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.

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Now, GO FIND FUN!

BRAZOS BOOKSTORE LOVES KIDS.

This fall, Brazos Bookstore at 2421 Bissonnet, is upholding its tradition of bringing first caliber authors to Houston -- including ones that kids love. Mark your calendar for a special visit with John Grogan, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Marley and Me, for the perfect back-to-school family event at Brazos next Thursday, September 17 at 7pm. Marley's antics continue, this time for kids, in Grogan's new picture book, Marley Goes to School. All attendees must buy a copy of Marley Goes to School or show a Brazos Bookstore receipt for the book. Mr. Grogan will sign the books you buy from Brazos along with one other book from your home or library. His other titles, including Bad Dogs Have More Fun, The Longest Trip Home, and A Very Marley Christmas, will be available for sale at and before the event.

Call 713.523.0701 or visit www.brazosbookstore.com to reserve your copies. You can also check out the complete schedule of readings at the bookstore, as well as off-site events with such community partners as Inprint, World Affairs Council, and Asia Society.

BRING THE JEWISH FAITH ALIVE.

The Jewish Community Center is hosting “Judaism Alive: A New Year Celebration for Families” this Sunday, September 13 from 11am-1pm. This free festival will feature lots of fun (with some learning snuck in) for the kiddos including crafts, games, challah making, and honey tasting. The Jewish calendar begins annually with Rosh Hashanah, which is the first of the High Holidays and ends with the Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement and the most solemn and important day of the Jewish holidays. This year Rosh Hashanah falls on Saturday, September 19 and Yom Kippur is on Monday, September 28 (all Jewish holidays begin at sundown on the evening before the selected date).

The Jewish Community Center is located at 5601 S. Braeswood.

HERE A MUSEUM, THERE A MUSEUM.

You just got to explore the theatre programs in our town – so now it’s time to enjoy a free day in the Houston Museum District this Saturday, September 12 from 10am-5pm. The free event features free shuttle buses that you can board at any participating museum and a chance to spend the entire day exploring favorite museums and discovering new destinations. “Museum District Day” will feature fascinating exhibitions, hands-on activities, demonstrations and performances throughout the day. Seventeen museums will waive their general admission fee to offer the community the opportunity to enjoy the District’s diverse displays of art, science, nature and history. One of my favorite artists and a dear friend, Cleveland “Flower Man” Turner will be on hand to talk to kids and Lawndale will let kids decorate their back patio with chalk. For a full list of activities (and there is a LOT), log onto the Museum District’s website.

Participating museums include:

• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

• Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum

• Children’s Museum of Houston

• Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

• Czech Center Museum Houston

• The Health Museum

• Holocaust Museum Houston

• Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

• Houston Center for Photography

• Houston Museum of Natural Science

• The Jung Center

• The John C. Freeman Weather Museum

• Lawndale Art Center

• The Menil Collection

• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

• Rice University Art Gallery

• Rothko Chapel

THIS WEEK'S ATTRACTION...CANOEING IN HOUSTON. For more attractions, go to www.gishcreative.com/attractions.htm.

Canoeing in Houston? Yes, boys and girls, it’s true! You can take a paddle and go after it in one of our many area waterways, including Buffalo Bayou and Armand Bayou. The Buffalo Bayou Partnership offers monthly kayak trips and lists several organizations that rent canoes on their site because you can put in a boat anywhere you wish on the Bayou (check their site for a complete map of the Bayou). The Armand Bayou Nature Center hosts guided canoe trips on the second and fourth Saturday mornings from 8-11am and Jones Parks hosts occasional canoe trips on Cypress and Spring Creeks (and to improve canoeing skills, they offer a “Jr. Paddler” certification). On Saturday, September 19 at 1pm, the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center is hosting a special history/nature half-day trip down Buffalo Bayou. And Artist Boat offers “Eco-Art” and “Eco-Tour” adventures throughout the year at a variety of waterways, including those in Galveston. Happy Paddling!

THIRD ANNUAL "MASSAGE FOR THE CURE".

Next Tuesday, September 15, Houston Massage Envy Clinics are hosting the 3rd Annual "Massage for the Cure Day", a 14-hour event. It's a great way to relax with a therapeutic massage while helping to fight breast cancer as the event benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The event takes place at all twenty-seven Houston-area Massage Envy clinics and, for the first time, Massage for the Cure will go national at all of the more than 500 Massage Envy clinics around the country. Lance O'Pry, regional developer of Houston Massage Envy clinics, says their fundraising goal is $500,000, an achievable one with more than 500 Massage Envy clinics across 40 states participating. The fundraiser offers a one-hour therapeutic massage session for $35 of which $10 will be donated to the Komen Houston Affiliate to benefit Houston-area women for breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs. Additional donations are welcome.

Make an appointment now through the September 15 event three easy ways: 1) in person (see the full list of sites online), 2) by phone at 866.553.3689 or 3) online at www.massageenvy.com. All clinics will be open from 8am-10pm on the event day and reservations are being made on a first-come, first-served basis.

SEE THE PROCESS OF BIRTH IN A NEW LIGHT.

"Birth", a play by writer and childbirth advocate Karen Brody, is coming to Houston this Friday, September 11 and Saturday September 12 at 7pm and Sunday, September 13 at 2pm at Barnevelder Movement/ Arts Complex near Minute Maid Park. The play is presented by B.I.R.T.H. (Bringing Information and Resources to Houston) and captures the truth about our childbirth crisis today: that it is failing most low-risk pregnant women. The play, performed as part of a global activist theatre movement known as BOLD, uncovers the secret lives of low-risk women in labor as they confront coercion in hospitals and uncover “my body rocks” strategies for obtaining a powerful birth experience. Through the stories of eight women the audience begins to understand the truth behind how low-risk women are giving birth today.

$12 tickets available online at www.barnevelder.org or in person at A Woman’s Work (2401 Rice Boulevard, Houston); Nativiti (26614 Oak Ridge Drive, Spring) and Bay Area Birth Center (3210 Strawberry Road, Pasadena).

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

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