JUNE 18, 2025

 

Welcome back. 

Here we are at the final meeting of the first half of 2025. Already? It seems as if the year just started a few weeks ago. How are you doing with meeting your goals for this year? I will say I’ve fallen behind. I don’t know if it’s laziness, distraction, or something I don’t recognize. Maybe it’s a little of all that. Anyway, once I get moved into my new home and get settled, I plan to make a concentrated effort to catch up. That brings up another question. Can one really catch up? The time wasted is time we have not used effectively. We cannot recover time. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t make the clock run backward any place but in my head. Good luck repurposing lost time.

 

This week, only nine writers could attend the meeting. Several of our regulars were out of town, and a few have returned to homes in northern climes, but two new adventurers came to see what we do here. Welcome to Lex Concord and Dino Bianchi. We look forward to you joining us many more times in the future.

 

First up in the reading portion of the meeting, Ernie Ovitz brought us scenes ten and eleven of his short story, The Penitent Man. 

Scene 10: A Chinese businessman named Yan Qing approached Santino with an offer to pay the price demanded by the brother of the President of the United States. Santino delivered the message. The deal was done, but a suspicious plane crash claimed the life of the President’s brother. Now, agents of several government agencies were probing into Santino’s business affairs. They intended to prove he was in league with the Chinese Government to cause harm to the United States.  

Scene 11: While in Panama, attempting to clear his name, Santino has a dispute with a Customs Agent at the airport. Santino’s bodyguard stops him from drawing unwanted attention to himself by making an example of a single man demanding an exorbitant bribe.

 

As always, Don Westerfield brought us two poems. Both were written some years prior, but carry a modern message. While listening to the poem “Eternity,” the listener can hear the indecision in the writer’s voice as they contemplate the existence of an omnipotent being. But the rest of the story becomes clear in the final stanzas. Always interested in aircraft, Don pursued a career in Military Aviation. So, it is not a reach when he brings us a poem formed as a ballad about men and their flying machines. The poem Dan and His Staggered Wing Beech tells a tale of a cocky young pilot who heeds a call for help from another pilot who is lost and engulfed in a dangerous storm. As Dan and his revered Staggered Wing Beech launch into the storm in his effort to guide the beleaguered to a safe landing, the fellow flyers watch and wait. Soon, the lost pilot lands safely, but what of Dan?

 

The Last Soviet is the working title of Ursula Wong’s latest work. This is the second work in a series about a brilliant programmer and coder who developed an application designed to translate all languages. Grace called her app “e-parlay. “ As Grace discovered her app could be used for evil, she destroyed it. Or did she? Now, International Intelligence agencies of many countries, including the USA, are looking to get their hands on “e-parlay.”

 

Do you know that most women have not had the opportunity to work with a mentor? Anne Moore has started a project to help women discover the benefits of mentorship. Anne is conducting interviews with seventy women aged seventy years old. She is asking questions pertinent to life’s lessons these older women have learned the hard way. All so that she can share their vast knowledge with younger women seeking guidance. Good luck, Anne.

 

Okay, then. Our next meeting is on July 2^nd, and we would like to see you there. Until then, READ, Read, and read some more. Then, KEEP ON WRITING.