Let's All Be Wyverns?

.....Last night was our non-regularly scheduled Wyvern meeting in the Barony of Dragon's Laire. The Order of the Wyvern is a Baronial level Service Polling Order. Now, for the sake of this headache producing mini-rant, we'll leave the whole topic of a Baronial Level Service POLLING order alone for the moment as it is an entirely different debate.

.....I think I may be alone in this, but I find Wyvern meetings to be extremely painful for some reason, and I can't precisely put my finger on why. One would think that I would find going to Pelican meetings to be more painful, but I don't. Don't misunderstand me, Pelican meetings can be extremely frustrating, but in an entirely different way.

.....Whenever we get together at a Wyvern's meeting we go through a list of people who are on our 'watch' list, and we debate the merits of their being recommended to Their Excellencies as additional members to the Order. Generally, those merits include a certain number of years of service to the Barony in a couple of different disciplines. The Order looks at a candidates ability to autocrat an event or take on a Baronial office.

.....Character is not SUPPOSED to be an issue as far as this award is concerned. This is supposed to be confined to an amount of service given to the Barony.

.....I think that the part I seem to have the most problem with is the arbitrariness of the selection process. We have a more or less stated set of criteria, but that criteria seems to shift depending on a.) the candidate, b.) the people present performing in the debate, and c.) the mood of the group at any given meeting.

.....Of course one can come back and say that the exact same thing happens at the Kingdom Level with the Polling Orders, especially with the Pelicans as the 'criteria' for Pelican service is so nebulous. But even with the frustrations surrounding that Kingdom process, every time I compare the two I find myself siding with the Kingdom process as being more complete and less arbitrary.

.....I suppose that part of my problem is the fact that I keep mentally doing this comparison, which is probably very unfair. We're talking a second level Baronial service award where strictly service is viewed and character is not a part of the equation versus a Kingdom level peerage award where the process is viewed so much more critically and character is a definitive part of the debate.

.....I suppose that there is also another aspect to this. If Their Excellencies actually received written recommendations for awards from the Baronial populace, would they really need a council to make recommendations to them? Their Excellencies are constantly asking, begging, pleading for people to submit letters that recommend awards to various members of the populace, and they receive very few. They can probably count on one hand the number of letters and e-mails that they've received during the past year recommending people. A Polling Order at least enhances the chances that at least a few people are going to be promoted for award.

.....Maybe we, as a group, need to concentrate on recognizing our own members more. Hmmm, as I start winding up this little mini-rant, I'm starting to wonder if maybe I ought to be looking into the mirror rather than railing against a process. There are things I could do on a personal level to recognize people for the efforts they've done on behalf of the Barony. People appreciate being recognized for the good things they've done, and it makes them want to do more.

.....O.K., I'm done whining on this at the moment and will give it more thought. See if I can come to some sort of inner resolution, or at least more of a focus on what troubles me so much about the Wyverns, before I start whining again about it in my Journal.

.....Aaron / Arontius.

Harry Potter Symposium in 2009?

.....So, Tamm, what are you doing July 18 - 21, 2009? Want to go to San Francisco for a Harry Potter Convention? :-)

"AZKATRAZ in San Francisco is Next Summer's Stop for Harry Potter Fans

Not long after the release of the next Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling's Beedle the Bard, Harry Potter fans from around the world will converge on San Francisco for AZKATRAZ - a four-day conference focused on the novels, the films, the sports and games, Wizard Rock, fan creativity and, for the first time, The Business of Harry Potter, Inc. AZKATRAZ will be the sixth event put on by HP Education Fanon, Inc. the nonprofit group behind Nimbus 2003, Lumos and this summer's Portus. It's scheduled to take place from July 18 through the 21st in San Francisco, and attendees will be able to travel with fellow Harry Potter fans from AZKATRAZ to Comic Con in San Diego on July 22.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 31, 2008 -- Not long after the release of the next Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling's Beedle the Bard, Harry Potter fans from around the world will converge on San Francisco for AZKATRAZ (http://www.hp2009.org) -- a four-day conference focused on the novels, the films, the sports and games, Wizard Rock, fan creativity and, for the first time, The Business of Harry Potter, Inc.

The team of organizers brings together our twin populations of academics and fans in perhaps our most exciting matchup yet. Our theme, "The Choice Between What is Right and What is Easy," brings the dual backdrops of Alcatraz and Azkaban to the forefront of the real issues of social justice, gender equality, tolerance, and due process, as they are reflected in the Harry Potter books and the larger contexts of fandom and the world around us. Andrew Slack of the HP Alliance will be one of the featured speakers on this topic (http://www.thehpalliance.org/). There will also be programming focused on the analysis and integration to canon of the forthcoming "Tales of Beedle the Bard" collections set to be published in December, 2008 by Scholastic, Bloomsbury, and Amazon.

New to the 2009 HPEF symposium will be a one-day MPA program -- "Master of Potter Administration" -- which will focus on the ways in which Harry Potter has impacted business and industry, including marketing, online ordering, special effects, and more. The track will run alongside our regular programming, but will feature breakfast, a special luncheon speaker, and a brief networking reception at the end of the day. As with all our educational programming, HPEF will endeavor to make continuing education credit or certification available to anyone who attends.

Our Informal Programming plans, as implemented by Lauren Johnson, Jodie Baird, and their excellent team, promise to provide endlessly diverting ways to understand and interpret Harry Potter's world and the world of fandom. Proposed events include a History of Wizarding Fashion Show, a ghost tour and Death Eaters' reception on Alcatraz (no Dark Mark required!), a pre-event Mixer/Mingler on Friday night before our official start, the return of the highly successful Fandom Swap Meet, Common Room programming, and a special concert to "Wrock the Rock."

Also returning next year will be our continued Young Adult Authors' Readings series, Quidditch, the Ball, Podcasts, the Art Gallery and auction, cosplay, Cinematic Alley, "Diagon" Alley...and of course, the chance to see and hang out with all your fan friends.

Formal Programming is headed by Emma Grant, NQ Donne, and Flourish, who among them have years of fandom experience, academic credentials, and writing credits. The event will be chaired by Lee Hillman, outgoing president of HPEF, who started it all as the chair of Nimbus 2003. HPEF events have traditionally attracted attendees ages 14 to 70 who are academics, librarians, musicians, journalists, lawyers, teachers, students, and parents -- but what connects them all is that they are Harry Potter fans."

.....Taken from, http://www.prweb.com/releases/harrypotter/conference/prweb1166034.htm