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Creativity Discussion Group


Current Affairs Reasers

Last Session (June 1, 2022)


Speaker: Dan Dana

Subject: Writing Your Memoir? - Consider Poetry

Synopsis: As we age, many of us think about recording details of our lives for posterity.
Dan is writing his memoir in the form of haiku quintets, hoping that bite-size chunks
may be more digestible by his grandchildren and any further descendants.

This session involved four elements:
1) Our natural desire to leave a legacy as a hedge against mortality,
2) a sampling of Dan’s life-snippets (“true stories in 85 syllables”)
from his earliest memories through key passages and notable experiences in his life,
3) alternative poetic and non-poetic formats,
4) open discussion. For inspiration, read http://dandana.us/poems/H228_iforgottoask.pdf

Previous Session (Oct. 6, 2021)


Speaker: Barry Zack

Subject: Rhyme and PUNishment

Synopsis: Barry will read from his latest work.

Details: A combination of Poetry, Puns and related images

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Previous Session (Sept. 29, 2021)



Speaker: Barbara Walker

Subject: Feminist Fairy Tales

Synopsis: Barabara will read pieces from her great volume of fictional work.

Details: This description may be from another edition of this product.
From one of America's most notable feminist authors--responsible for numerous books,
including The I Ching of the Goddess and The Skeptical Feminist--comes a spirited, lively retelling of
classic fairy tales, all of which provide an enduring feminist message. 28 line illustrations.

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Previous Session (Sept. 8, 2021)


Speaker: Meigs Glidewell

Subject: Bigger Ears: A Presentation on Listening

Synopsis: Where are you on the listening spectrum?
Skilled, yet interested in some fine tuning?
Or do you suspect you spend whole days with a large cork in each ear?

Meigs Glidewell presents ways to sharpen your listening skills. She shows
some prizes exhibits from both ends of the listening spectrum,
gives funny, practical, novel suggestions about improving your
listening skill, including why eavesdropping on strangers
is useful, and how breathing can be a radical listening tool.

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Previous Session (Sept. 1, 2021)


Speaker: Dan Dana

Subject: Life's Snippets

Synopsis: Starting with the earliest one, Dan read
(sharing screen so others can view text and illustrations)
his “life-snippet” haiku quintets, which are stylistically
inspired by Hemingway’s short stories. Members may preview
these illustrated compositions at http://www.dandana.us/poems/

Program: Following is the chronological list (as of August 29 – new ones are being added continuously):
The Grasshopper Plague ~ Humboldt, Kansas (father’s childhood home), 1874
· Milking Old Red ~ Knoxville, Missouri (family farm), 1951-1955
· Price and Me ~ Ray County, Missouri, 1953-1963
· Mowing Alfalfa ~ Ray County, Missouri, family farm, summer 1962
· Getting Short ~ Qui Nhon, Vietnam, 1967-1968
· Finding Myself ~ Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, Mexico, January 1969
· Motorcycle Mishap ~ Nacaome, Honduras, January 1969
· Landing in Leningrad ~ Leningrad, USSR, June 1990
· A Bridge in Cairo ~ Cairo, Egypt, 1991
· 9/11 ~ Prairie Village, Kansas, September 11, 2001
· Iceberg ~ Qaqortoq, Greenland, September 1, 2016, 10:05 am
· The Pickpockets ~ Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 2017
· Escaping Saigon ~ Aboard Seattle-to-Sydney cruise, October 16, 2017

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Past Session (April 7, 2021)

Speaker: Meigs Glidewell

Subject: The World of Funny

Synopsis: Meigs recounted her adventures in
"The World of Funny." She sold her first joke in 1967,
and over the next few decades sold greeting card ideas,
cartoon gags, cartoons, and did standup in Boston.

She talked about writing and selling jokes,
great books about the history of humor,
how to write a joke, how to improve your joke
and wisecrack delivery, and will touch on what
humor researchers tell us about laughter.

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Past Session (March 10, 2021)

Speaker: Dan Dana

Subject: Haiku Dojo


March 10 theme: Across Generations

Dojo (Japanese) = “Place of the Way” Haiku dojo uses poems to spark the group’s search for the “way”

How it works: 1. Dan will read the first of three
to five selected haiku quintets that relate to a common theme.
Each reading requires about one minute.
2. Attendees share thoughts, reflections, comments, questions
evoked by that particular quintet for about ten minutes.
3. Dan reads the second selected haiku
4. Repeat discussion per step 2 above.
5. Upon completion of reading and reflecting on all haiku,
we open a free-range discussion of any ideas that arise of these readings.

Here is a link to a further understanding this presntation.

If you would like to share one or more of your creative achievements,
Please let us know, and we will schedule your for a presentation in the near future.

This meeting will be using the Zoom format.
When the COVID-19 restrictions are finally lifted, we hope to return to the live format.
Facilitator: Barry Zack

Meetings begin at about 1:15pm, ending by around 3:00.

Our hats off to Jacqui Kinnie for her many years of service,
helping to make Current Affairs one of HUSBAY's most popular Special Interest groups.
(Just one of her many contributions to HUSBAY. - We miss you, Jacqui.)

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Topics

 

Suggested Topics for the Feb. 24, 2021 Virtual Session:

The faciltator will propose three topics for discussion, the weekend before the event.

These will be posted by the weekend before the scheduled session

Note: These topics may change based on the current news cycle.

In addition to the facilitator's suggestions, you can propose your own at the meeting,
or e-mail Barry with your suggestions. Topics getting the most votes will be discussed first. -Note: You can vote for any or all topics.

For upcoming dates, click here.

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