Last October, the Masonic Service Association of North America chose to dismiss its Executive Director of three years, Simon LaPlace, and not replace him. Over the subsequent twelve months, the MSA website languished with almost no updates, no revised membership statistics (nothing since 2017), and no disaster appeal announcements since 2019.
This morning I attempted to log on to the msana.com website, and lo and behold, someone at MSA appears not to have not paid their domain renewal bill for the first time in twenty years. Because the website hadn't been updated in so long, I have no idea who the current commissioners are at this point. If anyone does, you might ask them who's in charge of the joint.
In other news, Pantagraph Printing has announced that they will not be printing the annual List of Lodges Masonic for 2021, using the COVID pandemic as their reason. That's a bit strange, since the grand lodges around the world actually do the heavy lifting of updating their stats and Pantagraph simply makes edits to the previous edition lists each year.
Regular readers have doubtless noticed the dearth of posts here recently. With the pandemic, there's less Masonic news to report on, but there's another, bigger reason. Alice and I have just signed a contract for a new (non-Masonic) book project with a tight deadline this past week, so we are already up to our nostrils in research and pounding out chapters. In the middle of our schedule, we'll also be hitting the road in the Airstream to see my family in California around Thanksgiving.
We're not being anti-social, we're just preoccupied, and paying gigs have to take precedence over the volunteer ones, I'm afraid. If you email me and I don't answer, I'm not ignoring you. Keep bugging me and I'll wake up long enough to respond.
We are seeing further downsizing as membership declines. The virus has speeded what was already happening. Many lodge buildings cannot reopen because of ventilation problems.
ReplyDeletePlease check with your GL prior to using the Amity app. The GL of South Carolina prohibits use.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Any explanation?
DeletePantagraph is now permitting Amity to publish and carry on the annual List of Lodges Masonic as a print-on-demand product from now on. So does the GL of SC also now prohibit their members from using the printed List because someone has a mistaken understanding of what Amity actually does?
"CENTENNIAL MEDIA" has just released a magazine entitled, "SECRET SOCIETIES".
ReplyDeleteI picked up my copy at SAFEWAY. The magazine features 1 to 3 page snippets and photos of a wide variety of organizations, such as college fraternities, traditional Fraternal Orders, female societies, magical societies, criminal groups, political/religious groups, service orders, and the influence all this has had on POP CULTURE.
What makes this magazine unique from many of this genre is the fact there is a 20 question quiz at the end of the magazine on the topics covered.
It would seem that not even Covid-19 can extinguish the public's fascination with, so-called, Secret Societies.
I continue to be grateful for all of your hard work for this site and for all of us! Can't wait to hear about the other book.
ReplyDelete