Meeting Minutes

April 2020 Baronial Business Meeting

1 April 2020, 7:30pm
Virtual meeting on Zoom

Notes submitted by Lady Raven Helmsplitter, South Downs Zombie Chronicler.

THL Juliane de Vivonne called the meeting to order and sez “Welcome!” As this is our first virtual meeting, she reminded everyone to keep background noise under control by everyone keeping themselves muted until the wished to speak. She also walked everyone through the Zoom meeting features, including the “raise hand” feature which marks that you wish to speak.

THIS IS ALL A GREAT BIG EXPERIMENT – tonight’s meeting will be kept very simple – no votes or anything that requires a lot of interaction.

Officer Reports

  • Armored Marshal (Lady Mairghread Wilson)
    • Two pieces of interest:
      • All martial activities are on hold until at least 30 April 2020, then we’ll see how things are
      • Master Edward is holding a pell decoration challenge – send him pictures of your pell by 10 April 2020
  • Rapier Marshal (Captain Brendan deHay)
    • Reiterated what Mairgrhead said
    • Keep watching the Atlanta SCA fighting FB group for opportunities to study fighting and fighting-related topics while we’re not allowed to actually practice together
  • Live Weapons Marshal (Mistress Mara Palmer)
    • Nothing to report
  • Exchequer (Mistress Alessandra Fioravanti)
    • We have money, but nothing to spend it on!
    • We also have a puppy! (Mistress Alessandra and her family, not the Barony :-D)
  • Chatelaine (Lord Nikon Dawidowicz)
    • Not at the meeting tonight, as he’s not feeling well
    • He has a deputy now, Finbarr
  • Keeper of the Baronial Memes (Minister of Social Media) (THL Emelina le Nourreys)
    • We have been posting on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
      • 11 new follows on Instagram
      • Two new Society posts shared from us: of Brendan doing footwork, and of HE Mark de Wytteney shopping in armor
      • Send Emelina your pics to share with the Knowne World! Become famous!
    • At Gulf Wars, we were going to have an A&S competition to determine Kingdom A&S champion; it is now being done over social media. They are also hosting an open A&S challenge for anyone in the kingdom – the submission will be 5 photos or a video. Check the Kingdom of Meridies website for further information.
    • Emelina will be deputy to the kingdom social media and communications director
  • Webminister (Captain Pietro di Conti)
    • Set up initial web site for Artsy Crown.
      • Added registration and PayPal info
      • Link to Facebook event.
    • Signed up for Zoom Pro, did some test runs then ran a barony meeting via Zoom.
    • Set up a web page on the kingdom web site for Order of Defense at Master Ysabel’s request.
    • Linked Sir Kytte’s page to her profile on the Greate Book of Fighters
  • Minister of Children (Lady Una Ulfrdottir)
    • Saw posts about how other groups are doing activities such as going to kids’ houses, etc. She believes this is a bad idea in the current public health crisis
    • There have been no children’s activities over the past couple of weeks because events have been canceled – not to mention, she’s been working all day, and it’s a really bad idea.
  • Their Excellencies South Downs (Master Wistric Oftun and Mistress Sunneva de Cleia)
    • First of all, its so good to see everyone’s faces! and to talk to everyone!
    • Sunneva has noticed in the past that some people are missing posts on the baronial Facebook page – if anyone has any ideas how to optimize the Facebook algorithm to make sure that those who need to see news get to see it.
      • Juliane said that it might be that there’s so much going on in peoples’ feeds that maybe the posts get lost?
      • Charlie said that based on the music industry, Facebook seems to prefer images over text?
    • Also, A+S challenges – the local ones that Her Excellency has been working on with Emelina. They got this idea from a barony in Midrealm. Due to a mundane connection Sunneva found with someone from that barony, there is now an inter kingdom incident brewing between the two baronies.
    • THis week’s challenge was to make a cardboard and tinfoil helm – this challenge has been extended
    • Last week’s A+S class was Eri’s silkworm raising class – it was super fun! we are not restricted by time or place to do classes. Also, if you are interested in silkworms, she’d love to talk to you about silkworms.
    • If you have ideas about continuing engagement online – particularly the Facebook page (especially with Emelina’s work as Minister) please reach out, as this is really how we are going to communicate for the near future.
    • Finally – if you know anyone who needs help, from communicating to food to whatever please contact Their Excellencies.
    • Finally finally – Wistric says that since technically we don’t have dance (or project) nights right now, please feel free to fill the Wednesdays with classes or whatever. We want to have an excuse to hang out every week.
    • Juliane suggested maybe a themed hangout.
  • Seneschal (THL Juliane de Vivonne)
    • Artsy Crown – as of right now, we don’t know what’s going on. SCA has canceled everything up through 11 May, but we still need to go forward with plan just in case.
    • Red Tower has a bid from Mariana and Farouq; finance committee has approved the bid, and we’ll vote on it in May
    • Does project night seem to be working out down at the Makerspace? or would it be better to bring it back to our regular Doraville meeting space?
      • Wistric mentioned that there are projects we are working on that requires the resources the Makerspace provides.
      • Emelina asked if we even know where the new Makerspace is going to be?
      • Juliane mentioned that there are other projects that don’t play well in the Makerspace (scribal, for example), but she is open to whatever the Barony decides.
      • There is a cost issue ($50 for 2 extra hours per month), but she believes that we need to be there regularly to keep the space.
      • Emelina suggested that until we know what the new space will be like, we won’t really be able to decide. It might be that the new site may have space for both small and larger projects.
      • Gwyn mentioned that there is a significant value in maintaining access to the Makerspace, so we should make that a priority however we need to do that.

