Commons Minutes for December 2021

December 2021 Minutes • Østgarðr Commons

The December commons meeting was held December 15. Here are the minutes/notes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin and edited by Alienor Salton. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attendance

Present

  • Suuder Saran, Il-Khan
  • Lada Monguligin, Il-Khatun
  • Alienor Salton, Seneschal
  • Francisco de Braga, Exchequer
  • Drasma Dragomira, Herald
  • Catelin Straquhin, Chatelaine 
  • Kunigunde Wedemann, Chancellor Minor 
  • Randve L’il Hammar, MoAS
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Youth Marshal, Whyt Whey Seneschal, Deputy Webminister
  • Friderich Grimme, Webminister
  • Zahra de Andaluzia, Chronicler
  • Albrecht Anker, Social Media
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Historian
  • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
  • Ragnarr bláskegg, Brokenbridge Seneschal, Deputy Seneschal
  • Angelica di Nova Lipa, Deputy Exchequer
  • Brekke Franksdottir
  • Gibbs Moryss
  • Perez ben Meir Gershon
  • Jenna Childslayer
  • Hanya Vladimirovna Polotskaya
  • Edwin de la Torre
  • Berakha bat Mira v’Shlomo
  • Simon the Tanner
  • Richard the Poor
  • Iola Wulfsdotter

Provincial Commons, Wed. Dec. 15th

Commons tomorrow(!) evening. Please join us! We will announce the results of our seneschal election, affirm our new and returning officers, and thank our outgoing officers for their service. Also on the agenda, upcoming events! A spring cornucopia of offerings, with plenty of opportunities for volunteering.

You may join our regularly scheduled 3rd Wednesday of the month social and business Google Meet by web browser, by app, or by plain old telephone. Here is the link for the meeting: https://meet.google.com/nhu-qsgk-zzi

Call begins at 7pm, business meeting will be called to order at 7:30pm. Socializing will continue after the meeting.

Officers, please submit your reports before the meeting!

Seneschal election for 2022-2023 term

Alec MacLachlan and Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi are our candidates for seneschal. Their letters of intent, included below, were read into the minutes at the October Commons.

Alec MacLachlan

Hi,

I would like to be considered as a candidate for Seneschal of Ostgardr.

In addition to being the Acting Seneschal for the Province, I was also the Seneschal of An Dubhaigeainn and for Hawkes Reache for several years.

Please let me know if you would like a more formal and detailed letter outlining my experience and commitment to this position.

Thank you.

In Service,

Alexander MacLachlan

Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, known as Uji

Greetings Officers of the Crown Province of Østgarðr,

It is my intent to offer myself, Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, as candidate for Seneschal of our beloved Østgarðr. I have served as seneschal of Lions End since 7/20/2018. I have been a feastocrat on a few occasions, run cooking and brewing workshops, and successfully stewarded a demo in Farmingdale.

In mundane life, I worked in a gaming store, and run many gaming tournaments, the largest one had 85 participants. In college, I was president of several clubs. I can grab the attention of a crowd and keep a meeting focused.

As Østgarðr Seneschal, I will keep the ship sailing smoothly. My intent is to continue the excellence of the office that my predecessor, Hlæfdige Alienor Salton accomplished. I also intend to ramp up promotion of the SCA and get more younger members to join our ranks.

To see a list of all my activities in the SCA, please visit https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=Nagashima_Ichiro_Ujimichi. Thank you and best of luck to all the candidates.

In Service to the Dream,

Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi
長島 一路 宇治道
Lions End Seneschal

Q&A session

At the November Commons, an extended question and answer session was held, covering topics such as how will you run the commons meetings, whether to continue meeting virtually or move to a hybrid format, how to avoid dropping the balls on items discussed at the meetings, and so on. To ask them any questions you have thought of after the meeting, please email Alec at 53751@members.eastkingdom.org and Uji at seneschal@lionsend.eastkingdom.org

Meeting opened to both candidates for statements.

Alec: I think at this time we need an experienced seneschal. Especially with events including royal progress, and Covid on top. People might be interested in reviving Northpass. The possibility of Whyt Whey going dormant if nobody else steps up as seneschal. I was seneschal of Hawks Reach for about eight years. I’ve been involved in the province for a long time.

