NEWSLETTER OF THE DENVER BRANCH
NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN
JANUARY 2011
DENVER NLAPW MEETING MINUTES 1/8/2011
President Diane Chambers called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. We met at Café de France located at I-25 and Orchard. Prior to the meeting, at 9:15, Kelly Compton conducted a critiquing session of works in progress by Diane Chambers and Pat Kennedy. These sessions will precede most monthly meetings.
In attendance were: Andrea Antico, Diane Chambers, Dr. Beverly Chico, Kelly Ann Compton, Fay Coulouris, Patricia Cox, Florence Elliott, Patricia D. Kennedy, Ann Klaiman, A. Marie Kriss, Sue Luxa, Nancy M. Peterson, and Shirley Ann Sheets.
Kriss opened the meeting with an inspirational reading from Kahlil Gibran called “Comments on Giving.” The December 2010 minutes were approved as written. No income or expenses took place and our current balance is $1,991.68. Kriss reports that we may not end this year in a deficit as previously thought, because we are not paying rental fees for meeting space.
Committee Reports:
• Andrea shared information about Place Bridge Academy. The academy is a refugee Pre-K to eighth grade school where more than fifty languages are spoken. This year, their focus is on writing. Andrea and Gwen will meet with the school on January 10th at 3:45 to help see how our chapter can help. They will find out what the teachers need in the way of supplies and volunteers. One possibility is for us to adopt a class.
• Our February members’ critiques will include offerings from Florence Elliott and Sue Luxa.
• Our March Guest Critiques program will take place at Shirley Ann Sheets home. We will hold a potluck luncheon. Details on time and what to bring will take place at a later date.
• In May, our meeting will take place at Fairmont Cemetery. We will take a 2-hour tour ending in the chapel. A break will take place during the tour for writing, drawing or whatever one is inspired to do. We will eat lunch there. Sue will find out about room availability and where lunch will take place. The cost for the tour is $7.00 per person. There will be no business meeting that day.
Old Business: Pat Kennedy informed us that the Denver Public Library thanks us for the archived scrapbooks of our Denver NLAPW to the Western History Collection. A suggestion was made that we tour the Western History Collection Library next year.
New Business: Diane Chambers updated the group on happenings from National. She read from The Pen Women magazine about how National is working on keeping the organization alive through workshops and other events. The publicity chair at National is revamping the website which will hopefully keep it more up-to-date and accurate. Beverly Lewis’ book, The Shunning, is being made into a movie by Michael Landon Jr. Diane recommends that when you receive The Pen Women, “Read it!” It contains a mountain of information. Also, the spring issue’s theme is “Gazing Skyward” if anyone would like to submit a contribution.
Announcements:
• Andrea Antico shared that Sheila Wright has stage 3 ovarian cancer. She is currently in Florida.
• Colorado Authors’ League is offering a class/workshop on blogging for profit, January 26.
• Nancy Peterson has signed a contract with Wild West Magazine to publish her writing on Martha Maxwell, the first female taxidermist in Colorado.
• Dr. Beverly Chico wrote five articles for the ten-volume Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. She also has 80 items from her International Headwear Collection on display at the Aurora History Museum.
• Florence Elliott will be hosting a poetry club at Kendricks Lake Elementary School with 10 students.
• Ann Klaiman won 2nd place in the Poetry Society of Colorado’s contest “I remember, one December” with a poem based on a true story about a friend in the 1970’s.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:55.
Respectfully submitted by Kelly Ann Compton, Secretary
JANUARY PROGRAM: DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE DENVER BRANCH PROJECTS
Ann lead the group in a brainstorming session. Here is the raw list of possible projects:
1. Provide school supplies
2. Become school volunteers, writing skills
3. Volunteer individually at nearby schools
4. Branch name tags?
5. Help kids establish after school poetry/writing clubs
6. Assist parents of refugee kids to help their kids do well in school
7. Produce an adult literacy packet
8. Help elders in care facilities with writing, memories, letter writing
9. Provide elders with one-on-one companionship (Bessie’s Hope)
10. Put together a book of stories by elderly
11. Work individually with elders (Meridian, etc.)
12. Help elder use/understand laptops
13. Attend a Canvas and Cocktail event (POST, 1-8-11)
14. Suburban Pioneers—stories of immigrants
15. Compile a story collection to go out to different people
16. Show our art, our works, at a fair. Us + Community
17. Provide a forum for our works.
18. Sponsor our own event to make money for ourselves and our branch
19. Join an established art fair to make money for ourselves and our branch
20. Write a grant
21. Have a booth at a high school holiday fair.
22. Design and assemble display cases for libraries
23. Library display cases might focus on our organization or our works
24. Run a nationwide, interdisciplinary art-write-music contest
25. Run an interdisciplinary contest as a fundraiser for the branch
26. Produce sewing for sale— quilts, etc.
Possible Goals for Branch Projects: Ann and Diane developed the following, which might be some of the goals guiding a branch project. What other goals occur to you, and which goals are most important to you?
A. Exposure: To provide a forum for works by branch members, bringing them to a wider audience.
B. Outreach: To enrich our community by providing arts experiences.
C. Awareness: To raise community awareness of NLAPW Denver and its mission.
D. Recruitment: To encourage eligible women to join our branch.
E. Monetary: To raise money to fund the operations of our branch.
F. Philanthropic: To raise money to fund scholarships or in other ways invest in the community.
G. Educational: To share our skills with the community.
H. Exploratory: To enjoy doing something new.
Are goals separate from attributes……? Like–Should be interdisciplinary, should not put the branch at economic risk, etc. Which goals support our mission statement (below)?
Our mission is to support and advance the development and success of writers, artists, and composers within our branch membership as well as within the metropolitan Denver community. We will foster education, professionalism, creativity, and recognition of artistic talent.
UPCOMING FEBRUARY MEETING
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011
PRE-MEETING CRITIQUING SESSION
PROGRAM: AUTHOR AND BRANCH MEMBER PATRICIA COX
• January’s meeting will be PATRICIA COX’S HOME. Address to be e-mailed to members.
• Interested members will meet at 9:15 A.M. FOR A CRITIQUING SESSION (Florence Elliot, Sue Luxa). Electronic copies may be sent to members before the meeting.
• Business meeting at 10 a.m., Patricia’s presentation at 11 a.m.
• About Patricia Cox: After my husband died from Alzheimer’s, I wrote a memoir about our experiences with this devastating disease, We Keep Our Potato Chips in the Refrigerator, which is at all three Tattered Cover Book Stores. I write articles for Wellshire Presbyterian Newsletter and am currently teaching memoir writing classes for the University of Denver’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and The Academy of Lifelong Learning.