Reunion Potluck

On September 14th, we had a reunion potluck at USC-Sumter for all former writing project participants. The evening included wonder excellent homemade biscuits (that turned out to be very much in the theme of things that evening), fried chicken, hashbrown casserole, plus tons of drinks a dessert. After sharing the new website and some of the upcoming events (check the website to get a complete listing!), we had a wonderful presentation by Amy Mikell on "Kneading Topics for Young Writers."

Amy brought in a wonderful poem by Freda Quenneville, "Mother's Biscuits," and walked us through a wonderful lesson that included a shared and choral reading of the poem, creating a T-chart on our noticings and response, creating a list of foods that we have emotional ties to, and then giving us time to talk, write, and share with one another.


Some of the writing we shared together included a haiku by Ureka entitled "Help:"

Help!

If you taste momma's
Jiffy cornbread dressing you'll
sho nuf hurt yourself!

And last Diane shared a piece about her experience with biscuits, entitled "Those Biscuit Holes":

Few people know the true art of drilling biscuit holes.

Warm, palm-sized biscuits,

a sticky can of Cane Patch syrup,

an index finger for a drill—

and a jeweler’s precision as he cuts into an oil well—

in reverse—

for biscuit holes come first

before the mother load of syrup fills the cache.

The slow,

slow

pouring

of the w a t e r y t h i n black nectar

is crucial for success.

The smiling syrup at the hole’s precipice

proclaims the child’s lip-licking, ephemeral victory

of a perfectly drilled

ready-to-eat

syrup biscuit.

After all this writing and talking about biscuits, I have to admit I stopped off at KFC on my way home and got a biscuit!

-Written by Jennifer L. Wilson