Today meet local dad, Alex Taylor, another panelist from the upcoming Kidoinfo event, Parents Using Social Media. Please join us on February 9 at Bravo Brasserie. Click here for details.

Kidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
Alex Taylor (AT): I live on the East Side, PVD, near Brown Stadium.

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
AT: I was born on Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland but was only there for about 2 years. I usually say I’m from the Eastern Half of the United States.

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
AT: Valerie and I moved down here from Boston in August of 2001.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
AT: Thirsty.

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
AT: My wife Valerie and I have two boys who are 6.89 and 3.33 years old.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
AT: I think we’re pretty curious and flexible, at least most of the time.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
AT: I really can’t ever answer favorite questions. I like a lot of different activities and try to be well rounded. I like learning new things and I appreciate the times that I get to pass that along by teaching others.

Kidoinfo: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
AT: See above, but I will say that one thing I really like about Providence is the high probability that you will run into a friend while out and about. We like to walk places (or ride) rather than drive whenever practical because we are likely to have some unplanned encounters along the way. Frequent destinations include: Kreatelier, Lippett Park, Ran Zan, The Red Fez, Sessions Street Park, Seven Stars, Three Sisters, Wayland Square.

Kidoinfo: Where would you most like to live?
AT: I love a lot of things about Providence, but Winter isn’t one of them. I really enjoyed living in both San Francisco and Australia.

Kidoinfo: What do you like to do when you are not with your kids?
AT: I like physical stuff like snowboarding (winter isn’t all bad) and scrambling around outside, though I’m looking forward to including both guys in this more when they are a bit older. I also do plenty of screen time stuff like video games and goofing around on the Internet. It’s nice to get some time alone with Valerie too.

Kidoinfo: What is the most overrated thing about parenthood?
AT: Infants.

But not yours, yours is totally awesome!

Kidoinfo: What is your most treasured possession?
AT: Mobility. I like things, but being able to move through the world is priceless.

Kidoinfo: What superpower would you most like to have?
AT: Flight, though invulnerability is a close second.

Kidoinfo: Who is your favorite fictional mother or father?
AT: Fictional parents, especially dads, that survive the opening scenes almost always suck in some significant way. But I like Marlin and Crush from Finding Nemo. Marlin is braver than he thinks he can be and learns to let his son be the same way. Crush doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but he’s got some good advice.

Kidoinfo: What are you going to do now that you have answered these questions?
AT: Get back to work.

Kidoinfo Presents: Parents Using Social Media on February 9, 2010. Please join us for an evening of conversation, food and cocktails.

Sponsored by:
• Cutler & Company
• Leslie Kellogg: Residential Properties
• Renaissance Gymnastics Academy
• Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH)
• Rag & Bone Bindery
• Ocean State Montessori
• Soul at Work
• St. Peter School
• The Bridge Montessori
• Amy Ro photography
• Hennessey PR Consulting
• Breathing Time Yoga: Yoga w/ childcare
• RI Families in Nature
• exhale. return to center

Today meet another panelist and parent from the upcoming Kidoinfo event, Parents Using Social Media. Please join us on February 9 at Bravo Brasserie. Click here for details.

Kidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
EBG: We’re down “in the woods” in South County.

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
EBG: Warwick, RI

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
EBG: With the exception of a couple of years when I was very young and one semester when I was in college, I’ve always lived in Rhode Island.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
EBG: Groggy. (Darn head cold.)

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
EBG: My husband of (almost) 10 years, John; our two kids, Lily (5) and Quinn (3); a small flock of laying hens; and various other critters.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
EBG: Persistence. We are far from perfect but we frequently take time to reflect on what we are doing and why and look for ways to tweak things and hopefully make it all run a little smoother.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
EBG: Lately I’ve really been enjoying roller-skating with my kids.

Kidoinfo: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
EBG: The Coastal Growers Market in North Kingstown.

Kidoinfo: Where would you most like to live?
EBG: Within walking distance of a library and a coffee shop, in a house with a front porch on Main Street and 10 acres of farm land out back.

Kidoinfo: What do you like to do when you are not with your kid(s)?
EBG: I dance and tour with a Border Morris team called Ladies of the Rolling Pin. My kids often come to our performances, but mostly it is something I do for myself because I enjoy it so much.

Kidoinfo: What is the most overrated thing about parenthood?
EBG: Bedtime.

Kidoinfo: What is your most treasured possession?
EBG: My camera (a Cannon Rebel D-SLR).

Kidoinfo: What superpower would you most like to have?
EBG: I think I could really get into time-travel.

Kidoinfo: Who is your favorite fictional mother or father?
EBG: Caillou’s parents. I hope someday to have as much patience and energy as they do.

Kidoinfo: What are you going to do now that you have answered these questions?
EBG: Finish cleaning up the kitchen and go to bed.

Kidoinfo Presents: Parents Using Social Media on February 9, 2010. Please join us for an evening of conversation, food and cocktails.

Sponsored by:
• Cutler & Company
• Leslie Kellogg: Residential Properties
• Renaissance Gymnastics Academy
• Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH)
• Rag & Bone Bindery
• Ocean State Montessori
• Soul at Work
• St. Peter School
• The Bridge Montessori
• Amy Ro photography
• Hennessey PR Consulting
• Breathing Time Yoga: Yoga w/ childcare
• RI Families in Nature
• exhale. return to center

Today meet Michelle Riggen-Ransom, another panelist and parent from the upcoming Kidoinfo event, Parents Using Social Media. Please join us on February 9 at Bravo Brasserie for a fun night out; bring a friend or come solo. Click here for details.

Kidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
Michelle Riggen-Ransom (MRR): Barrington. Also affectionately known as Borington and Scarington.

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
MRR: Albany, New York.

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
MRR: Just over four years.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
MRR: Pretty focused, actually. Just getting back in the swing of things from the holidays and feeling optimistic about work, started working out again (like everyone else!). That always helps me manage everything that’s going on in my personal and work life better.

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
MRR: My husband Sean, my 6-year-old, Cole, and my almost 3-year-old, Sadie Robin.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
MRR: We tend to have a lot of adventures. The kids are both always up for most anything, and we love taking them to new places, trying new foods, just exploring.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
MRR: Lately it’s to be home by our wood stove, writing, watching Dexter with my husband, or teaching my son to play Scrabble. In the summer it’s all about the beach, babies.

Kidoinfo: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
MRR: I’m at the Coffee Depot in Warren a lot. It’s so cozy there in the winter and I love all the characters who hang out there. Being newly obsessed with trying to eat more local food, we also love the Winters Farmers’ Market in Pawtucket.

Kidoinfo: Where would you most like to live?
MRR: Ideally we would be bi-coastal and live in Seattle (where my husband and I met, married, and lived for a long time) for half the year and on the East Coast the other half. We almost moved to Dublin instead of Providence, and that would have been cool as well.

Kidoinfo: What do you like to do when you are not with your kid(s)?
MRR: I love going out for cocktails with friends. Also, as any of these friends will tell you, sing karaoke. I’ve yet to find a good place in Providence, though!

Kidoinfo: What is the most overrated thing about parenthood?
MRR: Minivans.

Kidoinfo: What is your most treasured possession?
MRR: The camera my husband bought me and the pictures I take of my kids.

Kidoinfo: What superpower would you most like to have?
MRR: The ability to breathe underwater, but only if my son could too so that we could go explore the ocean together.

Kidoinfo: Who is your favorite fictional mother or father?
MRR: My very first favorite was probably Ma and Pa Ingalls. Those folks knew how to get stuff done, yet they still had fun and loved each other very much. Although, they were based on real people…

Kidoinfo: What are you going to do now that you have answered these questions?
MRR: I have a blog post that’s overdue, but I’m tired so will probably put it off until tomorrow. Good night!

Kidoinfo Presents: Parents Using Social Media on February 9, 2010. Please join us for an evening of conversation, food and cocktails.

Sponsored by:
• Cutler & Company
• Leslie Kellogg: Residential Properties
• Renaissance Gymnastics Academy
• Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH)
• Rag & Bone Bindery
• Ocean State Montessori
• Soul at Work
• St. Peter School
• The Bridge Montessori
• Amy Ro photography
• Hennessey PR Consulting
• Breathing Time Yoga: Yoga w/ childcare
• RI Families in Nature
• exhale. return to center

In anticipation of the upcoming “How Parents Use Social Media” event, I invite you to get know our panelists better through Meet the Parent interviews. To launch the new series, KidoConversations, I chose four parents affiliated with Kidoinfo; Katy, Michelle and Erin are contributing writers for the website, and Alex serves on the Kidoinfo advisory board. Although I knew Katy and Alex briefly before starting Kidoinfo, I have had the pleasure of getting to know them much better because of it. I met Michelle Riggen-Ransom over our love of technology, sushi, kids, and our entrepreneurial spirit months after launching our own businesses. Erin joined early on as a contributing writer but it took well over a year before we finally met in person.

