National League of American Pen Women–Denver Branch
Meeting Minutes
December 6, 2014
I. Ruthy Wexler called the meeting to order at 10:46 a.m.
II. Members in attendance were: Juliana Adams, Andrea Antico, Sophia Baldwin, Diane Chambers, Beverly Chico, Kelly Ann Compton, Ruthy Denker/Wexler, Florence Elliott, Jody Hinrichs, A. Marie Kriss, Nancy Peterson (lunch and book exchange only), Juanita Pope, Jo’el Roth, Gwen Scott, Shirley Ann Sheets, Virginia Small, Kay Taylor, and Sheila Phelan Wright.
III. Inspirational Reading: Juanita shared two quotes today.
A. From Andy Rooney: “One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.”
B. From Roy L. Smith: “If you don’t have Christmas in your heart, you won’t find it under the tree.”
IV. Introduction of guests: No guests were present.
V. The November Minutes were approved as written.
VI. The November Treasurer’s Report was accepted. Our current balance is $2,518.27.
VII. Committee Reports:
A. The Blog Project: Sheila reported that the blog committee had met and decided to continue the blog for at least six more months. The prompt for January/February will be photos that members can choose from and write to. March/April and May/June prompts will be formed as questions. The blog committee plans on meeting again after the January 10 meeting.
B. Website: Virginia reports that the website is going well.
C. Membership:
1. We are waiting on approval for Pat Kennedy as an Active Letters membership.
2.Marsha Perlman was a member of a Florida Branch and is now living in Boulder. She will come to our January 10 meeting.
D. Tapestry: Kriss’s article on the tapestry is in the current Pen Woman Magazine. A woman in Indiana contacted Kriss about the possibility of finding a home for the tapestry in their Children’s Museum. The woman volunteered to talk to the people in charge.
E. Programs:
1. Rooms have been reserved at the Eloise May Library for our January to April meetings, but we were unable to get two rooms for our March Guest Critique session.
2.Two suggestions were offered for holding the March meeting. 1) Ruthy and Andrea’s condos have a party room that would be available for $35-$50. It is one very large room with no dividers, but does have a kitchen available. 2) Juliana suggested using rooms at Kaiser urgent care at Arapaho and Holly. She will double check with Kaiser about room availability. It was also suggested we do the boxed lunches again.
3. As of yet, we have no speaker for January. Diane is looking into getting Gail Hamilton to speak. If January won’t work for her, then perhaps April or May. Andrea has some other possibilities she is working on.
4. Beverly’s sister will be our speaker in February. She will be speaking on the Library of Congress.
5. Program Ideas: Something with Art & Poetry; visit Art galleries or museums; Chaco’s was brought up–they hold workshops.
F. Outreach Projects: Kelly Ann will call Stephanie Baker at St. Andrews Village to find out if it would be possible to work one-on-one with residents to help them write their life stories.
VIII. Old Business: Everyone liked the Round Table discussion held before the meeting in November. It was decided that we will continue holding Round Table discussions whenever we don’t have critiques on meeting days.
IX. New Business: Sophia shared with us about the ACC Writers Contest. Dr. Winegrad is the person to contact. Winners will be published in the ACC publication. Kriss has the information and will send it to everyone.
X. Announcements: Kay shared that Stories on Stage will be on December 13th. She also shared that she is part of a group called Global Volunteers and will be going to Vietnam with this group for two weeks to teach English.
XI. The meeting was adjourned at 11:40.
After the meeting, we shared a potluck lunch and then had fun with a white elephant book exchange. The food was delicious and many books were “stolen”! Many thanks to Gwen Scott for sharing her home with us. She is definitely the “hostess with the mostess.”
Respectively submitted,
Kelly Ann Compton, Secretary
