[stylist] St. Petersburg proclaimed as a "City of Writers"

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Amy,

Congratulations!  And, yes, it is a victory for all of us, as well as an
inspiration to keep us (well, me) plugging away at it.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Amy Krout-Horn
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 10:05 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] St. Petersburg proclaimed as a "City of Writers"

Hello Friends,
On May 14, I attended an awards and proclamations meeting of the St.
Petersburg, Florida city council. For the past year, I have been involved in
a project through the Poynter Institute of Media Studies. Our group is a
collection of the city's journalists, writing instructors, novelists, and
poets, that shared a common goal; to have the mayor officially proclaim St.
Petersburg a "City of Writers" and to name Peter Meinke as the city's
first-ever poet laureate. Last month we received the support of a council
member and he brought the idea before  the mayor. 
It is my great pleasure to announce that, as writers, we did it! Yesterday,
I went to city hall with the intent , as part of the audience only, to show
support and appreciation for the official proclamation . However, when I
arrived, Roy P. Clark, the senior scholar of the Poynter Institute, asked
me, as well as my co-author, Gabriel Horn, to join him at the front of the
chambers when the proclamation was read. As we stood to have our picture
taken with the mayor, I realized that I not only was a representative for
the writers of my city, I represented Native American writers, women
writers(I was the only gal in the photo), and, last, but certainly not
least, blind writers. It was a proud moment, and thoughts of the members on
this list came to mind, and how often, when we share our triumphs with one
another, it feels like a victory for us all. Although I didn't take the
podium and pontificate, I felt that my presence said a great deal.
Amy 
_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site:
http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>

stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comca
st.net