This note was viral yesterday …

Yesterday I dropped a note about the viral substance – a first one for me. At midnight I had heard enough of these notifications on my iPhone – thing, thing, thing – that indicated that someone had switched off the notification noise, shared or commented.

This must be what famous substances feel all the time. It's a hurry. Today my two-session post had 9,300 likes, 411 comments and 818 restoration.

A phenomenon unfolds at this historical moment: we feel forced to find ourselves. Every thing on my phone signals that a stranger was well received by what I had to say. We find ourselves. We follow each other.

We are not alone.

Lives in Oelwein and I can't wait to see him again. He visited the Okoboji Writers 'and Songwriters' Retreat, where he took workshops to start a Substack column. He followed and now his audience is growing. Inspired to take measures, he decided to support his neighbors of the immigrants by organizing meetings in restaurants in Latino. He chose a place in Hampton, Iowa – and people appeared.

Another collaborative member of Iowa Writers,

drove to join him. A total of 28 people – many of them strangers – worked together to break bread, support a business owner in the immigrant and to strengthen the bonds of democracy in their own way.

This is Iowa, the state I love. We can be. And this is an example of what only one caring person can do. Thank you, John, that you have given the idea out there, and thanks to those who appeared.

In a call with John this morning he told me that he was hoping that 15 could come and was thrilled to bring the crowd together. The show of the support moved the restaurant owner deeply.

Here is John's column:

Band, I have to postpone Monday that demands a bit. I was 1000% on the construction of the Collaborative from Iowa WritersNow with 80 members and too many other tasks fall through the cracks, not just the laundry and the dishes in the sink.

This is the point in the project time bar where many of the mechanics of the Okoboji authors and the retreat must be managed by Songwriters. We are already about 1/3 with regard to the enrollment for the early participants, but I also have to reach new participants who have never heard of it. If you are an OWR alum, I could use your help. Tell your friends about your retreat and encourage you to come. Most newcomers avoid registering because they do not consider themselves a writer. But as you know with alumes, everyone has a story and we can inspire them. Or at least you have a great time and find new friends in our community.

I spend a lot of money to promote the withdrawal, but the reason why people say that they come is that they have heard of it from a friend.

Will you be this friend?

I recently had a nice call with Becky Smith. It is a “get” for those who have an interest in filmmaking. She is interested in staging over 90-minute workshops at the same time so that those who are serious to find their field and look an intensive crash course in this area.

(Thanks Chatgpt for his summary of Becky's career)

Becky Smith is an Emmy-nominated film and television director, author and educator with a rich and varied career in the entertainment industry. She has led pilots and series for important networks such as ABC Family, Bravo, Disney Channel, Fox, Lifetime, NBC and PBS. ​Imdb.com+2tft.UCla.edu+2natfluence.com+2natfluence.com+1tft.ucla.edu+1

In 2004 Smith received an EMMY nomination for her work on Bravo's “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, which won the outstanding reality program Emmy in the same year. Your feature film “16 to Life” (2009) received nine best features and/or best of Festival Awards and is available on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. ​tft.ucla.edu+1womensmafia.com+1

Apart from her directorial services, Smith has made significant contributions to the documentary film film. Her PBS Frontline episode “In The Game” was honored by American women on radio and television as the best television documentation of the year. She also headed the feature documentary “The Day Project” (2008), which records the last chapter of dance for five main dancers of renowned ballet companies. ​tft.ucla.edu+1natfluence.com+1

In addition to her industry work, Smith is a committed educator. She teaches directing and script at the UCLA School of Theater, film and television, where she monitors the final program for the first year in production, cinematography and director. ​tft.ucla.edu

Smith has an MA in the Stanford University film and was recognized as a scholarship holder in the Macdowell artist's colony. She also received grants from women in the film, the California Arts Council and the American Film Institute. ​tft.ucla.edu

Her latest feature film “August in Berlin” won the best feature at the La Femme International Film Festival. ​Imdb.com

Smith's commitment to storytelling, both in her creative projects and in your teachings, inspired and continues to influence the next generation of filmmakers.

Come to the retreat of Ocoboji Writers and Songwriters! If you need a partially or a comprehensive scholarship, the funds for paid subscribers to this Potluck column are available.

This is a mission, more than one money earner. If I would take care of making money for this thing, there are no 60 speakers on the roster.

The sheer beauty of this experience is that everyone can be learned. We have established authors as participants and hobbyists who want to start a family moir. They fit in directly.

If you are an Iowa author, there is a discount for you. A self -help group of OWR authors is also in preparation. We commit to your success in any way we can.

Here you will find a news about the withdrawal: This year there is a live auction after our sunset cruise on Tuesday evening. Donations come for it and it will be astonishing. Richard and I offer a cruise in Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis. With dinner by chef Richard (as in Sh*t Richard says) in the Flybridge. Rekha Basu will prepare an Indian dinner for four o'clock in her house from the Moines.

Mary Shotwell is a respected quilter from the Moines, Iowa, whose extraordinary craftsmanship has received several awards over the years. In 2013 her quilt “Aunt's Red Hot Garden” received the best Longarm Workmanship Award at the AQS QuiltWeek, evidence of her skills in Longarm Quilting. ​youtube.com

Her excellence continued to shine on the Iowa State Fair, where she received the best awards in the Quilting division in the Quilt department of the Fabric and Threads competition in 2015 and 2019. These awards underline their consistent commitment to Quilt and their ability to captivate judges and spectators with their complicated designs. ​rcreader.com

We are thrilled that she donates one of her quilts of this auction. Here she explains what has entered the project.

Thanks to the dramatist Peggy Engel, we have a baseball signed by Hank Aaron. Chad Elliott and Kathryn Severing Fox offer a house concert. So is Carol Monday. And we're just starting.

Do you have something you want to donate?

OWR auction donation

If you have an article to donate, thank you! The auction will be an explosion and it is part of me that I place the basis for the support of this annual event when I go to heaven for a big retreat.

This website is absolutely out of date, and this is my next project. But the early booker registration button is there. Most conferences like this can cost with the width of the experienced speakers over $ 8 to $ 9,000.

By July 15, the early enrollment is only 795 US dollars:

Learn more

Yesterday we had several significant announcements in the collaborative Roundup columns of the Iowa Writers. There were two editions: