May 2017 RCLAS Ezine, Wordplay at Work, Issue 45

RCLAS 2017 Write On! Contest Winners:

To our winners first and foremost, and to all our RCLAS members, and all followers and lovers of the arts in Metro Vancouver: It is a great pleasure to announce our 2017 winners of the Write On! Contest. The judges reported that they have enjoyed all the engaging stories, well portrayed characters, and vivid settings.

Many thanks to our wonderful and talented judges for their work: Chelsea Comeau, Bryant Ross, and Alvin Ens. To all our winners: I am proud and delighted to congratulate you all for your superb work and your appreciation of the arts in all forms!

Sincerely, Nasreen Pejvack President of RCLAS

2017 WRITE ON! CONTEST WINNERS $150 first prize $100 second prize $75 third prize Congratulations to all our winners! Thank you to everyone who submitted!

POETRY WINNERS (Poetry Judge: Chelsea Comeau) Poetry First Place SYLVIA SYMONS – BIBLE CAMP Poetry Second Place: Annette LeBox – Place of My Body Poetry Third Place: Celeste Snowber – Hymn to a Mountain Ash Poetry Honourable Mentions Clara A.B. Joseph – The Birthday Gift Jude Neale – Blue Bowl Clara A.B. Joseph – Really Ripe Mangoes NON-FICTION WINNERS (Non-Fiction Judge: Bryant Ross) Non-Fiction First Place GRAYSON SMITH – TRAFFIC COP Non-Fiction Second Place: Marylee Stephenson – Private Dancing Non-Fiction Third Place: Neil McKinnon – Time Travel in Lantian Non-Fiction Honourable Mentions Lozan Yamolky – In The Presence of an Angry Ghost Margaret Lynch – Pilgrim David J. Delaney – The Short Cut FICTION WINNERS (Fiction Judge: Alvin Ens) Fiction First Place: CLARA CRISTOFARO – THE MENDING Fiction Second Place: Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki – My Burka Girl Fiction Third Place: Claire Lawrence – Pruinescence Fiction Honourable Mentions Franca Angelis – The Trail of a Homeless Man Margo Prentice – The Crystal Decanter Margo Prentice – Blood on the Floor

RCLAS 2017 Write On! Contest Winners Comments from the Judges Non-Fiction: Judge, Bryant Ross 1. First place: Grayson Smith, “Traffic Cop” Bryant reported that: “Traffic Cop was a very engaging story; the writer gives an honest and more fallible and human face to their profession than is common in most writing about the emergency services. This is a story that shows the multiple layers of any emergency scene and the random human factors at play that can make or break it. Straight-forward writing, honest and very “real”.

2. Second place: Marylee Stephenson, “Private Dancing” Bryant wrote: “A story of humanity on many levels. I liked that it demonstrates that reality, and ugliness may exist all around us, and even within us, but even though we may be vastly different people, we should consider that we may have some beauty in common with one another.

Clearly developed characters, and a vivid setting.”

3. Third place: Neil McKinnon, “Time Travel in Lantian” Bryant said: “A vivid setting, excellent resolution. I felt as if I was there, in the passenger seat, enduring the discomfort, and sharing the discoveries.”

Fiction: Judge, Alvin Ens 1. First place: Clara Cristofaro, “The Mending”

Alvin said: “I gave first place to “The Mending.” The title engages my mind but allows no clear resolution, even at the end of the story. I like the indeterminate ending. The story proceeds with a traditional plot line: initial incident, complication to denouement but has no clear climax. It begins en medias res and has a very brief denouement which allows an imagined follow-up. It’s a simple yet effective plot. All the characters are unobtrusively presented at the beginning with one clear protagonist/major character who has enough internal and external conflict to make her feel real. The story teller uses a straight-forward vocabulary to move the story along: as expressive as in “Every night’s food is like a wedding, funeral, and Christmas, if only the rat knew what those things were”, as pointed as “she needs to pee,” and as down to earth as “She takes a deep breath and decides to go home.”

