Writers Guild visits Senior Center

Anne Dalton , Mason County Action Group Site Manager for the Gene Salem Senior Center , welcomed members of the Point Pleasant Writers Guild to the Center on Tuesday, November 20 for an Open Mic program. Attendees in the audience were invited to share in the fun.

Betty Lee sang one of her favorite hymns and Joe Ingerick read several poems of his own creation. Betty Farmer told about the Thanksgiving Dinner early in her husband’s church ministry when she stuck her finger in the gravy and then tasted it to see if it needed anything. It was then she wondered if the visiting pastor had seen her in the act. She never learned for sure if he had and was embarrassed to think about it for years afterward.

Patrecia Gray, president of the Writers Guild, read a history of Thanksgiving, from its beginning in 1621 at Plymouth Rock to 1941 when Congress declared the holiday would take place on the fourth Thursday of November. From time to time she asked questions to see if members of the audience knew their history.

Vivian Endicott accompanied herself on the piano while singing “Thank You My Friend”, a song she wrote about having Jesus as a friend. She also read her poem entitled “Hands Out”. Marilyn Clarke read a dialogue between her two dogs, Abby and Ziva, who enjoy Thanksgiving Day with their owners.

April Pyles read her poem entitled “Now and Then”, which dealt with aging-related issues. In her short story, “Going Home Again”, Carol Newberry wrote about a woman who dreaded spending Thanksgiving with her dysfunctional family but changed her attitude when she remembered the good times they had once had together when she was growing up.

Pyles read the first verse of “When the Frost is on the Punkin” by James Whitcomb Riley, a poem she and her class were required to memorize in Junior High and which always comes to her mind at this time of year. She then read her play, “Company for Thanksgiving”. It described one day of giving thanks by two pioneer families and two of their Indian friends during the mid 1700’s.

The program closed with a short reading by Gray on the subject of singing God’s praises as a gift to God in thanks for all His blessings. She then played “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow” on the piano while Pyles led the audience in singing it.

The Writers Guild’s last meeting for 2012 will take place at the Mason County Library on December 12. Beginning in January 2013, the Guild will meet the first and third Wednesdays of the month. All aspiring writers are welcome to attend.