2019/2020 CO's Notebook

[Chewy]

Hi gang!

I thought it would be nice idea this year??to have this thread as a sort of blog for me to inform all of you of what I'm getting up to with the Legion and how I'm representing the Garrison on the public stage.??First, I'll give you a??quick rundown of how the Legion Council works, who can vote, and what my expectations/duties are.

The 501st Legion has two Council rooms that are used to decide many issues of policy and procedure.

• Open Council??is viewable by all membership and is used to discuss most important Legion matters. Examples include: proposals to change the election process, protocol for inducting honorary members, and public notice of dishonourable discharges.??
• Closed Council is only viewable by Garrison COs, XOs, and the Legion Command Staff. It is used to discuss sensitive issues (e.g. member discipline) and react to statements not yet publicly released. It is expected that CC material be kept private until it is released to the general membership.

Closed Council participants are also expected to discuss Proposals (e.g. the Due Process for Membership Revocation motion last year) and then vote on them if/when they become a Poll. Usual Legion changes occur as so: CC member??proposes an amendment to the Charter or a change in status for an Outpost/Garrison/Member -> CC discusses proposal -> if popular, proposal becomes a CC Poll -> if the poll passes, the Poll is put to a vote of active membership -> if poll passes active membership, changes are enacted as per proposal. Certain other issues (e.g. dishonourable discharges) skip a active membership poll and are enacted after a successful CC vote.

As CO (and @First0rder??as XO) we are expected to:

• Participate in amendment and proposal discussions.
• Vote in Amendment, New Unit, and "Trooper of the Month" polls.
• Engage in other minor discussions in CC. The perspective of the Connecticut Garrison should and will matter in worldwide issues.
• Include the opinions of our Garrison members. You elected me to represent you - I want to know how you are feeling about what is going on with the Legion.
• Share details of active membership polls and encourage members to vote. You are members of this club and are entitled to have "your say" in how things are done.

I will endeavour throughout the year to post here any of my thoughts on Legion business that it is appropriate for me to speak about. Please feel free to??send me a PM or get in touch with me at troops if you have any questions about how things work or how I've been voting. I work for you, after all.

[Chewy]

Current business

We're currently in the process of ratification new members of the Legion Command Staff. A full lists can be found here:??https://www.501st.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=102212

After reading a little bit about each officer I have voted to ratifiy them all besides William Holmes as Legion Charity Representative and Karl Gehring as Legion Executive Officer. I'm still weary about the Galatic Senate business from last year that intimately involved Bill Holmes (Pm me if you'd like a better explanation of the whole business) and I'm not sure his appointment is appropriate whilst we're still trying to work out what went on with that. I also don't feel Karl Gehring has the experience to fufil a role as (potential) LCO, but I'm open to being pleasantly surprised.

On a brighter note, I'm very excited to have Nicky Blum back as Legion Events Coordinator. She's performed excellent in this role for many many years, and I know she'll do an excellent job again this year. I have also been quite impressed with Satya (Chris) Bailey as a Legion Captain of the Guard??and I hope he serves the Legion admirably this year.

Until next time, troopers.

[Chewy]

Right now @Alay, Eric Brager of the NEG ("DarthAloha", also a Legion Membership Officer), and I are heading up a proposal to the Legion that would give Detachment Leaders the permissions to view and discuss??Closed Council business. The text of our amendment can be found here:??https://www.501st.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=162&t=102456

Last year the LCO got Detachment Leaders temporarily involved in CC stuff and it went pretty well from what I've heard; often DLs have useful experience and knowledge that they can contribute to crucial discussions. I guess there's obviously a little bit of self-interest here (Sarah is DL for FISD) and getting more of the CTG involved with important Legion matters is nice. We aim to get DLs involved but aren't aiming to give them a vote. Another person might bring that up at a later date (for which I would entertain the possibility but likely vote against).

In other news:

• No parade really sucked. We had really nice weather either side of Sunday but the day itself was bloody miserable. I'm satisfied that we made the right decision to not march.
• I'm quite looking forward to blowing off the cobwebs with a nice troop on Tuesday??and then going over to Rhode Island to lend the NEG a hand.
• Finally, I've got some very good news. It's still in the very early planning stages with the Legion, but Weird Al Yankovic will be stopping off at Foxwoods on July 19th as part of his latest tour, and his people have reached out to the LEC to get the 501st involved! We have a rough idea how everything will work from previous years but once they've hammered out the details with Nicky Blum (LEC) we'll be opening signups for the night. Weird Al likes to get us out on stage with him when he does his Star Wars musical number.

[Chewy]

Hello friends! Been a busy week.

• I'm very much looking forward to Space EXPO??this weekend, and the small social we're doing at Bobby V's afterwards. It makes me very happy to see a mixture of CTG, NEG, Kamino Base, Alderaan Base, and our friends from the New England Droid Builders attending. We're definitely stronger when we all work together.
• ??We have a couple of merch-related announcements to make in the next week or so, just in time for May 4th.
• The Amendment I mentioned previously (giving Detachment Leaders the right to participate in discussions within Legion Closed Council) passed a Council vote and is now in a poll of general membership -??https://www.501st.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=102828. Please head over there and exercise your democratic right to vote.

[Chewy]

??Bon apr??s-midi, tout le monde.

We're less than a week away from May 4th and I'm pretty happy with the three events we're angling to do for the holiday. Our annual trip to CCMC is always very rewarding and an excellent opportunity to go cheer up some people very much in need. The troop at the New Britain Bees should be short and sweet - we'll be there in (hopefully) balmy weather to have fun as the spectators arrive. Finally, we'll also be doing a fundraising troop at a wedding for a lady who's been struggling for years with cancer and accepting a nice check for a very worthy cause.

