BETWEEN THE LINES

Newsletter of the National Writers Union New York Chapter (UAW Local 1981)

256 West 38th Street, Suite 703
New York, NY 10018
ph: 212-254-0279 x18
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alt: 973-985-5928
info@nwuny.org

Between The Lines

Between the Lines - May 2013

Monthly Newsletter of the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union

(UAW Local 1981)

(212) 254-0279 ext. 7

www.nwuny.org

info@nwuny.org

In This Issue

Later, Louis

Making Freelance Writing Work

Welcome New Steering Committee Members and Delegates

Local NWU Events

On the Front Lines

Members' Announcements

Monthly Open Mic Event

New Members & Anniversaries

New Chapter Initiatives

A Note from the Editor

Remember Louis Reyes Rivera on May 19.
Click image to listen to one of his well-known readings.

Pen Pressure: Later, Louis

Written by Lora Rene' Tucker, NWU NY Chapter Steering Committee Member

(Pen Pressure is BTL's regular column about the best practices for activist writing. Guest columnists are welcome. Email info@nwuny.org if interested. -- Editor)

To show how our distinguished former chair Louis Reyes Rivera still influences the work and movement of the New York Chapter, BTL will include a tribute piece about him from an NWU member every May to mark Louis's birth date on May 19. -- Editor

The month of May tends to be an important month for me. My father's birthday was May 3rd, mine is May 8th, and my mother's May 13th (a house of bulls, that's a story!). When I was twelve, my mother told me I was due on the 18th or 19th of May. Now I do not play "the numbers," but the number 19 became one of those "special" digits. By the age of 18, I knew that Malcolm X was born on the 19th, but little did I know 32 years later, I would meet a man who gave me a deeper reverence for the 19th of May.

Louis Reyes Rivera would shun me for putting him on a pedestal, but he deserves it. He deserves to be placed on a pinnacle; he was a mighty poet, teacher and man. He is my hero - he saved me from my self- doubt and told me I am a writer. And facing the world, like a warrior riding a mighty "Waterman," he fought the battles so that I could write.

I remember being at the Harlem Book Fair a couple of summers ago when there was a tribute to him at the Thurgood Marshall Academy. The event was filled with people from all different walks of life – the noteworthy and notetaking – with a lineage of writers whom he had taught, cultivated, or just listened to. All came to either pay homage or be a “witness.” At one time, there was a lot of “energy” in the room, and Louis just quietly sat where he was instructed to, took in what he was supposed to, and when needed, moved to the side, giving way to any other energy but the good vibes of the moment. He walked with the grace that comes with standing your ground through spiritual and political cyclones, ego tsunamis, and cultural combat. Wherever he went, he was on his turf, with his people, and everything was going to be alright. He was a neighborhood poet with international reach, local and accessible as well as global and iconic.

From the Saturday workshops to his performances around New York City, I studied the man or, better yet, marveled -- how he approached the written word, how he performed, moved, and listened. And he was honest. What amazing details he shared with us all -- most of the times kindly (sometimes not), but always honestly. I was a student of the poet/historian/activist, in total and with zeal, and he accepted and validated me as a writer. Encouraging my growth, critiquing my every writing, right down to my emails. And he kept reminding me to stay honest. In the last year and a half of his life, Louis edited my poetry book so I could publish it under his tutelage. (And it will be.) He was even so generous to even review my first two entries in Poz blog (an online magazine: www.blogs.poz.com/loratucker). In the review of my first entry, “Those Little Signposts,” he closed by writing to me:

“You stay well and keep being honest. Later, Louis.”

He was not only my hero; he was an intricate part of New York’s algorithm, from Harlem to Bedford Stuyvesant and beyond. Louis Reyes Rivera was a part of the student uprising that shook City College in the late 1960s, and had been a professor, editor, and advocate; a voice and a bridge in the Black and Latino communities. He walked the streets of Bed-Stuy and Harlem with pride and a reverent familiarity; whoever he encountered or whoever recognized him in the street would be acknowledged, minimally, but gracefully. I had the blessing of knowing him, though briefly, and also the permission to call him my mentor. So as I went to my sanctuary to say goodbye to a fellow Taurean,* a generous teacher and amazing poet, I will celebrate his life by continuing with what he generously gave me, knowing that I am richer, smarter and more faithful to my vision having had Louis Reyes Rivera point the way. BE HONEST.

Louis Reyes Rivera’s workshop is still going strong, meeting on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the Bedford Public Library on Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn. In honor of our mentor and teacher, the members collectively share our work and are trying to establish the workshop as an institution, one workshop session at a time. We hope to have an anthology produced by the workshop members, old and new, and we are all in support of seeing Louis’ last manuscript, “Jazz in Jail,” published. You can contact me if you would like more information about the Louis Reyes Rivera Workshop at inharmony2day@yahoo.com.

Here are three sites I enjoy about Louis, Please enjoy:

Louis Reyes Rivera video: “Bullet Cry” from Def Poetry
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEm4_gDqOKchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEm4_gDqOKc

Louis Reyes Rivera’s Bio from Chicken Bones: A Journal
htttp://nathanielturner.com/scatteredscripture6.htm

Inside the River of Poetry (essay) by Louis Reyes Rivera
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/ac/rivera.html

Special Offer: A DVD of the New York Chapter tribute to Louis Reyes Rivera is now for sale for $10, plus $5 for shipping and handling. (Those who participated in the tribute may purchase it for $5.) The professionally edited DVD, which was created in consultation with former Co-Chairs Sue Davis and Loretta Campbell and technical assistance from NY Steering Committee member Mauricio Niebla, shows highlights of a three-hour program in which about 50 activists, writers and musicians, spanning many facets of Louis's life, paid tribute to his genius and leadership. If you would like a copy of the DVD, please send a request with your check or money order made out to New York Chapter NWU and mail it to New York Chapter NWU, Attn: Louis Reyes Rivera DVD, 256 West 38th St., Suite 703, New York, NY 10018.

Making Freelance Writing Work: Holly Metz

(Making Freelance Writing Work is BTL's regular column that profiles an NWU member. If you would like to be considered for future columns, email info@nwuny.org. -- Editor)

This month, we're featuring Holly Metz, who has written about law, culture, and social issues for a broad range of newspapers, journals, and magazines, including Preservation magazine, Labor History, Poets & Writers, Public Art Review,

Holly Metz

Threepenny Review, and The New York Times. Holly joined the NWU in 1984, and according to her website, she became a freelance writer a year later.

BTL Editor: You have strong relationships with local government agencies, the City Council, community arts foundations, and others. What do you recommend to other freelance writers looking to apply for community grants or foster a similar network?

Holly Metz: My connections to local agencies, organizations, and arts foundations grew out of the projects I wanted to initiate, stories that needed to be told. I looked for associations that would allow the projects I had in mind to move forward autonomously
-- a condition eased by my promise to raise the necessary funds. (Two projects are viewable online: "Vanishing Hoboken," a series of booklets for the ongoing Hoboken Oral History Project, and an exhibition and catalog, City Animals. www.hollymetz.net.)

Out of necessity, I became skilled at scoping out grants and writing project proposals. Success depended on a good fit between the proposed project and the funder's priorities. I made sure I understood the mission and main concerns of the foundation, agency, or administration before contacting them. Sometimes grantors only want to support new projects; others prefer an established program. Government agencies and educational institutions may provide space for public events, but no financial support, which implies greater ties.

There are fewer granting opportunities than there used to be. As funding from some sources has been cut back or eliminated, and other agencies have shifted their focus, I have had to adjust, sometimes scaling down. I don’t pursue corporate backing. Although I have yet to try Kickstarter or USA Projects, a few writers and filmmakers I know have had great success with crowdfunding.

Researching and writing proposals is time consuming (and can be especially energy draining for writers inclined to solitary work), so the main recommendation I have for other writers is that they take on and propose projects they feel they must do -- and then approach the project’s realization creatively, keeping their own energy in mind as a resource they should protect against depletion.

BTL Editor: You founded the Hoboken Oral History Project. Why did you start working on it? How can other writers participate in or start their own oral history projects?

Holly: When I moved to Hoboken, it was still mostly a working-class town. But by the mid-1980s, Manhattan was booming, and our small city, just across the Hudson River, had been targeted for real estate development. Historically home to ever-changing waves of striving families, who sometimes left when they became prosperous, Hoboken had begun to experience a kind of reverse migration, in which affluent condominium buyers replaced tenants of modest means. Unscrupulous landlords threatened low-income tenants in order to empty their buildings for transformation into luxury apartments. Many occupied buildings were set ablaze. In one 3½ year period, 41 people died in arson-related fires that were never solved. There were many street protests and rallies calling for protections for poor tenants, with mixed results.

Gentrification was briefly slowed by the 1987 stock market fall. When the market recovered, the development of luxury housing began again in Hoboken, in earnest.

In response to the dramatic physical, social, and economic changes in our city over the preceding two decades, I began, in 1999, to draw up plans for a citywide oral history project. It was nearly too late. As I conceived it, “Vanishing Hoboken” would not only collect life stories from longtime residents, but recirculate their tales of vanishing aspects of public life. Depositing transcripts into a local archive was only a first step -- albeit an important one. I wanted to produce booklets based on edited transcripts and to give away free copies at public events where old-timers and newcomers would meet.

By 2000, the project had the support of the local history museum and friends of the public library and had drawn a small group of volunteer interviewers. We sought guidance from an oral historian affiliated with the New Jersey Historical Commission, which later provided some grant money for transcription. (For some background on starting an oral history project, see www.oralhistory.org/about/principles-and-practices.)

I wrote a lot of grants -- to pay for transcribing, printing (1,500 copies of each booklet), publicity, to provide me with a modest fee for editing and to pay two talented graphic artists to design our chapbooks. (I decided to call them “chapbooks” in recognition of their resemblance to the small, relatively brief and inexpensive tracts of the 18th and early 19th centuries that contained the legends, folklore, jokes, and other popular matter of their times.)

As of this writing, the project has produced 25 chapbooks. They are now part of Hoboken lore, too. “Chapbook” is not an everyday word, but I will hear it mentioned now in street conversations. Sometimes I will hear a Hoboken variation, “chat-books,” which I think is even better.

BTL Editor: Hurricane Sandy hit your hometown hard. How were you and the local artistic community affected? How are both of you recovering?

Holly: Not only did the river, clotted with accumulated debris, rise and rush across the city, but sewage, slicked with oil leached from underground tanks, also gushed into the streets. This toxic brew found every trough in the city: the deepest basements first (and the subway), then many ground-floor stores and apartments. Residents suddenly discovered where a street slightly climbed or sloped: one side might take in more water than another. But Hoboken is at sea level and about a mile square, so the flooding affected just about everyone in the city -- 50,000 people -- in one way or another. The entire city was overtaken by the storm.

Recovery has been slower than many imagined. Some of my neighbors have yet to return to their homes.

In ways good and bad, my relationship to this city, after more than 30 years of residency, has been changed. It is a sadder place for me -- both because of the damage that was done and the knowledge that Hoboken’s location, which once made it so vital, now makes it more vulnerable to the storms and floods brought about by climate change.