Held positions of chatelaine and chronicler.

Recruitment is something we have to look at going forward. Caitlin has been doing a great job.

Uji: For those who don’t know me that well, I started in the SCA twenty six years ago, came in interested in brewing and archery, have pursued cooking and brewing. A few years ago, Lions End was in danger of going dormant and I thought that would be a step back that might be hard to recover from. I was deputy seneschal for a week and tapped to step up into the position. Lions End is relatively quiet and unassuming, we typically have two events a year, one schola and one demo. We’ve had great success with both of them, and boosted our bank account balance. I’m strongly in favor of promotion of the SCA and getting new people in; promotion, marketing, and recruitment has a negative connotation but it’s important . I’ve had success as seneschal, I’ve managed kitchens, I’ve run meetings for clubs outside the SCA. I look forward to getting to know people better.

Friderich: if you’re not selected as seneschal, would you serve as emergency deputy for the other?

Uji: yes

Alec: Yes.

Albrecht: are you willing to embrace the digital and hybrid format that we’re using?

Uji: Yes, i’m a big fan of electronic communication, and whatever it takes to get the word out about who we are. I’ve been encouraging people to get their EK Wiki pages together and have been assisting people with that.

Alec: Yes, we should explore everything. I’m not the most tech-savvy person but I’ll depend on the technical people to make sure that things are running smoothly.

Lada: How would you describe your management style, especially regarding running meetings?

Uji: I tend to be organized, I’ll tend to set an agenda, starting with old business before new business. I’ve used Robert’s Rules of Order to great benefit. I try to make sure we have an orderly meeting. Joking is good, but we need to get business done.

Alec: you saw how I ran things when I was acting seneschal a couple of years ago. I like the way Piglet sends out officer reports in advance. I like to have a clear idea of the progress and will grill people as needed.

Ragnar: what are your thoughts about the current format for meetings?

Alec: I like the current format, especially with the cold weather. I’d like to eventually return to in-person meetings, but I’d like to incorporate virtual meetings. But I’ll hold off on that until people are comfortable gathering in person.

Uji: These Google Meet meetings have been excellent. But I miss in-person meetings. If and when we move to in-person meetings we’d do it as a hybrid meeting to allow online participation by people who can’t be there in person.

Friderich: Speaking as someone for whom the virtual meetings have been a boon, I’ve found that hybrid meetings are challenging as the folks who are online are excluded.

Alec: I’ve been thinking we need a moderator who keeps track of the chat, so that people who are online don’t get drowned out. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s worth a try.

Uji: The social media officer might be a good choice to fill the moderator role for a hybrid meeting. We’d make an effort to give the floor to folks who are online.

Berakha: Attending in-person meetings is a challenge, so I’d like to add my voice to the folks who are concerned about virtual meetings. Sorry for beating a dead horse.

Uji: this isn’t a dead horse. It’s important that everyone in a meeting gets to have a voice.

Friderich: we might look into wide-angle web-cam and a cheap screen, so that the in-person people and the online people can see each other.

Kunigunde: As someone who lives in the north, any trip that involves going to the city limits is a big effort. And as a newcomer, this format has helped me get to know a lot of new people. For previous hybrid meetings, the folks who were online had trouble connecting to the people in-person. When my kids had the choice of in-person or hybrid school, the kids who were online were left out.

Sofya: In the past, under previous seneschals, we’ve had issues where ideas got brought up but then dropped. What strategies will you use to ensure that things that are brought up get kept though to the next meeting?

Uji: I had a good discussion with the current seneschal about what it takes to do her job and how much time it requires. I would continue the example she’s set.

Alec: I’d continue to keep collecting officers’ reports in person, and I take my own notes during the meeting. But we’re not such a big group that people can’t come up to me and raise issues to ensure they’re not dropped.

Jenna: While I like in-person meetings, given that we’re now meeting on Wednesday’s, logistically that’s a nightmare. Alternately, if we move to Friday nights we exclude a bunch of people on religious grounds.

