MINUTES FOR MAY 5, 2010

MEMBER PRESENT:
Jacqueline Huppenthal, George Miga, Sharon Palmeri, Tom Spencer, Beverly Stanislawski, Judith Whitcomb

GUESTS PRESENT:
Anthony Dixon, Cynthia Echterling, Sandra Nantuis

NEWS:
1. Jackie Huppenthal has been spending most of her time on creating illustrations for her children’s book Sallie Mae and the Three Little Wolves, a fractured fairy tale based on the Three Little Pigs story. She shared some of her watercolor illustrations. She is distantly related to Joanne Worley who is from Hammond.

2. Cynthia Echterling, our guest from Lowell, has a science fiction book being published by Whiskey Creek Press that will be out in January. The story centers on the main character an ordinary kid from Hammond who gets a job as an interpreter for a group of aliens. The original book was over 100,000 words so the publisher broke it down into two books. She is working on a sequel.

3. Tom Spencer is writing and enjoying it. He reminded everyone that there is an Open Microphone Round Robin taking place May 14th at the Hebron Comfort Inn. The North West Indiana Poetry Society sponsors this event. On the 15th of May a morning event will have a keynote speaker who will speak on the topic of poetry in education. At 1:00 P.M. on the 15th, at the Lowell Library, a visit with Emily Dickinson will take place. An actor will portray Emily Dickinson. He encourages all to come and enjoy the events. Tom would like to put together a group to go to the Shakespeare festival in Stratford, Toronto Canada next April. He surveyed the group for interest. Several people were interested.

4. Sharon Nantuis, another guest from Lowell, had worked for the Lowell newspaper but had taken a 1.5-year hiatus from the job. She took Sharon Palmeri’s Non-Fiction writing class to get back in touch with her writing and to become more creative with the writing. She enjoys writing poetry. In the future, she hopes to use her father’s letters from Korea as a basis for a book.

5. Beverly Stanislawski who enjoys writing poetry and short stories has won another prize. This one is from the state of Alabama. She created an original poetic style, an octatetra, and won the 1st place prize. In addition, she took 3rd place for a Japanese Haiku submitted in another division of the contest. Look for an announcement of her awards in the Post Tribune. She is working on a poem inspired by a phrase from a Psalm: “Night pregnant with evil”.

6. George Miga who has been to Sharkespeare’s home in the original Stratford upon Avon, lectures at IUN and does training a Valpo. Retired from Amoco, he likes to build on the writing he did in the course of his work life by creating works of fiction. On opus, about Grant and Lee was published by Publish America about 20 years ago. He continues to work on Spin Doctors and Grey Guerillas (about 50% done.) He shared an adventure with us about flying during a tornado.

7. Anthony Dixon, our guest from Lake Station, is interested in filmmaking and trained at Columbia College for a short while. He is interested in screen writing and writing for children. The genres he prefers western and science fiction writing genres.

8. Judy Whitcomb has been busy writing non-fiction for her work and not Sharon’s class.

9. Sharon is eager to take a little break after her non-fiction class and get out in her garden. She said the children’s writing project for IWC will be piloted in Crown Point. She has been busy with researching grant opportunities for the children’s project. She enjoys all types of writing but is currently focusing on poetry and memoirs. She suggested that WOH put together a book of their works. Tom offered suggestions since a group he is connected with did that. Submissions would be limited, 5 poems or short story(ies) under 3000 words (Multiple short stories if total words did not exceed the limit.) Tentative deadlines for submissions would be September 15th with October 1st as the final. The project is still on the table for discussion.

READINGS

JACKIE HUPPENTHAL shared a “seeing poem” with us. The poet, Robert Froman, used the words of the poems to form a light bulb. She presented her poem, about hot springs. The words floated and were anchored over a picture she took on her honeymoon.

JUDY WHITCOMB read her poem I Heard a Child that embodies her journey through teaching. Tom corrected a preposition.

SANDRA NANTUIS presented a Villanelle poem New Orleans. A photo that inspired the poem accompanied it. Sandra took the picture in New Orleans and thought the picture itself was poetry. The poem captures the image of a young man playing the guitar in a doorway.

TOM SPENCER provided us with two versions of the same poem. The poem captures the terrifying approach of and devastation caused by a tornado. Most felt the second format suited the poem better.

BEVERLY STANISLAWSKI, after reading her daily paper, was inspired to write Hate Is Like a Boomerang. The poem cautions us against the use of hate because eventually it will come back to you.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 P.M.

Respectfully submitted:
Judith Lachance-Whitcomb