2. Second place: Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki, “My Burka Girl” In this story Alvin asked: “How does a writer create sympathy and a point of identity in the reader for a peeping tom? Provide enough elemental emotions through which we can see bits of ourselves: foreboding, fear, the will for self-preservation; provide intrigue, mystery but innocence.

Make him a 21-year-old awkward university student who desires from a distance and finds an elusive but beautiful female. Make him the hero and his adversary the villain. Provide hints that his dilemma is somehow primordially beautiful.

I tremble at my maleness as a point of identity to the male character.

There are enough hints of male thinking even in times of conflict. Perhaps the female reader can find a point of identity in a female villain who takes

charge to get her own way. It is essentially a sensual story where sex wins over repression.

Two things in the story should raise my unease. Firstly, an art student is on his way to Simon Fraser University yet peeks in a UBC dorm window. Are the universities one and the same? Secondly, a short story shall preserve a unity of time: The event happens in a single night, yet 15 years go by before the climax can be reached. Yet I read blithely on and these obstacles don’t deter me.

The juxtaposition of the victim becoming the villain becoming a virtual hero – I like it.”

3. Third prize: Claire Lawrence, “Pruinescence” Interesting Alvin said: Two handicapped persons working on vocabulary.

Pruinescence – I had to look it up in a dictionary. The story rings true. One swears and another stutters – I used to stutter; when I am nervous I still do so. Each has a mature side and a child-like side.

At first I was nonplussed by the large vocabulary each boy has but on second thought, I can accept the large vocabulary of each as they work at their amassing of words and I assess the intellectual level of each.

The theme is bold: we now have more knowledge of, more respect for the disadvantaged. The plights of each of Whooper and Phibby move me.

Their predicament at the end concerns me. The mark of a good short story is one where we continue interaction with the story after it finishes.

What can we do to share the burden with these two human beings and their families?

Poetry: Judge, Chelsea Comeau 1. First place: Sylvia Symons, “Bible Camp” Chelsea wrote: “This poem unfolded in a way that was both surprising and literarily thrilling. I loved the specifics of the activities and their daily progression into the culmination of the "rapture". The rich details provide a deeply personal glimpse into the speaker's childhood when ideas of dogma are so easily shaped and undone.”

2. Second place: Annette LeBox, “Place of My Body” Chelsea wrote: “In a time where disconnection with bodies (both in terms of self and with others) has become so prevalent, this poem emerges as a breath of fresh air. Embracing all aspects of the body's timeline, speaking to our universal truth as ageing humans, the language used here weaves a beautiful piece, indeed.”

3. Third place: Celeste Snowber, “Hymn to a Mountain Ash” Chelsea wrote: “This poem reads as a botanical litany, one that sheds a gorgeous light on a wildness that is so often taken for granted. The speaker exhibits a deep connection to the natural world that is becoming more imperative to our survival than ever, and manages to use scientific terms poetically, which is no small feat.”

RCLAS Reads at Vancouver Library Oakridge Branch In collaboration with The Writers’ Union of Canada & Inanna Publications

RCLAS WRITER OF THE MONTH

Trevor Carolan

Trevor Carolan teaches at University of the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, Canada. His publications have appeared in many languages and include books of poetry, fiction, memoir, translations, anthologies, and literary journalism. He grew up in New Westminster where he was a young Maypole dancer and was raised in the family construction trade.

While in high-school, he began writing at 17 for the city’s daily newspaper The Columbian before attending UBC and travelling widely in Europe and Asia. He received an M.A. in English at Humboldt State in California, wrote as a full-time freelance professionally, and served as first Executive Director of the Federation of B.C. Writers in the early l980s. During a variety of teaching appointments, he also served as Literary Coordinator for the XVth Olympic Winter Games Arts Festival in Calgary, 1988.