SCA Business

  • Justina was going to do a Roman spa event at GW, and since that fell through she is considering hosting a Roman Home meeting/event via a Zoom meeting, inviting people to an online salon to discuss Roman-themed topics and dressed in Roman clothing, etc.
    • Everyone liked her idea 🙂 She will go ahead and post info about her event once she’s got the info together.
    • Juliane said that it would be fabulous if Justina offered period hairstyling demos on Zoom.
    • Margavati announced that she is interested in doing an Indian/South Asian salon, similar to what Justina was describing with her Roman Home event.
  • Mairghread reminded everyone that the Earl Marshal said that backyard practices are ON YOUR OWN – no connection to the SCA or liability, etc.
  • Regarding face/plague masks: Gwyn is going to head up a PPE mask tutorial – there are tons of mask patterns that are downloadable online. She is working on developing an adjustable mask (drawstrings to the sides that aren’t elastic) that ties with ribbon or bias tape etc, She will be meeting about this on Friday to show how to make these masks.
    • Lillie thanked Gwyn for helping her with her own mask project.
    • There was discussion about mask details.
    • Rhi said that if anyone needs a place to send masks to, send them to her or Ximon – Kaiser will gladly take them.
    • Alessandra reminded everyone that not everyone can sew masks, so DBAD. She also has an extra sewing machine available for anyone who wants it.
    • Agnes asked about whether handsewing masks are a thing or not – can they meet the requirements medical staff need?
    • Ximon offered to pick up any masks that people want to donate.
    • Lillie asked about where everyone gets their mask fabric. Juliane said it needs to be tight woven and washable. Gwyn added that it should be breathable. Rhi suggested ordering online from places like Fine Fabrics or quilting cotton from amazon, and eBay and etsy!
    • Justina thought that perhaps her mom might have some quilting cotton available.
  • Alessandra added that we are a group that care about history, we could be a part of creating history and keep journals about our experiences now. Sunneva said the librarian in her salutes the historian in Alessandra.
  • In closing, Juliane said she could not be prouder of our Barony – the talent, the compassion, taking part in the zoom meetings, etc.this is why we are her chosen family.

Meeting ended at 8:30pm. No group dinner plans, as everyone was already at home.

Next business meeting: Wednesday, 6 May 2020. It will like still be online via Zoom, but stay tuned!