GREENWICH PEN WOMEN - Arts, Letters, Music, Creativity

  “Don’t panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends’ embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce . . . Working doggedly on through crises like these, however has always got me there in the end.  . .”  ~~ Sarah Waters

  Susan and I played tennis every evening after our commute to New Canaan, CT from New York City. We were poor players, but we loved the game. Life was good – until we became greedy for more time on the courts. One evening, Susan said that she had found an indoor game on Saturday nights. We could increase our playing time by four hours a week at this party she saw advertised in the “General Interest” section of the local newspaper. We signed up for our first session. It turned out to be Susan’s last time on a tennis court.    As I drove us to the Shippan Tennis Club, she looked at the newspaper once more...and gasped. This event was also listed in the singles' section! We were on our way to a meat market in our short skirts! Neither of us had been to a singles’ party, bar or other excuse for a pick-up parlor, and we did not want to start now. After all, we were dignified women. Susan was a lawyer with a big New York law firm, and I was an institutional portfolio manager. ...

  Did you know that your great-grandfather single-handedly brought the end to WWII? Well, he had a little help from the Hershey candy company.   Victory in Japan, or V-J Day, was 75 years ago. Grea t-grandfather was one of the youngest men in the U.S. Marines on that day of September 2, 1945. He joined the Marine Corps because of their reputation for tough training, and he knew that the experience would protect him in battle. He was too young, however, to experience active warfare; the fighting was over by the time he reached Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima and Japan.   He fought a different battle; the fight to secure the peace. His weapon was Hershey bars.   Mike Weir, USMC, 1945   Great grandpa was one of the first Americans in Nagasaki, Japan after the explosion of the second, more powerful, atomic bomb. It not only destroyed buildings but contaminated the food and water. The few surviving, and starving, Japanese feared that they would be tortured by the Americans, a...

My three-book, TRANSYLVANIAN TRILOGY,   takes the reader into a kaleidoscope of exotic colors set in Romania, Turkey and Iran, where governmental intrigues are little known and are waiting to be discovered. All three books,  Treasure Hunt, Love Odyssey  and  The Gift of Diamonds,  can be read independently or interchanged. The main characters are Marina, Cristina, Anca and Mica, four friends since their teenaged days in Transylvania, who were known as the Four Musketeers,  Poets of their Lives.  As they narrate their lives, their stories interweave with fact and fiction to reveal political truths that have never been exposed before, especially in a novel. Treasure Hunt   unites Marina and Cristina as they vacation together in Istanbul and unwillingly, get involved in Turkey’s and Iran’s recent Gas-for-Gold scandal, the largest gold laundering scheme in American history. The friends believe that Romania is at the origin when they remember that thei...

All of us have likely noticed the disparity in leadership jobs in the Arts held by men vs. women.  On May 28, I attended a Zoom presentation on this subject by the League of American Orchestras, a not-for-profit organization offering programs to advance American orchestras.  This country has hundreds of orchestras but according to the New York Times: “ In the U.S., women helm roughly four percent of the two dozen big-budget orchestras .”  Why is it that in 2020, fifty-plus percent of the population is still so poorly represented?  While the League of American Orchestras’ presentation centered upon musicians and music leaders, these issues affect all of our artistic efforts as Pen Women.  Here are some reasons I believe more music and interdisciplinary presentations on this subject could help to build awareness and improve our odds.   Recognition and support through fair compensation, grants, awards and positions of influence “at the table,” enc...

If you are stuck when writing, skip ahead to a scene you really WANT to write. No one is going to tell you off for not writing in chronological order - well, except for your inner critic, but we all have to work on silencing that voice when we're writing. Writing a scene you're excited about usually helps resolve writer's block. The important thing is to keep writing! Sarah Darer Littman

Dear Grandson, Thank you for calling me to tell me about your ninth birthday party. It seems you and your friends had a good time. When you told me that you placed only fourth out of ten in your contest, you seemed to suggest that you thought of yourself as less than a winner. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It is how you live life that counts. A winner makes the best of any situation. That means that all winners put forth their best effort regardless of their placement in any competition. The real test of a person’s greatness is when he loves and cares for the non-winners. You will find in life that sometimes you will place first, fourth, eighth, and even in last place. That is O.K. as long as you put in your best effort and are a good person. Some winners think only of themselves and fail to help the needy. To me, they are selfish losers, not winners. Yet many winners are good people who do not seek self-glory or first place in...

A small moment Larger than Life Short in duration Yet everlasting. We hadn't seen each other in 22 days The longest we'd ever been apart. She yelled when she saw me, "MeMa's HERE!!!" I heard her through the glass. I saw her through the glass Smiling and jumping Giggling and screeching Joy exuding from her little body All because of me. I made silly faces and Sang our silly song I showed her a gift I brought to be left by the door Retrieved later by her Mommy, My precious daughter, Once she dons a Mask and Gloves And sprays it with disinfectant. We pretended to hug And then we kissed. I imagined the glass wasn’t there. Yes, I felt her through the glass. Her love coursed through my veins Enough to sustain me for a little while And I hope that she felt the same. A small moment Larger than life Short in duration Yet everlasting. Cathy Horn and her granddaughter visiting through the window

My parents needed a break from the constant battling between my two younger brothers. Dad was so embarrassed by my brothers’ constant fighting that he runaround the house slamming windows shut.   “Be quiet! The neighbors will hear you!” He tried to protect his reputation as model parent and church leader. Furthermore, he was the drum major in a bagpipe band that raised money for Shriners Hospitals for Children. He had to protect his image as a lover of children … even his own. However, one day the boys fought viciously on the front lawn. Dad was so mad that he ran outside and screamed, “I’m going to send you to two different reform schools!”  His face turned red and I thought he’d have a stroke.  Unwittingly, I added fuel to the fire. I ran outside and stuck up for my brothers. “If you send the boys away, you’ll have to send me, too!” I don’t know what made me think that Dad wouldn’t have been glad to get rid of all three of us, but he s...

Don’t panic. Stay calm. In times of trouble and in life and death situations, Jews and Christians find comfort in Psalm 23. Today with the Coronavirus, we face an invisible enemy that affects all our lives. In an effort to give you more insight on this Psalm, let me share with you my thoughts and how it helped me through some difficult times. Then and now I adapt Psalm 23 to my present situation. I make this psalm my own.   Psalm 23 uses shepherd and sheep imagery. God is the good shepherd that provides us, the sheep, with safety and sustenance. The first three verses of this psalm focus on God’s provisions given to us.             The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Lying down is a symbol for peace and tranquility. The still waters refresh us. So if we are part ...