You Don't See That Every Morning in Boston

So this morning as I emerged from the Copley Square T stop on my way to work, I found myself walking through a group of people dressed all in white and orange, holding streamers, and in some cases wearing clown noses.

Cirque du Soleil Dancer A dancer with the Cirque du Soleil in Copley Square at 7:30 am draws the attention of the commuting public. Photo copyright ©2008 Michael A. Burstein.

It turned out to be the Cirque du Soleil, promoting their show Kooza, which is opening today in Boston at the Bayside Expo Center. One of the performers gave me a flyer and a CD-ROM about the show, and told me that they'll be wandering around Boston all day. So look around; maybe you'll spot them.

(I have to admit that I had odd feelings about posting this. On the one hand, it seems like I've been sucked into helping them with their marketing. On the other hand, they did entertain me this morning, and the dancer above was willing to pose for the picture, so I figure they deserve whatever extra publicity I could give them.)

Certificate in Publishing Completed

As was reported in the science fiction news site SF Scope this morning, I have as of Wednesday night completed my Certificate in Publishing program at Boston University.

SFScope has some of the details on what I did in the program. What I'd like to talk about here is what happened on Wednesday night.

Boston University's Metropolitan College, which runs their Center for Professional Education, decided to hold a recognition ceremony for their graduates. Before the ceremony, Nomi and I ate dinner at the BU Hillel. The Hillel is in a different, newer building than it was in when Nomi and I were there, and the dining hall is a much nicer place. Also, the food is incredible. I have to say, this is the best kept secret of kosher dining in the Boston area. The all-you-can-eat price is a bit steep, but the food is at the same level of quality as either Milk Street or Rubin's. I highly recommend stopping by the Hillel to any of my kosher-keeping friends if you're on the campus.

The recognition ceremony went from about 7 pm to 9 pm and was held in Metcalf Hall at the George Sherman Union. The ceremony itself was bookended with a reception. The dean of Metropolitan College spoke, as well as the director of the Center for Professional Education and the directors of the five certificate-granting programs. It was a very nice ceremony; they talked about how those of us who had taken on this extra job to improve ourselves had taken Robert Frost's road less traveled by, and they thanked our families for supporting us through this time. The only odd part of it was that I didn't really know any of the other graduates, but then again, I wasn't expected to.

Afterwards, Nomi took this picture of me with one of my instructors, David Pallai.

Michael A. Burstein, David Pallai Holding his Certificate in Publishing, Michael stands next to David Pallai, instructor extraordinaire. Photo copyright ©2008 Nomi S. Burstein.

I have to praise David here a lot. He was my instructor for three of my eight classes, and I enjoyed every minute of his teaching. He's the owner and publisher of Infinity Science Press, so it's clear that he teaches in the BU program out of a love of teaching. He stepped in to run the Book Workshop class when he was asked to do so, for which I will always be grateful.

In words, he taught me the number one rule of publishing, which is this: Publishing is a business. But from his enthusiasm for the field, it's clear that rule number two is that publishing can be a lot of fun as well.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if anyone in the Boston area is interested in learning about publishing, enroll in this program. I highly recommend it.

And Nomi? Thank you for letting me out of the house two nights a week for most of the year.

Photographing a Woman in a Clown Nose Always Pays Off

saxikath just pointed out to me that Boston.com's front page is currently running a link to my post You Don't See That Every Morning in Boston, about running to the Cirque du Soleil performers this morning.

It's on the lower right, under the New England Blogs heading. I don't know how long it'll be there, so go now if you want to see it.

My thanks to the Globe (and also to Universal Hub's linkage as well).