COMPOSER SABRINA PENA YOUNG | MUSIC TECHNOLOGY | FILM | CLASSICAL | OPERA

Mother and baby (Photo credit: ECohen ) Like most working moms (which is pretty much every mom in the world unless you happen to be part of the .000000000045 % that gets to enjoy bon bons while a dozen staff members do all your mommily duties, including changing diapers, managing the bills, and kissing booboos), I find that I don't have enough hours in the day to accomplish both mom duties and paid work (notice the distinction, "paid work" involves monetary recompense for my toil). Things like organizing the sock drawer fall to the wayside. And to be honest, I hate cleaning and do more of a maintenance type of cleaning to my home, which really means that I keep extra Clorox wipes in key areas of the house for a quick wipe down instead of dedicating a whole day to housecleaning like my studious Cuban mom and abuela did.  (DING! Momentary pause as I get my daughter her "chicken nuggets" for lunch, which is really flattened falafel.) Between the economy...

As you may or may not know, I started to attend a writer's group here in Buffalo, New York. Part of my reason for going was to acquaint myself with fellow artists in the area, part of my reason was to learn better writing skills as I take Libertaria and transform the screenplay into a fully fleshed out novel.  I enjoy sitting with other creative individuals, all of us diverse in our talents, writing, and beliefs. We discuss so many intriguing topics. Last night was no different. We enjoyed a touching story about the love between an old woman an her maimed dog. It may sound like a trite story, but the words written by the young writer enveloped us in its beautiful imagery, the loneliness of the woman hung in the air and we each held on to each word, mentally cheering for the three-legged beast and its equally crippled master. Our discussions always teeter on the brink between the mundane and the sublime, the philosophical and the carnal, the emotional and the syntax. ...

Pray for Gray You always get those e-mails about kids getting cancer, but usually it happens to some random friend of a friend's cousin's sister's boyfriend's brother, and it's not someone that's close to the family. The Hand family has been my husband's second family all of his life. Nate Hand was the best man at our wedding, practically a blood brother to my husband (coincidentally ALSO named Nathan), and Pat Hand was a father figure to my hubby growing up.  SUPPORT PRAY FOR GRAY AT FACEBOOK After what they thought was just a flu, Nate and Lauren Hand found out that their precious 3-yr-old Grayson has leukemia. It's only been weeks, but Gray has gone through intense chemo and already started losing his hair. In solidarity, family and friends started going Bald for Gray  and started a Facebook page called Pray for Gray that already has over 1000 followers and is growing. Going Bald for Gray (Seated in front w/white t-shirt) The costs e...