Carolan earned his Ph.D. at Bond University in Queensland, Australia in 2006, for interdisciplinary studies involving Literature, Ecology and ideas of the Sacred in International Relations. He has published 20 books and his work has appeared in five languages, including Giving Up Poetry: With Allen Ginsberg at Hollyhock, a memoir of his studies with the late-American writer and activist; Return To Stillness: Twenty Years With A Tai Chi Master, which received a Best Books of Year Citation, spiritual category, from New York critics in 2004; and Making Waves, an edited essay collection on B.C. & Pacific Northwest literature from Anvil Press.

A former elected councilor in North Vancouver, he has been active in Pacific Coast watershed conservation issues and has worked as media advocate on behalf of First Nations land claims. Recently, his half-hour documentary film Powerground, which explores the environmental crisis through interviews with acclaimed writers and ecologists, was received enthusiastically at its premiere in Brussels. The film is based on his Eco-Lit collection Cascadia: The Life and Breath of the World (Univ. Hawaii Press) which received a Best American Essays Citation in 2013. The International Editor of the Pacific Rim Review of Books, his current work is New World Dharma: Interviews and Encounters with Buddhist Writers, Teachers, and Leaders (SUNY).

Earning a Living © Trevor Carolan

Job-wise, graduating with a degree in English can feel like driving toward Deadman’s Curve wearing a blindfold. Financial anxiety adds a zest to living, but hopefully not for too long; so having a basic skill-set to demonstrate your capabilities to employers is essential. At our first class, I always tell my Eng 105 students that it’s probably a boring course, but they’ll come away at the end with some quantifiable vocational skills. Specifically, if you can write a good essay you’ll normally have a chance at finding respectable employment. Nowadays, every organization needs a writer— someone to get out the newsletter, put out calls and announcements, take care of big email wave-outs, as well as the hard-copy flyers and posters that need organizing. Government agencies, municipal and regional administrations, eco-groups, NGOs, unions, and start-up tech firms—they all need people who can research, file, document, archive, and publicize the work they do. English grads are ideal hires: the process of learning to write and present research papers equips them for communications and clerical work. Presenting class tutorials also gives them basic public speaking skills. I tell my students to tidy up their final essays, title and print out clean copies in a clear cover. That’s concrete evidence of their specific abilities if asked “What did you learn at UFV?” The glamour work in media, public relations, magazine and technical writing still relies on core English outline, research and report-writing skills. At interviews add a little gratitude, sincerity and good manners.

Still looking? Be a joiner—network through community and professional organizations; and volunteer. Remember, loyalty never goes out of fashion and the world loves a hard worker. Suddenly you’re a real prospect.

Meeting a French Artist in Bali © Trevor Carolan

Just prior to another long Asian journey I am at home packing up. My mother calls to remind me that a documentary on The Chieftains, Ireland’s great classical ensemble, is on television. I flick on the program.

At one point, the acclaimed Ulster harpist Derek Bell, now deceased, remarks on what he discovered through music, observing in a surprisingly mystical reference that, “Lord Shiva says, ‘First of all, learn what it is you want to do, then you will have learned what it is that you like.”

I have always liked travelling and writing. On a Friday afternoon in January, I depart with my wife bound for Bali.

The route is awkward, five separate flights—San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Denpasar. Wearily, I recall that Captain Cook and his men took three years to reach these waters under sail. It could be worse.

Kwangshik has arranged by internet to have a driver meet us at the airport when we land. It’s a handy arrangement. We make our way without incident through Denpasar and the sweltering night in Ngyomen’s Japanese micro-van. He will take us to Sanur, ten miles away from the Babylon tourist-scene at Kuta Beach where a only few years ago, two hundred Australians and other foreigners were murdered in a terrible disco bombing by radical Islamic monsters. En route we pass the familiar scene of third-world night-market stalls, open-air noodle soup vendors, and shops lit by the customary single bare light-bulb. The charcoal scent of cooking fires drifts in through the open windows.

