92Y, connect to the YMCA, is a cultural and community center. For over 140 years, this Jewish organization has offered arts and ideas for the community to help change lives and improve the world.

I went to hear a reading by Zadie Smith as she promoted her new novel,

Swing Time, a first. She read for twenty minutes and was then interviewed by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah. It was called a literary event and was worth every step from 57th to 92nd and back again.

Friday, as I left my apartment building, I said, “Today I get to do two of my favorite things, walk and go to school.” I was going to an intensive, one-day writing classes from Gotham Writers, a first. It was Grammar 1: The Basics. I have written professionally for years, but I always question my use of grammar. I do want to write it right. It has been a long time since I studied anything about a dangling modifier.

The instructor was a sentence structure and punctuation master. I regressed back to Mr. Hollebaughs’s high school class, where grammar shut off my brain. I did gain a lot from the class. I found all rules of grammar have an exception. If it sounds right, it likely is, and my writing style holds credence. I also learned fiction writers don’t usually follow any rules.

One of my goals on this trip was to experience all I could. A couple in a

restaurant told me about Theater Development Fund. It is a site for reduced-price theater tickets. Therefore, I have seen Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Where’s Broadway? It has allowed me to see unique productions I would never have known about otherwise.

Saturday night was no exception. The production was, Imbible: Christmas Carol Cocktails, a first. The tiny theater on 44th and 9th, was on the third floor, (using staircases) with a group of four actors. They told the history of spirits (the drinking kind), sang many Christmas songs, and mixed drinks to share with the entire audience.

We all had three yummy, alcohol enhanced, drinks by the time we left. One was like an eggnog with nutmeg, another was chocolate coffee of sorts, (mocha) and the last was a frozen martini made with liquid nitrogen and served with spoons. Who’d a thunk it?

As they might say on HGTV, “Time to find another experience.”

Two Months of Firsts – #12

Posted on December 11, 2016