STORY CIRCLE NETWORK

AUSTIN E-LETTER

Vol. 1 Number 6
June 2000

 
• Book Study Group

The four week study group exploring a journal from an 18th century midwife in New England: A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience.


 
• Be Our Guest: Spring/Summer Programs
• Sunday,  June 11th, 3-5pm, LCRA Colorado Room (3700 Lake Austin Blvd., Austin, TX 78703): "To China and Back: Travel Memoirs" with Lucy Germany. A transplanted East Texan, Lucy will tell us about the journaling she did while in Southeast Asia at the UN Conference for Women in Beijing. In addition to several published books (one on Africa, one involving women's status worldwide and one on church communication), Lucy's writing experience includes poetry, newspaper editing and writing, photography (photojournalism), semi-private journals, magazine editing/writing (The Journal for Women's Ministries (national publication for Episcopal women), Timelines--publication on women's history (Episcopal quarterly), nature writing for local quarterly, restaurant writing for East Texas publication called "E-Guide."  Her most recent book, "Womenprints: A Detailed Plan of Action for the New Millennium," was co-authored with other women who attended the International Women's Conference in Beijing. It is a moving book, illustrating the problems facing Third World women and helping readers to better understand the hardships under which many of the world's women live.
• Sunday, July 9th, 2-4pm, Donna Remmert's home (3301 Far View Dr., Austin, TX 78730): "Telling My Story Through Song" with Beth Ullman. Local singer/songwriter Beth Ullman, also known as Bethani, will explain her writing process and share the joy she feels for expressing herself through song. Beth's most recent CD recording, Go Within, has received acclaim for its spiritual message of love for the universe. Although Beth is on the faculty of the Commercial Music Department at McLennan Community College and loves teaching, performance is central to Beth's artistry. "There's a lifeline between me and my audience," she says. "I like to get inside the music and take my listeners along with me." Come be inspired by Beth's beautiful soprano voice and her discussion of song writing.

 
• Internet Chapter

The new internet chapter of Story Circle Network is off to a flying start (53 members now)!  Have you checked the  IC web page recently?  Listed are several new features, reflecting the new programs that we have in place.
 
• The bulletin board has been used by many women as the starting place for communicating with each other within the Story Circle IC chapter. From there, several of us began e-mailing each other, and have arranged a weekly chat room time.  We  invite you to join us on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 pm, eastern daylight time. We began  by getting acquainted, and now each week have a different topic, suggested by our IC President, Marie Buckley.  Beginning this week, transcripts of the weekly chats will be posted on the Story Circle website.  We are trying to arrange another daytime chat, since  some cannot do evenings.
• The first internet writing circle was formed about six weeks ago, and the second is being organized as I write!  The stories that we have written thus far and exchanged with each other are also posted on the website: http://www.storycircle.org/InetChapter/ecircles/w-ecircle1.html
• Also, the first internet reading circle has been organized by Lina Tanner.  The first book being read and discussed is Barbara Drake's Peace at Heart: An Oregon Country Life.


If you are interested in participating in any of these activities, or have others to
suggest, please let us know!  You can e-mail me at fettman@umich.edu;  IC President Marie Buckley at ariadne30@verizon.net; or Lina Tanner at
seabloom@presys.com. We are in the process of working out a system to get all SCN members connected (who want to be) and will, in the near future, be asking for volunteers in various parts of the country to act as facilitators getting members connected.

Judy Fettman
Membership Services

If you're not already a member but are interested in joining the Network, check out the Story Circle web site (www.storycircle.org). To learn more about the Internet Chapter and the on-line writing workshop (or to join!), click on "Internet Chapter".
 

• OWL Project

The approximately 400 women who have participated in the Older Women’s Legacy Project have had the very rare opportunity to chronicle the stories of their lives.  During the workshops they have discovered that their lives have a depth of texture that can only be understood and captured in writing.  Their stories are poignant reminders that history doesn’t belong only to the victors of battles.  It has been shaped by these women who, not without great personal sacrifice, became the caretakers of families, managed households and in many cases had successful careers. These stories are the richest sources of our cultural history and some of the least documented.  Please visit our website, www.owlcircle.com, for more detailed information about our project, and our current workshop schedule.  To receive a newsletter containing stories from the workshops, please fill out our online form, or call 512/454-9833, or email us at storycircle@storycircle.org.
 
• Grant Projects

Good news: we've been awarded $1800 in the grant program administered through the Austin Writers League! The grant is for general operating expenses.
 
• Austin Chapter Reading Circles

There are a few spaces left in the Evening Reading Circle.  If you are interested in joining, please contact Susan Albert (susanalbert@storycircle.org).
 
• Austin Chapter Writing Circles

Writing doesn't need to be a lonely affair! Team up with other members of our Austin Chapter Writing Circles for support, encouragement, and ideas for life-writing topics. The Circles meet monthly. Katherine Benbow and Judith Helburn lead the Tuesday mid-day group; contact them via email: writingcircle@storycircle.org or phone: 512-472-3502 or 512-454-7229. Daisy Stanley and Patricia Fiske will lead the Sunday afternoon group starting in June; contact them via email: writingcircle2@storycircle.org or phone: 512-443-9591 or 512-326-8835. For more information, visit the Austin Chapter Writing Circles web page.
 
• Start your own Reading or Writing Circle

We encourage you to volunteer to start your own writing circle or reading circle. We need more of these!  If you are interested, please email Susan (susanalbert@storycircle.org).  She will get volunteers together and do a few how-to-do-it sessions in early summer.

Calling all Williamson County Story Circle Members. Do you want a once per month
meeting in your area? Are you willing to facilitate it? All the time or some of the
time? The Austin Circles could help by supplying subjects and/or book titles and study questions that are being used in the Big City. Would you want it all reading or all writing or a combination? Let Judith Helburn (thehelburns@sbcglobal.net or 454.7229) know asap. She will organize but NOT facilitate.
 

• Speakers Bureau

We are continuing to build our new Speakers Bureau, a listing of Story Circle members who are available to speak to your group on a variety of topics dealing with women, writing, women's issues, women's health, etc. If you are a member of the Story Circle Network and you are interested in joining our list of speakers, please email the office (storycircle@storycircle.org).  You can take a peek at our web pages here: http://www.storycircle.org/SpeakersBureau

If you are a member of the Story Circle Network, please think about how you can contribute to the Journal. You could send us your story for publication in True Words from Real Women, but we also welcome your contributions of women's quotations, brief book reviews, and life-writing tips and ideas. Please note that we are also looking for contributors to our Journaling Page and Writing for Health section. Our Writers' Guidelines are now available on our website: http://www.storycircle.org/WritersGuidelines.shtml. Please email your contributions and ideas to susanalbert@storycircle.org or mail them to PO Drawer M, Bertram TX 78605.

Are you signed up for the National Story Circle e-Letter?

We are now publishing two monthly e-Letters. The National e-letter brings you writing tips, quotes, and book reviews, while the Austin-area e-Letter brings you news about Story Circle events and activities in the Austin, TX area. To subscribe to the National e-Letter, either go to http://SCN_eLetter_National.listbot.com and enter your email address, or send email to SCN_eLetter_National-subscribe@listbot.com

The Story Circle Network is an organization made up of women who want to explore their lives and their souls through life-writing -- writing that focuses on our personal experience, through memoirs and autobiographies, in diaries and journals, in personal essays, in poetry. The Network is chartered as a 501c(3) organization. Your dues and other contributions are tax-deductible. As a non-profit, we welcome your gifts to support our work. Please be generous!

Annual membership is $24 (prorated at $2/month). Members receive four issues of the Story Circle Journal, a 16-page quarterly filled with writing ideas, members' writing, interviews, articles, and book reviews. To join, fill out our on-line form (click on "Join SCN" on the Story Circle website) and send a check to

NOTE: If you received this email from a friend and would like to join our Austin mailing list, either go to http://SCN_eLetter_Austin.listbot.com and enter your email address, or send email to SCN_eLetter_Austin-subscribe@listbot.com

Compiled and edited by Peggy Moody
pmoody@pobox.com
(We're sending this in HTML. If you're missing some links, email us and we'll tell you how to access the information.)

Copyright (c) 2000 by Story Circle Network, Inc.
Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter only in its entirety, including this copyright notice.