more love. some pictures. and a little DC history.

Cousins! Normally they work the wedding circuit together (ring-bearer/flower girl) but branched out into the literary scene by attending my DC book party last weekend.

This one was at the art and love filled house of Sharon and Gar Alperovitz. Below is a photo of me reading out loud. One of my brothers suggested that next time I leave a few pages for people to tackle on their own. We’re not speaking.

Sharon makes you feel good just by being near her. Keith, my (wonderful and deserving) husband, is getting a fix.

Gar Alperovitz is a veteran of many of his own book parties (he is a poly-published, world-renowned political economist.)

Me inscribing a book for Helen, my son’s godmother, a mainstay of our sprawling family. I think I was having writer’s block.

My little sister, Eden. She’s not quite a year younger than her niece, our youngest, Maggie. Neither Maggie nor her sister, Emily, are featured in this photo display. Oh well. Next time. Ten points, though, for anyone who can diagram the Raskin family tree.

I’ve been friends with Beth and Mike Barnet (on my left) ever since our fathers started the Institute for Policy Studies together 50 years ago. They were both in President Kennedy’s administration but left over the war in Vietnam. In middle school we used to go up into the Barnet’s attic and have bootie fights. This involved turning off the lights and chucking things at each other. Lamps, shoes and old toys were fair game. There were also reports that a dead rodent once became airborne, too. Fortunately I missed that. Doug, far right, also used to participate. I don’t think Katie ever did. Since we were 10, we’ve called each other ‘mitten twin’ because we shared a pair when one of us (her) went out into the snow without any.

They also used to call up when the other one was doing radio interviews and use fake accents to ask goofy questions. My father really got his when he was punked by Ali G. years later.

Ginny Diamond (left) and Lynn Raskin, my step-mother. Two amazing women.

Eileen bought 9 (!) books for friends. And one for her enormous family’s Yankee Holiday Pile (from which coveted gifts are gleefully snatched from siblings, parents and cousins.) I will be crushed if Close is the last item left in the middle of the floor. Landa (center) and I went to high school together. Her mom was the first woman senior editor at the National Geographic — and also wrote the legends beneath the amazing photos. In a publication like the Geographic, captions are serious business. Landa and I, however, were not serious. We would giggle uncontrollably in math class, compelling the teacher to separate us. Every time he turned around to write on the board, though, we’d inch our chairs back together. I saw him years later and could tell he was still mad. And Deirdre taught Landa and I English at Edmund Burke High School. Her love of language and lessons took :). The two of them flew in to surprise me at the party. (My brain truly could not process what my eyes were seeing when they walked through the door.)

Julia is one of my auxiliary daughters. She was also DC Teacher of the Year.

My son, Zack, spouse, Keith, son-in-law Asa and father, Marcus.

Baby Myrna who attended with her aunt Zina. I know Myrna’s namesake is hanging out with my mom at an ongoing party in Heaven.

Everyone below has been tagged already except for Kari Alperovitz , on the right. She was my very first friend, ever. Close friends.