MARCH 3, 2016

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Palmeri, Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Buckman, George Miga, Ruthann Graczyk, Dave Wilgus, Caren Von See, Mary Lu Cowley, Hardarshan Valia, Adam Sedia, Gail Galvan, Mary Ellen Beecher, Amy Brailey, Bob Philpot 

 
OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the February 18, 2016 minutes was first given by BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI and seconded by RUTH ANN GRACZYK.

NEW BUSINESS:

SHARON PALMERI told the members that KATHERINE FLOTZ was now in St. Anthony Hospital in Crown Point and was doing well.  Several of our members had been to see her and brought her gifts and cards, including two orchid plants from the club. She loved them but chastised them for spending so much on her. (Kathy is our treasurer.)  Sharon introduced our newest guests, gave an update to the members on the pending WOH book of short stories and poems.  She also passed around a sheet so that members might write down their suggestions as to a possible new title as well as theme suggestions.

LITERARY NEWS:

ADAM SEDIA stated that he had two books coming up that could possibly be published in either March or April.   Adam also stated that he and his wife are expecting a child in September.

READINGS:

SHARON BUCKMAN read three pages from Chapter 7 of her sequel, Beyond the Canopy.  In this section of her novel Harold begins to realize that his father has committed a terrible crime and asks advice from his friend, Sally.  The two together decide that they should seek more evidence before going to the police.

DAVE WILGUS decided that he should make a revision in his novel, The Joshua Henderson Story.  The story now, after beginning with Cindy starting to give birth at three o’clock in the morning, takes a sudden turn and continues with Fisk’s market, just south of the Ohio Central Railroad in Stockton.  The store, which also sells gas, is run by a finicky old man, who is not happy when a car pulls up at the pumps and a young Negro man gets out.

MARY ELLEN BEECHER brought a poem, no title and no author, as well as an open letter written by her daughter to her brother.  Both the poem and the letter related to the drug problem so many people are now experiencing.  The beautifully written poem began with “I destroy homes, tear families apart – take your children, and that’s just the start.”   She also read a letter from her daughter. The letter told of how much her daughter missed the brother she knew as a child, stating, “I feel as if I already lost you and the drugs have a hold on your soul.”

GAIL GALVAN brought an excerpt taken from her book, Texting: Smash-ups, Mishaps and Laughs. The extraction began with Betty White, from the Golden Girls TV show, and a dream she had of a Christmas episode where Dorothy’s mother, Sophia, went missing.  Betty White was relating this story on Saturday Night Live and telling it as only she can with a lot of comedy.

GEORGE MIGA continued with his novel, The Spin Doctor.  In this section of his novel, George tells of Cordell Edwards, who flew over Papua New Guinea in a helicopter and saw a pile of bones and skulls arranged in a semi-circle.  The pilot explained that the position of the skulls determined his rank in the tribe.  After they cleared security and began to walk through the village, Cordell found himself needing to explain that he was not with the government but was there to make their life better.

HARDARSHAN VALIA read his beautiful two-page article entitled, “Particle in Perpetual Motion.”  This article, entered into a contest in Arizona entitled, “Learning from Nature,” concerned the revelations, or  an inner awakening, of a man in India letting loose the ashes of his father along the Ganges River amidst the Himalaya Mountains.  The man realizes the breeze delivers “the precious belongings to the open arms of the river which then, in time, like all rivers, carried them outward to the ocean, the ultimate reservoir for all belongings.”

ADAM SEDIA read his four-quatrain poem entitled, “The Winter Stars.”  This fantastic four-stanza poem tells of the “eternally unmoved and unperturbed “stars never hearing the prayer, appeal or even curse of ours.”

CAREN VON SEE read her four-page short story entitled, “The Poohbah’s Throne.”  This story, which began from an inspirational picture of a bench entered in the WOH web site, told of Grand Poohbah falling from grace due to an alluring woman of ill repute.  As he sits on his “throne of disrepute” a small child asks why he sits there.   In explaining to her, he realizes he is learning from his great failure and decides to become a teacher, sharing his knowledge.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read three stanza’s of her “dorsimbra” poem that was created in memory of its Tennessee creators: Freda Beasley Doris, Robert Simonton, and Eve Braden Hatcher.  The poem entitled, “Nature’s Play,” told of a gentle rain storm, beginning and ending with, “I saw night curtain rise as sun awoke.”

Before adjournment, new group meeting photos were taken.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN