Posted inCommons

Commons Minutes for February 2020

March 21, 2020

The monthly commons meeting was held February 21 at the New Rochelle Public Library in Northpass. Here are the minutes as recorded by Þórfinn Hróðgeirsson and edited by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin. The officers’ reports are attached at the end.

Attendance

Present

  • Lada Monguligin, Il-Khatun
  • Suuder Saran, Il-Khan
  • Francisco de Braga, Exchequer
  • Drasma Dragomira, Herald
  • Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya, Chatelaine 
  • Þorfinnr Hróðgeirsson, MoAS
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal
  • Marion of York, Minister of Lists
  • Anne of Østgarðr, Webminister
  • Zahra al-Andalusiyya, Chronicler
  • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
  • Oliver de Bainbrig
  • Esnede O Murrin
  • Thomas of Northpass
  • Perez Ben Meir Gershon
  • Marion of York

Online/By Phone

  • Tanaka Raiko
  • Ragnarr Bliskegg

Absent Officers

  • Alienor “Piglet” Salton, Seneschal
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Youth Marshal
  • Arnora Ketilsdottir, Chancellor Minor 
  • Ervald LaCoudre, Armored Combat Marshal
  • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir, Archery Marshal
  • Ian of Clan Mitchell, Chamberlain
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Historian
  • Vika Grigina z Prahy, Whyt Whey Seneschal
  • Brandr Aronsson, Brokenbridge Seneschal

Opening 

  • Called to order at 8:06 pm.
  • Vicereine: Thanks to Al for providing the space today, and to Oliver for the food.
  • We’ll have a presentation from Sir Tanka about social media before moving to the normal meeting agenda.
    • [Notes from this discussion will be posted separately.]

Officer Deputy Positions

  • Vicereine: Officers and officer deputies: who has or is looking for deputies. If you’re looking to be an officer in the province or canton, this is a great opportunity.
  • Drasma: I’ve been trying to reach out to Ragnarr about serving as deputy herald.
    • Ragnar: Hello, I’ll give you my contact information so we can follow up after the call.
    • Drasma: He has the skill set so I reached out. With heraldry, more help is great. If you want to see how to do submissions, or anything else, we’ll find something for you to do.
  • Alec: I’ve got a fencing marshall in training who might be my deputy.
    • Anne: That’s me, might do it once I finish training in a few months.
  • Uji: Iola apparently expressed interest at a meeting in being a deputy seneschal for Lion’s End. I’ll be following up. I plan to rule until I die.
    • Lada: Let’s avoid that.
  • Marion: Perez had talked to me at the last meeting about us learning the Lists job  together.
    • Perez: I’m interested but need to understand the time commitment. Won’t commit unless I can do this.
  • Anne: Mathghamhain is deputy webminister but I’d like more because he has lots of demands on his time. Email me webminister@ostgardr.eastkingdom.org
    • Lada: How tech savvy do you need to be to be a deputy webminister?
    • Anne: You have to be able to use WordPress. Not sure if that’s a barrier. I can explain things to you. Also need to do email things. I’d like additional help especially around posting round-up posts about events happening in the region. These are sometimes late and I’d like one additional person to help out so they are not late.
  • Thorfinn: No arts-and-sciences deputies. If someone has arts connections or otherwise wants to help, let me know. I need an emergency deputy.
    • [Name Not Recorded]: I could be the emergency deputy for A&S.
  • Laila: I have one deputy chatelaine, want more. Chatelaining is a job where more people means more contacts. I’m at most of the meetings but in Delaware for the bardic championships
  • Zahra: No deputy chronicler. If you want to help, let me know.
    • Anne: What do you do?
    • Zahra: I run the E-horse, the electronic news source. It’s quarterly. Goes out by email, every 3 months. Recaps things that have happened, upcoming events, but mostly stuff that’s happened.
    • Perez: what platform?
    • Zahra: I use Mac Pages, make a PDF, send it as an email attachment to a mailing list.
  • Francisco: There is no deputy exchequer. If anybody is interested, I do the bookkeeping, which is a large Excel sheet. Angelica is my emergency deputy.
    • Thomas: Had a possible candidate here in Northpass, Caleb the Woodpecker. He’s interested in the position. Maybe you could talk since he lives near you, especially so he can be trained in the Østgardr method. He’s also the financial-aid person for a community college, so he’s not clueless.
  • Lada: I’m not sure if we have a deputy seneschal. If you want to help, talk to Piglet.

Northpass Gear

  • Vicereine: Next up for discussion is Northpass inventory and storage solutions. 
    • Piglet retrieved the known supplies of Northpass gear, which was a lot more than she expected. This stuff is currently in a 4x6x8’ storage unit. 
    • [**passes around a dramatic photo, it’s very full and dramatic**] 
    • She needs help with volunteers to sort and label these things, and then a longer-term storage solution. This also might not be all of it.
  • Esnede: I have two boxes of Northpass stuff.
  • Thomas: Would you say this would fit in a 4’x8’ trailer?  Or the back of a pickup truck?
    • Lada: Piglet brought it in a cargo van.
  • Thomas: If we got a storage bin and it was small enough, who would take up the tab for it?  We have a site in Yorktown which might be as low as $38/mo or $54/mo. How to proceed?
    • Lada: We need exact price quotes with exact sizes. I also don’t know how stackable this stuff is.
    • Thomas: If you’re familiar with Storage Post, it has a ceiling. They put storage bins above on the roof, but you have to use a ladder.
    • Lada: $50/mo is cheaper than right now. Getting it into the local area is more important.
    • Francisco: There are local places that are $90-100/mo
  • Lada: The goal is to inventory and move it out by mid-March when the rent expires. If you folks up here are willing to come down to Piglet and do the inventory, then you’ll know what stuff we have. As far as the tab, it’s a provincial expense for now.
    • Francisco: This was a short-term choice, the current storage is in Manhattan.
    • Thomas: Also, a lot of this stuff was donated, but some of it might not be needed and need to be stored anymore, like old pieces of wood.
    • Anne: Let’s discuss this during inventory.
    • Lada: So, volunteer, help Piglet.

Upcoming Events

Bear’s Tavern 

  • Lada: Where are we, what do you need, how sold out are we?
    • Oliver: Tom is the autocrat. I sent Piglet a request for feast gear, not sure when we’ll get that. Attendance is good, we’re about at the break-even. On the day-of we’ll get 6-15 day-trippers too. Event will go well, we just need the feast gear
    • Thomas: We need some things…
    • Suuder: Most feast gear is in my storage, we’ll get it to you.

Possible Demo

  • Laila: I had someone who contacted me about doing a classroom demo at a program for developmentally disabled adults. 
    • In Westchester, no date yet. We can set the date. They’re open 10am-3pm five days per week, so it’d be a weekday during business hours. 
  • Laila: They’re willing to pay but we don’t know how much to ask.
    • Esnede: Ask for a donation of what they think your value is
    • Francisco: Don’t make it free they won’t value you
    • Sudder: It depends on the group. We’ve bartered for space. There are two demos we get paid for: Fort Tryon and Owl’s Head. Owl’s Head we split with Brokenbridge. Group is small, they throw $400 at the whole group.
    • Thorfinn: Fort Tryon is $300 but apparently we should ask for more… we just cover costs.
    • Uji: Lion’s End’s Farmingdale demo is $500 or so.
  • [Name Not Recorded]: Do we have or need liability insurance for this?
  • Laila: If we get at least a hundred would we get people willing to demo?  
    • Esnede: I’m interested
    • Lada: We might be able to get interest but we need a date.

Other Upcoming Events

  • Lada: Brewer’s Collegium is scheduled for May 1 – May 3.
  • Uji: For Spring Schola we have a site, we need feedback from Østgardr’s bardic champion about a theme.
  • Lada: Not sure if the Viking Day Demo is happening, will know after this weekend’s Brokenbridge meeting.
  • Lada: Looking further ahead…
    • The Farmingdale demo is coming, have rain date.
    • Barleycorn will be on Labor Day weekend.
    • Queens County Farm demo is September 19-20.
    • Fort Tryon demo, probably September 27th
    • Goat’s Tavern on October 16–18
  • Lada: Date for the Queer Schola was shifted, but now the calendar is full; not sure what we’re doing with that.
    • Anne: Do we have an update from the event steward?
    • Lada: I’ll work on that, I have more info.
  • Uji: What about the An Dubh-Østgardr challenge?
    • Suuder: We’re booking the Veteran’s Memorial Park site this weekend, then will put in the budget afterwards. 
    • Anne: So it’s not transit accessible?
    • Lada: We’ll do shuttles, carpooling.

Bylaws Proposals

  • Lada: There are two proposals for amendments to the bylaws.
    • 1. Wording change to be clear about not specifying canton seneschal terms.
    • 2. Align voting minimum age to 14 as in EK law.
  • Lada: To pass these, we need a majority of officers. We have at least ten here today, does that meet our requirement for a quorum?
    • [Discussion about quorum.]
  • Vote: Amendment #1 passes unanimously
  • Vote: Amendment #2 passes unanimously

Officer Report Highlights

  • Zahra: Deadline for submission to March 1 E-horse is Feb 25. Specifically looking for shout-outs, art, and arts & schola
  • Alec: I have the additional paperwork to submit a background check to become a fencing marshal for minors. 
  • We had to cancel the last few weeks of practice at Manhattanville, but I’ll check this week to see what’s going on.
  • Uji: For Spring Schola, we’re looking for donations for the silent auction and people to teach classes.
  • For the Farmingdale demo, we’re looking for a fair complement of fighters and demo-ers, as well as any vendors who want to come in and can demo period crafts.
  • Lada: Personal note, we’re getting married at the end of may, will be out at the end of June. Please be patient because we’ve got a lot going on. We’re not getting married at an event.

Closing

  • Meeting closed at 9:29 pm.

Officer Reports

Viceregents • Suuder Saran & Lada Monguligin

Interbaronial Largess Challenge: Our cousins have come up with a wonderful idea that all East Kingdom Baronies and of course the Crown Province are participating in: a largess exchange. This is a unique opportunity for our artisans and crafters to showcase their skills to reaches of the East Kingdom that their work may not usually be seen in. The idea is that Baronies will be paired up oldest to newest (We will probably have Buckland Cross, pending confirmation) and we create 12 pieces of largess for them and they create 12 pieces for us. The exchange will happen at Runnymede dinner at Pennsic. We will share more info as soon as it becomes available.

Social Media: If you would like to have any activities posted to our official channels please let Lada know. 

Guest Speaker: Please welcome our guest speaker Sir Tanaka Raiko. He is a resident of the Shire of Rusted Woodlands. He has an extensive SCA resume and is knowledgeable in areas of SCA recruitment and marketing. We have him on call with us tonight to discuss how to maximize our recruitment and retention tactics to help us grow as a group. Please read some of his notes on the topic to help develop questions for the meeting:

  • https://www.facebook.com/notes/tanaka-raiko/questions-chatelaine-marshals-should-be-asking-new-people-if-you-want-to-drive-y/2758255654253924/
  • https://www.facebook.com/notes/tanaka-raiko/the-new-person-interview/2721836681229155/

These are both public and you should be able to access them without having to have a Facebook account per se.

Seneschal • Alienor Salton

Northpass Gear: After the Canton of Northpass was suspended this fall, their former chamberlain asked Kingdom how to handle the Northpass gear. Kingdom instructed him to transfer it into Østgarðr custody for safekeeping during the suspension. Friderich holds the archery gear purchased by the canton and some of their feast consumables. He has rendered a detailed accounting of the items and their use, and remains their custodian for the benefit of our members in Westchester and Putnam counties. i have taken into my care a significant amount of Northpass equipment which did not have a detailed inventory associated with it. It is currently in a dedicated 4x6x8′ storage unit at Manhattan Mini-Storage, W107th St. at Columbus Ave. I need to inventory the items in the unit and identify appropriate longer-term storage locations, before the end of the storage month (mid-March). Assistance with taking the inventory and with re-locating the items into suitable storage would be greatly appreciated.

By-laws Proposals: We will be taking a vote on the two bylaws amendments proposed and discussed at last month’s commons.