But repair and even rejuvenation occurs, sometimes against all odds. As corny as this may seem, I was overjoyed this spring when I saw a street tree, a cherry I’d planted on our busy street in 1995, grow heavy with dark pink buds. The tree had been drowning in contaminated water six months before. For a few days in early April it was in full bloom, returning to our neighborhood a familiar -- and fragile -- pink cloud.

BTL Editor: You are a long-time union member. How has the NWU helped you?

Holly: Not long after I joined the union, I experienced first-hand its strength: the education and empowerment of working writers. Like many union members, I was a freelancer, working alone. I had recently met my deadline for a major feature article, which was to be the magazine’s cover story. I was excited -- until I read the revised version the editor returned to me. Virtually every sentence had been changed, even direct quotes from interviewees. Some sentences had been chopped in half, turned into nonsense.

Tearful, angry, and frightened, I called the union. I quickly received a call from [executive director] Kim Fellner, who listened to my story and responded with collegial outrage, compassion, and a plan of action with step-by-step negotiation tools. But if the editor did not agree to changes that would make the piece acceptable to me, she explained, I could, as a last resort, pull my byline. That act would orphan the piece and effectively kill it. I understood it would mean losing a cover story, but it would also mean I had protected my professional future, by preventing the publication of a sloppy, inaccurate article under my name.

I returned to the editor with restored energy and new skills. She resisted mightily at first, miffed that I would assert myself. I brought up the possibility of pulling my byline. That’s when our negotiation really started. I restored a great deal of my original text and called Kim to tell her the news. The article became the magazine’s cover story.

Twenty years later, I was again in need of advice -- this time regarding a book contract from a university press. Deep down, I knew it was a bad contract, but I had spent a long time writing the book and was weary. Should I sign? Negotiate? I had no agent then. I turned to the union. This time, Ken Waschberger was my advisor. He was supremely generous with his time, reading through the contract (and my many notes) with great care. He offered realistic and detailed advice and, most of all, encouraged me to negotiate, telling me that simply by standing up and calling out exploitive or ill-considered contract terms, I was doing a service for all writers.

I went forward with his help, but the publisher refused to negotiate the most important terms of the contract. With the clarity I’d gained in conversations with Ken, I knew what I had to do, and called Ken to offer thanks when I was done: I did not sign and I did not look back. I recommitted myself to gaining an agent and finally got one. Soon after, Michael Carr sold my nonfiction book, Killing the Poormaster: A Saga of Poverty, Corruption, and Murder in the Great Depression, to Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Press. It was published, to fine reviews, in October 2012. (For more background, including historical film footage and audio, see www.thepoormaster.com.)

BTL Editor: Tell us about your current or next project.

Holly: I’m still doing some book events for Killing the Poormaster and am slowly adding to my websites some of the amazing documents I discovered while researching the book -- stories that were too tangential to the main story to include in the final work, but are too good to toss or simply store away.

That impulse -- to salvage or rescue -- ties in to the new project I’m working on. I’m in the early stages, but through various stories, I explore ideas about scrap and scavengers, redundancy and rescue, value (placed on people, places, objects), ownership and theft, remnants collected in museums, and making meaning out of what has been left behind. Of course it is also about my own collecting, of stories and documentation. It’s tentatively entitled “Packaranna,” the name given by a Newark junker to a [mythical] species of avaricious rats that were said to have stolen all manner of beautiful objects from the residents of one block to embellish their own nests.

Welcome New Steering Committee Members and Delegates

Barbara Jungwirth, Election Chairperson for the New York Chapter, announced that the following NWU members were nominated to serve on the chapter's steering committee and/or to attend the NWU Delegates Assembly this summer. Since the number of nominations does not exceed the number of available seats for these positions, no actual voting took place. As of May 1, 2013, the leadership of the National Writers Union's New York Chapter is therefore composed of the individuals listed below.

Delegates to the Delegate Assembly (6):
Tanya M. Beltram
Susan E. Davis
Alexandria Faiz
David Hill
Mauricio Niebla
Yusef Salaam

Chapter steering committee (8):
Tim Sheard - Chair
Alexandria Faiz - Treasurer
Sylvia Cothia
David Hill
Marivir Montebon
Mauricio Niebla
Lora Rene Tucker
Yusef Salaam

Much thanks to outgoing Co-Chairs Susan E. Davis and Loretta Campbell for their dedicated and passionate service.

Local NWU Events, Marches, Rallies, and Petitions

~ SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - Saturday, June 22: New York Book Festival
Radisson Martinique on Broadway from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The New York Chapter will have a table at this event. There is limited space for members to display their books, so please email info@nwuny.org soon if you are interested. Tim Sheard will also speak on the Future Forecasts panel. To learn more about the New York Book Festival, visit http://www.newyorkbookfestival.org/.

~ Thursday, May 16: Chapter Steering Committee Meeting
6:30 p.m. -- Location to be announced

All NWU members are welcome to attend the first meeting of the new New York Chapter Steering Committee. Please send an email message to info@nwuny.org in advance if you would like to come. NWU members can request a copy of the 2013 chapter strategic plan and budget.

~ Free Event, May 18: Bronx Literary Festival

Bronx Library Center at 310 East Kingsbridge Road from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

NWU writers sign books at the first annual Bronx Literary Festival. Come visit the NWU booth. Organized by a coalition of literary and community groups and the NYC Parks Department, this literary festival will feature two workshops (one on writing fiction and one on magazine publishing), a poetry reading by four poets and a concert by Edy Martinez and his 17-piece Jazz Band. To learn more about the Bronx Literary Festival, visit https://www.facebook.com/BxLitfest.

~ Free Event, May 18: Good Old-Old School Open Mic Hour (Plus)

Muhlenberg Library at 209 West 23rd Street (near 7th Ave.) from 2 to 4 p.m.

NWU member Lora Rene' Tucker is organizing this free reading series which occur every month (except August). NWU members will be featured, but all are invited to read. Open to the public. If you would like to read, send an email message at info@nwuny.org.

~ Saturday, June 1: Writing Across Borders: An International Writers' Conference

Empire State College at 325 Hudson Street from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

At a time of unprecedented migration, when families are divided and communities shattered, writers can provide a vital historical record, a public voice of protest at social injustice and a healing balm. Writers are able to bridge the gaps among communities through depicting the experiences of diverse people who often prove to be more similar than different, while, at the same time, attempting to fight widespread injustices of forced deportation and economic migration. This conference will explore all these issues, as well as engage the writing community in a discussion of our role and responsibilities at this moment of economic upheaval and unprecedented movement across borders. Organized by the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union in partnership with the The Harry Van Arsdale School of Labor Studies and La Casa Azul Bookstore. Fee: $30. To register, go to www.nwuny.org.
Special Notice: Writers can advertise in the conference program for as little as $10. Email info@nwuny.org for more information.

~ First Monday, June 3: Writing for Another: The Challenges and Rewards of Writing 'As Told To' and 'Ghost' Books

Ben's Delicatessen at 209 West 38th Street from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Journalist and book author Jeff Coplon has carved a successful niche in the publishing industry helping famous individuals write their story. Whether as co-author or ghost writer, he has shaped the narrative of numerous sports, political and cultural icons. Find out how Jeff broke into this fascinating genre and how he continues to thrive in the fiercely competitive world of biography and memoir. Free drinks for the first ten attendees!

~ June 6 - 8: NWU members sign books at the Labor & Working-Class History Association's National Conference

25 Broadway, New York City

NWU writers sign books at the 2013 Labor & Working-Class History Association's National Conference. Meeting in a year in which surging corporate power has threatened both unions and democracy as we know it, the 2013 LAWCHA conference in New York City focuses on how varied groups of working people have built the solidarity needed to challenge their employers, each other, their communities, and the state to seek justice and improve their lives.To showcase your book, join the NWU at http://www.nwu.org/join-nwu. To learn more about the LAWCHA conference and register, visit http://lawcha.org/wordpress/annualmeeting/nyc2013/.

~ June 7 - 9: NWU members sign books at the Left Forum

Pace University, One Pace Plaza, New York City

NWU writers sign books at the 2013 Left Forum. Each spring Left Forum convenes the largest gathering in North America of the U.S. and international Left. Continuing a tradition begun in the 1960s, it brings together intellectuals and organizers to share perspectives, strategies, experience and vision. To showcase your book, join the NWU at http://www.nwu.org/join-nwu. To learn more about Left Forum and register, visit http://www.leftforum.org/.

On the Front Lines: NWU's Social Justice Projects

Written by NWU Member Roy Murphy

(BTL regularly features the NWU's social justice projects, an area where unions have a long, distinguished history. These initiatives also illustrate how the NWU is different from other writers' organizations. Being a labor organization, the NWU views fights against inequality as part of our core mission. If any NWU member would like to have their project featured, email info@nwuny.org. -- Editor)

May Day Protest March

On May Day, May 1, 2013, NWU members joined president Larry Goldbetter and more than 50 other unions and al

Larry Goldbetter, Tim Sheard and Alfredo Garzon marching on May Day.
Photographer: Roy Murphy

liances in a protest march from Union Square to City Hall in New York. The predominant theme of this protest was a call for "Amnesty and Legalization of All Immigrants," as well as greater justice and fairness for all workers.

A broad variety of interests were represented in the immediate area around the NWU's con tingent. They included Legal Aid Attorneys Local 2325, the Transport Workers Union, the Jewish Labor Committee, U.S. Labor Against the War, Laborers Local 29, NY Administration Employees, PSC CUNY, and Theatrical Teamsters Local 817.

Although several thousand people marched, attendance was not as great as last year's May Day march, and nowhere near the 20,000 who marched in protest against the stop-and-frisk policy last June. It seems that specific issues have more pull than general calls for social justice.

New York Historical Society under Fire

NWU President Larry Goldbetter issued a call for members to join a protest by New-York Historical Society workers at a Society fundraiser on April 12. The workers have been seeking a new contract since last November, but the Society is offering a wage increase of only $10 a week and offsetting it with cuts to health, retirement and disability benefits.

The three dozen protesters who turned out were a strong showing considering that only 30 of the Society's 120 workers are unionized. Many of the non-unionized workers are new employees who were given titles and called "supervisors" even though they are doing the same jobs as long-time union employees.

Most of the tuxedoed and purse-clutching arrivals at the fundraiser accepted the leaflet of grievances handed out by the protesters. Some were openly sympathetic, one saying, "Hang in there," as he accepted a leaflet.

The Society itself has been offensive in its response, saying it doesn't want to "reward people who wore a bigger hole in the carpet over the years."

Members' Announcements

~ Jennifer Armstrong launches Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted

Thursday, May 8, at Pacific Standard Brooklyn; Monday, May 13, at 92nd Street Y Tribeca; and Friday, May 17, at Village Zendo

Jennifer Armstrong launches her book about the making of TV classic The Mary Tyler Moore Show. To learn more, visit http://jenniferkarmstrong.com.

~ Marc L. Abbott's new play Three Isn't a Couple

May 17 - 19, at The Payan Theatre at Roy Aria Studios at 7:30 p.m.

A new play from the writer and director of A Gamble of Faith. Could you choose between someone who knows you and someone who wants you when you're in love with both? Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. To learn more, visit http://www.hobbcatpublishing.com/Upcoming_Events.html.

