May 1, 2008
Hello, everybodeeeeee!!!
Ah, spring has sprung. Even though it's 48 degrees and raining, I have lost my annual fear that spring will never ever arrive. We have tulips, we have lilacs, we have ants. Lila likes to pat them. We are celebrating spring with some major events.
News! How to Be an Adult available for online order shortly and at shows starting this weekend May 3rd!
In 1991, Katryna graduated from college. She was a religion major embarking on a career as a folk singer. She had absolutely no clue how to do anything vaguely grown-up, except drive a car. But she didn't know how to take care of the car, change its registration from Virginia to Connecticut, figure out how to get health insurance, or put together a balanced meal. Naturally, she turned to me, her older sister with whom she lived. Except for the balanced meal part, I wasn't much help to her (and come to think of it, it took me until about 1998 to realize a meal needed to have protein in it to be considered "balanced"). "Can we go to the book store and find a book called How to Be an Adult?" she asked. We could go to the bookstore, and there even was a book by that title (it's by David Richo and it's a handbook for psychological growth––really great, but not what she wanted). So she decided we should write such a book. That meant we would have to do research, and we were busy trying to get famous in our folk-rock band, The Nields.
Fast-forward fifteen years. I'm pregnant and Katryna is the mother of two kids. Neither of us knows how to be an adult, but we've been passing pretty effectively for several years now (at least we fooled her kids). But something about being pregnant lit a fire under me, and I decided the time had come to finally write this book. I figured the research would do me good. And so, folks, two years later, I am pregnant again and the book is coming out on May 1!
Some of the topics we cover:
- How to figure out what you want to be when you grow up
- How to get a job
- How to get along with annoying people
- How to take care of yourself, inside and out (nutrition, exercise, mental health, etc.)
- How to be a good citizen of the world (and lower your carbon footprint)
- How to rent an apartment
- How to choose a pet
- How to keep your house clean (enough)
- How to fix a broken toilet
- How to have a swell dinner party
- How to cook lots of yummy things
- How to budget and save
- How to get insurance – health, auto, life
- How to take care of your car
- How to register to vote
- How to date
- How to get married
- How to get divorced
- And some final thoughts on parenthood
The book will be available from our website www.nields.com which will link you to our store at www.bulletproofartists.com and at our shows, as well as from some local bookstores, like Broadside in Northampton where we'll be doing a reading on Wednesday May 21.
May 3rd, we are also celebrating spring with a double header at Passim in Cambridge with our FULL BAND!! Two shows, 7:00pm and 9:30pm. Please come! We will rock the house! (Or the basement, as it were....)
On May 10 (right after my husband Tom graduates from grad school) we are zipping up to Kennebunk, ME to do a show at the Kennebunk Folk Society. I can't wait!! We love Maine, and have such good memories of the last time we were there....in April.
On May 18, a Sunday, we are doing an 11am Children's show at Universal Kids in Northampton. This show is a benefit for Safe Passage, which is a wonderful organization in our town. To read more about what they do, go to http://www.safepass.org.
On May 21, we are doing a reading at Broadside Books in Northampton at 7pm to celebrate the release of How to Be an Adult. There might be some singing too.
Sweet May. Bring it on.
We love you!
Nerissa and Katryna
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