We settle in compact guest-house in Sanur run by a veteran Australian couple; the eight small, airy bungalows are situated on a long, winding road lined with shop-front businesses along both shoulders. It’s a walled compound with plenty of lush vegetation and a neat, small pool tiled deep blue with a couple of benches for cooling off and stretching out.

Our bungalow works well: fan, small fridge for cold water and fruit, an attached shower room built of island stone. Incense and mosquito coil are already burning as we haul our cases in. We’ve had a long journey.

Shaking off the road dust, we crash early in the sultry heat.

Breakfast is excellent local Balinese coffee, fruit and toasted bread served on a deep-covered teak veranda out front. The owners chat with guests and we meet a Dutch couple who journey to Bali every year. The atmosphere is informal, the jokes are in good fun. We arrange to join the Hollanders next day for a journey to the north of the island, about 90 km through the mountains.

From there we set off walking, jalan-jalan in Malay, knocking about the village that stretches along the road, passing restaurants large and small, clothing shops, internet cafes, a mix of boutiques and various guest houses. We browse about, comparing costs with the public market, just opening up in the early day heat. Progressing further, we pass a large temple constructed of plastered sun-baked bricks. Once the plaster has fallen away, everything looks old and weathered. But flowers and small offerings of flower petals and rice on banana leaf are left everywhere and in front of every shop; incense burns, mixing with the unmistakable smell of vegetable decay in tropic heat.

We’re back in Asia.

The edginess hasn’t really disappeared after the Islamic bombings, so we avoid crowds. The reduced trade has local sellers and transport drivers constantly nagging outsiders for business and this becomes debilitating, taking away from the beauty of Bali’s superb natural landscapes.

We follow a long road down to the beach and emerge upon a small gathering of food hawkers where the street ends. Our first day’s lunch on the beach is noodle soup with fish-balls and satay chicken, 30,000 rupiah, about $3 each. We are helped in changing our money by a young Frenchman from Lyons. He has a local wife and child and in a patois of English and French explains that they are working on a way for him to stay here. We meander back along the water. Sanur isn’t a great beach; the sand is crabbed with stone or coral, a little unkempt and the water is full of seaweed, but we get wet and enjoy the sun between drifts of heavy cloud.

Along the beach there is a small temple where cremations are held for the Hindu population. The burning site is recently charred.

We come upon a new word used to describe people like ourselves— “Flashpackers.” A spin on the old backpacker lifestyle we’ve followed for decades. It suggests the newer version of ourselves that wants a bit more comfort—a room in reasonably cheap, local digs but that has a toilet of one kind or another, and a shower.

Komang, the girl who looks after the veranda for breakfast each day is lovely. Her conversation is always pleasurable and upbeat, filled with cultural reference points from life on the island. She tells us over cinnamon coffee what qualities the Balinese regard as being attractive in a girl: but what’s especially important I ask? She answers, “Chantique…to be beautiful and simple.”

Several days after this we find ourselves taking coffee and sweets one evening in a café called “Chantique.”

North to Singaraja We join the Dutch couple and their driver heading north, setting off through village rice-fields. Bali is near the equator, so there are only minor seasonal differences through the year and rice grows year-round. With its regular tropical rains the fields are a quilt of vivid greens and shimmery water ponds. Flocks of ducks devour the insects that would eat the rice plants, rounding out the symbiotic nature of the fields with their narrow raised dykes that frequently give way to terraced-steps. Flocks of ducks everywhere. Over the ages, the fields themselves have been ploughed perfectly horizontal to accommodate the sawah, wet-rice culture.

We drive on through deep country frequently passing village processions—local groups honouring the Bali calendar’s many sacred festivals with flower garlands, trays of fruit, and the participants dressed in their finest glimmery sarongs and carrying holy tee umbrellas, with gamelan gongs and hand-drums. Driving into higher territory we come to Candikuning, a lake with a temple complex where another procession is setting off just as we arrive, and where a funeral procession will pass us heading in the other direction in a short time. People here seem to drop what they’re doing and pick up on the ceremonies spontaneously. Ritual is an intrinsic part of everyday life.