~ Yusef Salaam's play to be featured at the Uptown Playwrights Workshop's Series

Saturday, May 18, at the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center at 4 p.m.

NWU Steering Committee member Yusef Salaam's play, Leaving the One You Love, will be featured in the Uptown Playwrights Workshop's Play Reading Series. The play focuses on a young couple (and their infant daughter) whose marriage is threatened by the wife's addiction to crack cocaine; the husband wants to leave, but his love for her has practically incarcerated his will. The reading will be in Room 153 at the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center, 1727 Amsterdam Ave. between 145 & 146 Streets, Harlem, NYC. The event is free. For Information, email UptownPlaywrights@yahoo.com or call 973-819-9450/917-302-8351/917-553-7230. Note: Mature subject matter.

~ Barry Stewart Levy will read at the Manhattan Plaza

Saturday, May 18, at the Manhattan Plaza's Ellington Room at 7:30 p.m.

Barry Stewart Levy will read from his book European Son: a novella at this free event. To learn more, visit https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanSonANovella.

~ Antoinette Gelin will be reading from her children's books

Sunday, May 19, at the East Orange Public Library in New Jersey at 3 p.m.

To learn more, visit http://antoinettegelin.com/.

~ Marc L. Abbott's A Gamble of Faith returns to the stage

June 7 - 9, at the Roy Arias Studio at 300 West 43rd Street

This new production stars Jelani Jefferies, Lindsey Marks, Hollis Hayden Jr., Paul Ross, La Trina Rice and Michael Barksdale. All seats are $26. To learn more, visit http://www.meetup.com/NationalWritersUnionNYC/events/117949022/.

~ David Hill writes about the invasion in Iraq

David Hill published an essay on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on Vice.com.To read it, go to http://www.vice.com/read/sitting-down-in-the-deep-end.

~ Charles Patterson's book reprinted in France

The French publisher, Calmann-Levy, is reprinting Eternal Treblinka. To learn more about this book, visit http://www.charleswpatterson.com/.

~ Peter Pullman on WBGO

Peter's one-hour presentations on Bud Powell on WBGO's Jazz from the Archives are streaming at www.wbgo.org. (Dan Morgenstern is the show's host.) They aired last fall at 88.3 FM, Newark.

~ Need a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copy editor?

If you are looking for a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copyeditor, contact Loretta H. Campbell, a longstanding member of the NWU, former Steering Committee Co-Chair, and freelance writer. Discount rates for NWU members. lucianikita@verizon.net

~ Jackson Heights Open Mike Poetry Reading

Tuesdays at Terraza Cafe at 40-19 Gleane Street in Elmhurst, New York

Phone: (718) 803-9602 Website: www.terrazacafe.org

NWU Member Benefit: Monthly Open Mic Event

The New York Chapter has expanded its annual reading series at the Muhlenberg Library to a monthly program. The next Open Mic event will be on Saturday, May 18, from 2 to 4 p.m. This series is free and open to the public. If you would like to read, advance notice is appreciated but not required. Email info@nwuny.org if interested.

The following is a report from NWU member Elisabet Cairo about the opening event in April.

On April 20, a lively group of authors participated in reading their work at the Muhlenberg Library in New York City. Our hosts, Lora René Tucker, a social worker and poet, is bringing back the days when writers had outlets in cities to read their work to an audience. In a city that surprisingly is closing doors to artists,

Lora and the National Writers Union opened a door in a location once visited by many literary figures.

The event started with a reading by Garrett Buhl Robinson, author of Martha, Zoe and Nanatuk. He captured the audience with selected readings from each novel. Next, Elisabet Cairo read two short stories from her Wine and a Story blog, A Woman's Prayer and Maizah and Hadiya. She is in the editing stage of her upcoming novel, Just to Be Held. We were then taken into the lives of everyday New Yorkers by poet Lora René Tucker as she read "Paradise Hall" from Stories in Haiku and My-kues and Grouped Out and from her blog A Strap Hanger's Prayer and My Urban Psalm.

This was more than an open-mic. By attending we actively participated in helping to sustain an extremely important literary legacy in the history of human civilization.
Join us. Bring your poem, prose and ears for an enjoyable two hours. The next reading is scheduled for May 18.

You can enjoy prose and poems by the above artists at their sites:

Lora Rene' Tucker www.poz.blog.com/loratucker

Garrett Buhl Robinson garrettbuhlrobinson.blogspot.com
Elisabet Cairo Wineandastory.blogspot.com

New Members and Important Anniversaries

Welcome to the writers who recently joined the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union. If you would like to learn more about the benefits enjoyed by NWU members or to join online, visit http://www.nwu.org/join-nwu.

Alison Dunday: Read some of her translations.
Barry Stewart Levy: Visit the Facebook page for his book.
Christopher Morin
Daphne Nash: Visit her website.
Lisa Wright: Visit her website.

Anniversaries: Thank You! It is the constant support of our members that makes the NWU strong!

Five years: Michael Lindgren.

Ten years: Tekla Szymanski.

Fifteen years: LuAnn Adams and Jerry Polner.

Twenty years: Merry Aronoff and Fred Villegas.

New Chapter Initiatives

~ Do you lead a writing group? Would you like to organize one? The New York Chapter is interested in hosting groups so that writers, both members and nonmembers, can work in small, supportive groups on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, or other genres in various locations around the five boroughs. If you are interested in initiating or belonging to such a group, please send an email message to info@nwuny.org. Below are the first listings.

The Louis Reyes Rivera workshop meets on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at the Bedford Public Library on Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn. Contact inharmony2day@yahoo.com for more information.

Brooklyn member Tim Sheard attends a writing group several Mondays a month in his Flatbush neighborhood. At 6 p.m., three to five writers meet at Qathra, a coffee shop on 1112 Cortelyou Rd., between Coney Island and Ocean Avenues, and three blocks from the Q train. It's an informal, friendly meetup for writers in any genre, fiction or nonfiction. To take part, email Sheard2001@gmail.com.

~ The New York Chapter is looking for help in redesigning our web page. If you know a student studying web design who may want a short-term project, contact info@nwuny.org.

A Note from the Editor

Please note: We cannot use reprints (and accompanying photos) without written permission from the publisher or copyright owner. The permission must accompany the submission of your article and/or photograph to Between the Lines. We will be posting our submission guidelines shortly on the New York Chapter website.

Between the Lines - April 2013

Monthly Newsletter of the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union

(UAW Local 1981)

(212) 254-0279 ext. 7

www.nwuny.org

info@nwuny.org

In This Issue

Call for Nominations

Fiction Writing Workshop

Pen Pressure

Making Freelance Writing Work

Local NWU Events

On the Front Lines

Members' Announcements

Free Web Pages

New Members & Anniversaries

New Chapter Initiatives

A Note from the Editor

NWU Delegates Assembly August 9-11
Nominations due April 30

Call for Nominations for 2013-2015 Steering Committee and Delegates Assembly

It's time to elect a new Steering Committee (SC) to run the chapter for the next two years and to elect six (6) delegates to represent the chapter at the August 9-11 Delegates Assembly (DA) to be held in Chicago. Candidates can run for both positions. While we had to hold an election last year to replace the late Louis Reyes Rivera as chair, the current SC decided that it would be best, from now on, to hold chapter elections at the same time that we elect delegates to the DA, which meets every two years.

All nominations, including candidate statements, need to be sent to nwunyelections@outlook.com by 5 p.m. on April 30. Be sure to include contact information: e-address and phone number. If there are no contested races, then the announcement of new SC officers and delegates will be emailed to members, posted on our website, and included in the May issue of Between the Lines.

Note: The SC is in the process of forming an election committee in case one is needed to oversee contested elections.

Nominations for 2013-2015 Steering Committee

Only two officers are required to serve on the SC -- a chair and a treasurer - though NY has often had co-chairs and it's really helpful to have a recording secretary. There is no limit to the number of SC members. All NY Chapter members in good standing can put their names in nomination to be officers or members of the SC.

What's involved: SC members spend about 10 hours a month on email discussions and a once-a-month meeting (usually two hours in person in the 12th floor UAW conference room or via conference call) where all matters concerning the chapter are discussed and resolutions are passed. The most important role the SC plays is planning and organizing activities that the chapter undertakes, which entails how best to spend the chapter's income (from member dues and money raised at conferences and other events). SC members volunteer to spearhead or take responsibility for organizing various activities or specific projects.

In addition to other tasks, the chair (or co-chairs) takes responsibility to coordinate activities with the National Office, follow up on all activities between meetings, create agendas for and lead SC meetings, and submit pre-approval forms and reimbursements for all chapter expenditures.

The treasurer tracks the chapter's finances and signs forms. The recording secretary takes meeting minutes and sends them to SC members via email.

So if you're looking for a great way to help build the NWU and the NY Chapter, please volunteer. Be sure to include in your 200-word candidate for SC statement how long you've been a member, your writing background, any special talents or skills you want to contribute to the SC, why you want to serve on the SC, and your contact information. Send it to nwunyelections@outlook.com by April 30.

2013-2015 Delegates Assembly

The Delegates Assembly (DA), to be held this year in Chicago August 9-11, is the highest elected body in the union. Its role is to identify issues, formulate campaigns, and follow through on all resolutions that are passed at the DA. Its overarching goal is to promote the union's mission of advancing the economic, political, and social rights and needs of freelance writers in all genres.

Delegates, chapter chairs, National officers (National Executive Committee-NEC), and elected division chairs constitute the National Executive Board (NEB). Members are elected for two years. They are invited to attend monthly NEC/NEB meetings held by conference call and a once-a-year, in-person meeting at the DA or at a special NEB meeting on alternate years. On rare occasions the NEB is called upon to vote on pressing issues between in-person meetings.

Usually delegates are the most active members in and leaders of their chapters or divisions. But if you want to become more active in the union becoming a delegate automatically puts you in the center of the action, but it also requires a two-year commitment. Only six (6) members from the NY Chapter can attend the DA as delegates. However, other members can attend, though they will not be able to vote and they will have to pay their own expenses. Be sure to include in your 200-word candidate for delegate statement how long you've been a member, your writing background, any NWU offices you've held, why you want to serve as a delegate, and your contact information. Send it to nwunyelections@outlook.com by April 30.

Note that all expenses for delegates are covered by the National Office (transportation) and by the NY Chapter (room, board and miscellaneous travel expenses; must supply receipts for reimbursement).

April 24 - May 29: Fiction Writing Workshop

Meets weekly from April 24 to May 29 at 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. at 256 West 38th Street (12th Floor conference room)

NWU member and experienced fiction coach/writing teacher Tom Pope is offering a six-week fiction writing workshop for writers of all levels. The course online is below. Cost: $150. Attendees must register by April 15 by sending an email message to info@nwuny.org. Full payment is due at the first class. Please be early so the class can start promptly at 6 p.m.

