Welcome to new members Cam Holzer and Carolyn Beaudrot. Cam is Director of Spiritual Formation at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Simpsonville and Carolyn is wife of Printed Matters editor Leland Beaudrot. We also welcome our visitor, Ray Blackston. We hope you become a regular around our table.
While we welcomed newcomers, we also have to say goodbye to Gabrielle Johansen who is soon leaving Greenville to pursue her education in theater and play writing.
Robin Monroe told us on April 10, Cook Publishing was to consider reprinting her In This Very Hour devotionals. And in truly late news, we shared a profile published mid January in the Greenville News' "City People" of our chronicler of family stories, Pat Stewart.
Congratulations to John Kingsbury on his new job! If you need a used car, see John at CarMax for the straight story. And if you need to find someone special to ride along, out enterprising President and professional matchmaker Randy Crew will be glad to provide Intros.

The April 4 meeting of SCWW began as usual: reminiscing about Jim Poidexter's funeral and how much we missed him, hearing about Randy's successful introductions that resulted in a marriage of two septuagenarian, and a call from the bookstore staff to see if any of us owned the Town and Country car parked outside. She had found the keys with ID in them. None of ours. We began our readings. Next was a staffer saying, "We have to close the store. You'll have to leave." My first thought was "Is there a connection to an unclaimed car in the parking lot and suddenly closing the store?" "We've been invaded by termites and we have to close down," said the lady at the door. We sat stunned for a few minutes. Where could we go to finish our meeting? We still had an hour and a half to go. After several restaurants were suggested and rejected, we agreed on Garner's down the street. As we gathered our papers and books, a young employee came back and said, "You can stay if you want to. I'm here till nine and it's OK to finish your meeting." After being assured the termites were the threat and that Orkin wouldn't roll in with a truck full of chemicals, we decided to stay and finish the meeting. My question now is: "Was there a connection between the unattended Town and Country and the termite invasion??" I've seen termite invasion up close in my home where I came home to two rooms full of termites. It could truly be called terrorism. It is less deadly than anthrax, to be sure, but it could freak out a room full of less well-adjusted folks than our writing group. Maybe I've been on the wrong track all along, watching fire hydrants in my neighborhood for terrorist activity. The latest tactic to alert us to terrorism is the color of flags flown to indicate the probability of a terrorist attack. It ranges from green, "OK," to red, "Watch Out!" In this termite season it would be wise to fly those flags at red. [Actually, the termite terrorists are probably here to gnaw down the flagpoles! - Ed.]

We'll all be in dismay is we don't see you 'dis May 2nd, 6:00 at the Open Book.

New member, Cam Holzer, shared four pages of an earlier work, "An Invitation To Story," and a recent derivative of it, "Stories and Journeys." Our group could find little to critique in Cam's writing proficiency, grammar, or punctuation. However, it was pointed out that the first piece contained many academic abstractions, and without a hook it would probably not pull readers into the work. Gene suggested readers would get interested around the last two pages, if they got that far. "Stories and Journeys" was more personal and accessible, but Robin felt it could be improved if Cam would include small vignettes of story in it. There was general approval by the group for the choices of bookend quotes around both pieces.

Steve Heckman, a writer of great fiction and essays, has now added poetry to his many accomplishments. He treated us to four poems and seven Haiku. As hard as we tried, the only one we could pick apart was "First Half." Steve received a suggestion from Gene to fix the capitalization inconsistency and the awkward middle-section where it bogged down, which should get it up to the high level of the other poems. It is interesting to note the different preferences of the group. Randy liked "After Dinner Walk" best, Robin favored "The Billboard In The Woods", and the Professor loved "Poindexter."

"Helen, Rebel Without A Cause," is Pat Stewart's latest personal essay about a member of her large, interesting family. Helen is her late sister, a James Dean fan for life. The story about her jumps around somewhat, and the group made suggestions where to tighten it up. Also, the Hospice segment needed to be personal, not generic. If Pat submits this one to the anthology competition and wins, maybe they will include the great picture of the life-sized cardboard cut-out of James Dean.

John Kingsbury read the latest chapter from Dying With Amanda. Amanda and Johnny are on an adventure riding on a stolen rail inspection car. It is the latest example of John's strong writing. Johnny and Amanda have a conversation about their fathers. Both men had been on a DC-3 over France on D-Day. She told him the story about his Dad that he never knew. Their discussion of his death was a great part of the writing. One critique: too much cow and people mooing. One listener got tired of the many times the rail car rounded curves.

Gene Fehler's artist brother-in-law named Badger wants to market a line of badger stuff. Gene is working on a story using a character named Lord Badger. He was sitting for the neighbor's youngsters and found them covered with red fluid. After he found out the trick they played, his reaction was priceless. "Worried?...I was merely terrified that two of my favorite young badgers might be in pain and might be permanently disfigured. But worried? No, I wasn't worried." Strawberries were the source of the red faces. The interesting hook of the plot is the fact that Lord Badger has a gift of using poetry to solve problems. This gift came from a potion from the Queen's wizard, Brydon. The ingredients included "raindrops that fell in April and crushed flowers that bloomed only in September." The poem that a messenger delivered left us with a feeling of impending doom. Would it be against Rollie and Ralphie, his young friends? One suggestion to improve the story would be to begin the story with one of Lord Badger's intriguing poems.

Gabrielle Johansen gave us a last look at her work, as she is leaving the Greenville area. She did not give us the ending of her novel Portals, so we may never hear the story of that mysterious place. What she gave us was in a new medium for her, three poems. In "The Giver," Gene suggested she leave out the last four lines. Another critique was to avoid using tsunami to describe the big wave in "Imaginary Ancestors" ocean trip. A question came up as to whether there would be reporters in the era of this trip? My Random House Unabridged Dictionary gave the dates of {1350-1400} after the definition of reporter. "Connecting the Dots, "about the sad fate of Mama and Papa needs a better beginning line than using "knee high to a grasshopper." Stay with us by e-mail when you finish Portals, Gabrielle, so we hear how it ends. Good luck in graduate school!!

Those of us fortunate to have read Robin Prince Monroe's Loss of a Dream were excited to hear that she may have an opportunity to republish it and her other devotional Loss of a Loved One, along with two new, more upbeat works, The Joy of God's Calling and The Joy of Living Creatively. Robin brought a book series proposal for the new series, and a couple of pages from each of the new devotionals. Robin has a great knack for linking real-life examples, from the paint formulations of the Masters to chewing gum under the edge of a restaurant table, with the scripture that forms the basis of each devotional. And Der Tubemeister was impressed with Robin's demeanor under the stress of a mid-reading termite alert. She calmly stood her ground as we were advised that "It would be best if you just leave."

And was Leland Beaudrot unnerved by the prospect of a massive termite attack? Seemingly not, as he brought a fresh take on some familiar material, delivered with his usual light touch. Mikey is a student at the Governor's School in Amused, a rewrite of a fictional piece Leland entertained us with a year or so ago. As before, Mikey is captivated by a mysterious, beautiful, older stranger who jogs through campus. And as before, Mikey is given to flights of fantasy in her presence, finding himself transported to Vietnam or Elizabethan England at inopportune moments. The difference this time is the stranger is not as much older, not such a cradle-robber, and it's an improvement.

Der Tubemeister missed Bibek Mohanty's debut in March, but was treated to two months' worth of A Gandhi Goes Home this session. And that was the problem. Bibek, an enthusiastic and talented young writer (exactly the kind of new blood SCWW needs) committed a common rookie mistake -- he used a small font and narrow margins to pack more material into his five page reading, which then took so long to read that there was no time for critiques. A pity, because nobody had the chance to tell him how much we enjoyed the conversation between Pupun and his uncle, Mamu, about the family's disappointment that Pupun hadn't become a doctor. Classic family-tension reality. D.T. also enjoyed Pupun's devil's advocate nature. When his relatives defend India, Pupun attacks it -- when they attack their homeland, he defends. Bring us more, Bibek, just not quite so much.

A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips;--not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself. The symbol of an ancient man's thought becomes a modern man's speech.... Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage. They have no cause of their own to pled, but while they enlighten and sustain the reader his common sense will not refuse them. Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind.

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter, SCWW, which meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters: Phil Arnold, Pat Stewart and Steve Heckman.

Copyright 2002 by Leland Beaudrot, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.