Creative

Life is hard. Hope is good. To honor both of these facts of life, Write Action is sponsoring a Flash Fiction writing contest.

The winning entry will be a work of fiction no longer than 820 words. Writers can choose which of three possible themes are most inspiring.

1) “Planting seeds the day before the end” OR

2) “Hope in the dark” OR

3) “Fixing what can be fixed”

Recently, I spent some time combining two things I enjoy – pets and typography.  I know people like learning how things are made, so I thought I’d walk you through the process of creating a Cat Alphabet. Maybe you can help me profit from it. : )

The project started without much thought. I like drawing and having been using my cats as models for some time now. They are willing and able, and the bone structure of humans and other animals match up quite nicely. We all have ankles, knees, elbows, etc. You just have to get the proportions right for the animal you are drawing.

I decided to see how cats would fit into the various letters of the alphabet. I’ve been a fan of the alphabet since an early age, and started my life in graphic arts with hand-lettered posters in college.

The world is finite, resources are scarce,
Things are bad and will be worse.
Coal is burned and gas exploded,
Forests cut and soils eroded.
Wells are dry and air’s polluted,
Dust is blowing, trees uprooted,

Any scrapbooking/paper crafts fans out there in ibrattleboro land? I’m going through my craft/art supplies and have quite a few nice 12″ x 12″ scrapbook/craft papers. Solids, lots of prints, vellum, ‘linen’- a good variety. I also have a sample book of lace panels – many beautiful patterns- heavy fabric. I’ve used some as bckground when framing old photos and botanicals.

My friend Ivan and I hiked up Wantastiquet today. What a lovely site it was, to see Brattleboro from up there. I took some photos, unaware of what I was about to capture with my camera.

I got a shut-off notice from the power company.

Then I noticed the date – April First.

So I laughed, tore it up, and threw it in the trash.

Suddenly, my lights went out.

They say it is Spring, this I know.
Yet when I awoke there was snow.
I can’t take much more,
But need things at the store,
So off to shovel I go.

For those who’ve acquired the taste and skill, there’s a uniquely rewarding pleasure in a book’s well executed ending. In great works, themes are introduced, developed or hidden, and in the end, a masterful author pulls it together in a way we didn’t see coming. But in retrospect the unfolding was altogether obvious and inevitable. This may come in the form of a plot twist, a revelation, a reversal of fortune…Whatever the mechanism…if the ending is compelling, and launches the reader into a new realm of contemplation or appreciation, it’s a thing of beauty.

A play in one scene

MODERATOR:

O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those in Brattle-town
That are at home to-day!

A BRATTLEBORO CITIZEN:

What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Mod’rator? No, my fair cousin:
If we are registered, we are enow
To give our town our vote; and if elected,
The fewer we, the greater share of honour.
Seven score in all will do the trick.
How know I this? ‘Tis Charter tells me so.

Here’s a project just completed in time for the new year. It’s an abstract, torn-paper animation done to accompany a song, The Acceptance, by composer and musician Denis Malloy.

It’s a short journey from dark to light, mixing torn edges and clean cut lines.

I can’t say how few submissions we have, but a local teenager submitting an essay now has a VERY good chance of winning !

“BRATTLEBORO REFORMER” Day Managing Editor Bob Audette will judge

YOUTH ESSAY CONTEST. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

$500 FIRST PRIZE, two $100 second prizes. HOW: write essay on the subject: “YOUTH SUFFRAGE: SHOULD THE VOTING AGE BE LOWERED”

Halloween 2013 was a spooky one. It was raining and very, very dark on Cedar Street. The power went out just before 6 p.m. leaving every house without light.

And out of the darkness they came. First small and alone, then in increasing numbers. By our count, 196 goblins came out of the darkness in search of treats.

Here is the official 2013 Halloween costume list. Forgive us for any errors.

Tiny Batman
Thing 1
Thing 2
The Cat in the Hat

Hi Brattleboro writers! I want to thank those of you who have participated in Montpelier’s PoemCity (aka POETRY Alive!) event these past four years AND to invite you and your friends to do so once again. The submissions window is currently open until the end of the year. This is a little earlier, so we can have enough time to read your work. 

So, basically same rules as last year. If you forget, you can visit our blog here: . We’ll continue to update as we are planning the 2014 event. 

I look forward to reading your work, and seeing a few of you as you visit us in April for the full program. Thanks. -p

I had seen a 10 minute play which starts with a character complaining that when he tried to purchase a bottle of aspirin at a drug store, the clerk told him: “We don’t have that.”

It reminded me of a strange experience I had on Staten Island more than 30 years ago.

We were in Stapleton, a few miles from our home in St. George. It looked like an ordinary luncheonette — big CocaCola sign — soda fountain counter with a row of round stools that you can spin on, and booths along the wall.

The place was empty, but it was not lunch hour. Carol and I sat down with Grace and Eve at one of the booths.

The sound of chainsaws

Breaks silence of the Tree Streets.

What is in a name?

As part of the Brattleboro Literary Festival, Write Action and the “University of Brattleboro” will be sponsoring the T. P. James “Write Like The Dickens” writing contest.

Contestants will have time between 11 and 12 PM to hand write the next intallment of “The Life and Adventures of Bockley Wickleheap”. This was the second novel that T. P. James claimed was being dictated to him by the ghost of Charles Dickens, back in the 1870’s, right here in Brattleboro.

Blow back for an Empire

drones swoop over Pakistan

incessant buzzing death

faceless killers buzzing death

American killer buzzing death

incessant buzzing death

By: rosemarie jackowski

On Labor Day we celebrate those who work — as opposed to those who inherit family wealth and those whose financial investments work so they don’t have to. Many workers who deserve to be honored on this special day have come from across the border. In a global economy, workers who strive for justice in their own country must, by necessity, unite with workers around the world.