Good writing workshop this morning. Gale did her thing; her forte is humor. She majored in Spanish and was, for years, a counselor. Jane read her piece, based on The Hurricane of 38, which devasted Watch Hill when she was a kid. I've learned a lot about the history of the south coast of Rhode Island from what she writes. R.J read a poem. A former Hartford cop, his beat was the Asylum Hill section of the Insurance City. Does that make him a " beat poet? "

Guida's been going through hell trying to sell her house. Hasn't been coming as regularly as she had been. She's one of the originals, there when I first started facilitating the workshop in 2003. She didn't have anything to read, but she listened and provided some valuable feedback.

Monica read some memoir stuff: her recollections of 9/11/01. She was living and working in New York City on that day. She's read in the past her recollections of being a kid growing up in London during World War II. She was living in Kensington during The Blitz.

I asked her this morning to compare, if she could, her feelings about being in London then, and being in New York City sixty years later.

" Nine eleven was worse, " she said.

" How so? " I asked.

" With The Blitz, we knew it was the Germans. We knew who the enemy was. "

These people I " teach. " They teach me so much.