Manhattan, please

I am meant to be in New York City this weekend. It is my destiny...or should be, anyway.

Not only is my talented writer friend Larry opening his very first off-Broadway production, Umbrella, which I think is one of the coolest things ever (The fact that he has a real off-Broadway show, I mean - I haven't had the opportunity to actually see the show itself, though I'm sure it's fabulous.)...but April 13 is the "Night of Too Many Stars," the benefit for autism hosted by Jon Stewart.

I want to show my support for both events. Unfortunately, I lack a plane ticket and the $500 ticket fee for the autism benefit. Damn. What I need is a corporate travel sponsor...

On a related note, I just happened upon this little article about the "Night of Too Many Stars" and winced when I saw this sentence: Autistic children are unable to communicate and understand, leaving them incapable of functioning normally in the world; even playing with other children can be impossible.

Ummm...not quite accurate (and a bit fatalistic, yes?). So I posted a comment saying so and within minutes, got an email from the writer apologizing and saying she would add the word "severely" to the beginning of the sentence to clarify. Ok, so it's not what I would have written and it stills seems a bit harsh to me (and really, aren't we learning that many of these kids do understand?), but I was still impressed with the response time and the willingness to make a correction.