Course Outline
I. Overview On Designing Fiction Elements

Roundtable Sharing Individual Story Idea
- TROUBLE SHOOTING CONCEPTS
Scene Design Explained
- CHART-SCENE DEVELOPMENT
- SCENE PACING
Character Development Adds Complexity
- CHARACTER CHECKLIST
- PLOT RESOLUTION OUTLINE
- PLOT OUTLINE EXERCISE
Roundtable Adding Characterization to Individual Stories
Writing Session of a Character's Opening Scene
Discussion of Needed Elements Not Covered
Homework to Design Scene After Opening

II. Adding Conflict For Complexity

Sharing Second Scenes From Homework
Element of Conflict Explained
- CONFLICT PACING
Roundtable Discussion of Increasing Conflict
- REACTION CHART
Writing Exercise to Add Conflicts to Second Scene
Discussion on Conflict Arcs
- CHART ARCS
Homework to Design A Conflict Arc After Second Scene

III. Analyzing Worldbuilding in Conflicts

Sharing Conflict Arcs From Homework
Elements of Worldbuilding Explained
- WORLDBUILDING & CONFLICT
Roundtable Discussion of Increasing Worldbuilding in the Conflict Arcs
Writing Exercise to Add Complexity to Arcs
Roundtable Discussion on New Additions
Homework to Write Following Scene After Arc

IV. Resolution Planning

Sharing of Homework Scenes
Resolution Techniques Explained
- PLOT RESOLUTION OUTLINE
- PLOT EXERCISE
Roundtable Discussion on How Stories End
- CLIMAX SCENE OUTLINE
Writing Exercise to Design Outline For Conclusion
Roundtable Discussion on Story Plans
Homework to Write Conclusion

V. Scene Connections

Sharing of Homework Conclusions
Linking Opening Scenes With Conclusions
Writing Exercise of Another Scene
Roundtable Sharing of New Scene
Roundtable Sharing of How Scene Leads to Conclusion - Ideas on Revisions of Openings
Homework Writing to Link All Scenes

VI. Final Works Presentation

Roundtable Sharing of Stories
Suggestions for New Arcs
Suggestions For Scene Revisions
Plans for the Future

Pen Pressure: It's Simple

Written by Alexandria Faiz, BTL Editor

(Pen Pressure is BTL's regular column about the best practices for activist writing. Guest columnists are welcome. Email info@nwuny.org if interested. - Editor)

Activist writers share many of the same personality traits as mathematicians. There's the attention to detail. Numbers only add up a certain way, and words need to be precisely selected and ordered. They both rely on imagination to launch their new projects. And the process for how those letters or numbers spill onto a computer screen or appear on a pad of paper can best be described as the work of a mystic. Books and film too tend to portray the prominent members of both groups the same way: persons whose brilliance is dependent on a fanatical dedication to their work tinged with mental illness. History has certainly seen both writers and mathematicians unjustly jailed.

This is why I look to math and writing while wrestling with intellectual knots. I wanted to share one detangling tip I recently heard at a free conference at the CUNY Graduate Center -- "Simplicity: Ideals of Practice in Mathematics & the Arts." Much of the focus was on how mathematical topics can become more mainstreamed. Is making math more simple, less intimidating, the answer? If
yes, what is simplicity? Maryanthe Malliaris from the University of Chicago became one of my muses that afternoon because her solution offers help for how any message deserving more attention can get it.

Human intelligence isn't attracted to simple things. Rather we're drawn by seeing something complex move. Fred Astaire dancing was the example she offered. As any writer knows, complex doesn't mean complicated either, she explained. (No matter how well I think I know a subject, I still always end up trashing the first few paragraphs of a new essay, this one included.) Movement filters out the
unnecessary.

Movement of course is critical for social campaigns too. No action quickly leads to no media coverage and to less credibility. This is particularly true when trying to recruit and train the next generation of leaders. In this case, I want to focus on union leaders because our opportunity is dwindling. After I left the Simplicity conference, I heard and saw many reports about the Friday jobs report. Chris Iridore of CNN wrote that "the difficulty for younger workers finding jobs is also a factor, as more young adults unable to find work return to school to try to improve their prospects. The participation rate for those age 16 to 24 was near a 50-year low." As we know, school costs money too. A great deal.

The AFL-CIO response: "Millions of Americans remain out of work and the job market is especially devastating for young people. Young people ages 20-24 are facing 13.3% unemployment rates. Without the prospect of good jobs in their early and crucial earning years, these young people will bear the cost of these proposed cuts in Social Security. This past November, voters rejected the failed policies of Romney/Ryan and voted for President Obama in hopes that a second term would mean that working families would share in our nation's prosperity. This budget dampens those hopes. But, even worse, it's bad for the economy."

OK. How far did this message get? The AFL-CIO created a "Next Up Young Workers" initiative with its own website, Facebook account, Twitter feed, and advisory council. Did that message appear there? No. The Next Up Facebook board had two good messages last week. One announced the availability of the Dreams of Jobs and Freedom Scholarships for 50 high school seniors from union families. The
second offered help for those who want to attend the national social media conference Netroots Nation. So unions are offering help. But besides the existence of an advisory council, which doesn't seem to issue its own statements, there is no movement forward together. Popular companies like Facebook are saying they need a higher cap on H-1B visas. This is a direct attack on the quality of our young workers. A statement was issued by AFL-CIO lobbyist Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto saying that "because employers don't have to advertise for U.S. workers, H-1B also costs American jobs... Raising the cap could worsen that." That took a few Internet searches to find. Are there petitions on Change.org or MoveOn.org about collective bargaining? Yes, but the number of supporters is embarrassing and more important misleading.

Bill Fletcher Jr. mentioned at last October's NWU New York conference that unions need "echo chambers" for our messages. Very true, but when recruiting young leaders we need to go a bit further. Show them that unions are founded on movements that they want to join. These words are not directed only to the AFL-CIO leadership, but to each of us. In our area, there are thousands of young
writers. Perhaps we can form an appenticeship program. Offer endorsements on their websites. Let them know we're here by moving toward them. If you're interested in exploring what the NWU can do, send me an email message at info@nwuny.org. It's simple.

Making Freelance Writing Work: Tim Sheard

Written by NWU member Patricia Hilliard

(Making Freelance Writing Work is BTL's regular column that profiles an NWU member. If you would like to be considered for future columns, email info@nwuny.org. - Editor)

Tim Sheard is doing what many of us working folks are trying to do: write books from a realistic working person's point of view -- and still make a living. Can it be done? Sheard feels it is possible. Here's what he's done.

While expanding his interest in journalism, he came across some history abou

t the John Reed Clubs. These clubs started back in the 1920's and lasted until the 1940's. They taught writing to working class people who wanted to learn how to express their points of view during a time of increased union activism. Sheard began to think this idea was still workable in these economically challenging times, especially with the freedom of speech that the internet and self-publishing offers. Sheard advises that writers should find their own niche. Writing from a labor union point of view is a unique niche in today's pro-corporate, anti-union atmosphere. As Sheard sees it, "...unions are one of the few organized groups that can mobilize working people to write and publish their own honest narrative."

Now eager to pursue his idea, he started by teaching writing classes at union halls. However, we all know that writing is only therapy unless you publish. To get his work and his students' work published, he created his own publishing company, Hard Ball Press: www.hardballpress.com. Hard Ball Press offers to help writers with story structure, copy editing, marketing and distribution. Sheard's dream is to open a wide platform for working-class writers. This could be the opportunity many of us seek.

As a member of the National Writers Union, Sheard is conscious of the fact that many writers are taken advantage of by the publishing industry, so he promises to avoid greedy profit-taking in his dealings with fellow writers. He was enthusiastic about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and feels that this spirit of protest bodes well for his publishing endeavors. Yet, as he states, "I shouldn't take advantage of a writer by charging him/her a big markup for the book that he/she wrote." So, writers can hope that working with Hard Ball Press will eliminate those super-expenses that the corporations charge to boost their super-profits on publishing services. Books from Hard Ball Press can run from $12 to $20.00 for a deluxe edition selling price.

Sheard's business is top of the line: it offers to format for e-book distribution to all of the different platforms (Android, iPad, PC-Tablet) so that the book looks just right on every device. Hard Ball Press can also format for print-on-demand paper publishing.

But wait, if Sheard can do this, why couldn't any writer do this? Sheard says, "Do it," but then he adds, "Be prepared for a steep learning curve and a long time before you make any money. It's a labor of love more than anything else; publishing has a slim profit margin."

When asked what tips Sheard could give to anyone wanting to do what he has done, he explains: "Identify your market and get to know people in your market. Support their efforts and aspirations. Prove you're serious about the issues you stand on."

An example of one of the books published recently by Hard Ball Press is Murder of a Post Office Manager, a crime novel, by Paul Felton. Paul was a union steward for the American Postal Workers Union in a local that experienced two shooting incidents within 18 months. Instead of taking the corporate media angle that blames the workers, Felton's novel explores how a hostile work environment created by management might contribute to acts of violence in the rank and file. This is the unique niche that Sheard hopes to develop. Many working people would be thrilled to discover books with settings and themes that pertain to their everyday lives. Writers and publishers in this new genre should be popular in a country where most people get up every day and go to work.

Local NWU Events

~ Free Event, April 20: Good Old-Old School Open Mic Hour (Plus)
Muhlenberg Library at 209 West 23rd Street (near 7th Ave.)

NWU members Lora Rene' Tucker and Loretta Campbell are organizing this free event that is the first session of the NWU New York Chapter's annual reading series. All NWU members are invited to read. Open to the public. If you would like to read, send an email message at info@nwuny.org.

~ Fiction Writing Workshop: Making Your Fiction More Complex
Meets weekly from April 24 to May 29 at 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. at 256 West 38th Street (12th Floor conference room)

NWU member and experienced fiction coach/writing teacher Tom Pope is offering a six-week fiction writing workshop for writers of all levels. The course online is below. Cost: $150. To register, send an email message to info@nwuny.org by April 15. Full payment is due at the first class. Please be early so the class can start promptly at 6.

~ May 1: May Day Rally

On Wednesday, May 1, immigrant groups will be convening in Union Square starting at noon, and unions will join them at 4 p.m. for a rally. The crowd will march down Broadway after 5 p.m. for another rally at City Hall. Some of the demands that have already been put forward include:

* Union Jobs, Education
* Healthcare for All
* No to Cutbacks!
* Pro-worker Immigration Policy

Join the NWU contingent between 4 and 5. Meeting location to be announced.

~ First Monday, May 6: MAKE IT HAPPEN: Develop the skills to finish that book, find a publisher & market it
Ben's Kosher Delicatessen at 209 West 38th Street from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Internationally known writer, photographer, and painter Carren Strock will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the whole process of writing, publishing, and marketing a book. Her talk will appeal to all those who have dreamed of writing but have let fear keep them from putting pen to paper; to those who believed they could never be published and left their manuscripts gathering dust in drawers; and to those who want to learn how the books that they read came into being.

~ June 1: Writing Across Borders: An International Writers' Conference
Empire State College at 325 Hudson Street from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.

At a time of unprecedented migration, when families are divided and communities shattered, writers can provide a vital historical record, a public voice of protest at social injustice and a healing balm. Writers are able to bridge the gaps among communities through depicting the experiences of diverse people that often prove to be more similar than different, while, at the same time, attempting to fight widespread injustices of forced deportation and economic migration. This conference will explore all of these issues, as well as engage the writing community in a discussion of our role and responsibilities at this moment of economic upheaval and unprecedented movement across borders. Organized by the National Writers Union in partnership with the The Harry Van Arsdale School of Labor Studies and La Casa Azul Bookstore. Fee: $30. To register, go to www.nwuny.org.

