Our last meeting was held at the home of Kerry Pobanz. Present were June Saunders, Dan Sladich, Valerie Shimoyama, Jerry Chesnut, newcomer Marlo Watanabe, Bob and Karen Beebe and, of course, Kerry. It was great to have Marlo with us, a second gen, among us old-timers. She seemed to hold up well among us, not at all intimidated, and we hope she will continue to grace us with her presence.
After reading and commenting on a few quotations about writing by real writers (except for maybe one read by June, whom we all agreed, accomplished as we are, that he didn't know what he was talking about), we launched into an analysis and critique of Jerry's sort-of-autobiographical novel-in-progress. The reviews were quite positive, that he had made great progress in adding some dialogue and tightening up some sections, while retaining that distinctive Chesnutian prose which interweaves sometimes oblique cultural references, especially to Marlo, with life-shaping personal experiences.
We got so wrapped up in Jerry's piece that we never got to the second item on the agenda, Valerie's memoirs, which turned out to be all right with Valerie as her printer had stopped working and she had no copies to pass out anyway.
Thus, Valerie's work will be the main item of our next meeting's agenda, scheduled for this Sunday, March 30, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the Saunder's house (6 Emerson St., Clifton). Even as I write, Valerie is feverishly editing her piece and will be sending it to me tomorrow for subsequent distribution so that we may all be ready with our feedback for her on Sunday.
There are also reports that Paul Russell will be appearing with a new version of his review of the Book of Jonah. We hope as well that Dan Sladich will share with us a few of his poems.
Look forward to seeing all of you this Sunday.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
About Spirits and Quotes
Well, we had a very nice meeting of our New Jersey Writers Group (can't we find something less formal? we need to knock our brains together) a week ago Sunday at the home of Dan Sladich. Once again his daughter baked some dynamite chocolate chip cookies to ease along our discussion. In attendance were Dan, Valerie Shimoyama, Kerry Pobanz, Jerry Chesnut, June Saunders, Irene Sasao, Bob Beebe, and even Jerome Carroll came out of the woodwork at the end of the meeting.
We started off by distributing to each person fortune cookie type strips of literary quotes (or, more accurately, quips by writers on the art of writing). This helped to get us in the mood after reading quotes from the likes of Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Henry David Thoreau, and others. Each person had to express his/her agreement or disagreement with the quote he/she got, and why.
From there we moved on to the highlight of the meeting, a discussion of Kerry's soon-to-be-published article on ancestor liberation, specifically entitled "A Comparison of William Baldwin's 'Spititual Releasement Theory' and Dae Mo Nim's Depossession Healing." This discussion was very animated, since we Unificationists have attended more than a few liberation ceremonies in the past decade, in faith, but also sometimes with some scepticism (at least among some). Kerry's article showed that there are other practitioners of spiritual liberation in the world community who have found evidence of spiritual possession or attachment to people's bodies, although not necessarily understanding the origins of such phenomena.
Our next meeting is planned for this Sunday, March 16, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the Pobanz residence: 466 Chestnut St., Nutley. Appropriately, Jerry Chesnut (without the "t") will be presenting an update of his pseudoautobiography (with dialogue), along with Valerie Shimoyama, who will treat us to some more delicious stories from her past life (no, I don't mean previous reincarnations). If Paul Russell shows up, we may also get a chance to comment on his essay on the Book of Jonah. In any case, please being your written comments and we will mail them to him if he doesn't show.
I look forward to seeing you all there.
We started off by distributing to each person fortune cookie type strips of literary quotes (or, more accurately, quips by writers on the art of writing). This helped to get us in the mood after reading quotes from the likes of Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Henry David Thoreau, and others. Each person had to express his/her agreement or disagreement with the quote he/she got, and why.
From there we moved on to the highlight of the meeting, a discussion of Kerry's soon-to-be-published article on ancestor liberation, specifically entitled "A Comparison of William Baldwin's 'Spititual Releasement Theory' and Dae Mo Nim's Depossession Healing." This discussion was very animated, since we Unificationists have attended more than a few liberation ceremonies in the past decade, in faith, but also sometimes with some scepticism (at least among some). Kerry's article showed that there are other practitioners of spiritual liberation in the world community who have found evidence of spiritual possession or attachment to people's bodies, although not necessarily understanding the origins of such phenomena.
