The Lens

Mentor

Volume 15, Issue 122 February/March/April/May 2003


What's Up With This Issue?

Herein, we play a little catch-up, with Merv as your guest editor. Please forgive the throwback to the old format.


Minutes of the February Meeting

Will be forthcoming in a future issue.


Minutes of the March Meeting

Date, Time and Place: This General Meeting of the Membership was called to order at 2:45 PM on Sunday, 16 March 2003 at The Usual Room of MIT Building 66.

In Attendance: Bridget Boyle, Elisa Hertel, Alexander Latzko, Ben Levy, Claudia Mastroianni, Tom Murphy, Linda Nee, and Carsten Turner. Skip Morris made an entrance some time into the meeting.

Proxies

Regis Donovan offers an unexciting proxy to Claudia Mastroianni.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

No corrections were offered.

President's Report (Joelll Herda)

Joelll sends word that he has nothing to report.

Vice President's Report (Noel Rosenberg)

Noel emailed the Corporate EMail List saying "No Report."

Grant Committee (Noel Rosenberg)

No Report, as mentioned above.

Treasurer's Report (Nicholas Shectman)

Not Present / No Report.

Budget Committee Report (Nicholas Shectman)

Ditto.

Clerk's Report (Paul Selkirk)

Not Present / No Report. In the place of the Clerk, Merv ran through the usual spiel about signing in; that reports and motions should be submitted in writing or suffer the possibility of transcription errors; that major items of new business be presented to the EBoard for consideration before presentation to the Membership; and that dues for joining the Corporation were $12 at this meeting and $10 thereafter.

Convention Chair '03 (Skip Morris)

Not Present At This Time / No Report.

Convention Treasurer '03 (Alex Latzko)

A stack of paperwork about 3" thick is being worked through. All bills have been paid, and while a final result depends on the last bank statement, Arisia '03 expects to finish in the black.

Convention Chair '04 (Carsten Turner)

Carsten Says: We have a con ready to go, people are named to positions and a staff structure is in place. There are two open positions needing filling, including Member Services Division Head. We are planning a party at Lunacon, and we need to fill a truck with gear we're loaning the Lunarians - help is requested Thursday night to load up and Sunday or Monday night for load out. The idea of hiring laborers from LaborReady ensues; the idea is eventually dropped due to the perceived ease of the job.

Convention Treasury '04 (Alex Latzko)

No Report.

Corporate Inventory Control (Linda Nee)

Has there been any action on the CIC Report from the last meeting (regarding trashing piles of tech gear)? We really need Tech Type Folk to go through piles of "use for con" "e-Bay-able" "Junkyard Wars" "etc". Also, there are budget questions, but, alas, no Corporate Treasurer at this meeting.

Corporate Systems Administrator (Cris Shuldiner)

Not Present / No Report.

Long Range Planning Committee

(Cris Shuldiner, Chair)

Not Present / No Report.

Corporate Sales (Nicholas Shectman)

Not Present / No Report.

Survey Committee (Claudia Mastroianni)

No Report.

Technical Equipment Committee (Joelll Herda)

No Report.

Database Exploratory Committee (Tom Murphy)

Merv talked to various fan-run conventions and discovered that they mostly roll their own databases. Ben found some preliminary info on shrink-wrap commercial stuff; and we need someone to do some deeper research. Finally, we want to talk to the A'04 ConChair about some stuff, including the possibility of using CONGO for his year, to see how it works.

Old Business

There was no old business to deal with.

New Business

A motion to have the April Meeting at Lazy-Booklet Inn (the home of Alex and Bridget) was offered and passed; however, after the fact, it was noticed that this would violate the bylaw that requires fixing the date of meetings 45 days in advance. Therefore, the assembled membership chose to CANCEL the April Meeting.

NOTED for the record that the Lazy-Booklet Inn is located at 42°16.058'N, 71°5.349'W (that's 42°16'3.48" 71°5'20.94" for us old fashioned folk).

MOVED to set the May Meeting for 2:00 PM Sunday, 04 May 2003 at The Usual Room in MIT Building 66.

Motion CARRIES Unanimously.

MOVED to set the June Meeting for 7:30 PM Tuesday 17 June 2003 at Lazy-Booklet Inn.

Motion CARRIES 7-1-1.

(Editor's Note: It was at this time that Skip made his entrance.)

