Blithering on OES

[msmemory_archive]

Last night was the last chapter meeting of Eastern Star for the year. Thank God. Wilma scheduled the thing for 7 pm, which was very considerate for the high school madrigal group who were going to perform after the meeting and not at all considerate of those of us who were going to work a full day. I had to go without dinner, and Nancy and Bob showed up at about 7:45.

Lots of nasty politics, unfortunately. Pat is cranky because Wilma wants the chapter under her administration to resemble Electa Chapter, her former chapter which merged with Palestine Chapter. Pat wants the chapter to be Palestine, with all its traditions and attitudes, showing no signs of Electa. Frankly, it's two different attitudes toward the merger (marriage) of the two chapters - Pat thinks the stepchildren should fit into the family in its unchanged form, and Wilma thinks the family should change to accommodate the newcomers. Gah! Pat is threatening to stop attending meetings and wants to know if I'll be Instructress again if she does. Wilma is snubbing Pat publically by referring to the PGMs as "you two" when Pat is the third one in the room.

We won't even get into the alleged misdeed of Carol telling Elaine that E did a bad job as Matron last year. (Which she sort of did, she was too tired & shouldn't have accepted the job for a second term, but Carol is usually too tactful to say so.)

I'm resuming considering joining a second chapter, the one I'd join if Palestine folded tomorrow. Joan and Karen and Donna and Susan, whom I know, are members there so it wouldn't be all unfamiliar. And it could be nice already being a member there as a dual member, when it does come time to close my first chapter, instead of being forced into it.

Comments

[tpau]

ifonly i knew what in the world yo uare talkign about... sounds liek SCA politics except with different funny sounding titles for people... peopel are the same everywhere, aren't they?

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, big time. SCA folks think SCA politics, from rank to garb snarking, are just an SCA thing, but they can be found everywhere, in allegedly as mundane locations as condo board meetings and churches, and chess club, and and and and!

Jane, sorry to hear there's all this junk going on in your chapter. If you can't influence it (I know you have tried) voting with your feet might at least let you enjoy the organization again. Are there lots of other members who see the nastiness (how big is a chapter?)

[jducoeur]

The chapter's pretty small by now (which is why we are assuming that it'll go away in the Not Very Distant Future). But bear in mind that many of the people involved are High Muckety Mucks in their own way -- Past Grand Matrons (state heads) and suchlike -- so the egos can be fairly impressive when they get at loggerheads with each other...

(And yes, every club has politics of this sort. The SCA is fairly ordinary in that respect.)

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Garb snarking, oh yeah. We get that in OES too. "Doesn't she know her skirt is supposed to be to the floor, or at least to the tops of her toes? What was she thinking?" "Did you see that hot-pink THING Micki wore last Saturday?"

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

How are Masonic and OES chapters named? I'm noticing a lot of Israel refrences in those I see mentioned.

[jducoeur]

Naming is done pretty much at the choice of the chapter; I'm not aware of any particular rules.

The reason for all the Israel references is that Masonry is heavily Bible-based. Specifically, the symbolic core of Masonic ritual is the construction of King Solomon's Temple, and much of the ritual is drawn from Scripture. So it's pretty common for lodges to be named after places that show up in that ritual.

Eastern Star isn't focused on the Temple as specifically as Freemasonry is, but it also draws its ritual from Biblical sources, mostly (although not entirely) from the Old Testament...

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Back to working on the wedding stuff.

[cloudwatcher.livejournal.com]

You have my sympathy.

My least favorite auntie a Grand Matron (or what ever the highest mucky is called in OES) and I can imagine how difficult she must be to deal with.

I've always been interested in OES, but I cannot bring myself to approach her about it.

Her husband a regional high poobah and he's even worse than her.