Holmberg, Lebovitz featured in Women of Letters at Jewish Cultural Center

Local literary ladies take the spotlight in Women of Letters Week at the Jewish Cultural Center.

Ruth Holmberg and Alison Lebovitz will be featured next week, with each discussing their experiences. Holmberg, publisher emeritus of the Chattanooga Times, will be interviewed by Rachel Schulson, communications director of the Jewish Federation, on Monday, while Lebovitz will read selections from her book, "Am I There Yet: A Journey through Marriage, Motherhood, and Miles of Minutiae," on Thursday.

The book is compiled from columns Lebovitz wrote for an Atlanta-based publication as well for Chattanooga Parents magazine.

The book chronicles her life from dating her husband, Alan, to raising her children.

"I started writing when I was single and unemployed," she said. "I wrote as a good outlet for me while I was looking for a job. They didn't ever pay me more than $25 a column. It was not for the money."

The self-described procrastinator said she has not yet decided which sections of the book she will focus on at her reading. "I think it fuels creativity," she said. One selection in the book is, in fact, focused on the fine art of procrastination.

She plans to ask her children which sections of the book they like best.

She tried to strike a balance, she said, finding selections that people of different stations in life can relate to.

"Some of them are parent-centric, some are relationship-centric, and some are things that happened to me either as a woman, a parent, an individual, and I tried to find the humor in it, from not having anything in my closet to wear to an event to arguing with my husband over the fact that I wanted the show pillows on the master bedroom bed and him finding no merit in those whatsoever. Still a point of contention, I must add."

Ruth Holmberg is, perhaps, a bit more prepared for her time in the spotlight, according to JCC spokesperson Ann Treadwell, who said Monday's guest of honor has been apprised of the questions she'll be asked. Schulson will be conducting the interview, in a "less formal, cabaret-type atmosphere."

The evening will consist of both question-and-answer and anecdotes.

"Most people know Ruth Holmberg because of her accomplishments and her professional life ... but we have the opportunity to look at the other side of her. How many presidents has she met?"

The event, Ruth and Chocolate, is named for Holmberg's great affection for the treat. "Most people don't know that chocolate is her absolute favorite food," Treadwell said.

Chocolate will be the featured treat that evening, including a chocolate fountain.

Audiences will have the opportunity to learn about each woman's unique life journey to where she has found herself. Indeed, Lebovitz's book title addresses that very question.

The title, a play off of classic children's backseat whining, is "probably a rhetorical question at best," Lebowitz said. "I'll never be there, or I'm always there. The fun, as they say, is in the journey."