Friderich: if the majority of people said they wanted to maintain an online format, would you consider that or is hybrid something you definitely want to pursue?

Alec: I’d like to try hybrid, but if it doesn’t work we’ll switch back. We’ll have to play it by ear. I know that traveling has a price in time and travel costs.

Uji: After hearing people’s concerns, perhaps the online format is the way to go if the majority wants to continue that. We could bring it to a vote if folks want to switch, but I’d stick to online for now.

Garrath: A possible option is to have a online business commons and a rotating site in-person social commons as seem to be the two sections of a typical commons.

Ragnarr: How is the voting going to work?

Alienor: there will be a google form open through Dec 14

Mathghamhain: or any option approved for officer communication, such as email or hand delivery of written ballots to the seneschal.

Lada: please remind the populace of who is eligible to vote.

“The Officers Council and those in the Membership who are at least fourteen years of age are eligible to vote…” — Charter V.I.3.

Voting form

Please select your choice for seneschal for the 2022-2023 term using this Google form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1U_OuNgq8oxKriAZjy5s0suCdav2W2Otk26_fSz5-Qdw/viewform Voting closes at midnight on December 14th, 2021.

Commons minutes for November 2021

November 2021 Minutes • Østgarðr Commons

The November commons meeting was held November 17. Here are the minutes/notes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin and edited by Alienor Salton. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attendance

Present

  • Suuder Saran, Il-Khan
  • Lada Monguligin, Il-Khatun
  • Alienor Salton, Seneschal, Social Media
  • Francisco de Braga, Exchequer
  • Drasma Dragomira, Herald
  • Kunigunde Wedemann, Chancellor Minor 
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Youth Marshal, Whyt Whey Seneschal, Deputy Webminister
  • Marion of York, Minister of Lists
  • Friderich Grimme, Webminister
  • Zahra de Andaluzia, Chronicler
  • Albrecht Anker, Social Media Coordinator
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Historian
  • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
  • Ragnarr bláskegg, Brokenbridge Seneschal, Deputy Seneschal
  • Angelica di Nova Lipa, Deputy Exchequer
  • Brekke Franksdottir
  • Gibbs Moryss
  • Perez ben Meir Gershon
  • Jenna Childslayer
  • Oliver de Bainbrig
  • Hanya Vladimirovna Polotskaya
  • Edwin de la Torre
  • Berakha bat Mira v’Shlomo
  • Aurora ffolkes
  • Robyn of Østgarðr 
  • Marin il Gondolier
  • Garrath of Arden
  • Simon the Tanner

Volunteer opportunity: Social Media Officer

As you may have read in our recent Commons minutes, we have a new provincial officer position: Social Media Officer. Albrecht Anker has kindly taken up the new position. As with all our offices, his term ends at the end of this year. If you are interested in running for this office, please submit your letter of intent by the November provincial commons (Wednesday, Nov. 17th). If more than one person volunteers for the office, it will be included in our upcoming December elections.

The job of the social media officer is to ensure that our social media complies with the new Social Media Handbook from the Society. The social media team will continue managing their respective channels, and will be responsible for the content therein.

Provincial Commons, Wed. Nov. 17th

Please join us for our regularly scheduled 3rd Wednesday of the month social and business meeting! We gather using Google Meet, which you may join by web browser, by app, or by plain old telephone. Here is the link for the meeting: https://meet.google.com/nhu-qsgk-zzi

Call begins at 7pm, business meeting will be called to order at 7:30pm. Business will include meet the candidates for seneschal, letters of intent for our new social media officer position, and upcoming events within the province.

Officers, please submit your reports before the meeting!