Social Media Promotion & Recruitment Strategies: Tanaka Raiko will be joining us for a presentation on social media promotion & recruitment. He suggests one way to gauge our recruiting strategy effectiveness is with welcome interviews. He will be sharing tips on how to do that. The presentation is geared to our chatelaines, our marshals, our A&S organizers and anyone else doing social media or talking to potential new members on behalf of the group.

Exchequer • Francisco de Braga

Q4 reporting has been submitted.

All reimbursement, refund, etc. Checks for EK Twelfth Night has all been issued. I believe event documentation is now complete.

Checks for 2020 Site pre-registration for Bears Tavern, Brew U, Goats Tavern & Barleycorn have been issued and some cashed by the site(s) already.

Herald • Drasma Dragomira

The Februrary 1st quarterly report was filed with kingdom.

Several members of the populace have reached out this month for name and/or armory submission help, and the requests are in various states of completion. I thank Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin for his work and help on a number of these submissions. 

The resubmission of the Sea-Urchin badge is still a work-in-progress, but there has been progress. 

Chatelaine • Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya

I’ve had contact with 3 new people in the Crown Province this month, and I have been answering questions and helping them find events/practices/etc. to attend. I’ve also been contacted about a school demo, which I think we should talk about during the meeting on Friday.

Chancellor Minor • Arnora Ketilsdottir

I’ve got nothing. I’ve started coordinating toddler activities for pennsic though.

Arts & Sciences • Þorfinn Hróðgeirsson

Province trips are planned: to the brooklyn museum March 1; to the Met March 15. I’ve posted these to facebook and will be posting to the ostgardr email list shortly.

No updates on surveying the populace for arts teaching / learning interest.

A&S Championships are the 29th near New Haven, which is day-trippable on commuter rail.  There are Østgarðr locals entering, please come support and learn from everyone!

Armored Combat • Ervald LaCoudre

Fighter practice at the Manhattanville Community Center has been very sparsely attended. UIt seems that most of the folks who were coming to the practices in Brookkyn find coming to that particular location in Manhattan. Additionally, the last two weeks the site has been under renovations.

We should be back in action there next week, and I will keep it going there for two more weeks, and then we will move back to McCarren Park in Brooklyn.

There was one Saturday practice in a different park in Brooklyn that I hear went very well, no injuries. There is interest in a monthly-or-so weekend practice, on weekends that don’t conflict with big local fighting events.

I will be digging out and reassembling the loaner armor that I have over the next month. I am looking for someone who can babysit it and bring to practices when necessary.

Also… Due to my recently changed relationship with Sussman Automatic, I will need an insurance certificate to continue holding meetings, workshops, etc there. This should not be a problem, so please let me know what meetings, workships, etc you want to hold there.

Artists & Craftsmen store across the street very much wants to host arts & crafts workshops. Please let me know if anyone wants to hold any there.

Archery • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir

No report submitted.

Fencing • Alec MacLachlan

Fencing started up again 4 weeks ago at the Manhattanville Community Center.  There were two of us there the first week, and four the second week. We’ve stopped for the last two weeks due to the center being renovated.

Youth Combat • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

There has been no local youth combat activity this month. We did go up to Birka and assist there, and we’re looking forward to Mudthaw next month. 

Minister of Lists • Marion of York

No report submitted.

Webminister • Anne of Østgarðr 

Nothing to report from Webminister. Also no progress on Native Land Acknowledgement.

Chronicler • Zahra al-Andalusiyya

No report submitted.

Chamberlain • Ian of Clan Mitchell

No report submitted.

Historian • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste

Nothing to report this month.

Whyt Whey • Vika Grigina z Prahy

This month’s Solar was on sourcing fabric & fiber for projects.  Your humble correspondent promises to post the class notes soon, honest.

March’s Solar topic is not yet determined.  (If anyone would like to come into town & teach, please let me know!)

Lions End • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi

No report submitted.

Brokenbridge • Brandr Aronsson

Deck the Halls of Valhalla is year 4 was a great success. Ragarr Blisskegg did a fantastic job as event Steward and was inducted into the order of the Sea Dog for service to the canton. 

Our next commons will be Sunday 2/23. For our Arts & Sciences class the wonderful Anna Petrovicheva will be teaching! February’s class: “Pattern darning/Counted satin” Embroidery.