Newest on Woodworkers of the World Unite!!! #5

The latest work on our new publication (Feb 1–7)…

Thank you writers and followers — you are the heart of WotWU!!

Thank you all! You honor me by reading, writing and following WotWU. The diversity and beauty of your work is stunning.

If you are reading this, please make sure to follow WotWU. If you are following, please consider writing for us as well. Contact me at [email protected] to become a writer if I haven’t reached out to you.

Last week I published a few prompts and got some woooonderful responses — so let me keep these (newly edited) as my main prompts. I may occasionally have some additional prompts.

• Prompt 1: anything you’ve made. Whether from paper, glass, metal, ceramic, wood, or the heart of neutron stars, please write about, and show (photos, drawings, video) your projects. I will post such stories under the Wood page — please check other stories here for ideas.
• Prompt 2: anything you do. Whether art, craft, career, learning, or being an assassin for the Betelgeuse star-system colonial rebel interim government, please explain how you do what you do. I will post those under the Work page — please check that page for ideas.
• Prompt 3: anything funny, unique, or surprising which will make people stop and savor that moment, like a victim of the Betelgesians who knows their assassins always fail spectacularly and relishes the hilarious unfolding of fate... I will post those under the Wit page.
• Prompt 4: anything about life. Especially about you, your family and friends, or fellow assassins commiserating over botched jobs, things which explain how you navigate the eddies and currents that push and pull us all. I will post those under the Wisdom page.
• Prompt 5: anything poetic, wondrous, and beautiful for beauty’s sake, like the wooden knives Betelgesian assassins use and treasure, I welcome with an open heart and will post on the Wonder page.
• Prompt 6: anything your kids (of any age) make or write or record, except if they are about assassins, I will treasure and post on the Wee Wuns Works page.
• As a special prompt, please see Ben’s story here:

The Humble Home for Wayward Words…

These are the latest stories that y’all have submitted and I am honored to host on WotWU. Please check out your fellow writer’s works, clap (you can give up to 50 claps), and comment. We write to be read, so please support your fellow writers. Since last week’s updates, we have published work by the following:

Gianfranco Vigneri wrote a wise and wonderful piece about breaking down challenges into bite-sized pieces, using appropriately, a culinary analogy:

Patrick M. Ohana continues to be the most prolific WotWU writer with his poems about his love of trees and AIs (I will only link the first three from each writer since the last update — please go to WotWU to read the others):

Jim Mason submitted a reminder to look beneath the surface of the people’s ideas in a wise piece here:

Imad is a first time writer for WotWU who gifted us with a wonderful, personal poem about self-doubt:

David Rudder has also been prolific and submitted several fantastic poems:

Bridget Webber is a first time writer for WotWU and submitted a beautiful poem about her affinity with old oaks:

Michael Burg, MD is also a first time writer for WotWU who wrote a hilarious introduction to his version of shoulda woulda coulda:

Robert Trakofler is yet another new WotWU writer who submitted a beautiful and heartbreaking poem about recycling broken treasures:

Jonah Lightwhale wrote a gorgeous tribute to a wonderful Sardinian singer, transcribing his song into three languages, and included a video of his final performance:

Dr. Jackie Greenwood wrote a fantastic essay about her nominal job as a veterinarian, but really as a humanitarian:

Michele Thomas is a first-time WotWU writer and has given us a much-needed primer on an important self-care method using, of course, wooden brushes:

Sarah Cords gifted us with a very personal invitation to join her and her kids sledding down icy hills between trees and COVID home-schooling lessons:

Shalini C is a first-time writer for WotWU and shared with us a wonderful ode to her old but beloved recliner:

James Goydos, MD is also a first-time WotWU writer who has given us a wonderful insight into why a busy surgeon would enjoy woodworking:

Amy Jasek is another first-time WotWU writer who has given us both a poem and a stunning project using a process called cyanotype:

My son Benjamin submitted an imaginative story about a blacksmith striking out in search of himself:

Andrea Juillerat-Olvera is also a first-time contributor here and has given us a wise and wonderful short story about choices we make:

America Zed is another new WotWU writer who has written a fun, youthful poem with energy bursting from COVID confinement:

Grey Hen With A Pen is a new WotWU writer sharing her life-long commitment to working with wood and passing it on:

Anthi Psomiadou wrote a wonderful response to Ben’s prompt (see Ben’s story above):

Paroma Sen is another first-time WotWU writer who wrote a great essay exploring the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”:

James G Brennan wrote a fantastic poem describing the heart of woodworking, the joinery:

J.D. Harms wrote a beautiful, edgy and personal poem:

Mary Holden wrote a playfully connected poem:

Joseph Lieungh wrote a beautiful response to Ben’s prompt:

And finally, K. Barrett is a new WotWU writer who has written about her own lifelong connection to family and woodworking:

Thank you all for your fantastic stories this past week. I look forward to more from you all.

