Have you noticed that I've been impossible to get ahold of these past few weeks?

Here's why...

BABES Network-YWCA Presents:
Positive Dreams – Weaving Stories of Our Sisterhood

SEATTLE, WA – May 16, 2007 - BABES Network-YWCA’s upcoming show Positive Dreams – Weaving Stories of Our Sisterhood is the culmination of a nine-week workshop process in which the women of BABES use story-telling, comedy, music and dance to create a self-devised performance that addresses the fears, hopes, achievements and dreams of women living with HIV.

Performances will take place at Seattle’s Central Cinema Wednesday, June 6^th through Saturday June 9^th at 7 PM and Sunday June 10^th at 4PM. Tickets are $10 for adults/$5 for students and seniors and can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets.

Positive Dreams is BABES’ follow-up project to their highly acclaimed performance of The New Threat to Humanity…The Lack There of! presented at the Live Girls! Theater in Ballard in 2005. Both shows were the product of a Theater for Development workshop process facilitated by Caroline Brown of Providence, RI. Caroline is the co-director of Emergence Collaborative, a theater-based Production Company that uses performance as a communication tool for fostering community and breaking down barriers in our society.

Theater for Development (TfD) is a social development practice that uses performance as a tool to help individuals and groups express themselves to the community with the intent of social advocacy. It is recognized internationally as a strong tool for participatory development with sustainable results, as it offers a practical and theoretical exploration of the ways in which the arts can be used by communities to create powerful social transformations on their own terms.

BABES Network -YWCA is a peer-based program, a sisterhood of women facing HIV together. BABES was started by a diverse group of HIV positive women who came together to share information, experiences and support. Founded on the concept that HIV+ women are uniquely qualified to understand and encourage one another, BABES has been building community among women from all walks of life who are facing HIV and AIDS since 1989. BABES reduces isolation, promotes self-empowerment, enhances quality of life and serves the needs of women facing HIV and their families through peer support, advocacy, education and outreach. Recognizing that the HIV infection rate is growing among women and girls, BABES expanded its mission in 2006 to include outreach and prevention activities through the HOPE Project (HIV/AIDS Outreach & Prevention Education). The HOPE Project trains and coordinates people living with HIV to effectively share their personal stories through media campaigns, speaking engagements and community forums in order to educate the public about AIDS, combat stigma and stop the spread of HIV. 206.720.5566 or 888.292.1912 (toll-free), the_staff@babesnetwork.org.

Central Cinema is a movie-dinner-theater, a full evening out all in one place. Waiters deliver food and beverages right to the tables in the theater, while audience members enjoy movies and local community events such as Positive Dreams. Central Cinema is inspired by the Parkway Theater in Oakland, CA, the Alamo Theater in Austin, TX, and the Olympic Theater in Centralia, WA. Central Cinema is located at 1411 21^st Ave, Seattle, WA 98122, on the corner of 21^st and Union. 206.328.3230, office@central-cinema.com.

Hope you can make it to a show ... or two ... or three!

It's Official!

Last Friday I went to the Court House and changed my name.*

On Saturday I went to the DMV and got my new license.**

Today I went to the Social Security office and updated my name with them, too.

On tap for tomorrow ... faxing all of the above to the bank and sending in my application for a new passport.

Who knew marriage would be so much work?!

*It was a pretty momentous occasion for me--I swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God and everything--but in the end the most memorable part of the day was the woman in front of me with six aliases. After the judge explained to her that her criminal record would be attached to the new name ("You do realize this would just be a 7th alias, right?"), she decided against the name change. Oops.

**Notice that my license expires on 2/29/2009. Does that mean I get a birthday 2 years in a row?!

"Happy Birthday to My Best Friend ...

I'm kidding, you're like my 3rd best friend, but they don't sell cards that say that."

That was just one of the many treasures among the Bald Guy greeting cards Graham and I found tonight as we were strolling around the U Village (possibly the yuppiest mall ever in the history of life) looking for Mothers' Day cards and cereal storage containers.

Another priceless one:
"I'm sorry about your break-up ... but to be honest, I always thought he was an asshole, and we all secretly made fun of you for dating him."

Oh! While we're talking about things that I have recently found amusing, have you heard of Knock Knock? Kudos to Emily & Brian for turning us on to the "All Out Of" grocery list. It makes so much more sense, and it's totally revolutionized our grocery shopping!

Speaking of revolutionary grocery shopping, when we moved into our new house (3 blocks from a fabulous Safeway) a few months ago, I bought us a granny cart (at Storables, which is located in the U Village) so we could do all our shopping on foot without having to carry tons of heavy bags. Graham was mortified, right up until I told him that Liz & Christian once used a similar cart to MOVE. Like from one apartment to another. In Brooklyn. I dubbed it a "Liz & Christian cart," and now he's, well, slightly less mortified. He only walks 5 feet behind me now.

I didn't buy a cell phone until 2003 ...

So I guess it's probably not much of a surprise that I waited until 2007 to start a blog. I honestly used to think cell phones were dumb. Then I moved to Washington, DC, and succumbed to peer pressure. These days, we don't even have a home phone line, and I send text messages (complete with occasional emoticons) almost every day.

It was pretty much the same with blogs. I couldn't imagine why anyone would ever want to read about the mundane details of my (or anyone else's, for that matter) daily life. And even more judgmentally, I thought it was the epitome of hubris to think someone might. But through their excellent examples (accompanied by much prodding, many reminders, occasional pleading and a life-changing introduction to Bloglines) friends dl004d, Enchanted Pants, Grand Marnier and Dr. SJB proved to me that blogs really do serve a purpose. Several, actually. So here I am ... jumping on another bandwagon, late in the game.

ANYHOW, I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with The SKBK Times just yet, but for now here are a few cool things I just learned about that I'd like to share:

• Give your mom a different kind of gift this Mother's Day. In honor of Mother's Day, and mothers around the world, please take a moment to visit the One Campaign and write your congressional representatives and encourage them to support the Global Child Survival Act.
• Read about and consider using Blackle, the Black Google, to save energy while searching.
• Want to send an E-card? Save endangered animals at the same time by visiting Conservation International.

Thanks for showing me the way, guys!