The group moves to a committee of the whole to discuss the offer from NESFA to publish a book of Tim Powers' material. After lengthy discussion, the meeting resumes.

MOVED to authorize the executive board, in conjunction with the convention chair of Arisia '04, to pursue this project (the Tim Powers book project) and negotiate a contract subject to a maximum up front cash layout of 15,000 dollars, and an ultimate maximum Arisia loss of 1,000 dollars; and the EBoard is directed to call a meeting within the next seven days to discuss this project.

MOVED TO AMEND change "call" to "called and held."

MOVED TO AMEND THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT: to call a meeting within the next week and make every reasonable effort to meet within that time to discuss this.

Motion to amend the motion to amend CARRIES.

Motion to amend CARRIES.

Motion now reads:

MOVED to authorize the executive board, in conjunction with the convention chair of Arisia '04, to pursue this project (the Tim Powers book project) and negotiate a contract subject to a maximum up front cash layout of 15,000 dollars, and an ultimate maximum Arisia loss of 1,000 dollars; to call a meeting within the next week and make every reasonable effort to hold the meeting within 10 days to discuss this project.

MOVED to amend by appending the following, "Whereas we are assured that NESFA will buy back the remaining books if the books meets their standards, our contract with NESFA should say that before Arisia commits to printing the book, NESFA will agree that the book meets their standards for buy-back."

MOVED to amend the motion to amend by adding the following phrase to the end of the motion to amend: "; and will indeed buy back remaining books."

MOVED to amend the motion by appending the following: "The EBoard is informed that the sense of the Corporation is that the contract should include a guaranteed buyback of unsold stock and that previously specified individuals of Arisia should be consulted on production details."

Motion DIES for lack of second.

Previous motion to amend the amendment ACCEPTED AS FRIENDLY.

Motion to amend now reads:

MOVED to amend by inserting the following, "Whereas we are assured that NESFA will buy back the remaining books if the books meets their standards, our contract with NESFA should say that before Arisia commits to printing the book, NESFA will agree that the book meets their standards for buy-back; and will indeed buy back remaining books."

Motion CARRIES 5-3-2

Motion now reads:

MOVED to authorize the executive board, in conjunction with the convention chair of Arisia '04, to pursue this project (the Tim Powers book project) and negotiate a contract subject to a maximum up front cash layout of 15,000 dollars, and an ultimate maximum Arisia loss of 1,000 dollars; to call a meeting within the next week and make every reasonable effort to hold the meeting within 10 days to discuss this project. Whereas we are assured that NESFA will buy back the remaining books if the books meets their standards, our contract with NESFA should say that before Arisia commits to printing the book, NESFA will agree that the book meets their standards for buy-back; and will indeed buy back remaining books."

Motion CARRIES 5-2-3.

Announcements

Skip Morris moved; he sent new contact information to the Staff List.

The DB Committee is interested in finding motivated people; contact the DB Chair please.

Tagging Equipment to go to LUNACON happens at storage after the meeting.

Arisia '03 has spent $62,422.00 to date.

Philcon is taking input, what we like, what we dislike about their con (ed. note: this is a solicitation for individual opinions, not an official position of Arisia, Incorporated). Send them your input (likes, dislikes, programming bits, etc)! They will be meeting on 30 March 2003. EMail or attend to share your thought; EMail for further information on attending the meeting.

Meeting Adjourned at 4:54 PM.


Minutes of the April Meeting

As mentioned above, the April Meeting of the Membership was canceled by the Membership.


Minutes of the May Meeting

Whereas proper notice of the scheduled meeting did not go out within the prescribed 12 days, the President canceled the May Meeting of the Membership.


Some Stray Notes

Linda Nee publicly announced her resignation as Corporate Inventory Control Officer in an EMail to the Corporate list dated 02 April 2003.

The Chair of the Database Committee would like to mention that he badgered the President to appoint Claudia Mastroianni to the Database Committee, which he did by phone on Friday, 18 April 2003.

Joelll Herda, in an EMail to the Corporate List dated 28 April 2003, announces the deadline for announcing candidacy for Arisia '05 ConChair to be 15 June 2003. Easiest method of announcing candidacy is to email eboard@arisia.org.

The EBoard negotiated a different but beneficial deal with NESFA to produce a book of Tim Powers' material for sale as a collectible at Arisia '04. It will be a hard cover with a retail cover price of $25 and $15 at-con price. I'm going to defer reporting anything else on this situation pending a nice, formal write-up from the EBoard.

