September 23, 2021

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Shirley Vaughan, Sharon Buckman, Sue Becherer, Shirley Hinman, Amy Brailey, Cindy Horgash, Danielle Johnson, Beverly Stanislawski, Gail Galvan, Sharon Palmeri, Diane Stratton

OLD BUSINESS:

A vote of approval for the September 9, 2021 minutes were given by CINDY HORGASH and SHIRLEY HINMAN.

 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 SHARON PALMERI announced that the annual Christmas party for WOH would be at Pappas on December 9^th, the second Thursday.  There will be no meeting at Pappas in November.

LITERARY NEWS:

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI announced that she had taken first place in a Massachusetts poetry contest for three of her poems.  The poems were titled “We are Teachers,” “Finding Eternity,” and “Kindergarten Lessons.”

READINGS:

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI read the three winning poems, the first, “We are Teachers,” were wise words about teachers.  The second poem, “Finding Eternity,” stated when it finally comes, there is no returning.  The third poem, “Kindergarten Lessons,” gave such lessons as, “if you care, you share.”

SUSAN BECHERER read two pages of her memoir entitled, “Dogtown,” a memoir that basically took place in East St. Louis, across the river from the St Louis World Fair.

SHIRLEY HINMAN read her two poems, the first, “A Visit, “ a poem telling of the brief visit of autumn.  The second poem, “Sing to me Autumn,” tells of the warmth and comfort of autumn.

AMY BRAILEY continued with her novel, “Jon Everett and the Hall of History.” After being attacked at Fort Duquesne, Washington’s army continued marching, ending up at Christopher Gist’s planation to rest.

CINDY HORGASH read her short story titled, “Cia Bella.”  The story was about an elderly woman living in a senior community who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and the death of her beloved husband, Renzo.  Her dream comes true when Renzo returns to take her home.

DIANE STRATTON read two pages of her short story entitled, “Open Your Heart and You Shall Receive.”  Her summary states volunteering ends up bringing unexpected good things that met needs of those who gave freely of their time and service.

SHARON PALMERI read three pages of her memoir entitled, “To Fly or Not to Fly.”  The memoir begins in 1967 when Sharon, Edie and Sue moved into their apartment.  The apartment was cold and after Sharon came down with the Hong Kong Flu a boyfriend at the time, Ewald, risked catching the flu to take care of her.  Sharon also read a short summary entitled, “The Wedding-I Mean-Writing Oath.” The summary tells of the writer’s passion for writing.

GAIL GALVAN read three of her poems, the first, “Sandy Beach Stroll,” tells of the pleasure of taking the time to stroll at Porter Beach.  The second, “Kindergarten Confidence,” tells how confident kindergarteners are and yet how adults lose it.  The third, “Train Stop,” tells of how a poet will master killing the time of a train stop by turning it into a poem.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:

SHARON BUCKMAN