Posted inCommons

Commons Minutes for October 2020

October 27, 2020

The October commons meeting was held October 16th. Here are the minutes/notes as recorded by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, 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
  • Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya, Chatelaine 
  • Þorfinn Hróðgeirsson, MoAS
  • Alec MacLachlan, Fencing Marshal
  • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, Youth Marshal, Deputy Webminister
  • Anne of Østgarðr, Webminister
  • Zahra al-Andalusiyya, Chronicler
  • Vika Grigina z Prahy, Whyt Whey Seneschal
  • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi, Lions End Seneschal
  • Hanya Vladimirovna Polotskaya
  • Edwin de la Torre
  • Oliver de Bainbrig
  • Friderich Grimme
  • Isabel of Østgarðr 
  • Jenna Childslayer
  • Rónán fitz Robert 
  • Aurora ffolkes
  • Richard the Poor of Ely

Absent Officers

  • Arnora Ketilsdottir, Chancellor Minor 
  • Ervald LaCoudre, Armored Combat Marshal
  • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir, Archery Marshal
  • Marion of York, Minister of Lists
  • Ian of Clan Mitchell, Chamberlain
  • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, Historian
  • Brandr Aronsson, Brokenbridge Seneschal

Opening 

  • Called to order at 8:03pm.

Officer Report Items For Discussion

  • Mistress Medhbh, East Kingdom Seneschal, will be joining our *NOVEMBER COMMONS* (Nov. 20th, 8pm, same Meet link) to answer questions about prospects for the future of our northern counties. By then we’ll have a decision from the board. Officers, please note that November’s meeting will be an official commons, with officer reports and minutes, etc.  Our December commons will be a social gathering with no official attendance required.  [Ed. — the Canton of Northpass was dissolved at the Oct. 25th SCA Board of Directors meeting.]
  • Seneschal proposes we schedule our commons other than on Friday nights, to accommodate more of our members.  Summary of points made in the discussion:  “We were originally specifically on Fridays because travel can take a long time. But since we’ve moved strongly to virtual meetings, maybe this gives us more flexibility.”  Something to consider for the future, when in-person meetings are again an option, is that “Meetings that are purely virtual work more smoothly than those that are partially in person and partially virtual” but we don’t have to decide that now.  “Friday is awkward socially. Travel is bad enough coming from Manhattan, must be worse for folks further out of the center.”  Our Exchequer points out that we normally have financial committee meetings after commons — consensus was those can be held in breakout rooms or in a separate Meet, after which committee members may re-join the commons Meet to continue socializing.  Seneschal will poll the populace for which weeknight, which week of the month, how people feel about doing virtual meetings.  We will not re-schedule the November commons.
  • Oliver presented a set of bids for in-person events to be held at Blue Mountain Lodge in 2021:  Bear’s Tavern March 5-7, Ragamuffin’s Ball May 14-16, Ragamuffin’s Ball II August 6-8, Feast of John Barleycorn Sept. 10-12 (at Veterans Memorial Park), Goat’s Tavern Oct. 22-24.  After an Extensive and Vigorous discussion of the risks of meeting in-person during a pandemic, the timing of Barleycorn vs. Ducal Challenge, a practical discussion of the financials of rolling over deposits already filed with the relevant Parks Depts. for events canceled in 2020, and similar concerns, we agreed by consensus on four of the events and with a vote [quorum present, majority in favor] on the August event as follows:  We will not schedule the March or May events.  We will tentatively schedule the August event, re-visiting the decision at February provincial commons to cancel if the pandemic conditions are not promising.  We will schedule the Sept. and Oct. events with the understanding that they may be canceled closer to the event if conditions are not favorable.  Lada and Suuder will confer with Brennan and Caoilfhionn on the timing of Barleycorn to avoid conflict with Ducal Challenge in mid-September.
  • Seneschal needs a deputy.  Alec and Oliver both volunteered, however her goal for this position is to widen the talent pool of seneschals within the province.  Both Alec and Oliver already have the relevant experience — Alec as her deputy last year and Oliver as canton seneschal for Northpass (all canton seneschals are deputy seneschals for the province).  Seneschal thanks them both for their previous service and for their willingness to step up again.  [Ed.  Catelin Straquhin has volunteered to be her deputy.  Huzzah!]
  • Lada requests photos for the Østgarðr Instagram feed.  Jenna offers photos of her cordial making process.  Other participants mentioned interesting heraldry, photos in garb, photos of projects such as Hanya’s astounding Russian embroidery, etc.  Instagram is best with engaging visual stories.
  • Chronicler:  Next issue goes out December 1. Send in images and text and other things to include.
  • Laila: Opera del Este, the East’s early-opera company, is planning a virtual oratorio in early August 2021, video auditions in a few months. You don’t have to be an opera singer to be involved, lots of other ways to get involved.
  • Friderich: next Sunday the 25th of Oct, Mistress Alys’s Shakespeare Company [Temperance Drinkwater Compagnie] is doing a gender-swapped performance of Henry V on Zoom. Lilie is performing, as is our former Viceroy Alexander, Vicereine Eularia, Dame Judith.  [Ed. — YouTube of this performance highly recommended and can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/0BujPwvwhhI]
  • Seneschal’s proposal to transfer the banner bearing the ancient and honorable arms of Whyt Whey was accepted.  Banner will be given into the keeping of our Chamberlain for storage alongside the other provincial gear, available for display by those no longer in the canton yet still resident in the province who think of it fondly.
  • Suggestion that we as members of the province fundraise for the Edward F. Morrill scholarship at the Brooklyn Children’s Theater was met with general approbation.  Lada suggested that we use the platform that East Kingdom scribes used for the scribal auction, which worked well and looked like it was easy to use: https://betterworld.org/   We need a volunteer to run the auction!  And, obviously, items for bidding.

