Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:39:41 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Karen Schwartz :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Karen+Schwartz istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/parenting/music-magic-monsters/40039/ Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST From new exhibits to holiday festivities, autumn in New York is a wonderland for families with children. This fall, even perennial favorites have something new to offer. Tomorrow, the Children's Museum of Manhattan (212 W. 83rd St., between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, 212-721-1234) opens its new "PlayWorks" exhibit. Designed around the idea that young children learn by playing, the exhibit — which includes an alphabet-centric alligator and a mini–New York dubbed the "Little Apple" — offers a... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/style/wrapping-up-baby/25250/ Tue, 3 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST Baby slings may have simple origins, but these days, even the most basic things can become luxuries. At Psny, the carriers - which are large pieces of cloth draped around parent and child - are made of all-natural, handmade fabrics. And though slings are a staple of attachment parenting, the earthy school of child-rearing popularized by Dr. William Sears, they're also about looking good. "People are viewing them as fashion items," the store's manager, Maya Omori, said. "Slings are good for the... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/style/party-with-the-purcells/24054/ Tue, 6 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST "Tis the season of somewhat-stressful party throwing. And right about now, it helps to know that even entertaining experts have had their own learning curves. Sisters Lauren Purcell and Anne Purcell Grissinger - authors of the recently published "Cocktail Parties, Straight Up!" (Wiley, $16.95) - moved to New York together in 1993. And though their ambition was to throw great cocktail parties, it took a while to make it happen. Their first foray, a New Year's bash in the Upper West Side... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/chat-with-the-author/23258/ Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST The Brooklyn Chronicles, our nearly two-year experiment in newspaper novels, wrapped last week with the protagonist, Eve, giving birth to her first child, Noah Daniel Abramson. We sat down with the author, Karen Schwartz, this week to reminisce about the story and guess at some of the character's future. Her first novel, "Clearing the Aisle," is available from Simon & Schuster, and you can read the full Brooklyn Chronicles at www.nysun.com/archive_chronicles.php. The New York Sun: What... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/end-the-beginning/22904/ Fri, 11 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST "Are you sure this won't be a bother?" I asked my friend Matthew. We were on the way to his apartment to see my nemesis, his wife Courtney, so that I could meet their new baby, Annie - who had the name I'd planned to give my to-be-born-any-day-now baby if I had a girl. I'd been avoiding going over there for obvious reasons, but while debating whether or not to move my car for street parking, I'd run into Matthew on the street, so now I was stuck. "Of course it won't be," Matthew said, genial as... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/delayed-arrival/22561/ Fri, 4 Nov 2005 00:00:00 EST "Still no baby yet, huh?" This time it was my friend Allison. I was now past due. As if we weren't anxious enough, every ring of the phone seemed to bring forth another person asking this same question. "Nope," I said. "But it's getting pretty crowded in there." Sooner or later, this belly would no longer be big enough for the both of us. I was hoping for sooner. If another week passed with no baby, the doctor was planning to induce - or, as Andy liked to call it, evict. I told Allison all... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/use-the-name-drop-the-frenemy/21536/ Fri, 14 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST As if the final weeks of pregnancy aren't uncomfortable enough, I've spent the last few reeling from the news that Courtney, my nemesis, stole my girl name. "She didn't exactly steal it," my husband Andy has pointed out. "She used it. She didn't know we'd chosen that name." This was just semantics. Since it was Courtney, she probably picked up some kind of name vibe off and run with my name just to goad me. I could only kick myself. Just a few weeks before, we'd been out to dinner with Courtney... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/arts/singing-the-preggers-blues/20828/ Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Like everyone else in our patch of Brooklyn, Andy and I spent last Sunday at the Atlantic Antic, a sort of giant block party-cum-street fair that takes place on the normally vehicle-heavy Atlantic Avenue every September. When we lived in Manhattan, we got used to street fairs routinely shutting down chunks of Amsterdam and Columbus avenues. But, despite some overlap in street fair food offerings, the Antic has a distinctly different feel. Here, the vendors are much more homegrown. Where you... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/in-the-land-of-baby-speak/20430/ Fri, 23 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST I was walking - very slowly - down Clinton Street when a familiar voice rang out behind me. "You still haven't given birth?" it said. I turned to find Greg Weitz, macho magazine writer and resuscitated friend, gaining ground a few paces behind me. Coffee in hand, newspaper tucked under arm, Greg appeared to have just stepped out of the little red deli. As he stepped closer, I was able to read the writing on his T-shirt: New York - the "o" in York was a heart - Is for Haters. He could not have... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/arts/avoiding-the-jennifer-trap/20090/ Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST "What do you think of Daniel?" I asked Andy. He was installing the new flat-screen television he claimed was an essential part of our apartment baby-proofing plan. I was sitting on our fake Eames chair with my feet on the ottoman and a pile of elevation-enhancing pillows. "Daniel who?" he asked. "Not Daniel the person," I said. "Daniel the baby name." Ever since we'd gone to dinner with Matthew, my platonic childhood friend, and his wife, Courtney, my nemesis, I'd been obsessed with names... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/calendar/winning-the-name-game/19772/ Fri, 9 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST "This should be a fun evening," I grumbled to Andy. We were on our way to Park Slope to meet Matthew, my platonic childhood friend, and Courtney, his wife and my nemesis, for dinner. Because Courtney and I were so close to our due dates, the four of us were all stuck in town over the holiday weekend. Because I'd bumped into Matthew in the ice cream section of our local supermarket - and because he was oblivious to the shared antipathy between his wife and me - we were now off to break bread... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/dining-out-before-baby/19513/ Fri, 2 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST "Maybe we should make some plans for the three-day weekend," Andy suggested. The sentence was simple enough, but it was rich with meaning. My husband was really saying, "Thanks to this pregnancy, we're stuck here in the city yet again, and there's only so many times you can see 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin.'" I was too far along, my doctor said, to be more than an hour away from the hospital. "I'd love to make plans," I said - in our marriage, "maybe we should make plans" means "maybe Eve should... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/new-millenniums-dyn-o-mite/19235/ Fri, 26 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST As if being pregnant in August in New York City wasn't enough, the fallout from my gossip column photo with the Celebrity is continuing. Under normal circumstances, I would have been somewhat excited to have my image on Page Six. But, as it happened, the picture was quite unflattering. I looked enormous in it. And, as if that weren't bad enough, the caption said they hoped I was pregnant. "Was that you in the paper?" my landlord/next door neighbor Johnny asked as I waddled down the steps of my... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/yes-thats-me-and-no-im-not-that-heavy/18892/ Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST "I'd say this qualifies as 'Prenatal Pampering,'" my friend the Celebrity was saying. We were sitting in side-by-side whirlpool chairs getting sinfully indulgent pedicures. "Umm," I agreed. I was quite busy enjoying having my swollen Fred Flintstone-like ankles rubbed and found forming full sentences too much work. I closed my eyes, swirled my other foot around in the rose petal-filled water, soaked in the sounds of the oddly not annoying New Age music, and thought about the onomatopoetic-ness... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/arts/celebrity-swag-and-masterpieces/18488/ Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST Just when I thought my budding friendship with The Celebrity was taking on a normal, just-like-any-other-neighborhood-pals hue, she went and said the following: "Do you want to come and get a prenatal massage with me? There's a spa in SoHo who will do it for free, so that InStyle will give them a mention in some upcoming 'prenatal pampering' spread." I'd certainly heard of the spa she named. We were at our usual hangout, the adorable sandwich and smoothie place. I was there working, and she'd... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/parenting/plot-twists/18219/ Mon, 8 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST Chick lit is growing up. Rather than looking for Mr. Right, today's crop of Bridget Joneses is dealing with diaper changes. A recent entrant into this field of "Mommy Lit" is Katherine Stewart's "The Yoga Mamas" (Berkley Trade Paperback, 340 pages, $14), a fun and funny novel about a group of women who meet and become friends in a SoHo prenatal yoga class. Ms. Stewart, herself a downtown resident and the mother of a 3-year-old girl, recently discussed the novel and its New York themes. Q: What... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/building-a-bond-on-island-time/18167/ Fri, 5 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST Over the past few weeks, Bobby, our Caribbean contractor, and I have settled into a companionable rhythm. Sometime after 11 o'clock, he buzzes. When I answer the door, he says, "Bobby here." He comes in, and I offer him coffee. He refuses and asks me, "How's that baby boy doing in there?" We don't know the baby's gender, but Bobby is certain of it. So are the old men who congregate at the tables outside Vinnie's, the pizza place across the street. And the Chinese mother and daughter at the dry... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/arts/celebrity-at-any-cost/17934/ Tue, 2 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST When I first heard that Kathy Griffin, the abrasive comic and former sitcom sidekick, had a reality show debuting this week, I groaned. Just what the world needs - yet another low-level Hollywood type with a camera crew and the same old dream of climbing a few rungs on the celebrity ladder. Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King have attempted to parody the same phenomenon in HBO's "The Comeback," a stunningly poor attempt to ask the question underlying all celeb-reality efforts: Have these... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/working-on-island-time/17814/ Fri, 29 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST There is only one thing that makes you feel more stressed out than expecting a baby: getting "work done" in your apartment. Even though we were only renting, Andy and I wanted to make a few improvements to the place before the baby's arrival. We asked our next-door neighbor landlord if it would be okay. "Sure," Johnny said. He was sitting on his stoop, talking on his cell phone. "Only helps my property value," he winked and added, "You got someone to help you out? Cause I have a great guy... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/style/babies-with-attitude/17580/ Tue, 26 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST Adults have been dressing younger and younger in recent years - sharing in teenage trends from low-rise jeans to this season's flowy bohemian skirts. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before the line between adult and children's clothing styles was blurred even further. As even the most cursory stroll through the Brownstone Brooklyn Baby Neighborhoods makes clear, studiously casual moms and dads are now styling their offspring as mini-hipsters. The days of Peter Pan collars and Little... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/dance-of-the-frenemies/17450/ Fri, 22 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST "So how'd it go?" the Celebrity asked me when I entered our mutual hangout, the adorable sandwich and smoothie place. She was referring to the real-life meeting of fellow pregnant Citybaby message-boarders I'd recently attended. The Celebrity had convinced me to go, and I knew she would want all the details. "Well," I said, "it was interesting. But I wasn't there long. Turns out, I knew the person organizing it. "When the Celebrity said "Oh," I explained that Courtney was the wife of an old... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/when-virtual-meets-reality/17085/ Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST Earlier this week, amid much discussion of Catherine Zeta-Jones's pre- and post- pregnancy weight, the following was posted on the Citybaby message board: "Bklyn Hot Mamas-To-Be - Let's meet up!" It named a date when I wasn't really doing anything, a convenient early-evening time, and a place - a faux English tea shop - in striking distance from my apartment. Almost immediately, people began responding in the affirmative. "I'll be there!" someone chirped via keyboard. "Can't wait!" wrote... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/believing-in-magic/16741/ Fri, 8 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST Since moving to our new apartment, I have heard rumors about the Magic Block. "You have a car?" my landlord/next door neighbor Johnny asked the day we moved in. When I nodded, he leaned in, Stan the Man With the Tan Van-style and said, "There's a block here where you don't have to move your car for street cleaning." Obviously intrigued, I checked out the block. It looked like any other street in the neighborhood: brownstones on both sides and the big "P" and sweeper sign which signified no... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/hipster-mamele/16430/ Fri, 1 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST Yesterday, I had one of those moments it seems all first time parents have when the due date nears. "This baby could theoretically be here any minute," I said, leaving a message on Andy's work voice mail. "We're not ready! We're NOT READY. Not by a long shot!" I was too anxious to be alone in the apartment after I hung up and awaited Andy's call. The answer was to head out in search of baby stuff. Not bold enough to brave Buy Buy Baby, I decided to stick closer to home. I made my way to the... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/surprising-new-hot-spot/16053/ Fri, 24 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST Almost 10 years ago, an old friend of Andy's was moving to the city. He'd just finished business school at Dartmouth and was starting as a management consultant in the fall. He had to find an apartment. Over dinner at our favorite free-wine-with-dinner Chinese place on Amsterdam Avenue, he asked us for apartment-hunting advice. "Well," Andy said, "what are you looking for?" "I'd like something decent-sized, not too expensive, and the possibility of walking to work in Midtown would be nice." "So... