I no longer feel the heat of summer, for lo, I have an ice cream maker and a lot of recipes for vegan ice cream. Rock.

And of course, I've been writing!

"Vitale's two large paintings are riots of color; at first glance, they don't even seem to be made with watercolor, the colors are so deep, heavy. Her smaller paintings are quieter moments with lighter colors, and suggest abstract images of nature. Meanwhile, her two acrylic pieces in the show belong to other worlds entirely: one of a constant wintry night, as seen in her painting of bare tree limbs, or perhaps an alien planet with a purple sky and unpredictable landforms, as seen in an enormous abstract painting." That's from an article I wrote about a thoroughly enjoyable art show I reviewed; read the rest here!

I also had the extreme pleasure of reviewing a gorgeous show by Margaret Morrison. Do yourself a favor and look at this painting for a minute. Or, I don't know, maybe this one while you're at it. There are more images at the article. Here's an excerpt from that, by the way: "There's a shared sense of place in many of Margaret Morrison's oil paintings, and one gets the feeling something very bad has happened there."

In other news, I have several parenting articles up at Babygooroo, and you can read them all (covering topics from traveling with your kid to advice on working from home) here. I've also been finishing up several articles for the next issue of Athens Magazine, available in fine local bookstores.

Finally, I am super excited about teaching feature writing again this summer to a bunch of bright and wonderful high school students at the prestigious Georgia Journalism Academy. Just two weeks away! What an honor!

So. Much. Stuff.

I'm very proud of two recent articles I wrote: one that is a collection of extra-unique local birth stories (one woman had her baby in parking lot!) which can be read here, and one that is a preview for a showing of "The Business of Being Born," and the issues surrounding maternity care and birth in the U.S., which can be read here.

Whew!

I also had a great deal of fun getting to know some local crafters for this story. And it was an honor to get to interview Andrew Manze, conductor of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, for this article. (I believe I reached him at a hotel in Sweden - the person who answered the phone spoke in Swedish, and I very brightly replied, "Er, hello!" Of course she immediately began speaking in English. Wouldn't it be nice if most Americans had the same skill?)

I recently covered a city-wide arts event which featured visual and performance art in unexpected places; read it here. I've also been busy covering some local theater, like a UGA production of "Uncle Vanya" (read it here!) and a community theater production of "Beyond Therapy" (read it here!). Good ole Chekhov and Durang!

I also covered a new local film festival, which presented the sobering documentary "Burning the Future," about coal mining in Virginia; read it here. (Here's a lengthy preview of the film on youtube; it's pretty astonishing, really.)

Finally (for now), the State Botanical Garden of Georgia turned 40, and I wrote about it here. I do love that place, and getting to go there, wander around and take notes on what was in bloom was a very pleasant part of research for the article!

Um, did I mention I have a kid? No wonder I haven't updated lately. I think I need a nap! As always, I'm very happy to be able to write this much, and I'll be back soon!