So Much Has Happened Event-wise, but I'm Too Exhausted to Keep up Daily. Can I Keep up Daily Posting in October?

We last spoke two days ago. I miss you already. It was also four events ago. Here's the lowdown.

On Wednesday night, we hosted the St. Peter and Paul Parish book club organization night. Anne and I spoke with general book club suggestions, offered our services, and seemed to emphasize what an important thing it was to not get personal with your book critiques. Then Paul Salsini and Liam Callanan talked about their experiences with their books and book clubs. Monica of SPP said that at least one club is forming as a result of our efforts. It was also a shopping night back to the parish.

And just to keep things interesting, I just came back from selling books at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser luncheon. The featured speaker was Sheryl WuDunn, whom I also sold books at once for Alverno. This time I go to see her slide show and program, a very inspiring talk about the great things that can come from helping women find education in the developing world. I'm told that the book, Half the Sky, can be daunting, particularly in the first half, because it more spells out the problems than offers solutions. But you couldn't help but want to help make change after listening to her talk.

Last night we hosted another book event about change, Michele Norris's appearance at Alverno's Pitman Theater for The Grace of Silence. We had a decent crowd (200 people, the best attendance yet of our three Alverno events) but I was still disappointed, as I was networking with two Alverno organizations, WUWM, and Reader's Choice. There's no question that the Milwaukee Film Festival hits my core audience for events. It's not that I wouldn't have them; it just adds to the outreach challenge. What was not disappointing was Norris's talk, a call to racial dialogue that called from her own experiences. Race is everybody's conversation, not just that of African Americans, was my take-away. And the questions were just great. It was terrific to have Mitch Teich there doing the intro. Here's a photo of them together.

Norris was an amazing combination of professional and person. I highly recommend getting tickets to her events in upcoming cities. She's at the Tattered Cover on October 2nd, Seattle's Town Hall on October 4th, Portland's Bagdad Theater on October 5th, and Sacramento's Crest Theatre on October 6th. Hey, I know where that is, I almost moved to Sacramento ten years ago. But I didn't. The events go through December. More here.

And finally, I'm just now getting ready for our event with Michael Grant at the Whitefish Bay Library. Hear more about 6:30 PM tonight. It's funny!

We've got a whole October's worth of events. Pick up our lovely taupe schedule at the store, or check out our events page here.