Have you ever been so busy you couldn't stop to look at the "big picture?" I am afraid that is what has happened to me, and the blog has suffered because of it. This will be short and sweet, as there are a number of things to let you know about.
1. JASNA has increased dues. However, if you switch to all digital, your dues will remain the same. This move is because it costs $47.50 a year for each member to receive the benefits due to them - a paper copy of the newsletters four times a year and a bound copy of the annual Persuasion journal. The postage costs alone for these items eats up every penny of your dues and then some. But an all digital membership saves JASNA a significant amount of money, and saves some trees, too. I'm all digital and have been for awhile. I encourage you all to switch - especially Life Members, who do not pay yearly dues. Let our dwindling coffers go to something more than postage and printing costs.
The membership fees are rising for the first time in 20 years. The current fee is $30 per year and the new fee is $45 per year. The Lifetime membership fee is increased from $500 to $750. The student fee was also increased and the Sustaining level was eliminated. Note that the new membership fee of $45.00 is still not enough to cover the cost of postage and printing: $7.50 must be covered by JASNA, so the raised fees still don't give JASNA money to do more than simply service the membership postage and printing costs.
If you opt for digital, your dues will stay at $30 and all new members will choose between digital at $30.00 and full at $45.00.
If you go all digital, where will your money go? $10 per member is sent each year to regions that have less than $25,000 in the bank, and the rest goes to the many costs JASNA incurs for the AGM each year, and the miscellaneous costs of running an organization.
2. If you missed the AGM (like I did), fear not. Some of the events and speakers will soon be available from JASNA.org. Look for the notice from JASNA.
3. We have new people to introduce! Jennifer Fairchild and her sister, Veronica, have agreed to be our program people for the coming term of two years. I am most excited to see what they come up with. Jennifer has, since we last saw her, gotten married and moved to Vancouver, BC! She will be working remotely, and on Zoom presentations even after we are able to meet in person. In this way, we hope to be able to continue to offer something valuable for our more remote members who are too far away to benefit from the in-person meetings. And, of course, local members can join in as well. Veronica will be working on our 6 meetings per year which are in person. We hope that will be the case early in 2022. All our fingers and toes are crossed.
3.a We have someone to tend to the blog, because, obviously, leaving it to me is a problem! Tiffany Carley has joined our Communications Committee, and will be taking over the blog. However - she is not writing all the posts - you are! I know you are thinking "When did I agree to that?" but really, the blog posts should be written by our wonderfully talented members. Please think about writing one post - just one - and see if it doesn't feel good to share your knowledge! It doesn't have to be a long post, nor very complex. But I just know that each of our members approach JASNA in their own way. We each have an individual take on things, and if you can write about one topic that has intrigued you, please do. When you've finished, please send it to Tiffany via our "blanket" email: regional98105@gmail.com. Thank you!
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