New Beginnings

Amy Tan is a member of this club. That is not necessarily a reason to join:

“Amy Tan is among the "Literati With Lyme." It is a newly formed ad hoc group associated with the Lyme Disease Association that is seeking to raise money and awareness about Lyme disease, with about 24,000 cases reported in 2002 representing only about one-tenth of the actual cases, according to association officials. At a New York University forum tonight called "Writer's Block of the Worst Kind: An Open Book on Lyme,"

Ms. Tan will be joined by other writers talking about their battles with the disease, transmitted by a tick bite, which can mimic major depression and in its chronic form can cause arthritis, cognitive loss and fatigue. Meg Cabot ("The Princess Diary" series and movies); E. Jean Caroll, the Elle magazine advice columnist, Jordan Fisher Smith ("Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra") and Jennifer Weiss, the executive editor of St. Martin's Press, will join Ms. Tan and medical experts to talk about Lyme disease's effect on them. (The New York Times)

Brigid Hughes, the George Plimpton protégée who was recently ousted as editor of the Paris Review, is starting her own magazine:

“Public Space will feature poetry and fiction, both art forms that get little play in mainstream magazines.”