Gish Picks: Week of February 25, 2009


Welcome to this week's "Gish Picks", where I highlight family-oriented cultural events, products or services. Please note that I "highlight" these events, but I don't know if they are appropriate for your particular children, so choose wisely based on age, maturity and interests. I know many of you go to events based on GISH PICKS recommendations; PLEASE remember to tell the organization that you are there because of us. Word-of-mouth like yours helps our business to grow. In the same spirit, please also feel free to share GISH PICKS with friends and families. Do you have something you would like to promote on Gish Picks? Advertisers can promote family-friendly events, products or services to Houstonians all over the city and the surrounding area who are active parents, involved citizens and great shoppers. We love doing this community service and want to keep it free for our readers but in order to justify the hours spent researching, writing and designing this newsletter, we need advertising support. If you'd like to learn more, please click below. Now, GO FIND FUN!

I'M GIVING AWAY TICKETS!

The Sam Houston Race Park is hosting the U.S. debut of "Artania" a circus event featuring Russian Cossack Warriors and cirque-style acrobats from March 14-April 12. I have pairs of tickets to give away for the 3pm show on March 21 to the first people that can name the first and last advertisers listed on my website for THE SUMMER BOOK 2008.

Please reply to this email with "TICKETS" in the subject line. IF YOU DO NOT HEAR BACK FROM ME, YOU HAVE NOT WON. Good luck!

"THE EDGE: HIP HOP FROM ACROSS AMERICA".

Dance Houston presents a spectacular festival featuring the latest dance moves and styles with over 150 local dancers hitting the stage at The Wortham Center/Cullen Theatre downtown this Saturday, February 28 at 8pm (doors open at 7pm). The dance crew Headliner So Real returns to Houston for this special one-night engagement. After winning 2nd place on America's Best Dance Crew last summer, the crew has been touring the nation with nonstop performances. Also featured in the line-up are hometown favorites Wyld Styl, Ghost Crew, and Planet Funk. Joining the ranks are up-and-comers HIStory, The 8th Edition, ILL-Ovation and Fyasko. Championship high school team Inertia Dance Company rounds out the festival with impressive skill and artistry. "The Edge" highlights the most progressive and organically trained dancers in Houston. As the biggest hip hop dance festival in Houston, it's the best way to spend an evening enjoying live performances of the dance that defines today's youth culture.

Tickets start at $15.

FOTOFUN FOR KIDS THIS WEEKEND.

Here’s a great way to help FotoFest and their Literacy Through Photography© program, an in-school writing and photography curriculum. Join them this Saturday, February 28 from 1-4pm at Vine Street Studios (1113 Vine Street) for “FotoSynthesis – See and Be Green!”. This-child focused event offers a chance for kids to learn about the environment, recycling, and a sustainable way of life through fun activities like making crafts from recycled materials, learning about local recycling efforts, sustainable gardening, reduction of waste, and other educational and fun activities such as making “sunprints,” tie-dying reusable bags, engaging in a photographic scavenger-hunt, and dressing up for portraits in front of a “green” screen. These FotoFun events are great because parents and children take part together and learn not only about special subjects, such as stewardship of the earth, but also about the LTP program. And the kids have a great time with each other! Literacy Through Photography© is the classroom-based educational component of FotoFest International. It’s a multi-lesson curriculum program combining visual literacy and writing designed to strengthen the learning process and creative thinking in students grades 3-12. The LTP program has grown since its founding as a pilot project in 1990 to a full-scale photography and writing literacy program that serves over 2,500 students in over 100 classrooms at public, inner-city schools throughout the Houston-area. The money raised at “See and Be Green!” supports the FotoFest LTP program working in inner-city schools throughout Houston.

Tickets are $50/child (adults are free).

THIS ONE'S FOR TEENS WHO LIKE TO GET CRAFTY.

