First Hub Meeting of the Semester, September 30th, 1997 at The Kelly Writers House Attending: Harris Steinberg Rebecca Grossman Mary Harris Christine Sullivan Nijmie Dzurinko Heather Starr Jessica Chiu Mike Magee Vance Bell Nate Chinen Louis Cabri Kerry Sherin Henrietta Jones Whitney Namm Agenda: -- All hub members are asked to purchase a wooden chair, of their own personal taste, that is under $50. The House will reimburse you for the money you spend (but get a receipt). Chair requirements: 18" seat height, if it has arms, then 23"-26" arm height. Decorating, personalizing the chairs are encouraged! Harris Steinberg talked about the renovation and answered questions about what's left to do--installing cabinets, painting, woodwork, etc. -- Renovations will be completed Oct 27. After that date the house will be open to the public! -- Grand re-opening celebration will be tentatively Dec 5. -- Proposed security precautions when the house is opened to the public: Town watch format during a large, open events (e.g. Speakeasy). 1 or 2 House Staff members or volunteers will watch the house and making sure that unfamiliar visitors are not wandering through the house and lifting anything. Staff WILL be trained on the House security system. Hub members who are interested can learn from the staff. Publishing room will be closed at night or when unused. -- Update on WH furniture. We have: 2 bookshelves. Some chairs. Tool chest/coffee table. Ordered tables for downstairs (square oak and sewing machine base tables) Jane, Kerry and Harris plan to reupholster a couch for the alcove room. -- Heather Starr will be leading an Experimental Poetry discussion on 10/8 at 6pm in Bennet Hall Room 413. This Thursday a reading packet will be available. Refreshments for the meeting will be needed -- Nijmie proposed her idea for a reading group for children: 2-3 groups of 5-10 children in the 1st and 2nd grades of Lee Elementary School on 47th and Locust will come to the House Saturdays 1pm-3pm Nijmie will contact the Lee principal about which kids need help and will then speak to the children and their parents. Structure of program: read aloud to the kids and activities based on reading. Goals of program: developing child interest in reading, writing and communicating skills. The House will acquire children's books. Child-proofing the house will be necessary. Cecily Kellogg of Barnes and Noble will donate 5 books a month. The hub discussed how many children to bring in each week. Hub recommended one group of ten. Nijmie hopes to bring more children in. Nijmie to see how many volunteers she can get (preferably 2 per group of kids) and get back to the hub. Everyone at whcircle will be emailed and asked to bring home children books when they go home for Thanksgiving. -- Review of October Calendar -- see web page. -- Nate Chinen reported that Pres. Rodin wants to do a campus wide Halloween Celebration. Nate is on the planning committee. Penn will be giving $100 to each house on Locust Walk to decorate the exterior of the house. The house with the best decorations will win $300. --Thea Diamond has been working with "Measure for Measure" and 3 actors from the "London Stage" would like to deliver monologues (to an audience) at the Writers House. Kerry suggested that they might instead lead a workshop on reading poetry aloud. (Perhaps they can work with people who read on Live at the WH) -- Kerry asked if hub wanted to keep supporting film programs. Hub encouraged the Film Workshop to keep going ... --Chapbook program: Hub very interested. Plan first is to do a broadside or two. Louis Cabri passed out chapbooks. Plan to have a chapbook workshop, date not decided yet. -- Music: Julian Pressley will be playing with the Virgin House Band and will have 3 rehearsals with them over the next couple of months. He will be paid $200 per performance (including rehearsals).