On the Front Lines: NWU's Social Justice Projects

(BTL will regularly feature the NWU's social justice projects, an area where unions have a long, distinguished history. These initiatives also illustrate how the NWU is different from other writers' organizations. Being a labor organization, the NWU views fights against inequality as part of our core mission. If any NWU member would like to have their project featured, email info@nwuny.org. - Editor)

Battle Against Stop and Frisk Moves Forward

Written by NWU member Roy Murphy

Last September NWU members marched down Fifth Avenue with 20,000 others to protest the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy. Now a class-action suit is proceeding in the Federal District Court in Manhattan. The suit, Floyd v. City of New York, represents "hundreds of thousands if not millions of people" who experienced "race-based stops" by the city's police officers.

The federal judge hearing the case, Shira A. Scheindlin, late last year issued a preliminary ruling in a similar case that stops at private residential buildings in the Bronx were unconstitutional. She cannot ban the tactic, since it has been found to be legal, but she does have the power to reform how it is used.

The police have recorded five million stops in New York since 2004, mostly of black and Hispanic men. 88 percent ended with no charges or arrests. Less than 1 percent had guns, the supposed target of the stop and frisk. The plaintiffs say the stops are a "frightening and degrading experience" and the statistics show the stops are almost entirely baseless. They say the stops violate the 4th Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure, as well as the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

More than 200 people supporting the plaintiffs turned up on the opening day of the trial, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, City Council Members Brad Landers and Letitia James, and mayoral candidate John Liu.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly say the stops are a deterrent that leads to lower crime rates.

But police officers have revealed they are required to meet quotas.

"They want 20 and 1," Officer Adhyl Polanco of the 41st Precinct testified, explaining that meant "20 summons and one arrest per month."

"We were handcuffing kids for no reason," Officer Polanco said.

Another officer, Pedro Serrano, said he began taping interactions with supervisors in the station house because "they're asking me to do something that's illegal."
Officer Serrano, who continues to work in the 40th Precinct, said that as a Hispanic man in the Bronx, he himself had been stopped many times. "It's not a good feeling," he testified.

Members' Announcements

~ Job Posting: Assistant Editor

Assistant Editor needed to assist on a monthly publication for an education union in NYC with 16,000 members. Responsibilities include feature and news writing, organizing a page of briefs, writing obituaries, and handling many details. The successful applicant must also know how to use a camera and shoot photographs for the publication and for posting online on the organization's website as well as Facebook and Flickr. Knowledge of Photoshop will give you an edge. Some knowledge of social media would be helpful as well. Prospective employees should expect to take a writing test during the interview process. Looking for someone with a minimum of two years experience and a bachelor's degree, but willing to talk to the recent college graduate who has amassed a lot of experience either during the summers or at college publications. Excellent benefits. If current NWU member, email info@nwuny.org for more information.

~ David Hill will be an NWU panelist at the ASJA Annual Conference
Saturday, April 27, at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

David Hill will be a panelist during the "So You Want to Be... a HuffPo Blogger" session at the 2013 ASJA annual conference: "Fire Up Your Writing Career." For more information and to register, click HERE. If you are an NWU member attending the ASJA conference, please let us know by sending a message to info@nwuny.org.

~ Jennifer Armstrong launches Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted

Thursday, May 8, at Pacific Standard Brooklyn; Monday, May 13, at 92nd Street Y Tribeca; and Friday, May 17, at Village Zendo

Jennifer Armstrong launches her book about the making of TV classic The Mary Tyler Moore Show. To learn more, visit http://jenniferkarmstrong.com.

~ Yusef Salaam's play to be featured by the Uptown Playwrights Workshop
Saturday, May 18, at the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center at 4 p.m.

NWU Steering Committee member Yusef Salaam's play, Leaving the One You Love, will be featured in the Uptown Playwrights Workshop's Play Reading Series. The reading will be on Saturday, May 18, 2013, 4:00 pm, at the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center, 1727 Amsterdam Ave. between 145 & 146 Sts. Room 153. Harlem, NYC. The event is free. The play focuses on a young couple (and their infant daughter) whose marriage is threatened by the wife's addiction to crack cocaine; the husband wants to leave, but his love for her has practically incarcerated his will. For Information, email UptownPlaywrights@yahoo.com or call 973-819-9450/917-302-8351/917-553-7230. Note: Mature subject matter.

~ Peter Pullman on WBGO

Peter's one-hour presentations on Bud Powell on WBGO's Jazz from the Archives are streaming at www.wbgo.org. (Dan Morgenstern is the show's host.) They aired last fall, at 88.3 FM, Newark.

~ Need a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copy editor?

If you are looking for a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copyeditor, contact Loretta H. Campbell, a longstanding member of the NWU, Steering Committee Co-Chair, and freelance writer. Discount rates for NWU members. lucianikita@verizon.net

~ Jackson Heights Open Mike Poetry Reading

Tuesdays at Terraza Cafe at 40-19 Gleane Street in Elmhurst, New York.

Phone: (718) 803-9602 Website: www.terrazacafe.org

NWU Member Benefit: Free Web Pages

The New York Chapter is offering free web pages to our members. If you would like to display your book covers, post reviews and a link to a site selling your book, contact us at info@nwuny.org.

If you are a journalist or write in any field and wish to post links to your web site or to your current articles in print, you are welcome to a page of your own.

Over the next few months we will be adding member pages. Take advantage of this free service from the National Writers Union!

New Members and Important Anniversaries

Bliss Broyard: Listen to her readings.
Cristiana Corrado
Marie S. Cothia: Read her profile.
Jeffrey L. King
Marivir Montebon: Read her online magazine OSM!.
John C. Rudolf
Alvina D. Chan: Read about her book Lasting Memories.
Kenneth Warner: UNICON Executive Director

Anniversaries: Thank You! It is the constant support of our members that makes the NWU strong!

Five years: Laurence Holder.

Fifteen years: Gerald Epstein, John DeWitt Gregory, Larry Parks,
and Chris Rhomberg.

New Chapter Initiatives

~ Small stipend available to help reach out to lapsed members

The New York Chapter is seeking help from a current member who would enjoy contacting lapsed members by phone and encouraging them to rejoin the NWU. A small monthly stipend is available. If you are interested, please email info@nwuny.org and list the main reasons you would give for rejoining the NWU and how many hours per week you can commit to this project.

~ The New York Chapter is looking for help in redesigning our web page. If you know a student studying web design who may want a short-term project, contact info@nwuny.org.

A Note from the Editor

National Writers Union - New York Chapter

Between the Lines - March 2013

Monthly Newsletter of the New York Chapter of the National Writers Union

(UAW Local 1981)

(212) 254-0279 ext. 7

www.nwuny.org

info@nwuny.org

In This Issue

Pen Pressure

Making Freelance Writing Work

Local NWU Events

Next Steering Committee Meeting

On the Front Lines

Members' Events & Services

More Book Fair Tables!

New Members & Anniversaries

New Chapter Initiatives

A Note from the Editor

It's March which means planning for May Day has begun. If you would like to help, let us know!

Pen Pressure: Host a Shindig

Written by Alexandria Faiz and Tim Sheard, NWU New York Chapter Steering Committee Members

(Pen Pressure is BTL's regular column about the best practices for activist writing. Guest columnists are welcome. Email info@nwuny.org if interested. - Editor)

Partnerships lead to effective activist writing. They carry the stories with their messages to unfamiliar eyes. When looking for ways to reach a greater audience, the growing influence of new media companies can't be ignored. Your attention shouldn't be focused only on dominant players like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Approaching a new start-up that needs to prove itself to its investors can be a prime opportunity for activist writers. Many business articles have already highlighted the strong support many of these new media firms offer to charitable or community projects -- from providing flexible hours for volunteer work to donating a portion of their revenue to a cause. How does this help a writer? You could likely gain access to an innovative tool for free if you agree to test it. A portion of your work could be broadcast over the Internet in a new way, reaching readers you wouldn't have met otherwise. Of course, the staff at these firms may be masters at writing software code, but they may quickly learn from you the power of a well-crafted sentence, and give a new income stream. As always, timing is critical because in the end these are business ventures that need to show a profit. soon. If they received funding from venture capital firms or angel investors, those purse-string holders will expect to at least double their investment within four to seven years. Introducing yourself as being knowledgeable about their funding status can give you a distinct advantage.

Earlier this month, NWU’s New York Chapter Treasurer Tim Sheard did the hard work to find one media firm ripe for new connections. Shindig.com allows people to host online conferences with up to 1,000 participants. What distinguished them from other video chat services is that the participants can interact with each other as well as with the main speaker. Located at 41 East 11th Street in Manhattan, Shindig is headed by Steve Gottlieb who founded TVT Records, which was the first label to settle with Napster. That settlement was made possible when TVT authorized Napster’s distribution of TVT copyrights once Napster changed to a fee-charging business model via its strategic alliance with Bertelsmann AG. Then, Gottlieb became a member of Napster’s Advisory Board. So, writers may have found a friend in this executive who has this battlefield experience in copyright protection. That feeling has been confirmed with Shindig’s targeted service for writers to offer virtual book tours. (Being a good businessman, Gottlieb is also courting publishers. See his Huffington Post article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-gottlieb/lessons-for-book-publishi_b_2197451.html?utm_hp_ref=tw.) Authors such as AJ Jacobs, Joel Stein, and David Brin has used Shindig. In November 2012, Tim Sheard moderated a discussion with M.J. Rose and Randy Susan Meyers about preparing for a book launch on Shindig. Then, earlier this month, Tim invited Yusang Lee, Marketing Manager for Shindig, to be the guest speaker as part of the New York Chapter’s First Monday series. Below is Tim’s notes from that event. With funding from the Pritzker/Vlock family office (that also has ownership interests in the Global Hyatt Corporation, TransUnion LLC, Triton Container International and the Marmon Group), Shindig is now in beta mode, looking for opportunities to test their system by offering their service for free. But act quickly. That business model may change. To see other new media companies based in New York City, use this map tool -- http://mappedinny.com/.

Tim Sheard's notes from the Shindig presentation on March 4.

On March 4, sixteen writers listened to Shindig Marketing Director Yusang Lee talk about the power and reach of his company’s new video conferencing services. Think of it as Skype that’s gone through Navy Seal training – a super online video hosting service. With Shindig, authors are able to interact with up to a thousand individuals simultaneously. The video program enables writers to reach potential readers all over the globe, making this one of the new digital media platforms that writers need to know about and to use.

