The folks at Six Words Memoirs are running a Twitter festival and asked me to propose a topic then judge it. The rules, people had to tweet their entries in exactly six words. Obviously under 140 characters.
Here's the Tweet I pitched.
Viewing entries tagged
NYC
A Conversation On Race w/@soledad_obrien, @baratunde, @TannerColby
Last week, I was part of an event I've wanted to pull off for over a year: a multiracial conversation about race with author Tanner Colby (Some Of My Best Friends Are Black) and journalist Soledad O'Brien. In just over an hour we discussed our books, our differing childhoods, and our aligned beliefs about how to keep the country moving in a forwardly direction with regard to race and equity. There was plenty of wine and several hilarious as well as poignant moments. I recommend watching the entire video.
Togather is the platform we used to organize the event, and they came through like champs, hooking us up with the conveniently-located and sexily situated Subculture event space in downtown Manhattan (where my NoHo people at!?). They handled the ticket sales, green room snacks, and more. Tanner and I previewed the event on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show a few days before the event, and that discussion of interracial friendships drove a lot of listeners into the audience.
You can order a two book bundle of How To Be Black and Some Of My Best Friends Are Black for a few more weeks, with proceeds benefitting Soledad's foundation. The funds help send girls of color to college and ensure their graduation
Photo uploaded by Rebecca Trent to Facebook
For three hours (0120 to 0420), I remotely covered the middle-of-the-night police action against the peaceably assembled at Zuccotti Park in New York. My sources were location-based twitter search, citizen and reporter tweets, live web feeds, the NYPD police scanner and traffic cams. Here is everything I tweeted in a pretty Storify slideshow. (you can see the flat version here)
Last weekend I biked down to Coney Island to partake of the delicious crustaceans at Clemente's Maryland Crab House in Sheepshead Bay. It's an 11-mile journey and completely worth it. One my way, racing down Ocean Ave, I spotted another pink bike. The woman who owned it, Noha, was sitting on a bench and screamed, "Hey, we have the same bike!" I slammed on the breaks and walked back to her.
Sure enough, we both have pink Schwinn Cruisers named Roxie. We couldn't believe it. I've seen other pink bikes and even cruisers but never another Roxie. Mine was given to me by my Dutch friend and superstar Kirsten Van Den Hul. We're thinking of starting a Roxie biking club. Seems like the Brooklyn thing to do, right?
Video by the NYC-based sketch group Political Subversities.
The Bacon Whiskey Freedom Party (by Baratunde) by baratunde
I am tired of all this U.S. debt ceiling talk. Let's just default already and start a #NewAmerica somewhere else. We'll need bacon. And whisk(e)y. And freedom. I recently asked Twitter about the pros and cons of forming a #BaconWhiskeyFreedom party.
All pros. So let's start building it.
Tonight I'm performing in the final Laughing Liberally show of the summer in NYC. The first 50 people to email laughingliberallynyc-AT-gmail.com (and get a confirmation) will get in for free. Either way, you should come. I'll talk about bacon and whiskey and freedom.
We can heal America guys.
I shot this with my iPhone 4 back in March during a massive, surprise hail storm in New York City. I was in Times Square. Listen closely to the audio. Play the video fullscreen. Allow mind to go somewhere much cooler and more refreshing.
You're welcome.
People often ask me what shows, besides my own, they should check out in NYC. I'm posting this entry to satisfy that need and will update regularly. Much of this list was informed by my friend and comedian Myq Kaplan.
One-stop shopping for good NYC shows: The Comic's Comic blog.
specific shows to check out (starting with free ones):
- Whiplash at UCB, 11pm mondays (hosted by Leo Allen)
- Sage Standup at Bar 82, 9pm tuesdays (hosted by me!)
- Big Terrific at Cameo, 8pm wednesdays (hosted by Max Silvestri)
- Comedy As A Second Language at Kabin, 9:30pm thursdays (hosted by Sean Patton and Chelsey Calloway)
- Hannibal Buress's show at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, 9pm sundays
other cheap shows:
- Tell Your Friends at Lolita Bar, 8pm tuesdays (hosted by Liam McEneaney)
- Punch Up Your Life at Housing Works, 8:30pm tuesdays (hosted by Joe Derosa and Jared Logan)
- anything at UCB
other free shows:
- Hot Soup, 8pm fridays
- Too Cool For School, 8pm fridays
- Bar 4 in park slope, 9pm sundays (hosted by Yannis Pappas)
other great shows:
- Moonwork, some saturdays in the village ($20 to get in, worth it, great shows, includes free beer)
- Sacapuntas!, first wednesday of every month at Bower Poetry Club. (hosted by Dan Allen)