Lawndale Studio Artist Kevin Curry is hosting a "Quilting Bee-hemoth" this Saturday, February 28 from noon-5pm onsite at Lawndale Art Center. Kevin invites everyone to become part of his ongoing "Housewarming" project through the cutting, sewing and sorting of fabric as well as the laying out of patterns to be handed off to those sewing [either at Lawndale or at their leisure]. Three sewing machines will be on hand and anyone is free to bring their own if they wish. All participants are also invited to bring any fabric that they wish to have included in this piece. All ages and abilities are invited but there will be hot irons, sewing machines, and sharp cutting tools, so this event is best for teens or mature children who are with their parents at all times. Everyone in attendance will become part of the social and interpersonal aspect of this project and its outcome, in which Curry is constructing an oversized quilt to cover the entire outside of a house here in Houston. Made entirely from donated and thrift store purchased fabrics, Curry's intention is to address the metaphorical and physical embracing of the present by the past. The quilt is sewn following a traditional 'log-cabin' pattern that has been enlarged fourfold. So far over 800 square feet has been completed, with many more to go. Curry is in the Lawndale Artist Studio Program, which provides three artists with non-residential studio space on the third floor of the Center.

The Center is located at 4912 Main Street and is open Monday-Friday from noon-5pm and Saturday from noon-5pm. Admission is free.

PARLEZ FRANÇAIS AT THE ALLIANCE.

The French Alliance is starting up a new series of French classes for children this Saturday, February 28 (they run through April 11). Their children’s program immerses children ages 4-15 in the French language, allowing them to learn in a natural way, through visual, kinetic and auditive experiences. Classes meet in three-week sessions Monday-Thursday mornings from 9:30am until noon. Tuition is $350 for the 3-week sessions. Registration must be in advance or a $25 late fee will be assessed and there is a one-time registration fee of $15 for new students. You may register by phone anytime using a credit card.

YOGA BIRTHDAY PARTIES FOR KIDS, TEENS AND FAMILIES!

What would it feel like to be a tree? How about a cat? Create a fun, healthy birthday experience with yoga! Melanie Harrell will bring mats to your location and teach a specially designed class for the birthday child and friends. Six themes to choose from for younger children (ocean, forest, jungle, farm, garden, “scales, wings and crawling things”). Older children and teens can opt for active or relaxing classes, or design their own. One-hour birthday classes are $175 for up to 12 guests, $12 for each additional child. (Note: Parties for children ages three to five are 45 minutes.). Don’t have a space? Your child wants a different theme? The birthday child is over 21? Just ask -- yoga is all about flexibility!

Melanie Harrell has been teaching yoga since 1997. She offers beginning, intermediate and advanced children’s classes at Post Oak School and School of the Woods and is the yoga instructor for the Houston Montessori Center. Contact Melanie at mharrell4@sbcglobal.net or call 713.906.4234 to schedule your party.

For more about my marketing company, Gish Creative, and the services we offer, please click here. You are on this list because I thought this e-newsletter would be helpful to you or because you signed up for it. However, if you want off this list, click here and you're a goner. Please feel free to tell your friends to subscribe by clicking here.

My goal is to serve as an information resource for Houston parents through my various endeavors, including:

GISH PICKS, which is online (www.thesummerbook.com/gishpicks_archive.html) and in the Houston Community Newspaper group (www.hcnonline.com);

THE SUMMER BOOK®: A GUIDE TO HOUSTON DAY CAMPS AND CLASSES FOR KIDS AND TEENS (www.thesummerbook.com) which comes out annually on March 1 and is sold at bookstores all over Houston, including Barnes and Noble and Borders; and

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS, PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS, AND ART PROGRAMS that cover topics such as summertime fun, passion-finding (for adults, children, and parents helping their children), marketing, historic preservation, art classes, and activism. All of these services can be tailored for any audience and budget.

The purpose of GISH PICKS is to help parents become aware of all the fun things they can do with their children in Houston and the surrounding area, so HAPPY TRAVELS! Please do give me feedback and ideas, as you are out there in the trenches also looking for interesting things for your family and I want to hear what you find. If you are having trouble getting to a website listed here, try hitting the “Ctrl” button and left-clicking on the web address, which should make it “live”.


Sarah Gish Gish Creative 1940-A Fountainview, PMB 116 Houston, Texas 77057 phone/fax: 713.532.1173 email: sarah@gishcreative.com web: www.gishcreative.com and: www.thesummerbook.com and: www.saveourlandmarks.org © 2009 Sarah Gish Designed by West of the World