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Roxbury's Voices -- READING by Roxbury Writers' Workshop

Local Writers virtually present original compositions

All are invited to a Reading of original compositions by participants of Write On: Roxbury Writers' Workshop.

This virtual Reading will include short stories, essays and/or poems as spoken by the talented, imaginative members of the Workshop.

Paula Frisch

The Five Fishermen: My story is about five men from Succasunna who go on their annual fishing trip to the Jersey Shore.  It is a perfect day for a fishing trip; or is it?  As the day unfolds, the lives of the men and their spouses are examined.  No one would ever suspect that these fine people had so much going on in their lives.  Each of them thought that they knew each other so well.  The truth of their lives will be exposed to each other.

Bio:  Who am I?  I am just a person who observes the actions of people in life and try to understand why they did what they did.  It seems like I have been writing all my life.  I like to take the reader on an adventure with my writing.  The reader goes on this journey because there is an element of trust that the reader has for me, the writer.  I take the reader by the hand exploring each page.

David Greenberg

Vicky Lynn Barnaski-Casey: My Life Story: When small town girl Vicky Lynn Beransky was 8 years old, and after continuously begging her mother for her to take piano lessons like her older sister, Vicky Lynn's mother agreed to give her an opportunity at the piano.  It was soon discovered Vicky Lynn was a natural.  There was always music in her home either on the radio, or on the record player. Even as a child, Vicky Lynn loved the sound of classical music, having been given several albums of famous classical pianists which she listened to every night.   Her piano playing improved at warp speed, requiring a higher level of instruction every year. At 13, she was being labeled a prodigy, and she was invited to audition for the New York School of Music Conservatory, one of the most well known live-in music high schools in the country. If she graduated, would she have enough talent to be accepted into The Juilliard School, known as the most prestigious music college in the country? If that all happened, would Vicky Lynn fulfill her dream of being one of the world's most gifted and talented  classical concert pianists? 

Bio: I was born and raised in Dover, attended colleges in New Jersey. I'm a Viet Nam era veteran. My wife, Judy, and I have been life-time residents of Roxbury Township. Both our daughters were students and graduates of the Roxbury School System. Judy taught at and retired from the Roxbury School District. My work background has always centered around being an executive in the retail industry. We are  proud grandparents of Gabe and Molly. I have played softball for over 30 years, and served as manager, and treasurer of our league.  Being a writer has been a goal since a friend, who has written three books, suggested I bring my goal to reality and begin writing.

Dan Rose

Poem: There’s A Poem in My Bed

Bio: Dan Rose has taught English for over 20 years to elementary, secondary, and college students in New England, NJ, and the UK.  His poems and short stories have appeared in Alaska Quarterly, Lips, Little Patuxent Review, Portage, and U.S. 1 Worksheets.  A poet, editor, and trainer, Dan Rose gives presentations to colleges, libraries, and senior centers on a variety of subjects.  He and his wife Storm reside in New Jersey.

Rosemary Szablewicz

She, He and He, a short story:  Secrets, many of us have them. Nobody is hurt, so we think, when they remain hidden in the deepest corner of our being. When, unintentionally, closeted truths are discovered, the suffering begins not only for the person with the shadowed secret, but for the affected loved ones as well. Engulfed in such a situation are Vanessa and Todd, the two protagonists of this story.  Love, lies, envy and coveted desires are not a good blueprint for a relationship.

Bio: Over the years, Rosemary has worn many hats: Student, organizer, developer, property manager, coordinator, nursery school founder, president of various civic organizations including the PTA, interior designer, company manager, company comptroller, activist, volunteer, writer of first person and travel essays, creative non-fiction, short stories, and whatever captivates the mind. Rosemary, now retired after 30 years employment, has been published in New York and South Carolina newspapers, Newsday and Post & Courier respectively; Good Housekeeping, Travel Holiday, House (Lifestyle of the Island), and Long Island Pennysaver. She is a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, niece and friend. Rosemary wears all hats worn under one chapeau known as Woman. She is a member and Moderator of the Nolan’s Ridge Writing Group and the Mt. Arlington Public Library Writers Forum, as well as the Roxbury Public Library Writers Workshop. She expresses her gratitude to these groups, family and friends for their inspiration and support. Rosemary and her husband, Bill, formerly longtime residents of New York now reside in New Jersey. 

Jack E Wolfe

What Price Honesty: Truth, like beauty can be appear to be in the eye of the beholder.  But what happens when a man’s unpopular truth becomes apparently infallible?  Will strained and abandoned bonds heal?  Or will the new normal remain in place? 

Bio: Jack E Wolfe lives along a river in the hinterlands of the Appalachians, somewhere south of New Hampshire and north of Tennessee.  His unpublished work has not appeared in Ploughshares, Tin House, Glimmer Train Stories or The New Yorker.  Jack has studied with Christina Baker Kline in New York City and Mary Helen Stefanik in Iowa City.  He has previously (sometimes concurrently), delivered mail, counted widgets, sold: beef, computers, stereos, TVs and less savory ‘products’; escorted weary travelers through dark alleys in Boston’s Back Bay, moved furniture and discovered red ink is in high demand from October through February.

The narratives may provide tears, laughter or puzzlement. Most of all, it promises to be an evening of diversion and a mingling of ideas.

A question and answer session will follow the Reading.

Register online or call the library at 973 584-2400, and the link will be emailed to you the day before the Reading.

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