Well, Ed, I don't think you have much reason to complain about participation at that LAST meeting. We pwn the world. And since there is no mention of eyes in our newest pass-around story, enjoy:

"You like knitting neddles?"
"I," she paused. "What has that got to do with anything?"
"I don't know..."
"Well...psychologists say that knowing something like that about a person says something about them, like..."
They need to do serious time in Bedlam.
Which is England, as we have learned, where knitting is a common hobby.
"Well, I suppose I am English, therefore I knit, therefore I like knitting needles...why would it matter?"
"So you like to knit which means you like knitting needles. Though I suppose you could enjoy knitting and hate knitting needles which is like being a Beatles fan and thinking Paul McCartney is a wanker."
"Pardon, sir?" she said.
"Paul McCartney is a wanker."
She jumped up, brandishing a knife she'd taken from who-knows-where. "You take that back!" she screamed.
"NEVER!!!"
Paul McCartney then stepped out politely and coughed. "'Scuse me?"
At the very words, a swarm of fighter jets swooped in, a screech breaking the conversation. "The code word was Benny, boys! Idiots."
Then Gary Oldman walked in.
He was dressed like Batman's sidekick Robin(epic fail, Gary Oldman is the COMMISSIONER) and he looked like he had just woke(n -->epic fail again, Ed, wrong tense) up but needed a nap.
"Everyone!" he pulled the cape over his shoulder and yelled, "I am the night, I am Batman!" It turned out it was not Gary Oldman, it was
Tim Roth.

WIN.

Meeting on Monday

Let's all not forget that we are meeting tomorrow. 6 pm. Morrison Regional Library. In Charlotte, NC. At least two members of our Hall of Fame will be there so a good time is guaranteed for all.

Poetry Competition

Hey, I just recieved a flyer in the interoffice mail about a poetry competiton sponsored by the Lanier Library of Tryon, NC. It's called the Sidney Lanier Poetry Award. You can view information on it here. They even have a category for high school students.

A list of lists

Every year I go to this website for his annual lists of annual lists. I'm a big fan of year ending lists and this site lists, if not all, then enough.

Howdy Howdy

If you are interested the New York Times has published their best books of the year list here. I have only read one book on that list and I am only 100 pages into it. I am currently reading the book "Dark Side" about the Bush administration. I won't go into politics here but I am sure you can tell by the title that it is not a book that takes a favorable view of President Bush and his people.

By the way, don't forget that we are meeting this month on Monday, December 22nd. I would like to hear who can make it ahead of time this month. If we are not going to have a full group I will cancel this month's meeting a start over in January. Who is in?

Life Magazine Photographs

I know this has very little to do with writing but I had to share this with you. I've been messing with it for over a week now and it's a gold mine. Google has teamed up with Life Magazine to archive and host the magazine's photo archive. It's amazing and you can lose an hour pretty quickly by doing searches on things that interest you.

For example:

Robert Frost with an ax

T.S. Eliot at his desk.

John Steinbeck with his dog.

Gore Vidal has his morning tea.

And finally, Willie Mays ducking a bean ball. Look out, Willie!!

Howdy

I do hope attendance begins to pick back up. These meetings rely on group participation which is hard to maintain over two hours when there are only three attendees. On the upside, Jake did walk out of the meeting with about five books.

Our last meeting was the weirdest meeting ever cause there were alone 4 people there. Me(hannah), jake, katie, and ed. for half of the time we read and talked and did the exercise. And the other half we spent in ed office eating suckers(which people from the north call them like me and people from the south call them lollipops) and we got free books and free bookmarks!

pip pip cheerio peace out

--Hannah

Meeting Tonight

I meant to send this out Friday but I forgotted. We are meeting tonight at 6pm at the Morrison Library. Who is going to be there?

HEY, ED! No, I'm not posting writing, but rather, a question: was the entry from Ed McDonald of Charlotte in the Forum on the editorial page of the Observer today from you? I remember your last name being McDonald for some reason.

New Online Journal Wants Stuff

Hey, got something that is ready for submission? Check out this brand spanking new journal.

The Poet President

Obama wrote poetry when he was younger. I wonder if he still does now. According to the article he was 19 when these were published in one of them student literary magazines. The article is here and the poems are at the end of the story.

Have you seen the white whale?

No, not New Gingrich, I am referring to the original white whale, ya'll: Moby Dick. Is anyone here interested in an online annotated version of Herman Melville's classic? You know I read that book when I was way too young to understand it. I should read it again. Who wants to start a discussion group?

Howdy From Charleston

I am in Charleston for a conference. It's my first conference and I sat through a couple of informative presentations yesterday. The one on the trouble with verifying the authority of content on the internet was especially good. This blog was not mentioned. I took some pictures yesterday and thought I would share them.

The city's famous bridge. It's beautiful


Me at the Battery. A great park at the southern tip of Charleston.


A sunset view of the city from across the river. Found this by accident, just driving around.


Fort Sumter. I think it's Fort Sumter. It was in the right spot.


A panorama of a view of the city from across the river.


My ladyfriend, Melanie, standing in front of the city at dusk.

Our Next Couple of Meetings

Hello again. Our next meeting is going to be on Monday November 24th at 6pm. Also, in December our meeting will be on Monday, December 22nd. What do you all think of that? Maybe Mitchell will be in town on December 22nd?

More Early Voting

Early voting is now completely out of control. The line stretches around the front of the building as you can see below and then curves around into the parking lot on the side of the building which you can see in the following pictures. Craziness. The wait is at least two hours.

From Drop Box

Here is my poem from October's teen writers night:

As I was reading that poem about all the food

I reach for some of my left over chinese food

But as I look at it

I am no longer hungry

So I sit and stare at my withering flowers 

And now I am going to bed 

And wait for the birds to sing in the morning

By--Hannah

Shared Story

Always a highlight, these are.

There was an eyeball on the floor.
It happened to be sitting in the eye socket of a distressed young man named Bob, who was face down on the floor, nose flattened, as the black-suited men kicked his abdomen viciously.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, through adrenaline in his veins, he pushed himself up and escaped only to drop from 20 stories.
The young man stood, wobbily on his feet...for some reason, he couldn't see through one eye..then he felt someone his shoulder...and a tiny voice spoke to him: "Buddy, you really need to clean your floor!"
"Sorry," he said but couldn't see anything out of his right eye. Suddenly his loose eye fell on the floor beside him.
He fell to his knees searching for his eye. "Hey over here buddy," the right eye called to him. Then he stumbled and felt something squish under his feet.

Alright. Prolly none of you have any clue what this poem is going on about, but Ed asked me to post it 'cause we did these in an exercise at the meeting, so enjoy anyway:

snowflakes drifting onto the bark,
huddling under the ridges
and fruit tumbles from his hand
dislodges the cold white dust from the log
as it bounces off and onto the ground
Kvothe
tattered clothing, hunting knife, ivory skin
dull eyes
freezing mist hanging all around him
everything gone, taken
even the inn...
even Bast.

Yes, it is a fanfiction poem, but I swear there aren't any spoilers, only one book of this trilogy out. The book is, by the way, The Name of Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. READ IT, GODDAMN YOU. It's his frikkin' debut novel and is in the fantasy genre and it's effing brilliant. I think that says something about him.

Meeting Tomorrow

Just wanted to remind everyone that we are meeting tomorrow at 6pm at the Carmel Library. I say again, the Carmel library. You can get information on the branch here.

Don't forget to bring something to read and I hope to see ya'll there. We will also have to discuss our November and December meetings. The fourth Thursday of the month isn't going to work out in those two months for some reason. I think there are a couple of holidays? Some kind of feast and a festival of light, I believe.