I expect to have fun and hope you will join me.

Here’s the program announcement:

Karen Kreps is Austin’s own version of Carrie Bradshaw, Ann Landers and Dr. Ruth. She is the author of Intimacies: Secrets of Love, Sex & Romance. She’ll share recollections and anecdotes from her seven years writing candid explorations of personal relationships, which appeared in a popular column published by The Good Life magazine (until the publication folded last year), and hosting public discussions about lovers and lust at BookPeople. She will address people’s Number One questions about relationships and encouraging audience questions and comments. No charge, just bring an open mind and a sense of humor.

June 13, 2010
11:30 am to 12:30 pm
4700 Grover Avenue
Austin, TX

Submit your Number One question and learn more about her book at TrueIntimacies.com

Karen has a Master of Arts Degree in Cinema Studies from New York University and works as an independent producer of creative web content, blogging about technology and social media at NetIngenuity.com

Twitter: For those who would like to Tweet about this event, the hash tag is #intimacies

The talk  will be broadcast on ChannelAustin, channel 10.  (Public Access TV), http://www.channelaustin.org. The times are TBA. I expect to get a copy of the recording and will post it on the web for remote viewing.

Some of the questions I’ll be asking Karen:

1. What do teens want to know about sex?
2. How do they use the Internet to find answers?
3. Which social media tools provide the best sexual education?
4. What positive or negative impact can the Web have on teen sexuality?
5. At what ages should online use by children and teens be monitored?
6. Are parents abdicating their roles as sex educators to the Internet?
7. Does online info encourage or discourage sexual experimentation by teens?
8. What role does the Internet play in educating youth about sex?
9. Can the government regulate online sex education and should it?
10. Can online sex info be trusted for accuracy?

Thanks to everyone who commented on the SXSW panel picker in support of my proposal. They  received more than 1300 panel proposals for the 2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival. Most of these ideas are extremely impressive in their analysis of current (and future!) issues in the new media landscape. In lieu of a panel, I was invited to host a more intimate Core Conversation. This will have a format much like the monthly meetings I host at BookPeople. At a SXSW Core Conversation, there’ll be 30-50 people seated and standing around a round table with one or two presenters. I’m excited that Karen Rayne and I will have the opportunity to talk on this personal topic with the  web developers and digital creatives who attend this conference.

Now I’m very challenged to learn more about the subject. Please share your thoughts and insights into how the Web is changing how and what adolecents know about sex and sexuality.

Buy the book for yourself, someone you love or a friend who could use it.

Since 2002, minds have been opened by Karen Kreps’s insights about love and lovers, shared over seven years in monthly columns for The Good Life magazine and the public conversation group that met monthly  at BookPeople to discuss these personal topics.   Her book, Intimacies: Secrets of Love, Sex & Romance, contains a collection of her columns and is illustrated with photographs of figurative sculpture by her husband, Arye Shapiro.

Karen is an advocate for giving voice to what needs to be said, even it it breaks a taboo or two. Read her blog below, ask her a question and download her free ebook, Choice Intimacies, and get satisfaction between the covers of her book.

The Intimacies Conversation Group meetings, hosted monthly by Karen Kreps, 2002-Jan 2009, was sponsored by

At our last meeting, on Jan 21, we talked about

“Love in the Recession”

It was our final meeting at BookPeople  after a seven-year run, since our sponsor, The Good Life magazine, has ceased publication.

Watch as this site transforms over the coming weeks to take the Intimacies discussion to new dimensions.

Please tell us what you think of the book, the column or the meetings. Leave a comment below. (If comment form isn’t showing below,  please click on the title of this post and it will appear in the new page.)

In January, we’ll be talking about “Love in the Recession” with my special guest, Claire Miner PhD.

In February, we’ll be talking about “Reading Erotica” with author and former lit teacher Hapax Legomenon. (CANCELED)

In March, we’ll be talking about “Playful and Spontaneous Romance” with improv coach and performer Shana Merlin. (CANCELED)

Start sending in your questions for these folks now.

Meet the second Wednesday (not our normal night), November 12, 2008, 7 pm-8:30 pm on the third floor of BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar.  Audience members will be encouraged to share their personal experiences.  No charge, just   bring your sense of humor and an open mind.

To join the email announcement list for this group, send email to p2paustin-subscribeyahoogroupscom.
This event is co-sponsored by The Good Life magazine and BookPeople.  For more information, see http://trueintimacies.com.

Frank Butterfield was my special guest at BookPeople, talking about “Attracting Love” with the Law of Attraction.

Some of the crowd that turned out for the event. As the host, I stand in the middle, in front of Frank.

Meet THURSDAY (not our normal night), October 16, 2008, 7 pm-8:30 pm on the third floor of BookPeople, 603 N. Lamar.  Audience members will be encouraged to share their personal experiences.  No charge, just   bring your sense of humor and an open mind.

To join the email announcement list for this group, send email to .

This event is co-sponsored by The Good Life magazine and BookPeople.  For more information, see http://trueintimacies.com.

This month, we meet Weds Sept 17 to talk about Risky Love, but my special guest will be Kelly Ann Burnett, LMSW. She will be taking the place of Annette del Canto, who was originally scheduled. Annette has to be out of town for a family emergency, but the talk will go on with her colleauge, Kelly Ann Burnett, who specializes in
(1) increasing assertive communication (which often leads to vulnerability/risk taking, which in turn often leads to growth within the relationship); and (2) increased self awareness of reasons for avoidance of emotional risk taking and a subsequent choice to take the risk or not (with a focus on increased self understanding, even if the risk is not taken.)

In October, BookPeople has asked us to alter our regular schedule. We’ll meet THURSDAY, Oct 16, and Frank Butterfield will be my special guest for a discussion of Attracting Love. Frank is a channel and intuitive who coaches clients and groups on harnessing the power of the Law of Attraction.

In November, we’ll meet on the second Wednesday, not the Third. On Nov 12, please join Gayle Michaels of the Institute of Sexual Wisdom and me for a discussion about how to keep your sexual energy strong.

Please share with us what you feel are some of the risks you encounter in your relationships. Are they things you avoid or are you drawn toward the risky behavior? Do many of the risks you face involve communicating some truth about yourself (such as how you feel about your partner or yourself, positive or negative)? What’s happened when you’ve taken a risk? Did you live to regret it, or was it a freeing experience?