The writers and followers of our WotWU pub…

We are still a small family here, so I’d like to take a moment to call out the writers and followers. Here are all the WotWU writers:

John Griswold, Herr Jurke, Christopher Anderson, Walkey walkey, Tim Skellett, Matt Ray, Lee Ameka, Johnschlue, Donna L Roberts, PhD (Psych Pstuff), Dhan S, Dan Stout @boxyourbuddy, Venkat, Gerard Doorakkers, Bridget Webber, Madison Hunter, R. Rangan PhD, Frank Sturges, Lori Lamothe, Andrea Juillerat-Olvera, Susannah MacKinnie, Carlos Garbiras, Terry Mansfield, Puzi, kurt gasbarra, The Secret Aspirant, Panos Grigorakakis, Jonah Lightwhale, James G Brennan, Pablo Pereyra, Upasana Sharma, Genius Turner, Skanda Vivek, Anthi Psomiadou, Lucy The Eggcademic (she/her), Shrish Tariq, Jim Mason, Adelia Ritchie, PhD, Nuno Fabiao, JP Popham, William J Spirdione, Vincent Van Patten

Franco Amati, rsteiner, Rozalia Rafailidou, Robin Richey, Patrick M. Ohana, Joanna Vang, un p’tit je ne sais quoi, Paroma Sen, Cocoa Griot, Joseph Lieungh, Shalini C, Padma Bern, Robert Trakofler, SamaFathima, Synthia Satkuna, Jasmine Poulton, Mary Holden, Dandy Lioness, Trisha Traughber, Kevin Jahleel Ishimwe

John Levin, David Rudder, Dr. Jackie Greenwood, Daniel A. Teo, America Zed, Michele Thomas, Melissa Gouty, Mark Starlin, James Knight, Suntonu Bhadra, Gunnar De Winter, Imad, J.D. Harms, Hollie Petit, Ph.D., Alan Cope, Yve Laran, Jean Carfantan, Bill Abbate, R Tsambounieri Talarantas

Sarah Cords, Myriam Ben Salem, Bruce Noll, Amy Jasek, Rebecca Ruth Gould, Muhammad Nasrullah Khan, Christine Sander, Ana-Maria Schweitzer, r.j. quirk, Shanna Loga, Michael Stang, Mia Verita

Michael Burg, MD, James Goydos, MD, Kasun Ranasinghe, Grey Hen With A Pen, Citizen Upgrade, Joshua Gane, K. Barrett

I also want to call out the followers listed below, and say thanks to you as well.

Some of you WotWU followers have stated that you only want to read and are not interested in writing. Others have not yet written anything on Medium (which is fine), so I do not know how to contact you. And of course, there are those I may have forgotten or otherwise neglected to contact… for all of you — I invite you to write to me at [email protected] and let me know if you want to write, remain a reader, or just to say hi (I would like that anyway so I can add you to my WotWU contact list).

So here are the people following WotWU but are not writers, and who I thank for their time and support:

Darrin Atkins, Herr Jurke, Puzi, Shaun Brennan, Sean Griffith, Ackysan, Daniel Probst, Dave Winfield, Nathan Wertman, Dhan S, Aaron Quist, Gerard Doorakkers, Heide Van Voorhis, Karen Downton, Pramiti Secretary, Antonino Sabetta, William Brant, Mrplastik, Franciscohidalgo, R eader, Alan White, Wobbly Jester, Pdimanno, C Balcombe, AccordingTo Joesan, Connie Song, Bella Bello, Leeleeladybug, Bruno Aparecido Barbosa, Dr. Fatima Imam, Araceli Torres, Lacey Weatherall-Andrews, Jerry, David William, Emiko Takeuchi, Don Be

A favor from you all…

Please read and support your fellow writers here. Tweet their stories, post them on your various social media accounts. I try to do that with each new story at WotWU, but I am a social media novice, and could use help from you more seasoned users until I catch up.

Please send me an email so I have you in my contact list — email me at [email protected]

Also, please follow me on the various social platforms so I can prime the media pump and be of more service to you all by broadcasting your stories. These are my accounts:

Medium at https://scienceduuude.medium.com

Twitter at https://twitter.com/DuuudeScience

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sciences.duude.1/

Thank you all for joining my humble home for wayward words. I hope this is a wonderful welcoming place for your stories and your reading pleasure.

From my woody heart to yours,

Science Duuude

P.S.1: A few other duuudely pieces…

I have a few other recent pieces that I wrote for WotWU that I hope you enjoy as a final gift before you go — and also to emphasize the breadth of topics we cover here:

P.S.2: Previous WotWU update letters…

If you want to see the earlier works bundled up and tied with a bow, here are the previous four WotWU summaries: