact and improve the lives of incarcerated children and teenagers, by purchasing books for the BEYOND 4 WALLS BOOK DRIVE.

The Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Detention Facility in Sylmar houses 650+ children and teens. The members of the Nidorf Collective @ UCLA, a group of students from the UCLA Information Studies graduate program, have been volunteering at the facility for two years, bringing books to this underserved population. The Beyond 4 Walls Book Drive, sponsored by the GSA Community Service Commission, will further the work to give the gift of reading to these kids.

How can you contribute?

1) The best and simplest way is to use this link to select books for the kids from the "Beyond 4 Walls Wish List" on Amazon.com:

[link]

The books on this list have been requested by the teens at Nidorf and/or recommended by the library students in the UCLA MLIS program, who have seen what a difference books and reading make to this population. After you use the link, please forward this email to others who might also like to make a fundamental difference in this ongoing literacy program.

2) Send used or new paperback books to me. Contact me at gloomcookie5 at yahoo dot com.

The GSA Community Service Commission, the members of the Nidorf Collective @ UCLA, and the kids at Nidorf thank you for giving your time and energy to community service. Your donation makes a big difference.

Tonight's installment of "The Eclectic Word, featuring Regie Gibson and Tony Brown, was delayed for a half-hour while we sorted out technical difficulties. After that, though, it was a fabulous discussion. Tony and Regie are two people who think about their poetry, and that deep consideration pays off. Go listen to them.

Also, while you're at it, check out the Winter 2008 issue of The November 3rd Club is now online, featuring poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art and conversation by:

CRISTIN O’KEEFE APTOWICZ, CARLYE ARCHIBEQUE, GUSTAVO ARELLANO, MADELINE ARTENBERG, MARCUS BALES, OSCAR BERMEO, ROBERT BOHM, AURORE BOREALIS, ROLAND W. CORYELL, BRIAN DAUTH, RITA DOVE, BARBARA CARIDAD FERRER, RAGAN FOX, GERALD GEORGE, KIRPAL GORDON, SAURABH GUPTA, SAM HAMILL, M. AYODELE HEATH, JOY N. HENSLEY, BOB HOEPPNER, JASON JONKER, MARTY MCCONNELL, CHRIS MOONEY-SINGH, JAMES NAVÉ, THERESA C. NEWBILL, SHERMAN PEARL, DEB POWERS, KEITH ROACH, ELIZABETH ROSS, IRIS N. SCHWARTZ, SKIP SHEA, FRANK SLOAN, MARC SOLOMON, ARTHUR SZE, EDWIN TORRES, TONY WILLIAMS and SHOLEH WOLPÉ.

"November 3rd Club" editorial staff members Deborah Grabien and Lenore Weiss will be guests July 21st on "The Eclectic Word," along with several of this issue's contributors.

Attention Secret Santas! Give the gift of Buffistadom this year at our very own Cafepress stores!

[edit: So it seems that Cafepress no longer supports megalinks with multiple stores in them. Those bastards! Here are links to some of our individual stores:

Buffista logo, straight up, no chaser

I'm a Bitch, Ask Me How!

It's Fucking Great!

Buffista drug facts

Stors

I'm going to a Special Hell.

Made of Awesome

Not impressed with their selection? Make your own Buffista gear at Zazzle via this very spiffy Flickr link! (You may have to download the original size & upload it to your own account in order to make Zazzle gear or order prints.)

Happy shopping!