Here are a few highlights from Yusang’s talk:

A writer’s face will fill a little less than half of a video screen, while a participant’s face fills the other side. The two talk to each other, even if they are worlds apart, while others watch and listen.
Other participants appear in small thumbnail images at the bottom of the screen. For the Q&A, the author can select among the participants who ‘raise their hand’ (digitally) to ask a question. When a questioner is recognized, that person’s face expands and he/she engages the author directly in conversation.
Readers have shown they cherish the opportunity to engage directly with a writer in real time. It is much more immersive and intimate than clicking on an author’s web site and watching a video, which is a passive activity.
Participants do not need to register beforehand or type in a password or download a special software program (no app needed). Instead, they just go to the Shindig site and click on the event they want to view.
An image of the author’s book appears on the screen. This ‘widgit’ is clickable. When a participant clicks on the book cover, they link to a site where they can purchase the book. Shindig receives 25% of the sale price of the book for those who purchase it by linking directly from the Shindig site.
The Shindig video service is and will continue to be free. Yes, FREE. Shindig earns money from the sale of books and other products, such as music and art. The publisher receives the same royalty when the sale is linked to Shindig as they would from any other sale. So, for example, a self-published (or reprinted) author would receive the same royalty from Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com as they would with any other purchase.
Writers must do the work to bring in an audience for the program, Shindig is not a marketing company. In fact, if less than twenty people answer with an RSVP, Shindig may cancel the show and ask the author to reschedule after doing more promotion. The NWU will promote the author’s Shindig appearance for union members – another good reason to join the union.
Writers are free to record the program with a streaming video capture program and use that video for whatever they wish. The writer owns the content of the show, not Shindig. If you need help recording your Shindig event, there are tech-savvy NWU members who will be happy to record it for you at a very modest fee and send you a DVD with the video.

Bottom line: technology is changing the face of publishing and marketing, as we have seen with the explosion of E-books and print-on-demand digital printing. Writers need to master this new marketing tool in order to reach a worldwide audience. Check out Shindig.com, and look for NWU events using this free hosting service.

Making Freelance Writing Work

(Making Freelance Writing Work is BTL's regular column that profiles a NWU member. If you would like to be considered for future columns, email info@nwuny.org. - Editor)

This month, we're featuring Mauricio Niebla, who serves on the NW

U New York Chapter's Steering Committee. As he describes himself on his Twitter account, "I am a Mexican scriptwriter in voluntary exile in New York City." https://twitter.com/Mauricioniebla

BTL Editor: You joined the NWU after the union secured a settlement for you and 59 other freelance writers, translators, editors and graphic artists who were owed over $360,000 in back wages from Inkwell Solutions, a sub-contractor of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. How did the NWU become involved? What was the most memorable part of the case for you (except of course achieving a settlement)? Did that case affect how you now negotiate with other sub-contractors? If so, how?

Mauricio: NWU intervention has been crucial for us, the help and support that the National Writers Union have given us and still gives us basically the only hope that we have. A few months after Inkwell closed their doors, our story went public with an article in the New York Times. Tim Sheard contacted one of our colleagues and offered the National Writers Union's help in this situation. Immediately they set a meeting with NWU president Larry Goldbetter and together they came up with a plan, NWU hired a law firm to help us and they started working in no time. It was awesome; in just a couple of days we jumped from being completely lost to having a big hope. We're still in the fight. Even though we have a settlement, so far we haven't been paid, but we are confident that something will happen eventually.

The important thing is that this case set a precedent in the industry.

Of course now I am more careful when I start working with other companies, but in reality there still are a lot of standard practices in the industry that leave freelancers unprotected, and we have to work to change this. That’s why I became more involved in the union.

BTL Editor: The NWU is organizing an international writers' conference on June 1 to give the city's multicultural writers an opportunity to discuss how to find audiences for their works. How do you? What practical tips can you share?

Mauricio: The biggest problem for writers is to find distribution channels for our work. It is too hard to find an agent, to find the right publisher and, like in my case, to find a production company that is willing to read your work. Fortunately in this age, with the current technology, it is easier to gain exposure for our work. But we have to learn how use the tools of this age -- web page, social media, YouTube, blogs and of course self publishing.

BTL Editor: Though you’re not an immigrant yourself, you have a lot of connections with immigrant artists. How does the current immigration policies affect writers living in NYC? What would be the single best change you would like to see?

Mauricio: The current immigration policies in the US affect not only writers, but all the immigrant artists. Art should not have frontiers. There are many talented artists living in the shadow. Many people came to study but often they are not allowed to work, so how they can survive in this city? Many of them do not come to stay, they only came to experience life in New York City like it has been happening for hundreds of years, Instead they get trapped in these policies and are forced to become illegal. For instance, artists generally cannot afford to get a visa.

I would like to see a little more common sense in the immigration policies because in reality there are a lot of people who only came here to work, send money back home and improve their lives. They come here because this country needs them to work in the factories and fields. Many of them want to go back home, but it is too hard and expensive to do it so they end up staying here illegally. If they can come and go more easily, I am sure that the most of the people would rather go back home.

BTL Editor: Tell us about your current project.

Mauricio: I am working on different projects right now. My main style is historical fiction. I am creating the script for a movie telling the story of the first independent territory in America (the New World, the continent). It was a little group of maroons close to Cartagena, Colombia, between 1595 and 1620. It is a very exciting story, and I have been working on the research for more than three years. Also I am working in a dromedy for television about a new family structure, the roll change. Sorry that I cannot be more specific, but this is too good to reveal until it’s ready.

Local NWU Events

~ First Monday, April 8: To Build a Web Site, Content Is King (Free Program)

Ben's Kosher Delicatessen at 209 West 38th Street from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Author, television host and online producer Marivir Montebon will explain how she has built her website into an internationally recognized place to visit. Learn how to build your brand and attract viewers to your site with tantalizing content. Free drink for the first ten attendees.

~ Free Event, April 20: Good Old-Old School Open Mic Hour (Plus)

Muhlenberg Library at 209 West 23rd Street (near 7th Ave.)

~ Fiction Writing Workshop: Making Your Fiction More Complex

Meets weekly from April 24 to May 29 at 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. at 256 West 38th Street (12th Floor conference room)

NWU member and experienced fiction coach/writing teacher Tom Pope is offering a six-week fiction writing workshop for writers of all levels. The course online is below. Cost: $150. To register, send an email message to info@nwuny.org. Full payment is due at the first class. Please be early so the class can start promptly at 6.

Course Outline
I. Overview On Designing Fiction Elements

π Roundtable Sharing Individual Story Idea

TROUBLE SHOOTING CONCEPTS

π Scene Design Explained

CHART-SCENE DEVELOPMENT

SCENE PACING

π Character Development Adds Complexity

CHARACTER CHECKLIST
PLOT RESOLUTION OUTLINE
PLOT OUTLINE EXERCISE

π Roundtable Adding Characterization to Individual Stories

π Writing Session of a Character's Opening Scene

π Discussion of Needed Elements Not Covered

π Homework to Design Scene After Opening

II. Adding Conflict For Complexity

π Sharing Second Scenes From Homework

π Element of Conflict Explained

CONFLICT PACING

π Roundtable Discussion of Increasing Conflict

REACTION CHART

π Writing Exercise to Add Conflicts to Second Scene

π Discussion on Conflict Arcs

CHART ARCS

π Homework to Design A Conflict Arc After Second Scene

III. Analyzing Worldbuilding in Conflicts

π Sharing Conflict Arcs From Homework

π Elements of Worldbuilding Explained

WORLDBUILDING & CONFLICT

π Roundtable Discussion of Increasing Worldbuilding in the Conflict Arcs

π Writing Exercise to Add Complexity to Arcs

π Roundtable Discussion on New Additions

π Homework to Write Following Scene After Arc

IV. Resolution Planning

π Sharing of Homework Scenes

π Resolution Techniques Explained

PLOT RESOLUTION OUTLINE

PLOT EXERCISE

π Roundtable Discussion on How Stories End

CLIMAX SCENE OUTLINE

π Writing Exercise to Design Outline For Conclusion

π Roundtable Discussion on Story Plans

π Homework to Write Conclusion

V. Scene Connections

π Sharing of Homework Conclusions

π Linking Opening Scenes With Conclusions

π Writing Exercise of Another Scene

π Roundtable Sharing of New Scene

π Roundtable Sharing of How Scene Leads to Conclusion - Ideas on Revisions of Openings

π Homework Writing to Link All Scenes

VI. Final Works Presentation

π Roundtable Sharing of Stories

π Suggestions for New Arcs

π Suggestions For Scene Revisions

π Plans for the Future

~ First Monday, May 6: MAKE IT HAPPEN: Develop the skills to finish that book, find a publisher & market it

Ben's Kosher Delicatessen at 209 West 38th Street from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Internationally known writer, photographer, and painter Carren Strock will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the whole process of writing, publishing, and marketing a book. Her talk will appeal to all those who have dreamed of writing but have let fear keep them from putting pen to paper; to those who believed they could never be published and left their manuscripts gathering dust in drawers; and to those who want to learn how the books that they read came into being.

~ June 1: Writing Across Borders: An International Writers' Conference

Empire State College at 325 Hudson Street from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.

At a time of unprecedented migration, when families are divided and communities shattered, writers can provide a vital historical record, a public voice of protest at social injustice and a healing balm. Writers are able to bridge the gaps among communities through depicting the experiences of diverse people that often prove to be more similar than different, while, at the same time, attempting to fight widespread injustices of forced deportation and economic migration. This conference will explore all of these issues, as well as engage the writing community in a discussion of our role and responsibilities at this moment of economic upheaval and unprecedented movement across borders. Organized by the National Writers Union in partnership with the The Harry Van Arsdale School of Labor Studies and La Casa Azul Bookstore. Fee: $30. To register, go to www.nwuny.org.

New York Chapter Steering Committee Meeting, Sunday, April 7

The NY Chapter Steering Committee will meet on Sunday, April 7, from 12 to 2 p.m. in the 12th floor conference room at the NWU/UAW office at 256 West 38th Street (between Seventh and Eighth Avenues). All members are welcome. Please send an email message to info@nwuny.org in advance if you would like to come. NWU members can request a copy of the projected 2013 chapter strategic plan and budget. We will also be discussing the national Delegate Assembly in August.

On the Front Lines: NWU's Social Justice Projects

Bus Strike Ends

Written by NWU Member Roy Murphy

The strike by more than 8,000 New York school bus drivers and bus matrons ended four weeks after it began when the Democratic contenders to beco

NWU President Larry Goldbetter at ATU Demonstration

Photographer: Roy Murphy

me New York's next mayor scaled down their support.

The strike was in protest at Mayor Bloomberg's move to end employment protection provisions that had been in place since 1979 following a similar 13-week strike. Mayor Bloomberg said he was moving to rein in the ballooning costs of school transport. The New York Times reported that it costs almost $7,000 a year for each passenger, compared with Chicago ($5,000), Los Angeles ($3,200) and Miami ($1,000).

Mayor Bloomberg's move came after a State Appellate Court ruled in June that the employment protection provisions failed to "save the public money, encourage robust competition or prevent favoritism." It said experienced drivers could be retained by putting an experience requirement in the bidding process. (Such a requirement would not, of course, guarantee their pay level.) The National Labor Relations Board ruled in the beginning of February that it was a legal strike.

The Democratic mayoral contenders - City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Comptroller John Liu, former City Comptroller Bill Thompson and former Councilman Sal Albanese - initially supported the union strike. Four weeks into the strike the candidates sent a letter asking the bus workers to return to their jobs and "continue the battle for job protections in other ways." They said that if elected they will revisit the job security issue.