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/big-question-bottle-or-breast/15660/ Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST The only thing worse than an early June heat wave is being very pregnant during an early June heat wave. The unseasonable heat and soupiness have made my elephantine legs swell to ever more unbelievable proportions, and I have spent the better part of the last week and a half lying on the couch next to the air-conditioner, feet elevated on a pile of pillows. I felt not unlike a character in a 19th-century novel who takes to her bed with vapors. Why is it those novels never mentioned anything... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/panic-attack/15257/ Fri, 10 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST "What are we doing this weekend?" Andy asked. It was Friday afternoon, and we were on the phone. I have been asked this question nearly every Friday of our five-year marriage. At first, I bristled at the implication that in the unspoken you-do-this, -I-do-that spousal division of labor, "social secretary" had somehow become my job. "I don't know," I would say. "What plans did you make?" Of course, my husband would not have made any. Eventually, as happens with so many stubborn little turf wars... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/parenting/how-to-tote-a-tot/14928/ Mon, 6 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST Last fall, as the end of my pregnancy fast approached, I became obsessed with baby carriers. Brought about by a combination of the nesting instinct, the recall of the Baby Bjorn Active, and my stroller-unfriendly brownstone stairs, my weeks-long quest to find the perfect tot toter found me grilling innocent baby store proprietors, stopping new parents on the street, and, perhaps most bizarrely, searching the Internet for obscure German carriers unavailable in America. My criteria were comfort... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/telltale-gift/14874/ Fri, 3 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST It began with an invitation. "Courtney's Having a Baby!" Raised lettering shouted from the small Crane's card with a little duck at the top. "Come celebrate!" It went on to list the particulars and name the Park Slope apartment of someone whose name I didn't recognize. The invitation, and, more specifically, its appearance in my mailbox, begat many questions - the first of which was: Why did Courtney, my known nemesis, invite me to her baby shower? We traveled in similar social circles, but... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/searching-for-the-poster-girl/14585/ Fri, 27 May 2005 00:00:00 EST "Have you seen my other sandal?" I asked Andy as I waddled around the apartment. Though summer was allegedly approaching, the weather was nowhere near warm enough to justify such footwear, but my ridiculously swollen feet left me little choice. At this point in my pregnancy, I needed both the open heel and the adjustable buckle. "It's right there, under the couch," Andy said, then reached over and pulled it out. "Oh," I said huffily. I should have been able to see the shoe, but it was getting... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/bridge-to-nowhere/14187/ Fri, 20 May 2005 00:00:00 EST Last week, in a fit of spring fever, Maya and I decided that, instead of meeting up for lunch somewhere on Smith Street, we'd walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan. "Are you sure you're up for this?" she asked as we approached the crosswalk near the bridge's entrance. "I'm sure," I said, though I wasn't. In the last week or so, the pregnancy had begun to weigh on me, literally. It was not just my belly, which seemed to grow hourly, but also my legs, which were swelling to levels heretofore... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/belly-up-to-the-bar-a-wingmans-tale/13818/ Fri, 13 May 2005 00:00:00 EST Late last week, my friend Greg called with an odd request. I've known Greg since college. A would-be Sebastian Junger, he writes for men's magazines. Our once dead friendship had been resuscitated by a series of unplanned meetings during the day, when both of us were working from home or, more accurately, from various coffee shops in the neighborhood. "I need to ask you a huge favor," he said. I could tell from the street noise in the background that he was calling from his cell. "Okay ..." I... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/style/packing-denim/13609/ Tue, 10 May 2005 00:00:00 EST Recently, as fashion hounds young and old were musing on the ramifications of $600 jeans, I received word that Polo Jeans was issuing a $349 limited-edition denim ball gown for spring - a dress that conjured up memories of my high school experience in the 1980s. The cut of the dress may have inspired deja vu, but the state of its fabric certainly did not. Back in the '80s, the must-have expensive jeans were Guess? - and my father liked to grouse that the question mark on its label stood for... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/hello-carroll-gardens/13474/ Fri, 6 May 2005 00:00:00 EST Last weekend, I am happy to say, we finally moved to our new apartment. Moving is never fun, but getting out of our old place, which seemed to have new problems every day, and away from our old landlord, who threatened to evict us when we wanted her to fix them, softened this blow considerably. Since I'm pregnant - at this point, very pregnant - we sucked up the cost and for the first time hired actual movers, not Craigslist scrawny musician movers or a ragtag man with a van, but actual bubble... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/how-to-avoid-baby-clothes-that-look-silly/13087/ Fri, 29 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST A recent thread on the citybaby message board sprung me into a frenzy: "Registry question," it read. "BBB or BRU? Which one did you register at, and why?" Normally, I am pretty good at deciphering citybaby code: dh is dear husband, db - dear baby, ROTFLMAO - rolling on the floor laughing my you-know-what off. But BBB and BRU? I posted the question. The responses ranged from the straightforward - Buy Buy Baby and Babies "R" Us, which answered my query, to the exasperated - "Hel-lo! Where have... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/beware-the-hairy-eyeball/12714/ Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST Last week, Maya and I met for lunch. "Let's go to the French place on your corner," she suggested. "It's the ideal day for it." She was right. It was a gorgeous spring day - perfect weather to sit at one of the French place's sidewalk tables, order mojitos, and watch the world go by. Of course, being pregnant, I could not order mojitos. But that was not the real problem I had with the French place. The real problem was that our hated psycho landlord, Tonya - who during the winter had threatened... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/brooklyn-chronicles/12351/ Fri, 15 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST Last Saturday, Andy and I were enjoying the nice weather with a walk along the promenade. So was everyone else. The place was packed. Seats were scarce. The line at the Mr. Softee truck was 15 long. "Spring has sprung," Andy was saying as my cell phone began ringing. A quick glance at the caller ID told me it was Dave, old college friend and current Gowanus pioneer. Once known for its stinky canal, Gowanus had in recent years become a prime locale for gentrification surfing - the act of buying... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/waking-up-to-the-class-system/11963/ Fri, 8 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST You really should try prenatal yoga," Maya was saying. She was calling from her cell, fresh from a class near Union Square. I had a mental image of her in yoga pants with her Marc Jacobs coat from last year, hair pulled back, carrying a purple yoga mat rolled up and slung in a carrier on her back - the sweaty chic look that, in recent years, has become so ubiquitous. "Prenatal yoga seems great," she was saying. "Come to think of it, I'm more interested in doing prenatal yoga than getting... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/up-and-coming-and-gone/11569/ Fri, 1 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST The other day, Hallie and I met for lunch at the adorable sandwich and smoothie shop. Once we'd found a table and placed our orders, I told her that Andy and I had bumped into my old college roommate Naomi at a restaurant and that, in the five years since I'd last seen her, she been married and divorced. And she was paying her same-aged, film school-graduate ex-husband alimony. Naomi's news had more than just surprised me. At one point in my life, I would have considered a woman paying a man... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/alimony-shocker/11197/ Fri, 25 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Last week, Andy and I had dinner at the fish place on Court Street. It was the first time we'd been there, and we were pleased to discover that the space, which had gone through many incarnations, was now warm but not fancy in the nice Brooklyn way - cozily tiled in multiple shades of blue with an extensive raw bar, but with cheap American beer offered in cans. It was a shame I couldn't enjoy it more. "You look tense," Andy said, as we perused the menus. "I am tense," I said. Nothing strikes... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/hunt-for-the-perfect-apartment/10825/ Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Few things in city life provoke as much fear and dread - and ultimate defeat - as the apartment search. No matter how you slice it, the undertaking is inevitably stressful. Not only is there the realization that you never get enough for the money, there is also the dance of the broker's fee, and, if you are us, your total aversion to paying it. And, as if paying the 15% of a year's rent weren't enough, you always have to have that awkward, too-familiar-too-fast relationship with the broker... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/look-at-me-im-showing/10468/ Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Well, it's official. I am "showing." For months, I had been using the cute counter staff at the adorable sandwich-and-smoothie shop as my personal pregnancy litmus testers. I am convinced that every pregnant woman needs at least one of these: an objective outsider who sees you often enough to notice and then comment upon the fact you're pregnant. People who know you're pregnant are expecting you to look pregnant; showing up to a lunch date in a poncho can yield comments along the lines of "you... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/red-carpet-watching/10127/ Fri, 4 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Sunday night, we went to an Oscar party at our friends Amy and David's apartment in Cobble Hill. Amy and David, with whom Andy and I went to college, are English teachers who enjoy puns. They also share the kind of no-frills food obsession typified by glowingly described pilgrimages to Russ and Daughters and the Second Avenue Deli. On Oscar night, these things coalesce into an Oscar party with nominee-themed snacks. "Can I interest either of you in a Bloody Maria Full of Grace?" David asked as... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/gazing-at-the-gates/9762/ Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Last week, Maya and I went to see "The Gates." We took the subway, using a time-tested meet-up trick: I sat in the front car of the F train and, at Maya's stop (York Street), poked my head out the door to the platform where she, knowing I would be in the front car, stood waiting to hop in. The trick always works, but you're always a bit surprised and exhilarated by it. "Hi!" Maya exclaimed, breaking the subway car's complete silence and reaching for a hug to greet me. "Perfect timing! This was... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/citybaby-only-browsing/9501/ Fri, 18 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Tell me something," Andy said. It was a weeknight and we were in the car, on the way to dinner. "How much time did you spend on citybaby today?" He called me on my new habit. Ever since The Celebrity had turned me on to it, citybaby's "expecting" message board had become an obsession rather than simply a resource. But I had three rationalizations for my fixation: Rationalization one: I only browse, never post. Rationalization two: I work from home; citybaby is companionship - a virtual... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/brooklyn-chronicles-cold-comforts/8796/ Fri, 4 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST With every rented apartment, there comes a time when the rose loses its bloom, the lily no longer seems gilded. It could be the moment when you are awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of garbage trucks in the street and realize that your rent is only a "great deal" because your bedroom is on their nightly route. It could be the moment when the paint begins flaking on your bathroom ceiling. It could be the moment when a broken elevator turns your apartment into a ninth floor walk-up... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/brooklyn-chronicles-threes-company/8442/ Fri, 28 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Monday evening around 5 p.m., I got a phone call from Ethan Greenberg. Ethan is a friend of Andy's from medical school. He never calls. "Ethan," I said. I'm sure my surprise was evident. "How are you?" "Good, good," he replied, as if convincing himself. "How are you?" "Fine," I answered. As strange as it was for Ethan to be calling, it was even stranger for him to call at this time, when he knew Andy wouldn't be home. Thinking he'd lost Andy's work number, I prepared for another round or two of... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/midday-decadence/8071/ Fri, 21 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Few things in life are as sublime in their decadence as an afternoon movie in the middle of the week. It doesn't even have to be a good movie, it just has to be playing, with you watching it, while the rest of the productive world toils away at work. Last week, Maya and I blew off work and headed for the Court Street multiplex to see a movie that my husband, in his refusal to see it, had dubbed "the Adam Sandler chick flick." "He went on Oprah to promote it," Andy had said when I asked if he... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/eves-affair-with-citybaby-heats-up/7720/ Fri, 14 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST It was a weekday afternoon, and the adorable sandwich-and-smoothie shop was packed. "I've never seen it this busy," I told the cute counter girl as she brought me my curried egg salad sandwich. She was wearing a Guns 'n' Roses baseball shirt with its sleeves cut off and a bandana around her head. "Welcome to the Jungle" was the theme song at my junior prom, and bandanas were huge throughout my summer-camp tenure. You know you're old when you wore vintage the first time around. "It's the Wi-Fi,"... KAREN SCHWARTZ http://www.nysun.com/on-the-town/pregnancys-go-public-day/7372/ Fri, 7 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Poetically enough, the start of the New Year coincided with the start of my second trimester. After beginning 2005 with an "everything looks great" visit to my obstetrician, it was time to do what I'd been dying to do for months: tell the world - or, at least, my world - that I was going to have a baby. First up was Maya. Knowing it could be Go-Public Day, I made a date to see her the afternoon after my doctor's appointment. It was an unseasonably mild day - it felt more like late March than...