The Program for "Welcome to Boog City 12 Arts Festival: Poetry, Music, Film and Theater" Is Now Online

poetry reading - Bridget Eileen reads at Welcome to Boog 2018

Bridget Eileen Reading at the Welcome to Boog City 2018 Arts Festival


September has flown by! And now it is the week of my weekend trip to Brooklyn for the "Welcome to Boog City Arts Festival." As I noted last week, I will be participating on Saturday of the weekend-long festival. I am reading in the 1:30pm block at Unnameable Books.

The full schedule is available online. You can view it at:


My First Boog - A Side Story 


The first year that I participated in Boog was at the height of the Great Recession, when I was completely unemployed because both the part-time jobs I worked at were in education, so there were no hours to work in the last three weeks of August. I had very little money, as you can imagine, but I made it work. 

I stayed in a hostel for one night at a cost of $35 (it's about $45 now) at the New York Moore Hostel. I took the earliest bus in and the latest bus out the next day to maximize my time on one of the cheap bus lines. Maybe Megabus

I found a bar, Duck Duck, that had $.50 beer (though now the Happy Hour special is 2-for-1 drafts of 'Gansett) and then made friends and went to a party from there! I packed my breakfasts for both days, and my lunch for the first day, as well as plenty of snacks and some nips. Tee hee. I bought one of thosee 2-pizza-slice-and-soda specials from a street vendor for my dinner. I used my Starbucks gift card for lunch the next day. 

And I went to the New York Public Library, for a tour (free plus tip of tour guide). Then I got a temporary NYPL library card, and borrowed rare books, then looked up information about my family for free in the geneology room the next day. I did a lot of walking around and went through a lot of city parks. 

It was actually pretty fun, though it was a hustle. Then I got home to Boston before the trains were running so I spent the last of my money at the South Street Diner (open 24/7) and took my time until the MBTA started running. 

And that's how I did a two day trip to Brooklyn spending $80 cash and a bunch of gift cards. Talk about Bohemian Budget!!!

Lordy, this has made me so happy to have my salaried position with full benefits and pension. Even if my income is not a lot, it sure beats hourly wages that are just over the minimum wage for seasonal work!!!