blog entry

Gifts with a local angle

Jenny

Here are a few ideas from my list: 

A subscription to Short Story:  a literary review published by Columbia’s Caroline Lord.  We wrote about Caroline in skirt! last year when she was getting her first issue ready for press.  Since then, she’s delivered three issues and been asked to read from her journal at a national festival of reviews in New York.  Because many magazines no longer publish short stories, when you give a subscription, you’re helping to keep this form alive.

Books for Oliver:  by Columbia writer Lee Rambo.  Lee taught school in Africa, in a village where children can’t attend school if they can’t afford to buy the books.  This story shows the lengths a family will go to see that their children get educations.  At the Happy Bookseller and online.

Ayala Asherov Kalus’s new cd:  Ayala is from Israel but now calls Columbia home.  She’s well-known in Israel for writing a top song, one that’s become an unofficial anthem for the country.  I heard her perform many of these songs back in the spring at the Columbia Jewish Center, in something she called the Tel Aviv Cafe.  She showed photos of her native city and explained how the songs related--it was terrific.  

Anson Mills grits:  my foodie friends in San Francisco think these are the ultimate gift from Columbia.   You can get them at the All-Local Farmers’ Market or online.

Feel free to add your ideas....