Lisa offers this update to the Tim Powers Book Project:

Both books are scanned and I am currently looking for proofreaders. I have a few people from Arisia volunteering, but will need more. I will give you about one evening's worth of work. If interested, please contact me (lisa@cogitation.org). Thanks to Mark Hertel for some late evenings at work, scanning.

Contracts have been sent by NESFA to both Powers & Arisia's e-board. I am still looking for cover art & a title. I have spent about $8 so far (for a copy of The Skies Discrowned, which gave up its life unwillingly).


Membership/Subscription Information

Subscription to Mentor of ARISIA is included with Corporate Membership to ARISIA, Incorporated. Membership runs from September 1st to August 31st and costs $24.00. Dues are pro-rated on a monthly basis for members joining during the year.

September $24   March $12
October $22   April $10
November $20   May $08
December $18   June $06
January $16   July $04
February $14   August $02

Executive Board

President
Joelll Herda
17 Heath St Apt 3
Somerville MA 02145
President@arisia.org
ARISIA 2003 ConChair
Skip Morris
PO Box 542
Merrimack, NH 03054
Conchair@arisia.org
Vice President
Noel Rosenberg
PO Box 464
Chelmsford MA 01824-0464
vp@arisia.org
ARISIA 2003 Treasurer
Alex Latzko
82 Cliff Rd
Milton MA 02186
Treasury@arisia.org
Treasurer
Nicholas Shectman
75 Lexington Ave
Somerville MA 02144
treasurer@arisia.org
ARISIA 2004 ConChair
Carsten Turner


Conchair@arisia.org
Clerk
Paul Selkirk
112A Marblehead St
N Reading MA 01864-1526
clerk@arisia.org
ARISIA 2004 Treasurer
Alex Latzko
82 Cliff Rd
Milton MA 02186
Treasury@arisia.org

Committee Members & Corporate Appointed Officers

Grant Committee
Noel Rosenberg (chair)
Claudia Mastroianni
Walter Kahn
Database Committee
Tom Murphy (chair)
Lisa Hertel
Claudia Mastroianni
And the Support of Several Others
Budget Committee
Nicholas Shectman (chair)
Alex Latzko
Long Range Planning Committee
Cris Shuldiner (chair)
Sheeri Kritzer
Corporate Inventory Control
(vacant)
Corporate Sales Officer
Nicholas Shectman
Corporate Systems Administrator
Cris Shuldiner
Survey Committee
Claudia Mastroianni
Gaming Convention Exploratory Committee
(vacant)
Technical Equipment Committee
Joelll Herda (chair)
Liz Orenstein

Storage Facility Key Holders

Joelll Herda
Noel Rosenberg
Nicholas Shectman
Paul Selkirk
Skip Morris
Carsten Turner
Linda Nee
Cris Shuldiner
Bryttan Bradley
Lisa Hertel

Membership Roster

Aaron Agassi Christopher Amshey
Rob Bazemore Dave Belfer-Shevett
Bridget Boyle Brian Cooper
Tom Coveney Elka Tovah Davidoff
Regis M. Donovan Tom Fish
George Flynn Traciy Fogarty
Colette H. Fozard Joelll Herda
Brendan Hertel Lisa Hertel
Walter Kahn Allen Kent
'Zanne Labonville Alex Latzko
Benjamin Levy Claudia Mastroianni
Patrick McCormack Craig McDonough
Michelle McGuire Erik J. Meyer
Skip Morris Tom Murphy
Linda M. Nee Elizabeth Orenstein
Karen Purcell Brendan Quinn
Matthew F. Ringel Mary Robison
Noel Rosenberg Matthew Saroff
Paul Selkirk Nicholas Shectman
Cris Shuldiner Rachel Silber
Julia Tenney Carsten Turner
Patricia Ann Vandenberg


Calendar of Events

Tuesday, 17 June 2003 7:30 PM
Arisia Corporate Meeting
Lazy-Booklet Inn, Milton, MA

Directions to the June Meeting

The June meeting will be at the home of Alex Latzko and Bridget Boyle:
82 Cliff Rd
Milton MA 02186
617 298 9315

For directions go to http://www.lazy-booklet.org/ and follow the link for "directions," or call the number above.


ARISIA, Incorporated
#322, Building 600
1 Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139