[Ansteorra] Ansteorra Digest, Vol 21, Issue 36

[Jay Rudin]

Eleanor Cleavely replied to me:


> "If you would stop trying to force an untrue meaning, you would realize 
> that
> your complaint isn't that "you aren't counted as a member"; it's that you
> think all members should be counted to sustain shire and baronial status.
> Your problem is that you didn't realize what "sustaining membership" 
> means.
> It means a membership that sustains the group."

> Forgive me, good Master, but I have to disagree with you. There are those
> who are Associate members and Family members who pay their membership 
> fees
> which "sustain" their group.

In one meaning of the word "sustain", sure.  But I was writing about a 
clause in kingdom law, which states that only siubscribing members 
(sustaining and international) are counted to sustain branch status.

I'll go further.  There are people who are not members of the corporation 
at all who help support our Ansteorran groups.  They clean privies, set up 
list fields, pick up trash, and do lots of other things.  The work they do 
matters to me a whole lot more than any money anybody sends to Milpitas. 
But that doesn't affect what kingdom law says about branch status.

>  I think those people should be just as viable
> as those who are considered "sustaining". I pay my site fees, volunteer 
> at
> events, hold offices, teach classes, waterbear, paint scrolls, etc etc 
> etc
> etc...does that not also sustain the group? According to the current
> definition of "sustaining member", does my lesser fee not "sustain" the
> group? Does not the money all go to the same place?

Yes, and that place isn't Ansteorra.  I don't even like the fact that 
corporate memberships are required.  I was simply stating what the actual 
kingdom law is.

> I believe that the BoD should look again at what "sustaining" means. I 
> know
> this is all word-play, but perhaps it is time for some redefining of 
> terms.
> Those who pay their site fees, regardless of amount, should be considered
> "sustaining".

Yes, it is word play, and nobody is ever confused by this kind of word play 
unless they choose to be.  Starbucks defines their smallest coffee as a 
"tall".  I call a piece of rattan wrapped in tape a "sword".  In context, 
everybody knows what these terms mean.  Similarly, a "sustaining 
membership" is a defined term in Corpora for a specific level of 
membership.  In Ansteorra, only sustaining meberships (since we have no 
international ones, as far as I know) are used to sustain brach status..

I am associated with the SCA, and my entire family are members, and I 
sustain the group.  Nonetheless, my membership type is not associate, 
family and sustaining.  It's the category I checked off and paid for.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin