Season to close for Penpushers
MEL TOADVINE Passing the apple “timer” is Diana Armstrong, left, to the new leader of the Penpushers group at the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center, Sophie Hartjen. The plastic apple is a timer that is used to measure time.
For those who love to write and for those who want to learn to write, there’s a group at the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center call the Penpushers.
They meet weekly and do what they like best, write, and listen to readings of different books.
At the end of this month, the leader of the group, Diana Armstrong, is bowing out after 16 years of helping aspiring writers. Replacing her is a member of the group, Sophie Hartjen, who has attended meetings for three years.
Armstrong said that due to worsening eye sight, she felt she should quit as the leader of the group, but she says she will still attend and do what she loves to do, too, and that is write creative writing as they call it.
Armstrong is also giving up being leader of the Beginners Line Dancing group after 15 years.
“But I plan to still participate,” the winter resident of Lehigh and for the rest of the year, a Canadian resident, said.
“I am sort of retiring from being the leader, I think you can say, but I am going to still be active, just not in a leadership role,” Armstrong said.
This year and last year, some 17 local residents attended the Penpushers group.
The new leader, Sophie Hartjen, said she wants to get more people to join the group and she plans on helping to inspire more writers next November when they meet again.
The Penpushers meet weekly at the Senior Center on Plaza Drive from 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. on Mondays. They meet from the first Monday in November to the last Monday in March, when Season ends.
“We would love for more people to join us,” Hartjen said. “We meet in Rooms 103 and 104.
“But to join us, you have to be a member of the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center. Then you can take advantage of a multitude of activities including the creative writing class,” Hartjen said. She noted that the membership to the Senior Center is $20 a year for one person or $35 a year for a couple.
“It’s really a great deal and with membership for an extra $10, you can enjoy the Lehigh Community Pool,” she said.
The group is made up of all types of people from all types of backgrounds, all with a desire to write. Many have written short stories; one is a playwright and another is a poet.
“At the end of the year, the group publishes a book titled Insights. It’s a compilation of short stories, poems and other types of writing. They have been doing this for several years,” she said.
The Insights book is available for $5 at the Senior Center’s boutique. They even have a few copies left from last year.
“It makes a nice gift and it’s enjoyable to read. The Penpushers do a great job,” said Armstrong.
Medical experts for the aging, a word you don’t hear around the Senior Center, say writing is a good way to keep one’s mind alert.
“And it’s enjoyable,” Armstrong said. And smiling, the new Penpusher leader nodded in agreement.
“Mark your calendars for this coming November. That’s when we resume the fun,” Hartjen said. And if you are not a member of the Senior Center and want to enjoy life a bit more, consider joining. There are a lot of things to do and a lot of nice people to meet,” she said.
Season to close for Penpushers
MEL TOADVINE Passing the apple “timer” is Diana Armstrong, left, to the new leader of the Penpushers group at the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center, Sophie Hartjen. The plastic apple is a timer that is used to measure time.
For those who love to write and for those who want to learn to write, there’s a group at the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center call the Penpushers.
They meet weekly and do what they like best, write, and listen to readings of different books.
At the end of this month, the leader of the group, Diana Armstrong, is bowing out after 16 years of helping aspiring writers. Replacing her is a member of the group, Sophie Hartjen, who has attended meetings for three years.
Armstrong said that due to worsening eye sight, she felt she should quit as the leader of the group, but she says she will still attend and do what she loves to do, too, and that is write creative writing as they call it.
Armstrong is also giving up being leader of the Beginners Line Dancing group after 15 years.
“But I plan to still participate,” the winter resident of Lehigh and for the rest of the year, a Canadian resident, said.
“I am sort of retiring from being the leader, I think you can say, but I am going to still be active, just not in a leadership role,” Armstrong said.
This year and last year, some 17 local residents attended the Penpushers group.
The new leader, Sophie Hartjen, said she wants to get more people to join the group and she plans on helping to inspire more writers next November when they meet again.
The Penpushers meet weekly at the Senior Center on Plaza Drive from 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. on Mondays. They meet from the first Monday in November to the last Monday in March, when Season ends.
“We would love for more people to join us,” Hartjen said. “We meet in Rooms 103 and 104.
“But to join us, you have to be a member of the Lehigh Senior Citizens Center. Then you can take advantage of a multitude of activities including the creative writing class,” Hartjen said. She noted that the membership to the Senior Center is $20 a year for one person or $35 a year for a couple.
“It’s really a great deal and with membership for an extra $10, you can enjoy the Lehigh Community Pool,” she said.
The group is made up of all types of people from all types of backgrounds, all with a desire to write. Many have written short stories; one is a playwright and another is a poet.
“At the end of the year, the group publishes a book titled Insights. It’s a compilation of short stories, poems and other types of writing. They have been doing this for several years,” she said.
The Insights book is available for $5 at the Senior Center’s boutique. They even have a few copies left from last year.
“It makes a nice gift and it’s enjoyable to read. The Penpushers do a great job,” said Armstrong.
Medical experts for the aging, a word you don’t hear around the Senior Center, say writing is a good way to keep one’s mind alert.
“And it’s enjoyable,” Armstrong said. And smiling, the new Penpusher leader nodded in agreement.
“Mark your calendars for this coming November. That’s when we resume the fun,” Hartjen said. And if you are not a member of the Senior Center and want to enjoy life a bit more, consider joining. There are a lot of things to do and a lot of nice people to meet,” she said.
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