Record of meeting 15 August 2018

The writers

Terry, Helene, Trevor and Pauline

Farewell to Garry who is returning to Malaysia for another couple of years

The words of the day

Pervert – lead astray

Copacetic - In excellent order

Offshoring – outsourcing off shore

Nocturne – dreamy musical piece

Umami – a savoury taste from Japanese delicious

Patronymic – family name derived from the name of the father

Kahuna – Hawaiian word, defined as a priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert

Writing from words of the day

The writers wrote in a dreamy way on the topics - Made the call, Take a turn, I am sick of the word pervert and I waited in a queue.

Reading of homework

Terry read out - The enriching fire written Juan – it was an interesting story about the importance of maintaining a group.  

The other writers wrote about Angel 732, Lost in the City to Surf, School holidays again and How to make a fortune while waiting in traffic.

Exercise - Sometimes things just

The writers created two of each of the following - characters, body of water, flowers and foods. The writers then created a story with those characters and other items. The stories included - Hugh Grant, Movie in the Marina, Marigold Pie and Tulips on the Thames.

Exercise – a visit from your friend’s father

The writers wrote about - Comedy interrupted, The mystery visitor, Look at the face and A weathered leathery face.

Homework

Write the lyrics of a song or a story about writing a song.

2018 Fair Australia prize $18,000 - free entry

Free entry. For details of the $18,000 Fair Australia prize. Have a look at

https://overland.org.au/2018/06/the-2018-fair-australia-prize/

Theme: new collectives, old struggles

About the prize

What does unionism mean to people today? What should be its objectives? How can we come together to make real change, now and into the future?
This prize encourages artists and writers of fiction, poetry and essays to be part of setting a new agenda for our future – to imagine a just, common future, and how we might get there together.
The Fair Australia Prize is made up of 5 x $3000 prizes and 3 x $1000 union member prizes. There are prizes for:

• fiction (up to 3000 words)
• essay (up to 3000 words)
• poetry (up to 88 lines)
• cartoon or graphic (180 mm wide by 255 mm high)
• best overall entry by a migrant writer, artist or worker*, and
• three best member entries (for NUW, MEAA and NTEU members only); these $1000 prizes are awarded to member entries in any of the above categories

Winning entries will be published in a special Fair Australia supplement in Overland 233, to be launched in Melbourne in early December.
Entry to the Fair Australia Prize is free. Enter via one of the category links at the bottom of the page. Competition closes 11.59 pm (AEST), Monday 13 August.
Guidelines: please read and ensure eligibility before submitting.
Members of the NUW, NTEU or MEAA kindly note: there is no separate category for union member entries. Instead, simply tick the box that asks if you are a member on the entry form for your category (whether that is cartoon/graphic, fiction, poetry or essay)
*For the purposes of this competition, a ‘migrant worker, writer or artist’ defines a person living and working (temporarily or permanently) in a country where they were not born, and where they are not currently a citizen.

How the prize will be judged

In each category, submissions will be read blind by a panel of judges. Winners will be selected on the basis of their aesthetic excellence, and their engagement with the theme of a fairer future.
Entrants are encouraged to respond creatively and imaginatively – the competition seeks to foster innovative thinking and expression rather than dogma or didacticism. See the full list of 2018 judges.

Ideas and starting points

In an era of increasing economic inequality and social alienation, community-building, collective political action and workers’ unions are more vital than ever. And for the first time in many years, union membership is on the rise. Unions are formal institutions, networks for activism, and driven by political principals. They’re the sites of both conflict and hope.
In our work, our lives, and our communities, what are our collective goals? How will we achieve them? How does money, time, power alter our daily lives, limiting some while others rise to the ‘top’? How might we change our collective future?
Further reading
– Background material for the prize
– Previous winning entries
– Recent Overland pieces touching on similar themes:

• ‘“More than babysitting”: thinking about women’s work in early childhood’
• ‘We had Marx, they had Pauline: left organising in poor communities’
• ‘The turn to industry: what happened when left activists joined the working class’
• ‘Against a universal basic income’ and ‘The radical potential of a universal basic income: a reply to Ben Kunkler’
• ‘Rage, rage against the factory closure’
• ‘Rules made for breaking: beyond “Change the Rules”’
• ‘If we don’t make this stand, who will?’
• ‘Abortion – Ireland to Oz’

