🍬 Sugary Scoop: Baby You're A Firework

Welcome to the Sugary Scoop, my free biweekly newsletter where we help you see and experience the magic of NYC that I love so much through curated events, experiences, artists, and community stories.

Let’s get to this week’s Scoop!

🍬The Scoop 🍬

• UPCOMING EVENTS

• WHAT'S NEW

• THE SUGARY EFFECT

• PAST EVENTS

• AND DON’T SAY I DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT…

  • NOTABLE NYC EVENTS THIS WEEK FROM OUR FRIENDS

July 15th @5:30pm (Tribeca): Sugary Community Town Hall - Our first town hall ever! Come join us to learn about what we are working on for the months ahead, offer your feedback, suggest programing ideas/collaborations & bring a guest to meet the members and enjoy an early evening of good vibes. _{(Social Battery Level: Low Introvert - Crowd Size 20-30)}

July 21st @1pm (Upper East Side): Zombie Tag IV - Ittttttttttt’ssss baaaaaaaack! Children’s Games in Serious Places presents another installment of our wildly popular game of irreverent plague-ridden pandemonium. Traverse the halls of the MET and try to survive. We wish you luck… _{(Social Battery Level: High Extrovert - Crowd Size 125-175)}

July 30th (Tribeca): Unsent Letter Project Presents: The Write to Read Salon - After the immense success of our first salon, we’re hosting our next salon in which we we will give people a chance to read and write anonymous stories in an intimate setting:

RSVP HERE _{(Social Battery Level: Low Introvert - Crowd Size 20-30)}

_{(Space is very limited for each of these events so if you’d like to attend to any of these events, please hit the RSVP button below sooner than later!)}

Introducing Miki Lin!

June was a banner month of firsts for the Sugary community.

So I have the pleasure of letting the community know that we have a new intern joining the team.

Miki is a rising college sophomore who has secured a sponsored internship opportunity through Apex for Youth which is an organization that, “empowers underserved Asian and immigrant youth in NYC to unlock a world of possibility”.

(There will be a fundraiser event in support of Apex for Youth that we will be hosting in the near future and we encourage you to attend and support this worthy cause.)

Miki’s a go-getter and really excited to join the effort to help develop the Sugary community as it will help her cultivate the skills she needs to have when she starts to build her own communities in college and beyond.

We are fortunate to have Miki through August as she will be working with us to develop our member directory, structure our internal processes and support our events. Along these lines, we are also looking for new interns to continue Miki’s work after she has left, so if you know any candidates, please send them our way.

Miki’s natural interest lies in community building and so this is a natural fit.

Please join me in welcoming Miki Lin and if you see her at an event, I encourage you all to introduce yourself and make her feel at home!

Consider joining our community membership to be invited to more events TODAY!

Baby You’re A Firework

So for this year’s 4th of July, I had planned to have a fabulous gathering in Greenpoint overlooking the east river for what was sure to be an epic night of star-spangled missile fire dotting the night sky with moments of luminous but fleeting brilliance in honor of our country’s independence.

Unfortunately, none of that came to pass because for the first time in a decade, the lovely city of New York decided to switch the fireworks from the East river to the Hudson River.

The switch meant that my plans to host a lovely viewing of the aerial spectacle was spectacularly and suddenly DOA. Lucky me.

Feeling somewhat dejected, I was offered a last minute chance to attend a rooftop barbecue in South Williamsburg to enjoy the evening. And while the view was still not going to be ideal, I was grateful at least for the invitation to celebrate our independence by being dependent on good company. 😊

As the evening progressed, the food and the wine became a momentary afterthought next to the anticipation for ”the show”. It’s always the case that even though we all know when the fireworks officially kick off, we all still look to each other with a sort of skittish childlike anticipation, as if to collectively exhale in bated breath, “any minute now”.

While folks gathered closer to that fateful side of the rooftop, I happened upon a pair of couples that were lingering towards the back of the pack, whom I did not yet know.

In my usual me being me-ness, I went up to the group and introduced myself. As the exchange of pleasantries transitioned into the natural question of how each couple had met, one of the ladies mentioned confidently that she knew “her man was the one” to which her partner as well as the other couple acknowledged with relatable approval, as if to signal that their experience was no less certain.