Commons minutes for October 2021

October 2021 Minutes • Østgarðr Commons

The October commons meeting was held October 20. Here are the minutes/notes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin  and edited by Alienor Salton. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attendance

Present

  • Suuder Saran, Il-Khan
  • Lada Monguligin, Il-Khatun
  • Alienor Salton, Seneschal, Social Media
  • Francisco de Braga, Exchequer
  • Drasma Dragomira, Herald
  • Catelin Straquhin, Chatelaine 
  • Kunigunde Wedemann, Chancellor Minor 
  • Ervald LaCoudre, Armored Combat Marshal
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Youth Marshal, Whyt Whey Seneschal, Deputy Webminister
  • Marion of York, Minister of Lists
  • Friderich Grimme, Webminister
  • Zahra al-Andalusiyya, Chronicler
  • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
  • Ragnarr bláskegg, Brokenbridge Seneschal, Deputy Seneschal
  • Brekke Franksdottir
  • Richard the Poor
  • Gibbs Moryss
  • John of Østgarðr 
  • Perez ben Meir Gershon
  • Albrecht Anker
  • Jenna Childslayer
  • Oliver de Bainbrig
  • Hanya Vladimirovna Polotskaya
  • Edwin de la Torre
  • Belle-Assez Bat Samson
  • Berakha bat Mira v’Shlomo

Provincial Commons, Wed. Oct 20th

Commons will be Wednesday, October 20th, via our usual Google Meet channel.  Join us online: https://meet.google.com/nhu-qsgk-zzi or dial in (audio only): ‪(US) +1 402-364-0138‬ PIN: ‪616 864 602#‬  Call begins at 7pm.  Meeting will convene at 7:30.

Topics will include letters of intent from current officers running for re-election and from new volunteers for open positions.

Officers, please submit your reports (and your letters of intent, if your term is ending and you are interested in retaining your position!) before the meeting.

Candidates for seneschal, please submit your letters of intent!!

Commons Minutes for September 2021

September 2021 Minutes • Østgarðr Commons

The September commons meeting was held September 15. Here are the minutes/notes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin and edited by Alienor Salton. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attendance

Present

  • Lada Monguligin, Il-Khatun
  • Alienor Salton, Seneschal
  • Francisco de Braga, Exchequer
  • Drasma Dragomira, Herald
  • Catelin Straquhin, Chatelaine 
  • Kunigunde Wedemann, Chancellor Minor 
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Youth Marshal, Deputy Webminister, Whyt Whey Seneschal
  • Marion of York, Minister of Lists
  • Friderich Grimme, Webminister
  • Zahra al-Andalusiyya, Chronicler
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Historian
  • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
  • Ragnarr bláskegg, Brokenbridge Seneschal, Deputy Seneschal
  • Angelica di Nova Lipa, Deputy Exchequer
  • Aurora ffolkes
  • Brekke Franksdottir
  • Richard the Poor
  • Gibbs Moryss
  • Perez ben Meir Gershon
  • Albrecht Anker
  • Jenna Childslayer
  • Oliver de Bainbrig
  • Hanya Vladimirovna Polotskaya
  • Edwin de la Torre

Provincial Officer Elections 2021

The following provincial officer positions are up for election: Seneschal, Herald, Webminister, Historian, and Fencing Marshal. Each officer is elected for a two year term. Herald, Webminister, Historian, and Fencing Marshal all have incumbents who may choose to run again. Seneschal is term-limited and requires a new person shouldering the mantle.

Letters of intent from incumbents and new candidates are due by next provincial commons, Oct. 20th. For any positions which have multiple contenders, the populace will have an opportunity to meet the candidates at our November 17th commons. Voting (via a Google form) will conclude before our December 15th commons, where the results will be announced. Positions which have a single volunteer will be affirmed at the December 15th commons.

Below are the job descriptions as provided by our Vicereine. Please feel free to reach out to the current office holders with any questions about what the job entails.

Seneschal: Chief administrative officer of a branch, responsible for day-to-day overall smooth running of the Province. Current office holder Hlæfdige Alienor Salton.

Herald: The office of the herald is two parts: 1. voice herald responsible for running Provincial Court and filing reports after each court, and 2. helping members of the populace submit names and heraldic devices. You do not have to be able to do both and can have a deputy to help with one or the other. Current office holder Dama Drasma Dragomira.

Historian: Keeping and maintaining detailed records of the history of the Crown Province of Ostgardr. Current office holder Mistress Sofya Gianetta di Trieste.

Webminister: Maintain and update the Provincial website and email lists. Current office holder Lord Friderich Grimme.

Fencing Marshal: Oversee fencing activity in the Province. Current office holder Lord Alexander MacLachlan.