Minutes of the Denver Branch of the National League of American Pen Women
November 7, 2020
Members Present: Atlanta Sheridan, Ray Cober, Karen Gonzales, Kay Taylor, Kelly Ann Compton, Ann Klaiman, Andrea Antico, Carol Erhlich, Linda Volin, Aimee Guerts
Kelly Ann opened the virtual meeting on Zoom at 9:39 am.
Inspirational Reading: Andrea read several pieces of writing focused the theme of Imagining a new peaceful world. She recited works by John Lennon, Marshall McLuhan and Mahatma Gandhi.
Introduction of Guests: No guests were present at this time. Dianne Lorang joined the group later in the meeting. She is a retired freelance editor who is now interested in doing her own writing again.
Approval of Minutes: Ray moved to accept the minutes as written and Ann seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously by the members.
Committee Reports:
Treasurer’s Report: Kelly Ann reported that there was one expense for the month -$50 for an honorarium in October. The balance in our account is $791.09. She noted that in November a deposit of $290 will be made reflecting the dues of four new members to the group. Kay moved to approve the report and Andrea seconded.
Budget Report: Kay reported that dues collected stood at $1205 compared to the projected amount of $1540. She noted that the dues from the four new members will bring dues collected close to the projected number. Because no guest critiques were held, income and expenses for that category were not incurred as projected in the budget. Dues paid to National totaled $715 compared to a budgeted amount projected to be $910. The projected dues from the four new members will bring this amount closer to budget. The annual Website Fee is $200 as projected in the budget. The only non-budgeted expense this year was the expense for Zoom ($117.46) so that virtual meetings could be conducted for the group.
Membership: Kelly Ann welcomed four new members: Linda Volin, Sydney Popovich. , Aimee Guerts, and Adrianna Voss. Kelly Ann noted that two of the new members are Provisional and the other two are National.
Outreach: Regarding the Tapestry project – the Denver School of the Arts will receive their panels at a future date. Ann will deliver the panel designed by students at Salida High School to the art teacher at that school.
Ray asked that the members not mention “COVID” for the rest of the meeting. Members said that they would try to comply with his request.
Programs: For the December meeting Karen conferred with Diane and suggested several activities. The first is an ugly shirt contest in which members would wear ugly shirts or sweaters to the meeting and compete for prizes of Amazon gift certificates. Karen also mentioned doing a scavenger hunt before the meeting break. Members should bring their own snacks to the virtual meeting. Kay suggested that members should send the recipes for their snacks to Diane before the meeting so that she could share them with the group. Karen asked that authors in our group bring their books for a “Show and Tell” during the meeting.
Atlanta reported that the Intensive Critique group is off to a good start with eight members. At the last meeting Julianna presented poems with the theme of marriage and Sydney presented her writing based on science fiction and fantasy. Kelly Ann is facilitating the group and Atlanta is handling the Zoom logistics.
History: Aimee volunteered to be the historian for the group. She said that she was starting Library school in January and that she felt she could handle the position of historian. Ann moved to accept her offer. She was voted in unanimously by the members. She asked for a position description. Kelly Ann said that the historian was responsible for keeping copies of all meeting agendas, treasurer’s reports and meeting minutes as well as photos of group activities. Ann said that she thinks the group has an official record at the Central Branch of the Denver Library and that Diane has several bags of artifacts of the group.
Old Business: Kay encouraged the members to prepare for our January presentation by Stories on Stage artistic director, Anthony Powell, by attending a virtual Stories on Stage production on Friday, November 13th at 7 pm or on Sunday, December 13th at 1:30 pm so that members would be familiar with the art form and able to ask Anthony questions at the January meeting. Tickets are $15 for each performance.
New Business: Ray has been hired by the National Pen Women Press as a staff editor. He said he was the sole applicant for the position and that he is the only one on the staff currently. He also reported that they are still looking to fill other positions including content designer and publicist as well as other editor positions. Members may contact Lucy Arnold at A.H.Arnold@gmail.com. to find out more.
Kelly Ann adjourned the meeting at 10:20 am.
Respectfully submitted by,
Kay Taylor