Now I’ve heard this pronouncement many times, but I have always been curious as to what motivates this kind of definitive statement and so I gathered them into a tighter circle, and I proposed the question to each of them, “so what WAS the moment for each of you that made you know for certain that your partner was in fact, THE ONE?”

Both couples lit up in an instant, thrilled with the fact that they could recount their moment of sparked epiphany.

And I gotta admit, The responses were as endearing as they were diverse.

For the women, it felt like the theme was about being seen and made to feel like the queens they were. One lady recounted the fact that when she had suddenly lost all her clothes in a flood, her man had painstakingly assembled an abundant wardrobe pieced together from his sister’s closet just so they could go on a date and at least for a while she could forget about her troubles and know what it was to feel normal again despite her loss. The other lady recounted that her man had found a perfect unassuming moment to present her with flowers and for her it was the first time in her adult life that she had realized she had received flowers purely “just because” he wanted to demonstrate his care and this was not a one off, it was in fact just his natural way of being as she’d come to discover.

For the men, it was about having that ride or die person by your side. One guy, recounted how in one of his most stressful moments of a professional project, his lady rolled up her sleeves without even asking and enthusiastically helped him out for the event even when it was the far less glamorous stuff while the other gentleman told the story of how he wanted to go a bit more committed in his costuming choice for Halloween and to his surprise, his girl was not only all about it, but she seemed to double down completely unconcerned with how others might perceive the two of them. This was not necessarily his experience in previous relationships so it was a breath of fresh air.

In the corner of my eye there was a persistent flickering of light dancing about the periphery which I thought might have been the early vestiges of me tearing up, yet as it turned out…

…the Macy’s fireworks show had begun, and I frankly hadn’t even noticed.

I was enthralled by these stories as much as the couples were thrilled to be sharing them. I had given them a reason to light their own petit firework and send it off into the night sky, that frightening unknown and watch as the kinetic chemistry of the natural incendiary light up the dark and announce its unapologetic presence for all to see.

It was magnificent…

July 12th: Unsent Letter Project Mailbox Park Prose Pop-Up - A handful of you came out to contribute your own stories, as the project continued to harvest the accounts of the denizens of Gotham. We are now approaching nearly 300 stories collected! As it turns out, New Yorkers have a LOT to say.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Britton & The Sting

This alternative soul band is delivering a funky gospel groove directly into the hearts and minds of the masses.

Led by Tony award winning front man Britton Smith this talented group of veteran musicians lead a concert congregation of the converted (and soon to be converted) with their infectious spirit, prodigious musicality and authentic irreverent presence.

I first encountered them years back through an Art Noir experience and have been following their rise ever since.

It’s church every time you see them. In fact their song “Church” is a gospel fueled triumph of spirit and joy providing a clear example of the irreverent style that you can come to expect from this amazing group.

Definitely check out Britton & The Sting, a spirited celebration of the holiest of values…life itself!

Burn (most popular song)

Church (lesser known song)

Many Chances (newest song)

NOTABLE NYC EVENTS THIS WEEK FROM OUR FRIENDS

7/16 @6pm - Join or Die: A Movie On Why You Should Join A Club- Screening at Fabrik NYC: RSVP HERE

7/18 @7pm - 57 FAM—a salon for artists & creators in film, fashion, art, music, and media. This week featuring, Kareem Rahma of SubwayTakes: RSVP HERE

7/18 @7pm - Call to Gather - Unearthing Your Book: In this Gather, we’ll demystify the publishing process: RSVP HERE ***We have 2 complimentary tickets ($75 value), DM me first come first serve!***

7/18 @7pm - Call to Gather - Interpretive Dreams: In this Gather, we’ll explore the art of dream interpretation: RSVP HERE

7/21 @12pm - Tienda’s Summer Closet Sale: RSVP HERE

7/26 @9am - Digital Detox Day at Fabrik NYC: Featuring joyflow, Shanti House, and Olo: RSVP HERE

7/27 @5pm - Daylight Society Launch Party ***Special Sugary Community Advance Purchase Link. Tickets On Sale for the General Public on 7/16***: RSVP HERE