This means Mayor Bloomberg can now save costs at the expense of the bus workers. Some bus workers found, when they returned from the strike, that they'd already lost their jobs.

Members' Events and Services

~ David Hill will be an NWU panelist at the ASJA Annual Conference

Saturday, April 27, at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

~ Jeffrey B. Perry launches new edition of "The Invention of the White Race"

Jeffrey B. Perry has been giving a series of talks and slide presentations about the new expanded edition of Theodore W. Allen's "The Invention of the White Race." He spoke at the Brecht Forum on January 31 and on March 8, Bluestockings on February 7, and he will be at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C., on April 7. To learn more, visit www.jeffreybperry.net.

~ Peter Pullman on WBGO

Peter's one-hour presentations on Bud Powell on WBGO's Jazz from the Archives are streaming at www.wbgo.org. (Dan Morgenstern is the show's host.) They aired last fall, at 88.3 FM, Newark.

~ Need a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copy editor?

If you are looking for a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copyeditor, contact Loretta H. Campbell, a longstanding member of the NWU, Steering Commitee Co-Chair, and freelance writer. Discount rates for NWU members. lucianikita@verizon.net

~ Jackson Heights Open Mike Poetry Reading

Tuesdays at Terraza Cafe at 40-19 Gleane Street in Elmhurst, New York.

Phone: (718) 803-9602 Website: www.terrazacafe.org

NWU Member Benefit: More Book Fair Tables

Your NWU membership gives you free access to table space at multiple area book fairs. The NWU New York Chapter recently secured two more book fair tables. Below is the revised list of fairs where the NWU will have a booth. If you don't have a book to promote, come visit us!

NEW Saturday, March 30: National Black Writers Biennial Symposium at Medgar Evers College

Saturday, April 13: Rainbow Book Fair at the Holiday Inn (440 West 57th Street, New York)

Saturday, May 18: Bronx Literary Festival at Poe Park (Sorry - no more table space available)

NEW June 6-8: Labor & Working-Class History Association National Conference at 25 Broadway

June 7-9: Left Forum at Pace University in Manhattan

Saturday, July 20: Harlem Book Fair

Sunday, September 22: Brooklyn Book Festival

Email info@nwuny.org if you want to display and sell your book.

New Members and Important Anniversaries

Marc Abbott: Visit his website.
Elisabet Cairo: Follow her blog.
Zach Dorfman: Assistant Editor of Ethics & International Affairs.
Mya Kagan: Visit her website.
Daisy Melamed: Read her Daily News articles.
Tom Pope: Fiction Coach and leader of the NWU's fiction writing workshop
starting on April 24
Alyn Ware: He edits the Nuclear Abolition Forum.

Anniversaries: Thank You! It is the constant support of our members that makes the NWU strong!

Five years: Tylon Washington.

Ten years: Joanna Anderson and Fay Greenbaum.

Fifteen years: Joan Chevalier and Michael Zweig.

Twenty years: William Sharfman.

Twenty-five years: Genie Abrams and Miriam Frank.

New Chapter Initiatives

~ The New York Chapter is hoping that members would like to volunteer to organize NWU events for Poetry Month in April. If you're interested, please contact info@nwuny.org.

~ The New York Chapter is looking for help in redesigning our web page. If you know a student studying web design who may want a short-term project, contact

info@nwuny.org.

A Note from the Editor

___________________________________________________________________

Between the Lines

Monthly Newsletter of the New York Chapter

of the National Writers Union

(UAW Local 1981)

212-254-0279, ext. 7

www.nwuny.org

February 2013

ATU Local 1181 still needs your help. Today is Day 27 of their strike.

Table of Contents

1. Pen Pressure: Back-of-the-room connection
2. Making Freelance Writing Work: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
3. Local NWU Events, Marches, Rallies, and Petitions
4. NY Steering Committee Meeting, Sunday, March 3
5. NWU's Social Justice Projects
6. Members' Events and Services
7. NWU Member Service: Book Fair Booths
8. New Chapter Initiatives
9. A Note from the Editor

1. Pen Pressure - Back-of-the-room connection
by Alexandria Faiz, BTL Editor
(Pen Pressure is BTL's regular column about the best practices for activist writing. Guest columnists are welcome. Email info@nwuny.org if interested. - Editor)

On January 11, I attended was has become one of my favorite annual events. Along with NWU President Larry Goldbetter and fellow New York Chapter Steering Committee member Mauricio Niebla, I went to the Annual Region 9A UAW Civil Rights Awards Recognition Dinner in Hartford, Connecticut. This marked the event's twentieth anniversary. Attendees at this dinner are guaranteed a well-run affair, from a reception that gives ample opportunity to meet Connecticut's Congressional representatives to a good meal, with speakers worthy of standing ovations. The three award recipients were Booker Washington from UAW Local 2110 who won The Benny Thornton Civil Rights Achievement Award for his organizing efforts at Columbia University; UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles received the Region 9A Social Justice Award; and Frances Padilla and Lynne Ide from the Universal Health Care Foundation received the Community Activism Award.

The keynote speaker was State Senator Nina Turner from Ohio whose talk should be heard by a national audience. She injected a large quantity of humor in her speech, particularly when she described her "special bill" that showed that women are equally as concerned about men's health as the Republicans are about reproductive rights. Her bill stipulated that any man with erectile dysfunction will need to get a signed affidavit from his partner, have a cardiac stress test every nine days, undergo a psychological examination, and be counseled on the benefits of celibacy. Yet, State Senator Turner dedicated most of her time to sharing solid advice. "The Creator of the universe gave us two hands, one to reach forward and one to reach back, lifting as we climb," she said. "We cannot ask others to do more for us than we are willing to do for ourselves." She also told us about what her grandmother said was necessary for success -- three bones: the wishbone that allows hope to motivate us, the jawbone that gives us the ability to speak truth to power, and the backbone that teaches us neutrality isn’t an option. Thanking the UAW for standing every day for the poor and middle class and UAW Region 9A Director Julie Kushner for standing face-to-face with Mitt Romney, State Senator Turner emphasized that “it takes teamwork to make the American dream work.”

These types of banquets are truly judged by the concrete actions one takes home. When planning what I would write about the event on the ride up to Hartford, I was thinking of speaking with Julie Kushner or trying to grab the attention of one of the award recipients. As interesting as those conversations would have been, the more valuable connection happened at the back of the room during the reception.

This was only the second time I attended this dinner. Last year, I clung to the side of long-time NWU member Loretta Campbell who knows everybody. In fact, as soon as I introduced myself as a Local 1981 member, I was often asked, “Where’s Loretta?” A natural conversation started with William H. Foster III, the diversity officer for Connecticut’s community colleges. A writer of fifteen books and ten plays, Brother Foster discussed how freelance writers can work with community colleges. He said the faculty is often more closely engaged with their students at community colleges, giving a writer who engages the students a good chance to be invited as a guest speaker. He noted that student activities departments are the first ones to call, and writers need to stress that your topic can have a broad audience. Not only writing students would be interested, but music majors as well if your subject is about a certain artist. Other types of collaborations are possible. Brother Foster is building a network of newspapers across all nine community colleges in Connecticut, so multiple campuses can be engaged for an event. We agreed that there are too few writers’ conferences in Connecticut. Only one at Wesleyan University in Middletown in early June came to his mind. And I knew about some writing seminars at the Mark Twain House in Hartford. I left the dinner with his contact information and a lead for a writers’ event at Naugatuck Community College in Waterbury. Indeed, teamwork works, as State Senator Turner said later that night. And Brother Foster and I have talked again since. Proof that the best contacts aren’t always the ones speaking in the front of the room. (Editor's Note: I have since learned that NWU Member Adele Annesi is organizing The Ridgefield Writers Conference on September 28. To learn more, visit http://www.adeleannesi.com/Ridgefield-Writers-Conference.html.)

To learn about Brother Foster’s extensive work, visit his website at www.finallyinfullcolor.com/.

2. Making Freelance Writing Work -- Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

by Alexandria Faiz, BTL Editor

(Making Freelance Writing Work is BTL's regular column that profiles a NWU member. If you would like to be considered for future columns, email info@nwuny.org. - Editor)

Jennifer Armstrong joined the NWU this past October, but she has been planning her transitio

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

n to being a freelance writer for the last five years. The number of years means little; it was the timing that mattered. She spent nearly a decade as senior writer for Entertainment Weeklyand offered pop culture commentary for CNN, VH1, Fox News Channel, and ABC. Her first book Why? Because We Still Like You, a history of the original Mickey Mouse Club, was published by Grand Central in 2010. This spring her name will appear on the covers of two new books. Sexy Feminism emerged from the website SexyFeminist.com that Jennifer launched with Heather Wood Rudulph in 2005 to fill a void not covered by the mainstream women's magazines. She continued that collaboration for the book, and it captured the interest of Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Simon & Schuster is printing 50,000 copies of her second book, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, about the landmark television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a project Jennifer embarked on after finding one of the main writers, Treva Silverman, on Facebook.

Jennifer also writes relationship advice pieces for Match.com, YourTango.com, and HowaboutWe.com. Her tip for writers wanting to pursue online dating sites: Faunt your unusual relationship experiences. Hers is canceling a wedding. Building relationships is not surprisingly her key to finding a good agent. Her first book came about when she answered an ad from the publisher Grand Central. This spring her name will appear on the covers of two new books. Sexy Feminism emerged from the website SexyFeminist.com that Jennifer launched with Heather Wood Rudulph in 2005 to fill a void not covered by the mainstream women’s magazines. She continued that collaboration for the book, and it captured the interest of Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Simon & Schuster is printing 50,000 copies of her second book, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, about the landmark television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a project Jennifer embarked on after finding one of the main writers, Treva Silverman, on Facebook.

Jennifer also writes relationship advice pieces for Match.com, YourTango.com, and HowaboutWe.com. Her tip for writers wanting to pursue online dating sites: Faunt your unusual relationship experiences. Hers is canceling a wedding. Building relationships is not surprisingly her key to finding a good agent. Her first book came about when she answered an ad from the publisher Grand Central. Jennifer says the experience taught her a lot about the publishing process and convinced her that she didn’t want to self-publish in the future. After working with three different agents, she claims that discovering her current agent, Laurie Abkemeier, was an instance of “great timing.” Jennifer says she sensed Laurie was ready to work with a new pop culture author when they first meet,and it was Laurie who secured the two new book deals.

A visit to Jennifer’s website at www.jenniferkarmstrong.com/reveals the necessary freelancer’s skill at self- promotion, with listings of appearances, discussion guides, a blog, RSS feeds, social media posts, and even a link to receive email alerts. Under the “Hire Me” section, Jennifer describes her coaching, editing, and blog consulting services. Even while she worked full-time, she started teaching writing courses at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Besides helping her attract clients, Jennifer continues to teach at Gotham because she “loves teaching.” Gotham doesn’t require that their instructors have master’s degrees, they provide basic lesson plans, and most importantly they pay on time. Instructors can teach in a classroom; all Jennifer’s classes have had under twenty participants. Gotham also offers online courses. The best perk, though, is that teaching helps fuels inspiration. “Teaching reminds you that what you do is exciting,” comments Jennifer. "When a group of students are impressed by something you do every day, you remember how special being a writer is."