Our next meeting is planned for this Sunday, March 16, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the Pobanz residence: 466 Chestnut St., Nutley. Appropriately, Jerry Chesnut (without the "t") will be presenting an update of his pseudoautobiography (with dialogue), along with Valerie Shimoyama, who will treat us to some more delicious stories from her past life (no, I don't mean previous reincarnations). If Paul Russell shows up, we may also get a chance to comment on his essay on the Book of Jonah. In any case, please being your written comments and we will mail them to him if he doesn't show.
I look forward to seeing you all there.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
First Blog Report
We had a wonderful meeting of our writers' group on Sunday, Feb. 17, at the cozy home of John and Kazuko Lombaerde. The main meeting was preceded by a coffee at Starbucks down the street where Dan Sladich, John, Bob and Karen Beebe, and newcomer Jerome Carroll gathered. After polishing off our coffees, we met up with June Saunders, Kerry Pobanz, Jerry Chesnut and Valerie Shimoyama at the Lombaerde's.
First on the agenda was John explaining about our group's blog once again, pointing out its uses and advantages. With a computer readily available, Jerome Carroll signed in on the spot. Dan Sladich tried to get in but couldn't due to a glitch (apparently still not resolved as I don't see his name up there yet). One of the advantages is posting a message like this one for all to see rather than e-mailing it out to everyone like I am doing. Obviously, for us old fogies old habits are hard to change. After all most of us started life in the letter-writing/typewriter era and we got thrust warp-speed into cyberspace. No wonder we're still bumbling around. But I'm sure we'll get to the promised land some day where we will feel totally comfortable living our lives on the internet like our children do.
After that, we time-traveled back to 1914, which was the time period of the short story Bob read to the group. He (that is, I) really appreciate the feedback everyone gave, which helped me to ratchet up the quality of the piece. I finished it yesterday and am now just waiting to collect my $150 before sending it off to the publisher. I am now preparing to write a futuristic drama of a world where the traditional family has ceased to exist and the state controls all child-bearing and child-rearing, which is basically what I think would have happened had True Parents not appeared.
Our next meeting is planned for this Sunday, March 2nd, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the home of Dan Sladich, 46 Myrtle Ave. in Clifton. We are planning to discuss the piece on the Book of Jonah written by Paul Russell and Kerry Pobanz's article "A Comparison of William Baldwin's "Spirit Releasement Therapy" and Dae Mo Nim's Depossession Healing" (a little light reading before heading off to bed). Please contact them if you need a copy of either one. Anyone else that has something to present is welcome to do so.
I look forward to seeing you all this Sunday. God bless!
First on the agenda was John explaining about our group's blog once again, pointing out its uses and advantages. With a computer readily available, Jerome Carroll signed in on the spot. Dan Sladich tried to get in but couldn't due to a glitch (apparently still not resolved as I don't see his name up there yet). One of the advantages is posting a message like this one for all to see rather than e-mailing it out to everyone like I am doing. Obviously, for us old fogies old habits are hard to change. After all most of us started life in the letter-writing/typewriter era and we got thrust warp-speed into cyberspace. No wonder we're still bumbling around. But I'm sure we'll get to the promised land some day where we will feel totally comfortable living our lives on the internet like our children do.
After that, we time-traveled back to 1914, which was the time period of the short story Bob read to the group. He (that is, I) really appreciate the feedback everyone gave, which helped me to ratchet up the quality of the piece. I finished it yesterday and am now just waiting to collect my $150 before sending it off to the publisher. I am now preparing to write a futuristic drama of a world where the traditional family has ceased to exist and the state controls all child-bearing and child-rearing, which is basically what I think would have happened had True Parents not appeared.
Our next meeting is planned for this Sunday, March 2nd, 3:00-5:00 pm, at the home of Dan Sladich, 46 Myrtle Ave. in Clifton. We are planning to discuss the piece on the Book of Jonah written by Paul Russell and Kerry Pobanz's article "A Comparison of William Baldwin's "Spirit Releasement Therapy" and Dae Mo Nim's Depossession Healing" (a little light reading before heading off to bed). Please contact them if you need a copy of either one. Anyone else that has something to present is welcome to do so.
I look forward to seeing you all this Sunday. God bless!
PS You can observe half of our group in the accompanying photo. Let's get the rest of us up there!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)