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October 6, 2023
PIPS SPEAK: Essays by Previously Important People
by Sarah Massey Warren PhD, Luellen Ramey PhD , et al.
The presentation will be followed by a reception and book signing at Inkberry Books.
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PIPS SPEAK: Essays by Previously Important People is a collection of stand-on-their-own
creative nonfiction essays ranging from 500 to 750 words from a group of writers over the age of
60. The essays cover the gamut from reactions to current events to thoughts on family, aging,
children and dying, very much in the spirit of Montaigne. Readers see into the world of the
writer -- and recognize similarities in their own lives. The prose varies from lyrical to poignant,
quizzical to comic, incensed to at peace, reflecting the gamut of emotions being human evokes.
The essayists contributing to this collection have lived full professional lives. Rejecting the
common societal view of "seniors" as background rather than players in a vibrant community,
our writers represent the accumulation of thoughts and reflections obtained through the need to
take on creative challenges throughout life.
The book will appeal to those over sixty or anyone
who wants to find their own voice or seek community in isolating times. Rather than one-way
communication, essayists invite the reader into conversations on different aspects of life - love,
children, challenges, spirituality, rites of passage - from birth to death. Finally, the short format
makes writing a challenge and an opportunity, rather than an overwhelming onus, accessible to
anybody who dreams of writing.
Our thirteen writers have been meeting monthly since 2018, either in person, or via Zoom. We
read our essays aloud to the group. During Covid's isolation times our group provided comfort
and support to each other. We have developed a deep sense of community and connection
thorough our writing and sharing.
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The three presenters are:
Jack Williamson retired as a Chaplain in the U. S. Air Force after 24 years of service. He co-authored the book, Divorce: Six Ways to Get Through the Bad Times... for Good. He, along with Sarah Massey-Warren, piloted the first Intergenerational Writing Course at the University of Colorado. He is the grateful grandfather of two remarkable grandsons, both college students.
Beth Shaw is retired and lives in Boulder, Colorado. She taught literature at the college level, including assignments in China and Togo, West Africa. She was an international student advisor for twenty years and has done writing for international education publications.
Susan Josephs is an educator, consultant, curriculum developer, and mother, grandmother, and pet lover. A native New Yorker, she and her husband live in Boulder, Colorado. Her teacher and parent guides are available at Hoopoe Books, www.hoopoebooks.com Her essay "More Choices For Wade" appears in From Dubs to Marbles.
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October 13th, 2023
Finn Murphy, author of
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West
7:00 at Inkberry Books
7960 Niwot Road, Niwot CO
The presentation will be followed by a reception and book signing.
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After decades as a long-haul trucker, Finn Murphy left the road
and settled in Boulder County, Colorado. Before long he noticed that
many of his neighbors were captivated by the prospect of vast riches in
“the Hemp Space.” When hemp was legalized, after eighty years in federal
exile, Colorado became the center of a hemp growing and processing
boom. Figuring he’d harvest some of that easy money, Murphy bought a
thirty-six-acre farm. What could go wrong? Well, pretty much everything…
Rocky Mountain High
is the comic chronicle of a wild year as Murphy follows his Great
American Dream, gradually losing his shirt but not his spirit. Pivoting
away from growing hemp himself, he decides to make himself a middleman.
He builds drying sheds the size of football fields. He battles with
freezing temperatures and even colder bankers. And he assembles an
eclectic crew of workers, including the wry and vastly talented Manuel,
the business savvy Pierce, and a scruffy army of
“trimmigrants”—specialized farm laborers who roam the country pursuing
(or not) their own American Dreams. Pretty soon, Murphy is pitting his
dwindling cash against the mercurial buyers who inhabit the Wild West of
the hemp market.
Told with Murphy’s trademark wit, keen eye for character, and sharp insights into the hardscrabble society around him, Rocky Mountain High is an inside look at the alluring world of the hemp boom and a masterful tale of one entrepreneur’s misadventures.
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About the Author
Finn Murphy is the author of Rocky Mountain High and The Long Haul, a national bestseller about his many years as a long-haul trucker. He grew up in Connecticut and now lives in Colorado.
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October 14, 2023
Musical Chairs: a 76-Year-Old's Quest to Learn Every Instrument in the Orchestra
by James Mitchell
7:00 at Inkberry Books
7960 Niwot Road, Niwot CO
The presentation will be followed by a reception and book signing.
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There are few things in life more uplifting and inspiring than
witnessing someone seemingly quite ordinary do something quite
extraordinary. The walk-on athlete who lifts his team to the
championship. The high school drop-out who gets the company he started
in his garage listed on Nasdaq.
We admire their success, but more importantly their brash, unreasonable ambition brings our own dreams a little closer.
Does a seventy-six-year-old non-musician’s quest to play all the
instruments in the orchestra seem brash and unreasonable enough? His
remarkable, often funny, experience uplifts, fascinates and entertains.
Delving into music history and immersing himself in the works of
Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and other great composers, Mitchell recounts
what happens as he does battle with the orchestra.
There are the struggles and eureka moments that come with serial learning, but it is a surprise when he weaves in tales of Tarzan and Jane, doing surgery on a Double Bass, falling in love with a cello, and spying between the Stradavari and Amati families in 17th century Tuscany.
These flights of fancy do not detract from the central theme of learning the instruments, but it gives the book another dimension that makes it a good read for anyone with a healthy curiosity and a touch of the adventurer.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Mitchell was born in New York City, which nurtured his love of classical music from an early age. Professing little or no talent, however, he left the playing of music mostly to others until the writing of Musical Chairs. For the 67 years that elapsed between music
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lessons, James was an actor, a sales manager for a ski Company, president of a national advertising agency, a cowboy and wilderness outfitter, an educator, and co-founder of an NGO aiding women in Afghanistan. James is working on two new books, and otherwise occupies his time going to concerts, playing music, tennis, cycling, and riding and driving horses. He lives in The country north of Denver, Colorado, with his wife, some zebra finches, an old cat, and a few equines. He is immensely proud of his two grown offspring and has one very young grandson.
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October 27, 2023
Author Sophia Stone
The presentation will be followed by a reception and book signing at Inkberry Books.
Based on a true story,
this novel tells the harrowing journey of an orphaned child born to
Jewish immigrant parents in Norway. Dora
experiences great loss during the Holocaust and barely escapes Nazi
pursuit on skis.
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