I started Kidoinfo using social media more than two years ago to create a space for parents to gather. During that time I have reconnected with parents I met in passing at the playground or got to know because of Kidoinfo — some personally, some professionally and some I still only know virtually. The ability to engage and share with people over the Internet, at the park, and at a local coffee shop keeps me grounded and invested in my community of friends, fellow parents, and family-related businesses and services.

I hope to see/meet many of you Tuesday, February 9, at Bravo Brasserie. Bring your questions, and playdate or business cards. We’ll provide some food, name tags, and the chance to hang without your kids. Not signed up yet? Click here.

Today, meet Katy Killilea, Kidoinfo’s first contributing writer.

Kidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
KLK: Hamden Meadows in Barrington, over the bridge by the white church.

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
KLK: New Jersey!

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
KLK: Eleven years—four in Barrington, the rest on the East Side.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
KLK: I’m feeling kind of full of myself because it’s December 17 when I’m answering this question and I’ve got the perfect gift for everyone all wrapped up and hidden behind my pants in the closet.

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
KLK: Jack is eight, Briggs is six. I’m married to a schoolteacher named Joe, and we have a puppy named Butter.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
KLK: Except for Butter, A+ car singing and living room dancing, and they’re all hilarious. Butter I mostly admire for being cute and soft and for going with the flow.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
KLK: Anything I can only do when no one is around, like reading the Patagonia catalog while eating a bowl pf raisin bran. Otherwise, I like baking and reading to children the best, or going for a walk with Joe.

Kidoinfo: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
KLK: With kids, I like the teenager room at the Barrington Public Library. Alone, I like to sit at the kitchen counter. With a friend, I’d pick Cafe Lila in Pawtucket. With Joe, I like to hang out in snowy woods. With my whole family, the best place is at the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire because you can have a snowball fight in the pool.

Kidoinfo: Where would you most like to live?
KLK: I think about moving to one of the Portlands sometimes.

Kidoinfo: What do you like to do when you are not with your kid(s)?
KLK: I like running barefoot and listening to friends talk about sex or different plastic surgeries they’re half-considering.

Kidoinfo: What is the most overrated thing about parenthood?
KLK: The gear. All you need is friends, a sling, some avocados, a school, and lots of money or gift cards.

Kidoinfo: What is your most treasured possession?
KLK: I try to not care about possessions, but I’d be really sad to lose my wedding rings. Other than that I love, love, love the electric kettle.

Kidoinfo: What superpower would you most like to have?
KLK: Either something to do with a tidiness wand or being able to care less about tidiness. Probably the wand.

Kidoinfo: Who is your favorite fictional mother or father?
KLK: The mother in Blueberries For Sal. She let her child get mixed up with hungry bears, was oblivious to any danger, everything worked out fine, and she looked pert throughout.

Kidoinfo: What are you going to do now that you have answered these questions?
KLK: I’m taking Butter for a walk.

Kidoinfo Presents: Parents Using Social Media on February 9, 2010. Please join us for an evening of conversation, food and cocktails.

Sponsored by:
• Cutler & Company
• Leslie Kellogg: Residential Properties
• Renaissance Gymnastics Academy
• Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH)
• Rag & Bone Bindery
• Ocean State Montessori
• Soul at Work
• St. Peter School
• The Bridge Montessori
• Amy Ro photography
• Hennessey PR Consulting
• Breathing Time Yoga: Yoga w/ childcare
• RI Families in Nature
• exhale. return to center

Today’s Kidoinfo Interviewer: Katy Killilea
Neighborhood: Summit Avenue area, East Side of Providence

Kidoinfo: How long have you lived in Rhode Island?
RW: Most of my life. I moved to Little Compton when I was three. In the 1990s, I lived in the Pacific Northwest and Manhattan, but my wife and I moved back here when we were expecting our first daughter.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
RW: A bit overwhelmed. I’m a freelance writer, and I have to write two juvenile fiction Star Wars novels within six weeks. I know I can do it, but it’s lot of work.

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
RW: My wife, Anne, and daughters Dorothy, 10, and Violet, 8. Also Teddy, a Cairn Terrier, who walks me regularly.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
RW: Our own idiosyncratic lunacy.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
RW: I really enjoy cooking for my family. I make dinner just about every night. They rarely complain, except for my wife, who actually enjoys going to restaurants more than once a year. Go figure.

(more…)

Today’s Kidoinfo Interviewer: Katy Killilea

With his wife, Erin, Asher owns the very popular and stylish Frog and Toad store on Hope Street on Providence’s East Side.

Kidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
AS: Warren, North End

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
AS: Fifteen years

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
AS: Rational

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
AS: My wife, Erin, and two daughters, Flavia, three years old, and Hazel, six months

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
AS: Our sense of humor. Without it we’d be goners.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
AS: Go to the beach with a hastily packed cooler, insufficient beach towels, SPF 60, and just enough cash to pay for parking.

Kidoinfo: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
AS: Booth #4 at Whole Foods, fresh from a fruitful shop, ready for a family lunch, and happy to see any friends out shopping as well. (more…)

I recently had the honor of interviewing Bill Harley, a Grammy award-winning singer and storyteller. My sons loved reviewing his latest CD/DVD, Yes to Running which was just nominated for a Grammy Award, and helping come up with the interview questions. Bill’s music and stories have been a part of our household for years, so it was a treat to get to know him a little better and learn more about his creative process.

After all this talk about music and stories, listen to some of his music and stories here. And you can see Bill Harley perform live—along with his friends (and more of our favorites) Len Cabral, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Keith Munslow at a holiday concert to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank on Saturday, December 13, 2008, at the Lincoln School in Providence.

Details:
Bill Harley & Friends Benefit Concert for the RI Community Food Bank
Saturday, December 13, at 2 pm
Lincoln School Auditorium – 301 Butler Avenue, Providence
Tickets are $10 and going fast. Click HERE to purchase.

Raffle tickets can be purchased for $5 by calling 401-942-6325. Among the many great prizes, you can win a Kidoinfo tote bag filled with fun stuff including Bill Harley’s Yes to Running CD/DVD, What the World Eats cookbook, My First Book of Sushi board book, and more!
————–————–——————————–———–

Anisa: Where do you live?
Bill Harley: I live in Seekonk, Massachusetts, which you know is really part of Rhode Island.

Anisa: How long have you lived there?
Bill Harley: I think we’ve lived here since 1985. Debbie and I moved to Providence in 1980, lived there for five years, and then moved out here.

Anisa: Who is in your family?
Bill Harley: Debbie, my wife. I’ve got two boys, who are men I guess. They’re 24 and 21. Noah graduated from college last year and is traveling in Europe playing music with a couple of friends of his. And Dylan is a senior in college. He goes to Earlham in Indiana.

Anisa: Did you start performing when they were little?
Bill Harley: Before we had kids I was already doing stuff with kids and families. When we lived in Rhode Island, Debbie and I and some friends started a day camp when we were in college, and that’s when I really started doing stuff with kids. So my kids certainly were an influence on me, but I was doing it before they came along and I’m doing it after they left.

(more…)

Today’s Kidoinfo Interviewer: Martha Iachetta

Neighborhood: Edgewood (a neighborhood in Cranston, Rhode Island)

Kidoinfo: Joe Grady is not only a cool guy, dad, spouse and long time Kidoinfo fan, but he’s also the founding member of both Joe’s Backyard Band (Read more on Kidoinfo) and his small business, Cultural Logic. Joe, what’s your favorite thing about carving out such a creative way to earn your living?
JG: I guess it’s the relative freedom. Of course you only have so much freedom as a parent anyway! I used to be a linguistics professor, but my wife and I thought it would be nice to have more flexibility with work and where we lived, especially once we had kids. Surprisingly, my time is actually more structured now that I’m self-employed—I work more regular 9-to-5 hours than I ever did before.

Kidoinfo: How did your business get started and evolve?
JG: It started as a part-time freelance thing when I was a professor. My thesis advisor in grad school at UC-Berkeley was George Lakoff. Kidoinfo readers may have heard of him—he’s written lots of books, some of them about politics, and has been very popular especially with Democrats. He started sending a bit of extra consulting work my way and the opportunities began to snowball.

Kidoinfo: Did you start out in Rhode Island?
JG: No, I grew up in Berkeley and Washington, D.C. DC is where I met Emily, while I was working as a professor. I was part-time faculty at Georgetown and then full-time at the University of Maryland. When I started my own business, we knew we didn’t necessarily have to stay in DC so we really had to think about where we wanted to live.

Kidoinfo: Why Rhode Island?
JG: My clients are mostly on the East Coast so it was helpful to be on this side of the country, plus Emily’s from Connecticut and her parents have a summer house in Charlestown, so we knew we’d like this area.

Kidoinfo: What’s your favorite Charlestown beach?
JG: It’s called Central Beach. It’s on the same stretch of beach as East Beach and Blue Shutters and it’s walking distance from Emily’s parent’s place.

(more…)

By Michelle Riggen-Ransom

This “Meet a Parent” is a little different than usual. To kick off a summer of gardening, I interviewed my friend and avid gardener TJ Sondermann about his gardening habits. TJ is a librarian who is currently at home with his almost seven-month-old son. He’s also a committed urban gardener, a fount of techie and greenie information, and an all-around nice guy. Let’s meet him!

Where do live?
TJS: Providence, RI

What are you planting this year?
TJS: This year we’re removing lots of lawn to make room for perennials. In the veggie garden, we’re planting corn (which we grow mainly to make the dry stalks into fall decorations as the squirrels always eat all the corn), lots of assorted greens, eggplant, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, our regular assortment of herbs, and we’re experimenting with Brussels sprouts.

We’re also planting a neighborhood BYOS (bring your own scissor) herb garden on the side of our house this year. Come on over for a sprig of thyme if you need it.

Where do you garden?
TJS: The first day we looked at the house that would become our own, my wife was asking all sorts of appropriate questions about taxes and heating bills. Me, I had my eye on about sixty square feet of space in the backyard that was screaming, “Clear me out and plant some veggies.”

I’m also volunteering a bit at the Mount Hope Community Garden this year. I can’t think of a better way to get your family involved in the fabric of your neighborhood than by standing shoulder to shoulder, knee-deep in compost with the diverse group of folks who generally make up a community garden.

Who do you garden with?
TJS: Generally with my wife and a small group of friends whose children range in age from 4 months to 6 years of age. We all pitch in (with advice or manual labor) from time to time at one another’s backyard plots and share the bounty either directly or through weekly dinners. Last year a few of us (kids included) plucked many pounds of basil leaves from stems and had a pesto making party. Everyone went home with a few containers of freshly made pesto.

What is your favorite thing about gardening with your child?
TJS: I’ve been hooked on gardening since my grandfather sat me on his lap at age 5 and showed me a cucumber that he had grown inside a beer bottle (Michelob, of course), and I cannot wait to do the same for my son.

Thanks, TJ! Happy Gardening to you and your family.

Nature/Nurture, written by Michelle Riggen-Ransom, is an occasional column with ideas and information to help kids and their families engage with the natural world in fun, interesting ways. Share your thoughts and explorations by adding your comment below, or contact us with your story ideas.

PHOTO CREDIT: From TJ Sondermann’s Flickr account

Today’s Kidoinfo Interviewer: Anisa Raoof

Kidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
JG: Currently, we live in the Elmhurst neighborhood, right by Providence College. The last two weeks have been a blessing and a curse. The curse: end-of-the-year partying by PC students; and the blessing: the great things they throw off their porches like a little tikes basketball net, a kiddie pool, an amazing computer chair, and many Halloween costumes!

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
JG: I was born in Rhode Island, went to Classical High School and Rhode Island College, and like any punk worth her salt, thought Rhode Island Island was boring, so I went to San Francisco to “discover” myself. Instead, I discovered the Circus. Using San Francisco as my base for twenty years, I was lucky to travel the world with Cirque Du Soleil, Theatre FoFo, Runs with Scissors, and too many more to mention.

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
JG: After the birth of my gorgeous son, Pascal, I decided to seek out my roots and made my way back to Little Rhody. I moved back home one year, three months, two weeks, and thirty-two minutes ago. I’m thrilled to be back where a grinder is a sandwich, not just for coffee & spices, coffee is a syrup, not just a morning beverage, and a quahog is known for what it is. . . and the New York system and Haven Bros. are still the midnight treat.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
JG: Bliss. One week from his second birthday, my son decided to go pee in the toilet! Yeah! Along with this joyful event, I get to own my own business, where I’m fortunate to talk with moms and dads all day long. I’m writing a kids’ show for a big event coming up, and I’m dating a truly nice guy. Okay, maybe my state of mind is subdued chaos. Or just masked chaos . . . wait, isn’t that motherhood? Oh! the bliss is coupled with the sale of my son on Craigslist. The terrible twos have arrived, so if you want him, I’ll include shipping!

(more…)