Stuff IV

Ahhhhhh, the holidays are over and it is time to get involved in all the wonderful things this area has to offer. To wit:

• The Rockport Community House Needleworker's Group will meet on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006 from 10am to 2:00pm. All are invited to attend. Please bring your current project to work on, a treat to share, and $5 for the Community House. If you are a knitter or crocheter who is stumped on a project or if you want to learn those skills, please feel free to join us and we'll help you get started or get back on track. Contact Gwen Stephenson for more info.
• Carl Thomsen's Silent Men Speaking returns for a final Gloucester performance at the West End Theater on Saturday evening, Jan. 14, 2006 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20, reservations are recommended. For more information on this outstanding performance, please see their web site at: www.SilentMenSpeaking.com
• SEArts is beginning the 2006 season with new officers and new board members. They will be holding a retreat for board members on Jan. 21st at Hovey House to discuss plans for the upcoming year. To find out more about what SEArts can do for you visit their web site.
• Cape Ann Independent Publishers has another meeting scheduled on Tuesday, Jan. 24th at 7:00. This meeting is for anyone involved in small or micro-press publishing interested in learning more and sharing ideas and resources. Among the publishers currently involved in the group are Atlantic Path Publishing (Mary Ellen Lepionka), Back Shore Press (Peter Anastas & Schuyler Hoffman ), Level Best Books (Susan Oleksiw), and Parlez-Moi Press (Kathleen Valentine). We will be discussing techniques and ideas for marketing, promotion and distribution and the role of small press organizations such as the Independent Publishers of New England. For more information and directions please email us.
• The Hovey House Writer's Group is pleased to welcome Gloucester attorney Joseph Orlando to our next meeting. Orlando, whose novel The Fisherman's Son is now required reading in some pre-law college courses, is about a landmark case in which a young attorney prosecutes a medical liability case against powerful maritime owners. Orlando will talk about how he came to write the book and about his experiences publishing it. To have your name added to the Hovey House Writer's Group's mailing list please send an email.
• Behind the Badge, Volume III by Gloucester policemen Larry Ingersoll and Mark Foote is now available. It can be purchased in local bookstores and autographed copies can be obtained at the police station. See their web site at: www.GPDBehindTheBadge.com. In addition, Larry will be a guest speaker at a future Hovey House Writer's Night.
• The Wellspring House Committee for a Just Society invites you to our 5th annual legislative breakfast, Federal Housing Cuts Leave Families Out in the Cold. Find out why we lack enough affordable housing and what you can do to reverse the trend. Present will be: Sheila Crowley, Executive Director, National Low-Income Housing Coalition; Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey; Nancy Schwoyer, Executive Director, Wellspring House, Inc.; Stephanie Brown, Executive Director, Homes for Families; and a Wellspring program participant. Friday February 3, 7:30-9:30 a.m., 28 Emerson Avenue, Gloucester (if no school in Gloucester, the snow date, March 10, will be in effect). A light breakfast will be served. For more information contact Nancy Goodman, (978) 281-3558 x306 or email: ngoodman@wellspringhouse.org
• Level Best Books is now accepting submissions for Seasmoke, their 2006 anthology of crime fiction. This is the fourth in this very successful series. For information and submission guidelines, please see their web site: Submission Guidelines.
• If you or anyone you know is dealing with bi-polar / manic-depressive disorder, there is a new blog you should check out. The very wonderful Knitting Curmudgeon Marilyn has been struggling with this disorder for a long time and she has bravely started a new blog called, with her typical dry humor, Swing Time. In it she is chronicling her life coping with manic-depression. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be coping with this problem.