Above Lake Bratan we stop to buy local fruit from a roadside stall, mangosteens and rambutans, and monkeys emerge from the dense bush, arguing among themselves while they beg for food. Carrying on through the mountains with breathtaking views of hillside rice-terraces we come to the coffee-growing area around Munduk. The driver recommends a stop for lunch at a restaurant and coffee-roasterie on a high peak before carrying on to the North Bali coast. The terrain is like Darjeeling in the Himalayan foothills. Coffee-planting makes sense here the way that tea does there.

It’s evident as we push further that the decline in tourism since the bombings has hit the north coast hard. Life looks leaner in the villages.

I’ve learned of a rare Buddhist monastery here, so we stop to visit the Brahma Arama Vihar. The temple is kept in tidy condition with its several meditation halls and a restful, quiet garden. I am struck a quote from the Kalama Sutra, the Discourse Upon The Encouragement of Free Inquiry that is posted for general perusal—“Study and Learn” it recommends.

Munduk I sing Like Garcia Lorca of the temples and sawah, Green, how much I want you green… of jackfruit, coffee tree, morning glory; of the fertile muck bringing hibiscus, dried bricks, tile.

Tropical smell of garbage, unforgettable; fragrance of cloves, sweetness and vanilla.

Wed to the mud, a green ridge tracks down the mountain; all around, the rice-fields, thatched huts, temples.

Water water water…

Drains and motoscooters, Terimah kasih!

Ruins and orchids, Terimah kasi!

Bamboo and scarecrows, Terimah kasi!

Chickens on the road; running-sore dogs, shophouses down the lane, white egrets in the marsh;

Sama-sama!

All so far from home, these altars in the fields, these shrines in the dirty alley.

At Ubud We take another day of rest at Sanur to enjoy the sun then journey on to Ubud in the hills. A funky town set amid vivid green rice-fields and jungle streams. Hot and sunny. After the initial crush of the town core we find a place to stay that proves something like an old Rajah's palace with lush water-gardens, cool breezy rooms, lovely views of the fields, birds and butterflies.

From my travel notes: “It's a bit of a splurge but I book in for Kwangshik’s sake, for putting up with me through thick and thin all these years.”

In the pool later, after meditation and Tai Chi I am wading in the cool water and observing the slow ebb and flow of life in the rice-fields beyond. One of the guest-house girls arrives with flowers for the garden shrine, offering incense and sprinkling water on the shrine stone with elaborate, delicate gestures of her hands. Wonderful stillness. A short time later a tall, quiet woman, Western, wearing a broad sun hat descends through the garden by the shady water and also begins playing Tai Chi. Not many Westerners take the time to really learn, but she knows what she is doing. Later, I mention her to my wife.

The following morning, the scene repeats itself. After practicing her Tai Chi, the woman sets up a paint-box and easel, working with watercolours.

It would be ungracious to disturb her, but twenty minutes later Kwangshik arrives with coffee and in a few minutes strikes up conversation with the painter in the broad straw hat. They talk a while and Kwangshik gestures me over for a look. The watercolour is of the garden, quickly done, capturing the vitality of the tropic growth. It’s atmospheric work.

Justine, we learn, is a sculptor visiting from Paris with a friend. We look at her sketchbook: her watercolour studies of the old Singapore shophouses she encountered on the way are excellent. It’s a shame our paths won’t cross here for much longer.

It feels a little like Somerset Maugham in the tropics, but with the thought that one day we might collaborate on something from our respective note-books, and as travellers have done since Roman times,

we exchange addresses. I remember that in my case there is something perhaps of interest, an essay I’ve recently published on Leonard Cohen’s last poetry. A kind of writer’s calling card. We carry them about like Johnny Appleseed. Perhaps worth a look?

“D’accord…”

It’s not a bad policy. Before too long passes we’ll meet again in France, then Hong Kong en route from India. Justine will stay with us in Vancouver on her way to a mask-carving sojourn on Pender Island. In Brussels the opening planetary image of my documentary film Powerground at its premiere there will be hers. At the centenary of the Battle of the Somme we’ll bow our heads together in gratitude, then walk the slopes at Vimy Ridge in awe of Walter Allward’s Michelangelo-like limestone national memorial.

In Canada, our children will mature and set off on travels of their own.

We’ll check in on the French elections and plan a retreat in a village near the border with Spain. Justine will build herself a new studio in the countryside and make nettle soup when we arrive. Her atelier sign on the winding village road out of Ste Jeanne d’Arc reads Studio Chantique.

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rclas member submissions

ekphrastic (including poems written at Wordplay)

For Mother’s Day

Tribute to Mothers blue

rclas snapshots

Nasreen Pejvack. Aislinn Hunter. Catherine Owen. Carleigh Baker.

LitFest New West Montage

In Their Words, a Royal City Reading Series with Alan Girling.

Readers: Kyle McKillop, Sylvia Symons, Carol Narod. April 2. 2017

To view more of our various event snapshots click here

Upcoming RCLAS Events

RCLAS presents “Children’s Chronicles” Date: Saturday May 20, 2017. 3:30pm – 5pm, Free admission.

Location: Centennial Community Centre, 65 E Sixth Avenue, New Westminster Feature Author: Jami Gigot Description: For children 8-12 years of age. Story time, writing and discussion.

More info https://rclas.com/recurring/childrens-chronicles/ Poetic Justice Date: Sunday, May 21, 2017. 11:30am – 1:30pm.

Location: Boston Pizza at Columbia Square, 1045 Columbia St, New Westminster Host: James Felton Feature Poets: Jane Munro and Ian Williams Open Mic Sign Up with Linda Holmes Happy National Poetry Month!

More info www.poeticjusticenewwest.org RCLAS presents “Wordplay” with Alan Girling Date: Thursday, June 1, 2017. 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Free admission.

Location: Buy-Low Foods Community Room, 555 – 6th Street, New Westminster Host: Alan Girling More info https://rclas.com/recurring/wordplay/ Description: Wordplay is our monthly idea-generating drop-in series for writers of all kinds. Find new approaches to your writing; unlock that treasure chest in your head! This group generates some fabulous first drafts; all you need to bring is writing tools, paper, and a ready mind. This is not a critique group; let’s have some fun!

RCLAS presents “Writing and Healing” - A Workshop with Sherry Duggal Date: Saturday May 13, 2017. 2:00pm to 4:00pm Location : Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia St, New Westminster (Across the street from New West Skytrain Station) Facilitator: Sherry Duggal

Workshop Fees: RCLAS Members $15/ Non-members $25 Register by email secretary@rclas.com More info and PAYPAL payment option www.rclas.com Description In this 2-hour hands on, interactive writing workshop: •Differentiate between the right and left side of the brain •Experience and understand the physiological changes that happen in your body as you delve into the creative process.

•Experience and understand how you can benefit from the act of writing •Experience and understand the link between writing and healing •Clearly identify key elements of good writing •Personalize ways you can get started in the writing process •Access your creative potential and incorporate it into your lifestyle http://sherryduggal.wixsite.com/sherry-duggal RCLAS presents “In Their Words: A Royal City Reading Series” Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 6:30pm – 8:30pm, Free admission Location: New Westminster Public Library, 716 6th Ave, New Westminster Host: Alan Girling Featured Readers: Kathleen Forsythe (Daughter of Fred Cogswell) reads Fred Cogswell's poetics Candice James, Poet Laureate Emerita reads Fred Cogswell's poetry Marylee Stephenson reads Samuel Johnson Description In Their Words happens at the New West Public Library on the 3rd Tuesday of every other month. Feature speakers present their favourite author from any genre in poetry, fiction, non-fiction or drama. Presentations include a brief commentary about the author and a reading of selections that exemplify what the presenter loves about the author’s work. A short Q&A follows each presenter.

