OCTOBER 4, 2018

LATE ENTRY

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Tim Philippart, Sharon Buckman, Beverly Stanislawski, Marilyn Kessler, Katherine Flotz,  Danielle Johnson, Amy Brailey, Caren VonSee, Tammy Breitweiser

NEW BUSINESS:

MARILYN KESSLER stated she would soon be leaving for Rome to see the canonization of Kathryn Casper from Dernback, Germany.

AMY BRAILEY mentioned she would soon be seeing a performance for the Passion Play in Oberamonergaw, Germany.

KATHY FLOTZ reminded the members that we had only two meetings left before the Christmas Party on December 5^th and they needed to turn in their money for the party if they planned on attending.  There will be no meetings in December, the next meeting will be at the Merrillville library on  January 3^rd.

LITERARY NEWS:

 BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI stated she has taken 2^nd place for her poem, “Wanna Run,” and 3^rd place for her poem, “Maestro,” in the Massachusetts State Poetry contest.

READINGS:

CAREN VON SEE continued reading Chapter Nine of her novel, My Treasure Chest.  After receiving their inheritance of property and monies, Antonio and Sara started working their way through all the rooms and buildings they had just inherited.  They were left with only one unidentified key for which they were unable to place the proper door.  Senor Albano was quite aware of Sara’s distant behavior towards him.

TIM PHILIPPART read three of his poems.  The first poem, previously published in Zoetic Press Anthology, was titled, “Bus Fare Was Nearly Free.”  In this six-stanza poem Tim described how a Mom, along with her son and daughter, would ride a bus back in l956 with all the windows opened in the summer months so that they could enjoy the breeze.  The second poem, “What Shall We Call This Dance?,” told of two lovers enjoying a dance that they couldn’t name.  The last poem, entitled “Introverts,” told of how extroverts felt themselves superior.

TAMMY BREITEISER read her two-page short story entitled, “A Moment in Time.”  The story told of how the death of a man from a car accident affected the lives of three different people.  It began with his wife being jolted awake at 4:56 A.M., already knowing her husband was dead.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI  read two of her poems, “Overcome the World,” and “Verse I Did Not Rehearse.”  The five-stanza first poem told of how “nothing can tear love asunder, when one is left to stay, the other is waiting yonder.”  The second poem,  a Diversification poem with the first letter of each line spelling out the word, VERSIFICATION.

MARILYN KESSLER read her two-page story, possibly to become a novel at a later time, entitled, “Maude.”  The story begins at a cemetery and is being told by Maude as she lies in peace next to her sisters, father, aunts, and uncles.  Maude is the last to be laid to rest among her prominent Midwestern family who has seen good times and bad.

DANIELLE JOHNSON read two pages of her novel, Love & Dissidence.  The story begins in the Palace of Marriages where Katia and Nikolai are getting married.  As the clerk begins to ask Katia a number of questions, she begins to glare at him.  When she is told that if they are planning to move in the next few years they will need to get on the waiting list.  She informs him they are not planning to have children for many years.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN

OCTOBER 17, 2018

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Sharon Buckman, Beverly Stanislawski, Marilyn Kessler, Katherine Flotz, Caren Von See, Tim Philippart, Hardarshan Valia, Al Koch, Amy Brailey, Gail Galvan, Diane Stratton

GUESTS PRESENT:

Christian Feo, Terah Villereal, Olivia Carroll, Aaliyah Cobb, Jordan Vernon, Madison Sharp, Jason Green (TEACHER), Brock Allcox, Diomara Fleming, Zoe Staples, Jordan Vernon

NEW BUSINESS:

We were pleased to host ten students from Amy Brailey’s class as well as Jason Green, their history teacher.  The majority of the students brought readings and a few of the others brought art with them.  They also did an excellent job of helping to critique.

LITERARY NEWS:

ADAM SEDIA has a new book that was just published entitled, Visions Beyond.  The book will be launched on Saturday, Oct. 20^th at the Miles Book Store in Highland at 11:30 A.M.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI stated she won first H.M. in the Poets & Patrons poetry contest in Illinois and first H.M. in the Shakespeare’s Challenge as well.  She also won 2^nd H.M. for “Bryce’s Paradise,” in an Oklahoma Poetry Society contest as well.

HARDARSHAN VALIA stated he had an article published in a Canadian magazine (Sageing).  The article was entitled “Dementia.”

READINGS:

 BROCK ALLCOX read his two-page story entitled, “You’re the Cause.  Also Everyone Else Is,” a fictional story of the aftermath of an atomic war, which had destroyed the earth.

CHRISTIAN FEO read a one-page story entitled, “The Mysterious Kidnappings,” an enticing story of a kidnapping concerning a young man as he approached his house finding the door opened.

ZOE STAPLES read her two-page short story entitled, “The Dream.”  The story involved a girl finding herself on a small piece of land after almost drowning.

AALIYAH COBB read his two-page short story entitled, “October Wind,” a story that began with a young boy attending a new school and remembering what had happened in his previous residence.

JORDAN VERNON read a two page short story entitled, “The Ways We Waged War, “ a fictional sci-fi type of story involving a war against Vextalons.

TIM PHILIPPART read five short poems.  The first poem, “Both Die, At Least a Little,” a poem concerning two lovers in a lovers quarrel.  The second, “It Is What You Fear It Is,” concerns keeping mist creatures at bay.  The third, “Held Hostage,” is about trying to force yourself to write a poem which, “anesthetizes minds and leaves them numb.”  The fourth poem, “Falling Out Of,” concerns the tragedy of falling out of love.  The fifth poem, “Peach,” concerns falling in love in sixth grade.

AL KOCH read his two-page short story comparing different phases of his life to the month of September.  One sentence in the last paragraph summarizes the story by stating, “What is special about September  is that it engenders both beginning and reflection.”

CAREN VON SEE continued reading four pages of her novel, My Treasure Chest.  In this part of her novel Antonio finally tells Senor Abano why his wife Sara is angry with him, constantly ignoring him and preferring to stay as far away from him as possible.

MARILYN KESSLER read her five-stanza poem entitled, “I Know it’s Fall, For Sure Now.”  The poem relates the natural changes in the fall weather, however, it is not until her mother makes her pot of stew that she now knows for sure.

HARDARSHAN VALIA read his seven-stanza poem entitled, “Three Photos – Ghosts of Friends Left Behind.”  The poem tells of trying to keep in touch with three of his close friends from India by telephone but not realizing what changes there were in appearance until receiving a photo of them.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read one scary Halloween story entitled, “One Scary Night.” The story told of two boys determined to visit a haunted mansion with a huge killer dog on Halloween.  After one of the boys caught his foot on a hole in the porch and almost got caught the story ended with a happy ending.  Beverly also read a six-stanza poem entitled, “Beware the Baba Yaga,” a poem warning children to stay away from a witch as she rides on her broom and promising anything at all.

AMY BRAILEY continued with Chapter 14 of her novel, Jon Everett and the Hall of History.  This part of the novel tells of Jon traveling with a group sent to bring in the wagons and protecting the settlers from the Indians.  The real George Washington mistakes him for a flag bearer and admonishes his disrespectful behavior.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN