Debates

 I have other things to do today outside but I liked this one thing a friend pointed out yesterday: The Varied Thrush, has a song with only one note.

  https://www.bird-sounds.net/varied-thrush/?type=song-1349

It's still a bird, and that's still a bird song. 

Not selling the banned hats was pretty hard on my bottom line yesterday. People choose those hats because they are simple and don't have a lot of design on them, so my hand-drawn additions didn't prove to be very popular, as expected. Tourists really like the Oregon hats because they don't cost $40 like the official merch from UO., just want a souvenir from their visit to Eugene. So not a great fix for me to spend that extra time. They would not sell better at $30, even though they are individually decorated one at a time, freehand. So every one has an additional cost to me. 

Whatever. I heard that I was welcome to sell them in other places. Well, Eugene hats don't go to Veneta, the only other place I sell. Geezer and Curmudgeon originated at OCF as companions for my shirts, so they will still sell, but Oregon hats don't sell out there either. Imagine sells. But my inventory with a retail value of $4200 will take quite a few years to sell at OCF. Maybe ten years. I can almost guarantee there will be some at my eventual estate sale after I am dead and gone. I've started giving them away.

Heard the statement "Nothing about us, without us" ? It was about disability rights, but it could also be applied to member rights. How is the Standards Committee allowed to have confidential operations? Closed meetings just mean only committee members and invited guests can be there. They are not confidential, which means nothing that is said can be shared with anyone for any reason. That is restricted by our bylaws and the law, for issues of personnel and legality (actually our bylaws say only personnel. Personnel is staff, not members.) So technically, no one at the meeting can talk to me about what was said there, including the Co-Chairs, and staff. Confidential is confidential. 

From the bylaws: Committee meetings shall be open to members of the corporation except when personnel matters are discussed.  That portion of the standards committee meeting devoted to the discussion of product acceptability may be conducted in closed session.  Staff's role in committees is only to assist each committee in the performance of its duties as mandated by the board of directors.  Staff shall not chair any committee or have voting privileges.

And fyi, email discussions are closed meetings. Interested members and the public are not included. Does anyone feel that a member's livelihood should be discussed without their knowledge and participation? Think about if it was you.

As the archivist, I don't even have a current copy of the bylaws (I have one from 2023) or access to a current P&P document. No one sends it to me for the archive (that's called gatekeeping, to make member documents inaccessible to members.)  Looks like from the Board packet they are going to change the bylaws to cover for actions they took against several (how many?) members in the past, as if that would make it all better. Nope. Those things were illegal then and they remain illegal. And now Standards Committee members are complicit in illegal processes, without their knowledge. 

And people wonder why we don't have more volunteers.  

Guess people think I should just move over to FSP to make my living. Now you know why so many of our members are selling over there. I had heard of many of the disputes that drove them over there, but I have a new perspective now.

Going over to Clay Fest! Then I will transplant strawberries, something that should make me happy.

Connect with your joy!