Record of meeting 8 August 2018

The Genting Highlands Malaysia

T

The writers

Terry, Helene and welcome to Garry who travelled from the Genting Highlands in Malaysia for our meeting

Plan to hold a stall at Spring into Sanctuary Point festival

Our numbers are dropping and we plan to hold a stall at the “Spring into Sanctuary Point” event on Saturday 27 Oct from 9 am to 1 pm to encourage new members

Action plan
Terry will enquire about borrowing a marquee

Terry will organise business cards to hand out on the day

Members are asked to volunteer to attend the stall for a few hours and answer questions about our group

The words of the day

Lawd – praise, applaud, acclaim

Perspicacity – ability to perceive things 

Conglomerate – distinct parts joined together

Fungible – flexible or mutually interchangeable

Ergophobia – abnormal fear of work or aversion to work

Writing from words of the day

The writers perceptively used the words of the day and wrote about - The uncommitted cook, Written on the wall and Percy and the danger of work.

Reading of homework

Two writers looked through various windows and wrote about - Through many windows and Choose a window.

Exercise

The writers wrote about - The wood pile, The garden room and The high school board allows phones.

Homework

The 642 was late. 

Record of meeting 1 August 2018

The writers

Terry, Helene, Trevor  
Apologies - Pauline

The words of the day

Whimsy - flight of imagination, dream, vision

Scandal – disgrace, shame, humiliation

Flout – to mock or treat with contempt

Decimate – Originally to reduce by 10% and

        Currently – to destroy most of

Fraud – con, scam, swindle

Chaperone – a person who accompanies another person or group

Writing from words of the day

The three diligent writers decimated the words of the day and wrote about Cooee, The date and In the Judges vision.

Reading of homework

The writers read out stories about - Women covered up, In Sport and at the beach.

Exercise The music was loud

The writers took a series of phrases and words and wrote about - Wax and iced finger buns, A rubber duck and Buy a cake.

 Exercise – Oh ho – moving forward

The writers turned a negative rejection into a positive as they wrote about - You too, The story of the year and The best review a way of looking at things.

Exercise - Bright star

Each writer created a blub for the back cover of the book titled Bright Star. Those descriptions were about Early years about Nicole, A star in my life and Rusty Star

Homework

Choose a window, stare out of the window and record your daydream.

Meeting 25th July 2018

Attended...Pat, Trevor, Pauline, Terry

Words.
Dissent...differ in opinion
Apoplexy...arresting power of sense and motion
Imprecate...invoking evil
Impregnable...proof against attack
Haslet...piece of pig's fry for roasting
Mistral...cold wind

Poems by three and one prose...all interesting thoughts and concepts

Homework...Clouds on the Horizon

Several approaches to a subject based on the upcoming blood red moon.

After our break we discussed a range of topics none of which resulted in actual written work but thought provoking anyway.

Homework...A dialogue re Equality

Record of meeting 18 July 2018

The writers

Elizabeth, Pat, Terry, Helene

Apologies Pauline and Trevor

The words of the day

Quasar – black hole

Frail – weak and delicate

Fuscous – dark coloured

Bravura – display of daring

Funambulist – rope walker

Eclectic – broad range of styles

Pontificate – express an opinion in a pompous and dogmatic way

Writing from words of the day

The writers wrote about – Barry of Bravura, Ground control to Major Tom, His Vocabulary and I have a friend.

Reading of homework

Writers read out their homework on the topics - In church (from Pauline), Poetic ditty, Ziggy’s children and The Queen of the road.

Exercise – A new ridiculous food trend

The writers created exciting food ideas - Pease pudding, Sol de Vin, NZ take away and Dinkum Dazzler.

Exercise - New cereal made of pine bark

The writers created marketing tools for a new cereal - Barking good, Furto recall, Bark bix and Pine leaves.

Homework

Clouds on the horizon

Record of meeting 11 July 2018

The writers

Pauline, Elizabeth, Pat, Helene, Trevor, Terry, Fran, Diane, Cath, Leonie, Jenni, Juan with a welcome back Roslyn, David C and Valda who met at 12 noon in the Chinese restaurant at the Vincentia Golf club

The words of the day

Boiled rice, fried rice, omelette, curried chicken, prawns, chicken, sizzling Mongolian lamb

Homework – carried over from last week

Write a story about Ego.

If you want to delve deeper you can also include the Id and Super-ego - psychological concepts defined in Sigmund Freud’s structural model of the psyche.