Items of Interest from the Populace

  • Jenna: hosting a SCA 101 class, Sunday, 2:30 Google Meet. Invite newcomers. Old hands also welcome to kibitz, show off garb, etc.
  • Ronan: we got permission to do archery practice at the range behind my house. Next will be a week from Saturday. No more than two archers at a time, one-hour blocks. Masked up going to and from the range. Shooting positions separated by plastic dividers. No travel from out-of-state; fellow NYers are welcome.

Upcoming Events/Activities

Sponsored by Østgarðr 

Of interest to the populace

Upcoming Commons Meetings

  • November 20 [official]
  • December 18 [social]
  • January TBD [official]

Closing

  • Meeting closed at 9:27pm.

Links Contributed in Chat

Viceregents • Suuder Saran & Lada Monguligin

Lada: I am looking for some fun art to post on our Instagram. Events and activities work well on Facebook, but Instagram is really best with engaging visual stories.

Seneschal • Alienor Salton

1.  Mistress Medhbh, East Kingdom Seneschal, will be joining us *NOVEMBER COMMONS* (Nov. 20th, 8pm, same Meet link) to answer questions about prospects for the future of our northern counties.  Officers, please note that November’s meeting will be an official commons, with officer reports and minutes, etc.  Our December commons will be a social gathering with no official attendance required.

2.  Should we reserve sites to host in-person events in 2021?  Bids for events in our northern counties have been submitted.  We will discuss their feasibility at this Friday’s meeting.

3.  The Feast of Three Princes (November 8th, https://ostgardr.eastkingdom.org/three-princes/) planning is coming along beautifully.  We will have an update from the event steward, Friderich Grimme.

4.  I need a deputy!!  Or several.  It’s a good way to get training in how-to-be-a-seneschal.  Offering to serve as my deputy will *NOT* obligate you to run for seneschal when my term limit is up (December 31, 2021).  It will provide you with insight into how the job works, and give you experience that will be helpful should you wish to consider running for a canton or provincial seneschal officer position.  Come see the sausage being made!  Taste the spicy inside!  Er….

5.  The banner displaying the Ancient & Honorable arms of Whyt Whey will be presented to the province for safekeeping, and for the future enjoyment of those who are invested in it.

6.  There is a scholarship fund in honor of Edward F. Morrill, known in the Society as Viscount Sir Edward of Gendy, providing tuition for Brooklyn youth living in the foster care system to attend the Brooklyn Children’s Theater, for whom he tirelessly volunteered.  https://www.brooklynchildrenstheatre.org/morrill-scholarship/  I encourage individual giving.  Would we like to think of additional funding support?  Perhaps an auction?  I would appreciate your suggestions.

7. We should consider scheduling our meetings other than on Friday nights.

Exchequer • Francisco de Braga

3rd quarter report is due at the end of the month. Looking at the ledger from Q2, I’m not able to find a refund from Westchester for Brew U or Goat’s. We need to follow-up on those.   [Ed. — will probably roll over deposits to 2021 events.]

