Gish Picks: curated culture for kids & adults (the weekend of April 21-23, 2017)

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Welcome to GISH PICKS: CURATED CULTURE FOR KIDS AND ADULTS! I’m Sarah Gish, an info-preneur and culture sleuth who finds the unusual and cool in Houston each and every week. Join me as I shine a light on Houston gems and unique Houston fun. I love Houston and want to show you the people and the places and the events that make it great (see more about my wishes for that here). And I want to make it easy for you so I sort through the cornucopia of events offered in our wonderful city each weekend and I PICK only three each for families and adults to recommend to you. That way you’ll be all set when Friday hits! Speaking of Friday, please join me for my weekly PICKS-ON-WHEELS in my Phoenix Rising Art Car. Each Friday at noon, I’ll be at a different cool place – meeting people, introducing what they do and their mission, and wandering around. It’s my way of bringing GISH PICKS to life! Tune in on Fridays at noon here. It is TOTALLY fun and I’d love for you to see them and join in by liking and commenting!

We are the most diverse city in the country, not only because of the over 100 languages spoken here every day, but also because of the diversity of events offered and places to hang our (cowboy) hats. Please be sure to tell your friends about GISH PICKS – the more people who know about these unique cultural events, the more unique cultural events the organizations will offer us. Please also tell the orgs that I sent you. My business grows by word of mouth so I thank you for your continued support. Here’s to many more years of GISH PICKS!

A note about the social media for GISH PICKS: please LIKE our Facebook page for family PICKS and our Facebook page for adult PICKS . Be sure to click “See first” in the dropdown menu on the LIKE button so you won’t miss a post! And please follow me on Instagram and Twitter. You’ll get all my CULTURE PICKS and more that way. And there’s one last way to stay in touch with me! I organize many events, such as labyrinth walks and workshops, so if you’d like to be informed of those before everyone else, please subscribe to my Gish Creative list here.

READY FOR A GREAT WEEKEND?!

This Saturday, April 22, is the annual celebration of the big green and blue ball we live on – Earth Day! Now more than ever we need to focus our minds and hearts on our planet because it is under attack daily and we need to save it so that it will be around for generations to come. The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries, all lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. In Houston, we celebrate “Earth Month” each April and there are plenty of activities every day, as you can see in this Citizens’ Environmental Coalition calendar. CEC will be the host of Houston’s Earth Day 2018.

Starting this Saturday, April 22, is “National Money Smart Week,” which is a great chance to focus on financial literacy. And...for something completely different...Compassionate Houston is celebrating another installment of their popular “Compassion Week.” More about the kickoff at Levy Park and the over 45 different compassion events can be found in my PICKS below. By the way, Levy Park is Houston’s newest green space and already 8,000-10,000 folks are visiting it each day! We Houstonians love to get outdoors while we can.

Each week I include a VIDEO PICK – one that is either focused on Houston or Houston-made. Sometimes I really struggle to find a good video so this week I decided to start highlighting videos by two of my favorite organizations: The Heritage Society and the Greater Houston Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Both organizations have a wealth of information – check out their websites and also visit them in person (for the GHCVB, go to their Visitor’s Center) and you’ll see what I mean. This week’s VIDEO PICK is a “HAM Slice of Houston History” about Sam Houston Park, the city’s oldest park which was opened in 1899. If you tuned in to last week’s PICKS-ON-WHEELS, you saw my tour of the Heritage Society – it’s here for your viewing pleasure. I had a blast visiting with their Buildings Curator Emily Ardoin.

Have a great weekend, love one another, please share this, and please go IGNITE YOUR LIFE!

Picks for Kids the Weekend of April 21-23, 2017

Picks for Adults the Weekend of April 21-23, 2017

INPRINT

I just love the Inprint “Cool Brains! Inprint Readings for Young People!” series because it allows kids to meet authors in person. This Sunday, April 23, at 3pm (doors open at 2:30pm), Inprint is bringing Dianne K. Salerni to Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School, where she will make a presentation about Book 3 in “The Eighth Day” series, called The Morrigan’s Curse. After the presentation, she will take questions from the audience, followed by a book sale and signing, giving fans a chance to visit with her. Blue Willow Bookshop will have books for sale.

COMPASSIONATE HOUSTON

This Saturday, April 22, from 10am-4pm, come see me at the “Compassion Fest” at Levy Park, which is the kickoff event for the third annual “Compassion Week,” organized by Compassionate Houston. Compassionate Houston was created after Houston was designated as a City of Compassion in 2015; this year’s “Compassion Week” will be from April 22-29 and includes over 45 events organized by 75 groups dedicated to love, service, and compassion.