3. Local NWU Events, Marches, Rallies, and Petitions

~ Support ATU Local 1181

Over 8,000 hard-working men and women have been on strike for 27 days and counting to protect their job security and in turn ensure the safe transportation of the 150,000 New York City children who ride their school buses each day. Join one of their picket lines. Contact the DOE and Mayor Bloomberg. To sign the solidarity petition, go to www.nysaflcio.org/safety1st/.

~ Petition to save the New York Times' environmental reporting desk
Please sign the MoveOn.org petiton that urges Jill Abramson to stop dismantling the New York Times' environmental reporting desk. The organization Environment America reported that the desk's seven reporters and two editors will be reassigned to other departments. Click here to sign the petiton.

~ Free Event for Black History Month, Saturday, February 23

NWU Headquarters at 256 West 38th Street, 12th floor conference room, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Join us to celebrate Black History Month with a free viewing of the film "Nothing But a Man," whichThe Washington Post called "one of the most sensitive films about black life ever made in this country." Director Michael Roemer has been invited to speak. Light refreshments will be served. Read The Washington Post's full review. Please RSVP by sending an email to info@nwuny.org.

~ First Monday, March 4: Host a Virtual Book Tour That Reaches the World

(Free Program)

Ben's Kosher Delicatessen at 209 West 38th Street from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Yusang Lee, marketing manager for Shindig, will explain how writers can host video chats with multiple participants. These interactive internet sessions allow participants to watch and listen to a program and to submit questions and chat with the speaker in real time.This powerful tool is becoming an increasingly important part in a writer's marketing plans. Find out how you can make it part of yours. Free drinks for the first ten attendees.

~ First Monday, April 8: To Build a Web Site, Content Is King
(Free Program)
Ben's Kosher Delicatessen at 209 West 38th Street from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

~ International Writers' Conference, Saturday, June 1
Because New York is home to writers from every region of the world, the National Writers Union, in collaboration with Empire State College, La Casa Azul, and African Voices, is sponsoring this groundbreaking conference, where we will share our experiences of migration, of becoming a writer, and of publishing our stories. More information will be available soon.

4. NY Chapter Steering Committee Meeting

The NY Chapter Steering Committee will meet on Sunday, March 3, from 12 to 2 p.m. in the 12th floor conference room at the NWU/UAW office at 256 West 38th Street (between Seventh and Eighth Avenues). All members are welcome. Please send an email message to info@nwuny.org in advance if you would like to come. NWU members can request a copy of the projected 2013 chapter strategic plan and budget.

5. NWU's Social Justice Projects

~ Volunteer to Help Superstorm Sandy Survivors

On January 15, NWU President Larry Goldbetter wrote in his monthly NEC report: "We are participating in a project called Sandy Stories, organized by the Workers Development Institute (WDI), the nonprofit of the NY State AFL-CIO. The project involves gathering pictures and written stories of union members who responded to Hurricane Sandy: transit workers who moved the trains and cleared the flooded tunnels, line workers who put whole neighborhoods back on line, health care workers who evacuated entire hospitals, and others. WDI's Executive Director is Ed Murphy, the new president of the NWUSO [the NWU's nonprofit arm]. Ed is also a member of NWU.

"Our participation involves working with some of the 1,000 people who were mostly on the receiving end of the storm, families on public assistance who have been placed in midtown hotels and left without medical care, regular access to warm food, transportation or permanent housing. They are almost all Black and Latino, caught in the maze of a FEMA and city government totally unprepared to serve the needs of the poorest survivors.

"We have hosted two meetings of Sandy Survivors, along with Occupy Sandy, a doctor who volunteered in a shelter, and others. There was one rally at the Red Cross that won temporary relief and another is planned for this week.

"NWUSO Executive Director (and NWU member) Esther Cohen is gathering their stories for the bigger project. Exhibits are being planned in NYC and Albany, probably in March."

NWUNY Co-Chair Susan E. Davis conducted the following interview on Jan. 30:

NWUNY: How did you find out about this project?

Larry Goldbetter: I attended a conference at a church on 156th Street in November, about two weeks after the storm. It was originally organizedaround fighting racism and stop-and-frisk. One of the speakers ended up being a leader in one of the families who were displaced from the Rockaways. He told the story of the 106 families, about 400 to 500 people, who are now housed in about six midtown hotels, and how they had been originally evacuated to the Bronx Armory -- a long way from the Rockaways. The city was totally unprepared for this disaster and has totally failed to respond to it in a humane way.

NWUNY: What are you doing with them?

LG: We’re trying to organize them at meetings in the 12th floor conference room. I’ve also visited some of the hotels, sometimes with representatives of various relief agencies, but that hasn’t led to much. We’ve organized two demonstrations at the Red Cross. At the first one on November 27, the survivors were given money and transit cards, which have since expired. Nothing came from the second one on January 16.

The Homeless Rights Project of Legal Aid, which is a sister UAW Local, is working with us now, as well as New York Communities for Change and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office. We also had two picket lines at FEMA in November and December, and we picketed City Hall in December.

Our immediate demands have been for money, transit cards, health care, and permanent housing. People need their prescriptions renewed, and they need refrigeration in their rooms so they can store food and medications. What’s outrageous is the city is paying $300 to $400 a day for 106 families. Some families with two or three kids are using two rooms. The cost per family has already added up to more than a year’s rent for real housing. And there are so many empty apartments in the city -- outrageous.

NWUNY: But there hasn’t been any media coverage of this horrible situation.

LG: I know. It’s very frustrating. We’ve sent out press releases, and we’re just beginning to get coverage. There have been stories recently in the Wall Street Journal and the Daily News.

NWUNY: What can our members do?

LG: They can get in touch with me to volunteer to work on this project. There are more activities coming up. Our part is focusing on the survivors’ stories. In fact, a group is writing their stories in the conference room today. Eventually there will be an exhibit in New York City and one in Albany. We’ll definitely let all NWU members know about the exhibits.

To volunteer, contact Larry at larryg601@gmail.com.

~ Rally and March Honor Ramarley Graham on First Anniversary of His Death, February 2
On February 2, the first anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham, about 200 people, mostly from the Bronx neighborhood where he was shot in his bathroom by New York City Police Officer Richard Haste, gathered at the family home on East 229th Street to demand justice for Ramarley. On February 1, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the NYPD, which included charges of attempting to cover up the circumstances of the death. Haste has since been charged with second degree murder. Speakers at the rally, chaired by his arents Constance Malcolm and Frank Graham, included a number of city politicians, the family's lawyers, clergy, other victims of police violence and friends and family. NWU President Larry Goldbetter and NWUNY Co-Chair Susan E. Davis represented the NWU as part of the union's ongoing campaign to demand no more racial profiling and police abuse of power in our communities. After the rally, there was a lively march to the 47th Precinct, where Haste was stationed, followed by a memorial service at the church where Ramarley's funeral was held. A national meeting of other families whose children of color have been murdered by police is scheduled for June 1 at Riverside Church. For more information, see Ramarleyscall.org.

6. Members' Events and Services

~ David Hill will be an NWU panelist at the ASJA Annual Conference

Saturday, April 27, at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

David Hill will be a panelist during the "So You Want to Be... a HuffPo Blogger" session at the 2013 ASJA annual conference: "Fire Up Your Writing Career." For more information and to register, click here.

If you are an NWU member attending the ASJA conference, please let us know by sending a message to info@nwuny.org.

~ Jeffrey B. Perry launches new edition of "The Invention of the White Race"

Jeffrey B. Perry has been giving a series of talks and slide presentations about the new expanded edition of Theodore W. Allen's The Invention of the White Race. He spoke at the Brecht Forum on January 31, Bluestockings on February 7, and he will be at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C., on April 7. To learn more, visit www.jeffreybperry.net.

~ Jan Clausen teaching writing workshop at New York University

Jan Clausen is teaching an advanced short story workshop through New York University/Continuing Education this spring. The course started on February 7 and will meet for ten sessions. To see the course description, click here.

~ Peter Pullman on WBGO

Peter's one-hour presentations on Bud Powell on WBGO's Jazz from the Archives are streaming at www.wbgo.org. (Dan Morgenstern is the show's host.) They aired last fall, at 88.3 FM, Newark.

~ Herb Boyd was a panelist at The Apollo Theatre

On February 7, Herb Boyd spoke on a panel with Gordon Chambers about the Black iconic soul singers and their connection to varied cultural, political, and economic issues. Mark Anthony Neal served as the moderator.

~ Need a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copy editor?
If you are looking for a writing coach, editor, proofreader, or copyeditor, contact Loretta H. Campbell, a longstanding member of the NWU, Steering Commitee Co-Chair, and freelance writer. Discount rates for NWU members. lucianikita@verizon.net

~ Jackson Heights Open Mike Poetry Reading

Tuesdays at Terraza Cafe at 40-19 Gleane Street in Elmhurst, New York.
Phone: (718) 803-9602 Website: www.terrazacafe.org

7. NWU Member Benefit: Book Fair Booths

Your NWU membership gives you free access to table space at multiple area book fairs. Below is a list of fairs where the NWU will have a booth. If you don't have a book to promote, come visit us!

Saturday, April 13: Rainbow Book Fair at the Holiday Inn (440 West 57th Street, New York)
Saturday, May 18: Bronx Literary Festival at Poe Park
June 7-9: Left Forum at Pace University in Manhattan
Saturday, July 20: Harlem Book Fair
Sunday, September 22: Brooklyn Book Festival

Email info@nwuny.org if you want to display your book.

8. New Chapter Initiatives

~ Do you lead a writing group? Would you like to organize one? The New York Chapter is interested in hosting groups so that writers, both members and nonmembers, can work in small, supportive groups on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, or other genres in various locations around the five boroughs. If you are interested in initiating or belonging to such a group, please send an email message to info@nwuny.org. Below is the first listing.

Brooklyn member Tim Sheard attends a writing group several Mondays a month in his Flatbush neighborhood. At 6 p.m., three to five writers meet at Qathra, a coffee shop on 1112 Cortelyou Rd., between Coney Island and Ocean Avenues, and three blocks from the Q train. It's an informal, friendly meetup for writers in any genre, fiction or nonfiction.To take part, email Sheard2001@gmail.com.

~ The New York Chapter is hoping that members would like to volunteer to organize NWU events for Women's History Month in March and Poetry Month in April. If you're interested, please contact info@nwuny.org.

~ The New York Chapter is looking for help in redesigning our web page. If you know a student studying web design who may want a short-term project, contact info@nwuny.org.

9. A Note from the Editor

If you have attended an NWU event and wish to share your experience, please send your copy by the 25th of the month to info@nwyny.org. If accepted, we will publish the first 250 words in BTL with a link to the remainder of the article on NWUNY.org. We will also post a link to your website highlighting your work. NWU members whose articles are included will receive $25.

Please note: We cannot use reprints (and accompanying photos) without written permission from the publisher or copyright owner. The permission must accompany the submission of your article and/or photograph to Between the Lines. We will be posting our submission guidelines shortly on the NY Chapter web.

National Writers Union

New York Chapter

212-254-0279, ext. 7

www.nwuny.org

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