At Oak Park Temple, December 14 at 7-9 pm:

2nd THURSDAY – OPT Live!

Our monthly event with interviews, stories, music, pizza (incl. gluten free!), and hanging-out!

An initiative aiming to getting to know each other better while featuring members of

the amazing OPT community!

December Interview Guest:

Writer Mary Grace (“M.G.”) Bertulfo!

Mary Grace has written professionally for television and children’s education in such venues as CBS, Pearson Education Asia, and Schlessinger and for conservation magazines such as Sierra and Chicago Wilderness. Her award-winning fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in Growing Up Filipino II, Our Own Voice, and various anthologies. Mary Grace is a member of the international N.V.M. and Narita Gonzalez Writers Group, has served on the board of the Oak Park Arts District and was a network rep for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

In 2017, she founded Banyan, an Asian American Writers Collective whose mission is to promote the visibility of Asian American Writers in Chicagoland and to uplift community spirit through the arts. She has an MA in cultural anthropology from UC Berkeley and an MFA in fiction at Southern New Hampshire University, specializing in environmental writing as their Orion scholar. Mary Grace was also awarded the Lynn Safford Memorial Prize.

She paddles rivers and lakes, leads woodland clean-ups, stewards her native prairie garden, and lives in a ramshackle, eco-friendly house with her spouse, and fluffy dog.

In our OPT community she is also known as the wife of Alan Schwartz the mother of harpist and composer, Ariel Schwartz.

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December Interview Host:

Barbara Brotman!

(Former journalist at the Chicago Tribune)

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December Musical Guests:

From the "Art Harrison’s Bluegrass All-Stars":

Ben Stark (guitar) and Dave Swain (fiddle)!

Ben, upper right. Dave, left.

Moth-style Storytelling:

YOU are invited to participate in our version, The Butterfly!

                                                               This month's prompt: “”

                                                  Keep it under 5 minutes, and go for it!

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The Butterfly!

YOU are invited to participate in our version of Moth-style Storytelling.

This month's prompt:

“Precious Memories from Nature”

Keep it under 5 minutes, and go for it!

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Door Prize!

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- Tickets at the door: $4.50 (includes drinks)  /  $9 (includes drinks and pizza)

- No RSVP necessary.

- This event is arranged by ArtsUp! – OPT’s Creative Community.

- Questions? beritengen27@gmail.com

WELCOME!