MEMBERS
PRESENT:
Sharon Palmeri, Beverly Stanislawski, Katherine Flotz, Sharon
Buckman, Bob Philpot, Amy Brailey,
Ruthann Graczek, Dennis McLean, John Hunt, Gail Galvan, Pam Maud, Mike
Ripley, Diane Stratton
GUESTS
PRESENT:
Savannah Allen, Zoe Staples, Alexandrya Cox, Thomas Pagan,
Olivia Carroll, Alisha Roberts, Shirley Hinman
OLD
BUSINESS:
A vote of approval for the November 7, 2019 minutes was given
by RUTHANN GRACZEK and DENNIS MCLEAN
NEW
BUSINESS:
KATHERINE
FLOTZ reminded the members that our Christmas Party this year would
be at Pappas Island in Crown Point on December 12, 2019. Members would pay for their own meals and
bring a book for the book exchange if they wanted to be in it.
READINGS:
JOHN HUNT read the
beginning of his short story,
“Eventide,” a tale of a married couple on the cusp of senior
adulthood. As the introduction reveals,
the wife, Phyllis, appears disproportionately concerned with the appearance of
their home. Walt, her husband,
meanwhile, has become withdrawn and preoccupied with his iPad as well as a
project in the garage, the content of which has yet to be revealed.
BEVERLY
STANISLAWSKI read her eight-stanza poem entitled, “The Real Thanksgiving Feast.” The poem tells the real story of how the
original Thanksgiving meal should have been told by the colonists who lived by
the sea. Since their provisions were
sparse, there was no pumpkin pie and since there were no turkeys by the sea,
they ate fish.
MIKE
RIPLEY read the start of the feature story of his book, Dreamrail;
Connected Short Stories. The
story is also called “Dreamrail” and
features the narrator starting his own story, which later will lead to the
collection of five writers, each telling their own tales. In this first story, Samuel tells of his
heroic part in the lives of families who were taken from their homes and held
until he saved them. He also put in a
shameless plug for the book, which is available at amazon.com for just 99 cents
(E-Book version.)
BOB
PHILPOT continued with his book, Strange Friends. This part of the book, (Chapter 4), begins
with Cob’s horse getting spooked by a rattlesnake and starts to buck. Complicating matters, a helicopter begins to
circle overhead drowning out the rattle of the snake, which would have given
Cob advanced notice.
DENNIS MC
LEAN
read four pages of his book, The Eye of the Gift Horse. This part of the story begins with Morris and
his gang intending on avenging Pete, who has been punished for his role in
introducing an illicit picture to the classroom. Their target is Bob Johnson, the boy who
turned the picture in to the teacher.
They persuade Sidney to lure Johnson to a vacant wooded lot where they
will be lying in ambush.
GAIL
GALVAN read her seven stanza poem, “ A Million Songs.” This
lovely poem describes the importance of dreaming. “If you never wish, if you never dream,
you’ll never truly let yourself be you.”
DIANE
STRATTON continued with her true story entitled, “Follow That Hunch.” On a
rainy evening, she saw an old woman walking and had a strong hunch to offer her
a ride since she didn’t even have an umbrella.
Once she was in the car Diane asked where she lived, it became evident
that she might have dementia from the way she answered. The woman was able to produce an envelope
with her address on it . The elderly
woman was quite a long distance from where she lived and believed she had
someone walking with her.
PAM MAUD read her
two-page short story entitled, “God’s
Fingernail.” The story starts with
the revamping of a woman’s kitchen and the mess it entails while she tells her
husband that she intends to start on his office after it is finished.
AMY
BRAILEY read her two-page short story entitled, “Save the Planet.” The story
tells when the Government is taken over by a militant environmental group,
three teenagers use art as a way to rebel.
THOMAS
PAGAN, a student guest, read his one page short story, which did not
yet have a title. The science fiction
story began with a woman desperately needing assistance from Charlie-Delta
squadron. The squadron arrived on time
to set up a biohazard decontamination system.
SAVANNAH
ALLEN, ZOE STAPLES, ALEXANDRA COX, OLIVIA CARROLL AND ALISHA ROBERTS all
brought their very original and colorful art projects and displayed them to the
members. They are all students of AMY BRAILEY.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 P.M.
Respectfully submitted:
SHARON
BUCKMAN
