WiS Meeting Minutes – January 18, 2020
Meeting Time: 10:00 – 13:00
Meeting Place: DAZ
Chair: Andrea
Minute Taker: Cindy
Attendees: Jim, Cindy, Jadi, Andrea, Ellen, Irene, Katharine, Erica
Guests: Hannah, Mimi, Soko, Kirsten
The Writers in Stuttgart was founded by Karenne Sylvester on 6 May 2006.
Introductions:
Andrea: She started writing at age of 13 in English, and joined WiS 5 years ago. She writes prose and poems. She is participating in the Vaginia Monologues this year. See www.neatstuttgart.com for further details.
Maria Mc Evoy – Mimi: I come from Poland. After finishing my high school I decided to move and work abroad to support my independence. I traveled than and lived in several European countries; Ireland, the Netherlands and now Germany. I moved to Stuttgart 3 years ago. I’m a stay at home mom of 3 wonderful children. I writie short poems at moments of inspiration to express my emotions. I believe that people will relate to them. I’ve been inspired by some writers and singers including random people and friends. I like to rhyme and to use simple language in my poems. I find simplicity profound.
Jim: He worked 20 years as a photographer and journalist before becoming a technical writer. He is from California. Jim was one of the original members of WiS in 2006. Hewlett Packard invited him to Germany as a technical writer and photography consultant in 1999 at the age of 57. He retired after 8 years at Hewlett Packard because German laws required retirement at age 65. After that, he taught digital photography at the Hochschule der Medien for 10 years. Jim still works as an event and architectural photographer.
Ellen: She is a retiree and keeps a journal. Ahs has published poems in anthologies. She has been in Germany since 1987. Her goals are to keep writing in her journal.
Erica: She has been a WiS member since December 2012. She is from New York and has been a practicing psychologist for 40+ years. She writes songs, sings, and plays the guitar. Her goal is to put together vignettes of her life in New York. She launched her own YouTube channel which is „invisible“, which means you need the direct link to see it. She has upcoming gigs on 8 February at the Forum and 11 February at the Rosenau.
Katherine : She has been a WiS member since 2014. She has lived in Stuttgart since 1994 with interruptions (2008-2011) for a total of 22 years. She is from New York. She started her career as a newspaper and wire service journalist in in Chicago in 1985. She received a fellowship to come to Germany. She has worked as a freelance journalist for several newspaper outlets such as USA Today, Business Week, Associated Press, and the Wall Street Journal Magazine. Now her focus is on translations and editing.
She does copy editing for the University of Stuttgart. Her goals are to write more short fiction stories and poems. She also wants to finish her University of Iowa online writing course. Her other goals are to confront her piles of memorabilia and figure out how to place the stuff. Julie Otsuka wrote a novel and got her break through an agent. She runs the “Let’s Read“ group Thursday mornings at the DAZ.
Jadi: She has self-published three books which are available on Amazon. She writes fiction. Her goals are to write a book of non-fiction essays, a book of short stories, and/or her fourth novel. She was WiS President for four years. Due to travelling, this is the first time she showing up without something to critique.
Irene: She was born in Berlin and grew up in Nigeria. She lived in US for 16 years. She is a bookbinder and has published several books on the Conservation of Art. She teaches at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart. Her goal is to do non-professional writing.
Cindy: She came to Germany on a NSA/NATO post doc grant in 1995. She has been a member of WiS since 2008. She writes creative non-fiction. Her goal is to have her writing be educational, entertaining, and emotional. Her goals are to finish several of her half-finished projects…
Hannah: She is half Greek and half German lives in Gärtringen. She is studying at the University of Tübingen International Literature and Art History. She is in her third year of a double major. She has written two plays which have also been performed. One on How to Cope with Trauma and one on Good and Bad is not Black and White. She keeps a journal and writes poetry in English. She has published in a journal of photography. She writes poetry in English. Her writing goals are to write a collection of poetry and another play.
Mohammad Sabouni – Sako: He is from Aleppo in Syria and has been in Germany since 2015. He lived two years in Istanbul before coming to Germany. In Syria he studied Anglistics and English Literature and Business Administration. He specialized in Business Relations. He lived in the middle of the war front and has written 15 episodes of his experiences there. He writes sentimental and philosophical vignettes. His goal is to translate his writings into English and German.
Kirsten: Her husband is in the army which is why they have been on and off in Germany. She first moved to Germany in 1986. She has returned to Germany now after living in Hawaii for six years. She has published six children’s books some of which have been illustrated by her. She is a marine biologist and has a deep love for nature and wants to save the world with science. She is an artist, photographer and illustrator. Her goal is to submit her work 51 times in order to keep moving and get over her fear of rejection.
PROMPT: (from Erica) Write a love story with all the emotion that is fit to print in 100 words or less. The New York Times has a competition for these stories.
CRITIQUES:
Hannah: Two poems – No One Sees That. Untitled.
Mimi: Two poems – Be prepared. Sexy Mess.
Jim: Stream of consciousness – I had a dream.
Andrea: Two poems – I feel. Friend.
Katherine: Two poems – January 11. Order in the House.
BUSINESS:
Cindy collected the annual dues in cash from Erica, Andrea, Irene, Katherine, Jadi, and Ellen. The rest need to make a bank transfer by the end of the month to remain on the mailing list. An E-mail has been sent to the group with the bank transfer details.
New members need to go through a vetting process. The website should not advertise the meeting place to the public. Jim will change this on the website. The meeting information in the DAZ program should clearly state that new members are welcome after a vetting process. Jadi has agreed to have her E-mail be made public in the DAZ program as a point of contact. Andrea will see to it that the future program information includes the vetting process and Jadi’s E-mail. Because these changes will take time, it was decided that as an EXCEPTION that the new members who showed up – Mimi, Hannah, and Sako will be accepted without the official vetting process.
The DAZ is celebrating its 60 year anniversary in week 42 of 2020. WiS can have a exhibition space the size of an A1 page over the red sofa in the entrance from April-June. The theme is Haiku Poetry having to do with Stuttgart or St. Louis. The deadline for the Haiku poetry submissions is 7 March 2020. Andrea will organize the exhibition.
There will be a reading in honor of the DAZ at the Dreigroschentheater on Friday, 23 October 2020. The readings should be a tribute to the DAS The deadline for the blurb is 16 May 2020.