{"id":1417,"date":"2011-08-09T08:55:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T08:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=1417"},"modified":"2011-08-10T02:31:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-10T02:31:48","slug":"grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2011\/08\/grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This past Sunday we felt the grace of Grace Place where Solace in So Many Words<\/em> was the topic at the adult formation hour.\u00a0 Grace Place is the name for the first floor meeting room of Grace Episcopal Church, which is a storefront church with a second floor sanctuary.\u00a0 Chicago writers might be familiar with Grace Place because it is a venue during Printers Row Lit Fest. Pamela Miller and I both recalled reading there on previous occasions.\u00a0Father Ted Curtis<\/strong> gave us a warm welcome (as did Zola Foster<\/strong>).\u00a0 Coffee and refreshments were served, and then chairs were set out and those we mingled with became a very attentive audience.<\/p>\n

Usually at events the bookstore staffer introduces me.\u00a0 But the woman who helped to arrange this gig took the microphone and read from Christina Rossetti’s<\/strong> “Goblin Market:”<\/p>\n

For there is no friend like a sister
\nIn calm or stormy weather;
\nTo cheer one on the tedious way,
\nTo fetch one if one goes astray,
\nTo lift one if one totters down,
\nTo strengthen whilst one stands.<\/p>\n

The verse was appropriate because the woman was my sister Mary Lou Wade<\/strong> who attends Grace Episcopal, lives in the South Loop, teaches at Columbia College and digs all art and culture (jazz and literature perhaps most of all).\u00a0 Thanks, ML<\/strong>! \u00a0\u00a0The introduction caught me off guard for I should have been reading the verse in appreciation of \u00a0her, and of all my sisters, really.\u00a0 My brothers too.\u00a0 And nieces and nephews. For I am fortunate to come from a large and supportive clan (and my immediate family also has been in my corner every step of the way).\u00a0 Those who have attended events for the book have no doubt met at least one of my sisters. At Grace, two other sisters (Terry Marino<\/strong> and Kathy Elster<\/strong>) worked the sales table.<\/p>\n

J. Scott Smith<\/strong> started us off.\u00a0 She felt right at home as she had also attended the service at Grace Episcopal. She quickly transported us to Texas to meet Buck Odom and his wife Bitsy from \u201cHeartbeat.\u201d\u00a0 Next we were pleased to be introduced to \u00a0Kathleene Donahoo\u2019s<\/strong> Carol (from “Starts and Stops”) as she sets off on a transformative road trip with her son and daughter-in-law.<\/p>\n

We had fiction writers there and a poet, but I wanted the audience to know that Solace in So Many Words<\/em> has essays so I read teasers from two. First was Paula W. Peterson\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cCoconut Milk\u201d which many Chicagoans can relate to just for its setting as Marshall Field\u2019s was the grande dame of department stores here at one time (it was taken over by Macy\u2019s).\u00a0 What I read next were the first paragraphs from Jayant Kamicheril\u2019s <\/strong>\u201cIn the Wake of My Son.\u201d When people ask me about the difference between comfort and solace, I always cite this essay because it elegantly captures a situation where there is no comfort, only solace.<\/p>\n

Taking the mic after this was poet Pamela Miller<\/strong> whom I had asked to read a poem from the book in addition to her own. She chose Elizabeth Kerlikowske\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cThe Industry of Sleep\u201d and we followed along its dreamy account that mentions Deana Durbin, popcorn salt, Seroquel and catfish. Pamela then read her own poem \u201cWhat It\u2019s All About\u201d which she wrote to her husband on their anniversary. The poem has so many good lines it is hard to tell which ones the audience liked the most.\u00a0 I am particularly fond of these: “It\u2019s the way you sashay into my days \/ like a boisterous New Orleans brass band, \/ turning my spine to lightning \/ and my brain to tiramisu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joan Corwin<\/strong> read from \u201cDetails\u201d and the audience chuckled at the elaborate plans and loopy logistics of Evan Rhys as he revisits all his favorite places on his wife\u2019s body.\u00a0 And since Joan demonstrated how humor is a way of finding solace, I thought a good way to end the program was with the poem by \u00a0S. Minanel <\/strong>called\u00a0\u201cNature\u2019s Balancing Act.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I think it is important for readers (or potential readers) to know that Solace in So Many Words<\/em> isn\u2019t as somber as a funeral dirge and that some of the pieces are light and funny.\u00a0 I could quote S. Minanel\u2019s four-line zinger here but encourage you to look it up instead.<\/p>\n

I once again want to thank ML<\/strong> and Father Ted Curtis<\/strong>.\u00a0 The reception we had at Grace Place was terrific, and we felt very appreciated. Another thing that was great about Sunday was that the party didn\u2019t end right after the event.\u00a0 A dozen or so of us walked down the street to Hackney\u2019s for lunch (and killer Bloody Marys) where we received VIP treatment. \u00a0Thanks Caitlin, Colleen and Pat!<\/p>\n

So much solace for one day!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ellen Wade Beals begins the reading event at Grace Place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
J. Scott Smith transports the audience to Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Terry Marino, Mary Lou Wade, Kathy Elster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BTW, the wood engraving is “Golden Head by Golden Head” by\u00a0Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Christina’s brother) and was done in 1862. \u00a0It is an illustration for Christina Rossetti’s\u00a0Goblin Market and Other Poems. <\/em>The scanned image and text by\u00a0George P. Landow<\/a> can be \u00a0found on The Victorian Web<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Sunday we felt the grace of Grace Place where Solace in So Many Words was the topic at the adult formation hour.\u00a0 Grace Place is the name for the first floor meeting room of Grace Episcopal Church, which is a storefront church with a second floor sanctuary.\u00a0 Chicago writers might be familiar with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,60,444,127,12,440,445,385,441,239,229,233,299,442,389,261,13,20,443,446,7,16,22,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-1417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-anthology","8":"tag-appreciation","9":"tag-christina-rossetti","10":"tag-contributors-2","11":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","12":"tag-father-ted-curtis","13":"tag-goblin-market","14":"tag-grace-episcopal-church","15":"tag-grace-place","16":"tag-j-scott-smith","17":"tag-jayant-kamicheril","18":"tag-joan-corwin","19":"tag-kathleene-doanhoo","20":"tag-mary-lou-wade","21":"tag-pamela-miller","22":"tag-paula-w-peterson","23":"tag-poetry","24":"tag-publication","25":"tag-s-minanel","26":"tag-sisters","27":"tag-solace","28":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","29":"tag-thanks","30":"tag-weighed-words","31":"entry","32":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1417"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1449,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417\/revisions\/1449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}