Herald • Drasma Dragomira

Report due end of the month. Submissions have been continuing. Working with a number of people.  Re-submitted sea-urchin but it hasn’t made it onto a letter yet.

Chatelaine • Laila al-Sanna’ al-Andalusiyya

Nothing to report.

Chancellor Minor • Arnora Ketilsdottir

No report submitted.

Arts & Sciences • Þorfinn Hróðgeirsson

Little to report. If you want to do a class, I’m glad to help. If you want to enter Crown A&S, that is still going on; I’m glad to assist folks with modifying their display or documentation for the online format.

Armored Combat • Ervald LaCoudre

No report submitted.

Archery • Arnbiorg Helga Niálsdóttir

[Report submitted by Ronan.]  Archery practice has reopened regionally; Ronan did a practice in An Dubh but nobody turned up.  Ronan joined the call to report: we got permission to do archery practice at the range behind my house. Next will be a week from Saturday. No more than two archers at a time, one-hour blocks. Masked up going to and from the range. Shooting positions separated by plastic dividers. No travel from out-of-state.

Fencing • Alec MacLachlan

The virtual fencing practices have become more of a tutorial as I only have one person logging on at a time.  We have even started to use a reference book as a textbook!  I will begin posting these to the Østgarðr Facebook page starting this week, to let anyone interested join in.  (They’ve been posted on the Historical Arms FB page for a while now.) 

A couple of fencers posted that they had expired auth cards.  I have contacted them.

Youth Combat • Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

No activity.

Minister of Lists • Marion of York

No report submitted.

Webminister • Anne of Østgarðr 

Helping with the upcoming event. Going fine on my end. Glad to help with other web things if you have questions. Webministry quarterly reports were due yesterday.

Chronicler • Zahra al-Andalusiyya

Next issue goes out December 1. Send me images and text and other things to include.

Chamberlain • Ian of Clan Mitchell

Gold key from Sofya’s has been delivered to Baron Ian’s storage.  [Submitted by Alienor Salton.]

Historian • Sofya Gianetta di Trieste

No report submitted.

Whyt Whey • Vika Grigina z Prahy

Not much activity. There was a solar in October on reblocking felt hats. Officers are discussing a candidate for A&S as Godiva has stepped down after long and excellent service.

Lions End • Nagashima Ichiro Ujimichi

Lions End is quiet for the most part. Jenna is going to teach an online “SCA 101” class. I’ve renewed my membership. Nothing else to report.

Brokenbridge • Brandr Aronsson

Our elections for our new Seneschal are underway and will be announced at our online commons on Sunday the 18th.  Nothing else to report.  [Ed. — Ragnarr Bliskegg is the new Brokenbridge seneschal; welcome, Ragnarr!  Brandr, thank you for your service to the canton and to the province.]

Upcoming Events

Feast of Three Princes • Nov 8 • Friderich Grimme 

We have an event announcement. Zoom is set up. Reservation link: . If you want to attend, go reserve. Cookbooks are drafted, hopefully will be posted Monday. Some bardic entrants. 

It’s a virtual feast event, held on Zoom after EK Court earlier the same day.  Get dressed up in garb and set a table.  We’ll have a three course feast.  We’ll have cookbooks, you can use those or choose your own food.  Eating and drinking will be interspersed with bardic performances, and an open bardic circle at the end.

Laila: for the Bardic competition, send in a video by November 1, in one of several categories (tacos!).  The 1st round of competition is a pre-screening audition ahead of time.  The crown bards will be helping to judge.  It is open to entrants from anywhere, not just the East kingdom. 

Friderich: we will have three cookbooks:  Viking plausible by Arnbiorg, another by Edwin from Andalusian 13th Century cookbook, and the third is pre-Columbian MesoAmerican, by Perez. There are meats and vegetables and sweets in each menu — choose one menu, or mix and match, or go crazy and cook all three.

It’s a chance for us to get together and hang out in a social way.

Lada: When you register, there are optional mailing address fields, first 200 people to fill it out will get a custom postcard in the mail. 

Friderich: If anyone else wants to help, Anne will need a team of Zoom experts to help with tech support at the time. Also looking for suggestions about how to set up your camera and table.  Shoutouts to attractive tables.  Email 110928@members.eastkingdom.org to volunteer.  We have planning meetings Sunday afternoons which folks are welcome to join.