Tayari's Blog: OMG, GWN!

Posted by TayariJones on October 18, 2007 11:32 PM
Filed under Living For The City

It's midnight and I have a plane to catch at 7am for Chicago, but instead of sleeping, I just had to take a minute to post about the fantastic fundraiser for Girls Write Now.

But before I report the night's fabulousness, let me remind you what GWN is all about. Girls Write Now matches at youth girls with professional writing mentors. All the statistics are impressive, but my favorite is the 100% college acceptance rate. And since tonight's event was a fundraiser, let me encourage you to break off a little something for such a worthy cause.

OK, that said, on with the report.

At first I thought the event was for the girls and their mentors, but I was informed that the young folks had already had thier shin-dig at Bluestockings Bookstore earlier in the evening. The second set was for adults only. This was to be grown folks business.

Lauren asked if I wanted to go first and I said yes because the first reader has no act to follow. Or so I thought. Before I went on, we were treated to a warm up act from a dancer/actor by the name of Creamy Stevens. Need I say more? The Slipper Room is a burlesque club, so you expect somebody to take off some clothes. I am no prude but I would prefer that the stripping happen after my reading. After Creamy left the stage I read from The Untelling and the audience was very kind and didn't ask me to remove one item of clothing and for this, I am very grateful.

Next was Janice "Girlbomb" Erlbaum, reading from her forthcoming memoir Have you Found Her. (Can I say I can't believe she got her blog post up before me!)She read us an excerpt about volunteering in the shelter for homeless youth where she spent much of her own adolescence. Powerful stuff. When that book hits the shelves, it will be on my shelf.

Then came the musical act. Royal Pink. Oh baby! You all know I love live music. I guess you would call them an indie rock group. They are four women singing songs about sex, politics, sex, and general female empowerment. I loved it. I bought their CD and a shirt and a sticker.

The evening was wrapped up with Miss Saturn, a hoola hooping professional. And, a cosmo with the band!

Pictures? Of course there are pictures!

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There are 1 comments on "OMG, GWN!". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.

Comment #1, by Tara Betts [TypeKey Profile Page]

Hey Ms. Jones,
you know it was oodles of fun to see you read with your hallmark poise following a woman in ruffly panties, pasties, fishnet stockings and platform heels, then bounce around and dance to Royal Pink. We all know girls just wanna have fun.

October 22, 2007 10:20 AM

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