RCLAS presents “Celebrating the Arts of Fiction, Poetry, and more…”

Date: Friday June 2, 2017. 5:30pm, Free admission.

Location: Vancouver Public Library, Oakridge Branch, #191 – 650 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC Feature Authors: Michael Mirolla, Nasreen Pejvack, Aidan Chafe RCLAS in partnership with Writer’ Union of Canada, Innana Publications and VPL. Description: This enchanting program will showcase Michael Mirolla, author, poet and workshop facilitator; Nasreen Pejvack, author, poet and workshop facilitator; and Aidan Chafe, poet and educator.

Michael will present his renowned workshop, while Nasreen and Aidan will read from and talk about their books. The program will conclude with an interactive conversation with the participants through a Q&A. More info: 604.665.3980 or info@vpl.ca

RCLAS presents “Write on! Contest Awards: an afternoon of winning stories and poems” Date: Saturday June 3, 2017. 3:00pm – 5:00pm, Free admission.

Location: Old Crow Coffee Co., 655 Front St, New Westminster, BC Hosts: Nasreen Pejvack and Janet Kvammen More info https://rclas.com/awards-contests/write-on-contest/ Description: Join us for a fun afternoon of readings, celebrating our contest winners.

RCLAS presents “Tellers of Short Tales” Date: Tuesday June 6, 2017. 6:30pm – 8:30pm, Free admission.

Location: New Westminster Public Library, 716 - 6th Ave, New Westminster Host: Nasreen Pejvack Featured Reader: Phyllis Marie Jensen Open Mic Sign Up More info www.rclas.com Description: A program of monthly readings designed to engage fans of the short story genre with emerging and published short story writers.

Also, an open microphone will be available for writers who would like to share their stories.

Phyllis Marie Jensen, PhD is a registered Jungian psychoanalyst trained in ISAPZürich with a private practice in Vancouver, Canada and a member of The Writer's Union of Canada. Also a health research scientist, she is an associate clinical professor in Family Medicine at the University of Alberta and currently is writing a book on the psychology of migration.

RCLAS presents “Songwriters Open Mic Night” Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2017. 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Free admission.

Location: The Heritage Grill, Backstage Room, 447 Columbia St, New Westminster, BC Hosts: Enrico Renz, Lawren Nemeth and Poul Bech More info https://www.facebook.com/groups/150810881784465/ Description: Original music only, performed by the songwriters! Great venue: good sound, food, beverages and a friendly, supportive audience that actually listens

WORDPLAY AT WORK FEEDBACK & E-ZINE SUBMISSIONS

Janet Kvammen, RCLAS Vice-President/E-zine janetkvammen@rclas.com Antonia Levi secretary@rclas.com

RCLAS Members Open Call for Submissions No theme required to submit.

Themes: Father’s Day/ Summer/ Canada 150th Deadline May 24, 2017 Issue 46 Ongoing Submissions for upcoming “New Westminster” Fall Special Feature.

Poetry, Short Stories, Book excerpts, articles & lyrics are all welcome for submission to future issues of Wordplay at work.

Submit Word documents (Please include YOUR NAME and Title on document name) to janetkvammen@rclas.com

Thank you to our Sponsors & Venues 

City of New Westminster

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Arts Council of New Westminster

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New Westminster Public Library

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Anvil Centre

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Judy Darcy, MLA

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Renaissance Books

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Boston Pizza, Columbia Square

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Buy-Low Foods

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The Heritage Grill

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Queensborough Community Centre

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Centennial Community Centre

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See upcoming events at www.rclas.com www.rclas.com

May 2017 Wordplay at work ISSN 2291- 4269 Facebook

Contact: janetkvammen@rclas.com RCLAS Vice-President/ E-zine