SAN JACINTO MUSEUM OF HISTORY
TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE
SAN JACINTO VOLUNTEERS

Booming cannons, cracking musket fire, thundering hooves, and battle cries will resound this Saturday, April 22 from 10am-6pm on the grounds surrounding the San Jacinto monument as hundreds of history re-enactors recreate the events leading up to Texas winning her independence at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in the “San Jacinto Day Festival and Battle Reenactment” organized by the San Jacinto Museum of History, Texas Parks & Wildlife, and the San Jacinto Volunteers. The “San Jacinto Day Festival and Battle Reenactment” is an all day, admission-free event full of music, entertainment, games, and fun set amidst living history. The battle reenactment, which is the most popular event of the day, begins at 3pm.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE SHADE

William Shakespeare’s birthday is April 23 so it’s time for the annual “Shakespeare in the Shade” celebration at Burroughs Park in Tomball. This year’s production is “All’s Well that Ends Well” and there will be shows on Friday, April 21 at 7:30pm; Saturday, April 22 at 2pm and 7pm; and Sunday, April 23 at 2pm. There will be a “Shakespeare Festival” on Saturday, April 22 from 1-7pm with entertainment and live music, children’s crafts, and more. The event is free and will be held rain or shine.

EXPLORATION GREEN CONSERVANCY, INC.

Exploration Green Conservancy, Inc. will be hosting an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 22 from 9am-1pm at Exploration Green. Kids are welcome and they’ll have plenty of hot dogs and activities for everyone plus a tour of the Exploration Green site, which is a 200-acre green space in Clear Lake that is being developed for public use. The space will eventually incorporate jogging trails, picnic areas, streams and ponds, and much more.

PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

Texas Southern University is the host of an exhaustive exhibition about America’s most popular game – “Gridiron Glory” is on view at their museum through April 30. The traveling exhibition is a showcase of football memorabilia, informational displays, and film clips that was organized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tickets are $20 and the Museum is open Tuesdays-Fridays from 10am-5pm and Saturdays and Sundays from noon-5pm.

“RISE” BRACELETS MAKE GREAT GRADUATION GIFTS!

I’ve been making “RISE” bracelets in honor of woman power and to raise funds for both the Women’s March on Washington and the Women’s Home, which assists women who are homeless due to addiction, prison, or economics. It’s been my honor to take donations in exchange for the bracelets and then to donate the money to good causes, causes that help women. In this time of an assault on women, it’s important to RISE and be strong and take back our power! That’s a great message for women and a particularly strong one for women who are graduating. Find out more about the project and order your very own RISE bracelet(s) here. Fifty percent of all purchases will go back to the Women’s Home.

GISH PICKS: CURATED CULTURE FOR KIDS AND ADULTS is a free weekly email in which I cull through the HUNDREDS of events offered in our city each week and PICK just three for adults and three for kids to recommend. It’s #GishPicks #CuratedCulture to help you plan your weekend! 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? You can promote cultural events, products or services to Houstonians all over the city and the surrounding area who are curious individuals, 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.

The purpose of GISH PICKS is to help Houstonians become aware of all the interesting and unique things they can do in Houston and the surrounding area. Exploring your city is a great way to #IgniteYourOwnLife and we are so happy to help you do that. Please do give me feedback and ideas, as you are out there in the trenches also looking for interesting things and I want to hear what you find.

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For more about my personal, family, and business enrichment 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. Please feel free to tell your friends to subscribe by clicking here. My goal is to serve as an information resource for Houston kids and adults through my various endeavors, including:

GISH PICKS: CURATED CULTURE FOR KIDS AND ADULTS, which is online and emailed out to thousands of Houstonians who love to explore our city;

THE SUMMER BOOK® ONLINE, a searchable database of over 200 Houston day camps and classes for kids and teens;

IGNITE YOUR LIFE!, my art project and community campaign whose goal is to inspire people around the world to light a fire to their own passions and to create connections among people;

INTUITIVE GUIDANCE SESSIONS, which are one-on-one consultations with me at Body Mind & Soul on Mondays. Sessions are one hour or thirty minutes and I can help you with personal and/or work questions;

Quarterly “WHAT’S YOUR PURPOSE?” workshops at Body Mind & Soul, check the store’s online calendar for dates and more information; and

OTHER SERVICES including SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS, MARKETING, PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS, GUIDANCE SESSIONS FOR FINDING YOUR PURPOSE, and ART PROGRAMS. Talks and workshops cover topics such as summertime fun, passion-finding (for adults, children and families), marketing, historic preservation, art classes, activism, and more. All of these services can be tailored for any audience and budget.

Sarah Gish
(Photo: Two Birds Photography)


Sarah Gish GISH CREATIVE 1940-A Fountainview, PMB 116 Houston, Texas 77057 phone: 713.492.1173 artist.mama.connector.igniter. © 2017 Sarah Gish Designed by West of the World