The newest Tangled Roots Writing workshop: “I Have a First Draft: Shaping and Revision” takes place 1/22, 2/5, and 3/11 from 10 am – 1:30 pm.

Did you participate in NanoWriMo? Do you have a book project or longer writing project or short story that could use some motivating guidance?

Work with other writers like yourself to learn how to shape your rough draft. Develop your first draft into a more refined piece through monthly feedback in a small dedicated group of writers. Learn techniques for structuring and revising your book as well as tips on publishing.

A small dedicated group will meet once a month for three months to develop further a rough draft into a more refined structure. Considers craft of revision. A large part of the workshop will focus on progressive feedback on writing in progress.

The cost for each workshop is $135, and takes place in downtown Truckee.

Contact Karen Terrey at (530) 386-3901 or Tangledrootswriting@gmail.com to sign up or for more information.

Karen Terrey holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She is poetry editor for Quay, a literary arts journal, a past participant of the Squaw Valley Poetry Conference and the Napa Valley Writer’s Conference, and teaches creative writing at Sierra Nevada College. She recently returned from a summer writing workshop in Prague.

Learn more about Karen at www.karenaterrey.blogspot.com

Squallywood

A Guide to Squaw Valley’s Most Exposed Lines by Robb Gaffney, MD.

As the doctor of psychiatry (that explains a lot!) puts it, the 2nd edition has more radical lines and more amazing descents ever witnessed at Squaw. Often referred to as The Bible of Squaw Valley, Gaffney has included new classifications for each Pitch as well as epic stories by locals getting caught…

And, this season you can Ski-the-book with the doctor at the Squallywood Clinic Classic on January 30 and 31st, 2010; and the Squallywood Clinic Light on March 5 and 6, 2010. You’ll get to ski some of Squaw’s classic lines with some of the world renowned skiers and cinematographers who helped make Squallywood….well Squallywood.

But first, get the Bible with 280 pages of pure entertainment including:

• Steep skiing/snowboarding history
• The new lines in addition to the 152 described in the 1st edition
• 40 detailed maps
• 130 photographs with 26 full color pages
• 38 vistas for beginner, intermediate, and advanced riders
• An epic tale of survival on The Rockpile
• Cross-references to 35 movies in which a Squaw line is skied, with a guide to finding those specific descents in each film.

New items in the 2nd edition

Epic Tales:

Chapter called “Falling into the White”, written first hand by two local skiers who had an epic outing one morning while skiing the forbidden gnarled terrain under the tram. One was caught in an avalanche and, unconscious, was carried down over 800 vertical feet of cliffs and chutes. The other was forced to put his own life on the line and decide whether to ski one of the hardest routes on the mountain after it had been stripped of snow, to rescue a buddy he wasn’t even sure was still alive. This was just the start of their epic tale.

“Pitch” Classifications:

In addition to “Difficulty”, “Hero Factor”, “Fun Factor”, and “Movies” that were used to describe each line in the last edition, Gaffney has added “Pitch”. Each line is measured by a surveying tool to measure degrees of steepness.

Photos:

Diversified contributing photographers to gain a more grass roots feel. Those photographed in the book are not necessarily the pros but local people passionate about the mountain. New color photo section documenting the younger generation skiers and snowboarders on the mountain.

They called it EDGE because they say “it best describes our members’ mental position during the act of writing.”  You’ll probably agree.

A serious bunch when it gets down to critiquing each others work, they definitely know how to have fun and bring out the curious side of life in this eclectic mix of work.

EDGE 2011, volume 5

Featuring these Lake Tahoe and regional writers:

David Anderson, Jeffrey Alfier, Benjamin Arnold, Joey Brown, R. T. Castleberry, Ron D’Alena, Andrey Gritsman, Krista Lukas, Rosemary M. Magee, Timothy Martin, Shawna Mayer, Pat McCutcheon, JB Mulligan, Cyndy Muscatel, Rachael Peckham, Mike Pielaet-Strayer, Suzanne Roberts, Randy K. Schwartz, J. J. Steinfeld, Phillip Sterling, Greg Turner, and Daniel Wexelblatt.

Art and photography by Gail Goldsmith, Brooke Kuykendall, Jenni Ludwig, Denny E. Marshall, Michelle Murdock, Bonita Paulis, Ali Warren, and Eve Werner.

The Tahoe Writers Works is a non-profit organization based in South Lake Tahoe. Each year, the group organizes dozens of events to create a stronger literary and art community in Lake Tahoe and the surrounding areas, including Bare Bones Open Mic, Murder Mystery Theater, and the Captain Thunder Old Time Radio Play at Valhalla.

To learn more, click here to visit their website and to see the entire schedule.

Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe

The book describes 12 easily accessible locations in the Lake Tahoe region where Mark Twain traveled or stayed, including the location of his infamous experience of setting a considerable part of that “fairest picture” ablaze.

Fairest Picture also follows Mark Twain’s writings about Lake Tahoe, including his objections to the name “Lake Tahoe,” and debunks a number of Mark Twain-Lake Tahoe myths.

Antonucci is a local historian and also the author of “Snowball’s Chance – The Story of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games.” After the talk, there will be a meet-and-great session with book signing opportunity or guests can receive a remarque from the book’s cover artist.

More about Fairest Picture:

September 2011 marks exactly 150 years since Samuel L. Clemens, known widely as Mark Twain, first visited Lake Tahoe. He first arrived with the unrealized goal of staking a timber claim but returned less than two years later as Mark Twain, reporter and columnist for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

Fairest Picture describes what pristine Lake Tahoe was like during the time of Mark Twain’s visits. The climate and the lake was colder than today. Clarity was perhaps as much as twice today’s measurements. The lake teamed with fish, dominated by huge Lahontan cutthroat trout. A soaring old growth forest with trees hundreds of feet high and 3-5 feet in diameter ringed the lake. In summer, natural low intensity fires burned through the undergrowth reducing morning visibility. The mountain tops of the Sierra Nevada held year-round snowfields.

Part of author David C. Antonucci’s research involved decoding Mark Twain’s writings to separate out fact from fiction and exaggeration. Mark Twain’s Roughing It was creative nonfiction that contained exaggeration, outright fabrications and misstatements of fact. Correctly interpreting the portion of the text pertaining to Lake Tahoe required critical evaluation through the lenses of geology, limnology, physics, geography, astronomy, biology, semantics, deductive reasoning, and, of course, the natural and cultural histories of Lake Tahoe.

The book solves the riddle of the location of the timber claim and describes Mark Twain’s subsequent visits to 19th century luxury hotels. Historical research and scientific analysis showed the timber claim was located on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe with campsites at Stateline Point and modern-day Tahoe Vista, also the site of the accidental wildfire. Later, Mark Twain returned to stay at a luxury hotel on the south end of the lake and at a hotel on the East Shore, just south of Glenbrook. The book reveals new information about Mark Twain’s travels in nearby Alpine County in 1863 and an 1868 trip by train, sleigh and stagecoach over Donner Summit and through Truckee, Calif.

For the first time, all verified and documented Mark Twain quotations about Lake Tahoe appear in one place along with the context and interpretation. The book follows Twain’s evolution on descriptions of the lake beginning with praises for its beauty and spirit and health restoring properties. He then descends into harsh criticism and public rants over the change of the lake’s name in 1862 from “Bigler” to “Tahoe.” He uses Lake Tahoe as his gold standard for all lakes and compares other world lakes to Tahoe in his travel writings. By the time he writes about Lake Tahoe in Roughing It, he has moved beyond the name change and returns to the magnificent beauty, spiritual renewal and health restoring power of Lake Tahoe. The book includes an appendix of known Mark Twain writings and lecture remarks about Lake Tahoe.

Mark Twain scholars and enthusiasts will appreciate the book’s detailed maps and directions to 12 places visited by Mark Twain and mentioned in his writings, including his North Shore campsites. Mark Twain literary pilgrims can visit his lakeside campsites, see the site of a cabin where he “borrowed” the owner’s boat, and view the site of the upscale hotel where he stayed. They can walk sections of old wagon roads he traveled by stagecoach.

One chapter is devoted to debunking the many Mark Twain-Lake Tahoe myths and legends that have abounded since he first appeared at Lake Tahoe. Detailed research showed that Mark Twain never visited Cascade Lake, nor did he say Lake Tahoe was the “jewel of the Sierra.” Extensive research and analysis discredit the East Shore timber claim myth as a fabrication of early 20th century tour boat captains that was carried forward by historical writers.

David’s interest in Mark Twain’s adventures at Lake Tahoe began when he enrolled in a community college class on Lake Tahoe history. For a term paper assignment, he chose to apply his civil engineering skills to analyze Mark Twain’s route and locations of his encampments at Lake Tahoe in 1861 based on the Roughing It account. This led to rediscovery of Mark Twain’s Ash Canyon-Washoe Trail route to from Carson City, Nev. to Lake Tahoe and specific campsite locations on the North Shore. Antonucci’s initial research was validated by the class instructor, the late Lyndall Landauer, PhD, Tahoe historian and author of Mountain Sea: A History of Lake Tahoe. He presented his findings to an audience of respected scholars at the 2005 Conference on Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, Elmira, N.Y.

David C. Antonucci has resided in the Lake Tahoe area for over 36 years. He holds bachelor and master degrees in civil and environmental engineering from California State Polytechnic University and Oregon State University, respectively. In 2009, David published the very popular Snowball’s Chance – The Story of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games. The book won the Ullr Award from the International Skiing History Association for its major contribution in book form to skiing history.

The book is available locally at museum gift shops, Bookshelf Stores (Tahoe City and Truckee), Mark Twain Cultural Center, Potlatch and MindPlay (Squaw Valley), online at www.createspace.com/3654392 and Amazon.com and by special order at Barnes & Noble.  The cover is from an original pastel by David’s wife, Jenny Antonucci, and is based on an illustration from Mark Twain’s Roughing It. An accomplished artist, Jenny has drawn the Lake Tahoe Marathon artwork for the last five years.

Lovett will also teach a fiction writing workshop from 9-noon on Saturday, February 11th at Sierra Nevada College. Workshops are open to the community and available for credit. Students are free. There is a $50 registration fee for community members.

Li Miao Lovett began her writing career after a 600-mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail where she encountered a stalker, a compulsive poet, and ten thousand mosquitoes. She has been a frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED Perspectives. Her literary and environmental writing has also been published by Narrative Magazine, Earth Island Journal, China Rights Forum, and Sierra Club’s The Planet. Supporting the mission of Words Without Borders, she has organized events showcasing the works of dissident and censored writers. In both fiction and nonfiction, Li’s work has won awards or finalist standing from Glimmer Train, Writers Digest, Stanford Magazine, and the James Jones First Novel Fellowship. Her debut novel, In the Lap of the Gods, is a tale of the dammed and displaced in China’s Three Gorges. It has received critical acclaim including top four finalist in the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, and Semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards.

Approximately 4,000 years ago in Central America, the Mayan Indians considered cocoa beans “food of the gods” because of its medicinal benefits. Later, it got tagged as a “bad” fatty food. By the end of the 20th century, a twist of fate turned chocolate back into a health food.

THE HEALING POWERS OF CHOCOLATE traces the origin of chocolate from bean to bar, from centuries ago to the present day. In creating this informative and fascinating book, renowned local health expert and author Cal Orey interviewed America’s top chocolate makers and chocolatiers, nutritionists, medical researchers, and chocolate lovers to find out how this ancient “food of the gods” can prevent and fight common ailments and diseases.

The result is a lively comprehensive guide to the wide world of quality chocolate, from 70% dark truffles to Italian biscotti baked with extra virgin olive oil, in America and around the globe. With proven data for eating dark chocolate containing cocoa flavanols to reduce heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and dozens of pesky ailments, this book—with a European twist—takes you on a magical chocolate tour, complete with wit, charm, and entertaining personal anecdotes from ancient folklore to the 20th and 21st century.

From ancient folk medicine to modern health wonder, discover the amazing powers of chocolate!

• Discover the healing powers of dark chocolate and cocoa—now widely recognized as an accepted “health food” and “Super Food”—versatile cure-all.
• Find out how chocolate’s powers can lower the risk of developing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and weight woes.
• Learn how chocolate contains more antioxidants than green tea and red wine—without the alcohol.
• Put dozens of chocolate home cures to work for treating acne, anxiety, brain fog, cabin fever, cough, depression, fatigue, and other ailments.
• You’ll also find chocolate beauty and anti-aging treatment—from masks, manicures to bubble baths and body wraps—made from antioxidant-rich chocolate teamed with natural plant extracts.

Incorporating cutting-edge scientific research, plus Mediterranean-style heart-healthy chocolate recipes, from Sicilian Mole to Dark Chocolate Mousse, THE HEALING POWERS OF CHOCOLATE is a well-rounded one-of-a-kind resource that will show you why savoring this no longer forbidden “food of the gods” is the 21st century trend.

A Few Endorsements:

“The right kind, the right amount of chocolate may just save your life.”
–Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., author of New York Times bestseller The Fat Flush Plan

“Can dark chocolate boost brain power? This book shows you how regular intake of antioxidant rich cacao foods is likely to do just that, and more.” –Ray Sahelian, M.D., author of Mind Boosters

Cal Orey is an accomplished author and journalist specializing in topics such as health, nutrition, science, and pets. Her books include The Healing Powers of Vinegar, The Healing Powers of Olive Oil, 202 Pet Peeves, and Doctors’ Orders. For more information, please visit her website at www.calorey.com.

Kirkwood is well known for skiing.

And for its local dishes?

You be the judge.

A Taste of Kirkwood is Kirkwood’s Community Cookbook.

$25 – IF any copies are left.

In addition to more than 200 delicious recipes, all of which were fully tested, the cookbook offers a glimpse into the rich history in and around Kirkwood and includes photographs, stories and sketches.

If it captures the charm and nostalgia of the Kirkwood Inn, and even a few recipes, then it’s a must have. It would be a great gift too for someone who has visited Kirkwood or for someone you have been bragging about….I mean, sharing your Kirkwood experiences with over the years.

A Taste of Kirkwood is available in the Kirkwood Community Association office, the KCA Red Cliffs Club and the General Store.

KCA office hours:
Monday thru Friday
7:30am-3:00pm, closed weekends

Phone: 209.258.7260 to make sure they still have copies.

Lexa Hillyer has won the 2011 Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize with her collection Acquainted with the Cold, which will be published by Bona Fide Books in November, 2012.

Lexa will receive publication, ten copies, a $500 cash award, and a reading at Lake Tahoe.  Congratulations Lexa!

Lexa Hillyer received her MFA in poetry from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine. She has won the Inaugural Poetry Prize from Tusculum Review and the First Prize in Poetry from Brick & Mortar Review. Lexa edited at Harper Collins and Penguin, and now runs Paper Lantern Lit.

December, the Unfinished

by Lexa Hillyer

Your icicles’ seduction slants sweet, my Darling—

but like the ringtone of an undialed call, something lingers

off-key beneath the season’s jingle, almost

imperceptible. Flitting over blasted slush,

days dart away—deceptive sparrows. Their scent:

snow. Hard breath on the window:

white. Wet. Vanishing.

A lone horn wails in a dark barroom.

These are the conditions to which you are born:

a babe in a red-lit local dive, sweat, pulse,

silk-fine. Radiator’s ribbon of steam

and longing: held fire. This is transmutation,

I’m almost sure: wonder and night; the waa waa

and the oooo wa; stars and their imperfect light.

Bona Fide Books, a small indie press in South Lake Tahoe, aims to promote bold, unsung writers and connect them with readers. In an alleged age of declining readership, Bona Fide wants to give everyone a reason to read.  Owner and publisher Kim Wyatt created Bona Fide Books to revitalize our passion for reading and to build a sense of community.  In addition to an online community, Bona Fide also has a bricks and mortar office, the Center for Wayward Writers, located in South Lake Tahoe.

Kim created The Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize in August 2010 in honor of her dear friend who passed away in February 2009. Melissa and Kim formed a deep friendship based upon their shared passion for community, art and literature. Along the way, through late night discussions of art, work, life and the Tahoe community they bonded and supported each others creative process to be “brave and unapologetic” while they followed their dreams.

Shown above is one of Melissa’s recycled paper-mâché art helmets she called the Sonnet Bonnet. A lover of English poet and playwright William Shakespeare, Melissa used some of the tattered pages of her favorite Shakespeare sonnets or poems that dealt with love, beauty and mutability to create this lovely visual allegory of her life.

Melissa’s creativity and enthusiasm has left an indelible impression on everyone she met. Through her efforts to help shape the North and South Tahoe art scene, she has inspired several artists and entrepreneurs around Lake Tahoe and Truckee to boldly follow our dreams.

For forty years he was able to relive some of his fondest childhood memories of sliding behind the milkman’s sleigh to the sound of bells keeping beat to a horse’s trot back in Massachusetts.

Little did he know in 1969 that he would spend the rest of his life giving sleigh rides at Lake Tahoe; and be the happiest man on earth.

Sam Borges was the beloved patriarch of the Borges Family Sleigh Rides for forty years, a timeless Tahoe tradition and South Shore landmark.

Sam passed away January 11, 2010 surrounded by his wife of sixty years, Rosie; his four sons, Dean, Dave, Don, and Dwight; and their families.

Over the four decades of hosting locals, visitors and even celebrities in his sleighs, Sam acquired countless stories, memories and fun facts about Lake Tahoe that have been collected by his daughter-in-law Dianna Maria de Borges who wrote “Sleigh Rides in Lake Tahoe: Memoirs of Sam Borges”.

In her book, Dianna shares the endearing stories of a life well lived; one highly regarded for his unflappable dedication to and passion for nature, animals and his fellow human beings.  Giving us a glimpse into his character, stories of his adventures as a young boy traveling across the country with his mother and sister are intertwined with his life at Lake Tahoe raising a family, and starting a business based on his dreams. Sam was also an inventor and loved to work with anything mechanical. In fact, years ago he converted an old Ford Escort into a dually and added a cache of batteries to the trunk making a hybrid before it was a trend.

Sam passed the reins of the Borges Family Sleigh Rides to his youngest son Dwight two decades ago who continues to warm the hearts of visitors and locals with enchanting stories about Lake Tahoe as they dash through the snow listening to the sounds of bells keeping beat to the horse’s trot.

It’s 1967 in South Lake Tahoe, and Sam Borges enters his son’s name in a raffle. The prize is a pony. That winter he starts a Lake Tahoe tradition of delighting neighbors and visitors alike with his horse drawn sleigh rides. For over 40 years, people from around the world have come to dash through the snow, enjoy picturesque views and listen to stories of a land that once echoed with the thundering hooves of Pony Express Riders and the Wild West.

Sam Borges, born in 1924, begins his story when his mother, Aldina, is cured of her blindness by the power of prayer. Her life’s calling then becomes a resolve to share this good news with others. Compelled, Aldina packs up her brand new Model ‘A’ Ford with religious book, her baby daughter and 5 year old Sam. Together they travel across these United States. But this is only the start of Sam Borges’ adventures. During the Great Depression Sam decides on settling in Central California as a farmer, rancher and dairyman until a life changing earthquake drives him north to the land of the grand Sierra Mountains, the cool waters of Lake Tahoe and Bonanza’s own Ponderosa Pines.

Meet the Author:

Dianna Maria de Borges started working at the sleigh rides in 1997 and married Dwight Borges in the year 2000. They enjoy traveling, bike riding, spectator sports and exploring. She is the mother of four children; and, so far, the grandmother of one.

Dwight and Dianna live on a small ranch in Gardnerville, Nevada with their dog Joey, 13 horses, a cat and two fishes. Dianna enjoys music, painting, crafts and writing. She is active in the community and can be seen performing with the local community theatre in plays and Chautauqua. Dianna loves her ponys, Gizmo and Gadget, and gives pony rides at festivals, movies in the park, birthdays and parades.

Including author Janet Beales Kaidantzis, who has released Fallen Leaf, A Lake and Its People 1850-1950.

In Fallen Leaf Lake: A Lake and its People 1850–1950 you’ll find out who built Fallen Leaf Lake’s trails and named the lakes in Desolation Wilderness, what the feud between Gilmore and Baldwin was about, and why Fallen Leaf Lake was the starting point for preservation efforts throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin and the origin of the National Parks Interpretive Program.

Meet the first fire lookouts, caretakers, resort owners, and cabin builders at Fallen Leaf Lake and vicinity along with Lorenzo Latimer, Anita Baldwin, John Steinbeck, the Washoe basket weaver Susie Jackson, and the boat builder Natale Rontani.