2005 Winter - Wisconsin Writers Association

Page 8Phillips Regional Writers’ Club: John “Milt” Neuhauser, Reporter miltneu@pctcnet.netP.O. Box 48, Phillips, WI 54555-0048 715-339-3219Robert Pripps, Springstead,recently won a GrandPrize of $500 and a trip fortwo to the Grand Old Opry inNashville, Tennessee. Hisessay entry in the contest,“How Your Hometown FamilyContributes to FireSafety,” was sponsored byGustafson's IGA Store inPark Falls. Bob's essay read:What? What's that? Thatterrible beeping sound as Itry to shake myself awake.Oh no, my pager is goingoff. Not a fire call tonight,please Lord. It's 20 below outthere.Back, L to R: Saria Diane, Milt Neuhauser, JohnThieme, Lois Angelo. Front, L to R: Lois F. Robertson,Robert Pripps, Lillian Chase, Eva Thieme, andMarilyn Angelo. Not pictured is Mrs. Pripps. #Why do I, and 17 of myfriends, sign up for thistownship volunteer fire department?(And it's not onlythe guys; my wife belongs tothe ladies auxiliary whichhas a roster of 40 activemembers.) It's called communityspirit, or hometownpride. We do it for communityand for the safety of ourneighbors, and because weare proud of our hometown!Bob and his wife will leavefor Nashville on December 4and return Dec. 8.That's it for now. #Northern Lakes Writers’ Guild: LaMoine MacLaughlin, Executive Director 715-268-6811www.northernlakescenter.orgRecently the Northern LakesWriters Guild hosted a writingworkshop and reading at the NorthernLakes Center for the Arts inAmery, Wisconsin. The workshopfeatured Michael Norman, a writerand playwright who makes his homein River Falls, Wisconsin. A universityjournalism professor for over 30years, he is the coauthor with thelate Beth Scott of the Haunted USAseries of true ghost stories including,most recently, Haunted Heritage,published in October 2003 by TOR.Norman and Scott’s earlier collaborationsinclude Haunted Wisconsin,Haunted Heartland, Haunted America,and Historic Haunted America.He is working on a sixth book in theseries, Haunted Homesteads, forrelease in 2005. The afternoonworkshop focused on a series ofjournalistic questions relating to theHometown Gazette, the local communitynewspaper published by theNorthern Lakes Center for the Artsand the Northern Lakes WritersGuild. The newspaper publisheslocal writers’ work. Mr. Norman’sevening presentation centeredaround the sources of his writing,which he describes as true ghoststories, and was the perfect materialtwo days in advance of Halloween.In addition to the Haunted Americaseries of books, Norman alsowrote Entering the Circle: The Livesof Pioneer Farm Women for theWisconsin Sesquicentennial withsupport from a grant by the NationalEndowment for the Humanities. Theplay used diaries, memoirs, letters,and other reminiscences to tell thestory of rural women. The playtoured to several Wisconsin citiesthroughout 1998. He also wrote Nyeand Riley Tonight!, a play based onthe nineteenth century lyceum programsof Indiana poet JamesWhitcomb Riley and humorist EdgarWilson “Bill” Nye. The NorthernLakes Theater Guild performedboth plays this past year.In December the Northern LakesWriters Guild will be collecting materialfor its January publication ofNorthern Lakes Soundings, its semiannualpublication of local writers’stories, poems and essays.In February, the Northern LakesSchool of the Arts will be offeringan eight week course, Sing In Me,Muse: A Course In Poetry, designedto provide greater appreciation andinsight into the art and writing ofpoetry. For more detailed information,please call the Northern LakesCenter for the Arts at (715) 268-6811. #