Looking further to the future we'll be gearing up planning for Terrificon in August and for "Rise of Skywalker" at the Prospector in December. Between them I'm also looking to??use the Apple Harvest Parade in Southington on October 6th as a "make-up" for missing St Paddy's Day. Although unfortunately Comiconn will not be happening this year, we have been offered by the Lil' Rhody Squad??the opportunity to be more involved with planning of Rhode Island Comic Con in November. I hope this will be a good??way to show our ongoing support for Erik Yacko and his interests.

On a somewhat related note, I notice that Catherine Munroe (the actress who played the bounty hunter Zuckuss in "Empire Strikes Back") will be at RICC. Guess who is going to have to finish his bug-eyed costume by then...??

Also in the pipeline we have a trading card design currently going through Legion approval, as well as consideration for a restock of vinyl stickers, a new patch design, and plans for more branded stuff to come. I'm aware merchendise was a major point of contention brought up during the elections, and I really want to knock that out of the park this year. I'm very glad that @Swiftcloud??has agreed to come on board and lend us a hand. Quickly I'd also like to thank @Madxena??for stepping up to help with Event Coordination. More hands on deck will be expecially helpful as we push through the summer into the fall and get closer to the movie release.

??Until next time, troopers.

[Chewy]

Hello friends, it has been a while.

First off, I'd like to congratulate and welcome Louis Secki (@Mylehigh) to the CTG. His costume is excellent and I hope to see him at some of our events in the near future!

Speaking of events, here's a selection of things we are or could be doing in the next 2-3 months:

• Terrificon! Comic Book Convention at Mohegan Sun, Friday 9th of August - Sunday the 11th.
• Summer Reading Star Wars Convention at Manchester Public Library, Saturday the 17th of August.
• The Lutz Children's Museum Farm Day, Saturday the 31st of August.
• "Wishes on Wheels" supporting the Make-A-Wish charity, Sunday the 15th of September.
• Imperial Bookdrive at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, Saturday the 21st of September.
• DEAFTOPIA @ The American School for the Deaf, Saturday the 5th of October.
• The Southington Apple Harvest Parade, Sunday the 6th of October.

There's also obviously the Premiere of "Rise of Skywalker" on December 20th (at the Prospector Theatre, if they're interested in having us back!) and any other requests we get in the meantime. Go sign up for stuff!!

In other miscellaneous news:

• We were recently generously donated a set of Death Star replica backdrop panels by our good friend Randy Ambramson (@magni)! Expect to see them displayed at Terrificon next month.
  
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• I've also received permission to present artist Paul Gulacy (artist for my favourite Star Wars comic-book "Crimson Empire") with Honorary Membership of the 501st Legion. I've had a plaque made up for him and we'll do the presentation at Terrificon.
• We're looking to get a coin run and a patch run done before the new years, as well as discuss a new, secondary logo design for the CTG, and have a think about 15th Anniversary merch for next year. Keep an eye out for those.

Finally, it was my pleasure to be involved with the Weird Al Yankovic performance last weekend, and you can find the signature board I got from the event at the top of this post. I had a great night and I'm really proud of all our troopers (plus a few of our friends from the NEG) who turned out to support the Garrison.

??

Until next time... keep trooping!

??

- Chewy

[magni]

Spelt my name wrong. I felt bad for a second. I'm over it now. I'll still make add on panels in the future. Maybe next CO will spell my name right??? Maybe.?

[Mylehigh]

Thanks for the kind welcome. ??I???m happy to part of the group. ??You will see me at a couple of these events in the next few months.??

[Alay]

2 hours ago, magni said:

Maybe??? next CO will spell my name right??? Maybe.????

Now there's a campaign promise ?

[Chewy]

Whew, it's been a while since I posted here. Hello!

First off, Happy New Year! Let's make 2020 awesome.??

In 2019 the CTG completed 25 troops, featuring a total of 188 troopers in costume for 102 hours. We directly raised??$8,311.00 for charitable causes (i.e. we collected the money ourselves??or the money was given on our behalf), and participated in events that raised a total of $152,351.00.??Various cold weather supplies and books were also donated??in lieu of??charitable donations.??A link to the complete spreadsheet that I will be submitting to the Legion can be found here:??https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EVMBIMMFSfxC_GJwvZi4gRJVk7lSxJ7wIbft0_ymrB4/edit?usp=sharing

We approved 4 new CTG members this year:??Nick Damario,??Quentin Salgado, Louis Secki, and Robert Schneider -??I hope we will see them for years and years to come. We also hosted a number of armour parties at the Portal this year. I honestly think we??are??outgrowing that particular venue (it's difficult to setup tools or do anything particularly heavy-duty), so next year I think alternative arrangements may??need to be made.

Thanks in great part to Quentin, the Garrison now maintains social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.??Check them out!

Our Paypal treasury currently stands at $361.93. The majority of our outgoing funds this year have come from renewing our hosting and security license??for the website, money paid to artists as commission for artwork, and the cost of printing/ordering more promotional materials for the Garrison. A better breakdown will be published in advance of the upcoming elections in February.

A few major merchandise??runs occured in 2019. Kit Box Plates, Stickers, and??Trading Cards??(my favourite merch this year, go get some if you haven't already!!!) are still available??alongside our usual stock of shirts??and logo patches. Runs were completed of 11" CTG logo patches and 3.5" CTG FOTK variant patches. A run of CTG logo enamel pins are nearly good to go, if you are still interested in getting some. Plans for next year include runs of patches and coins featuring a CTG 15th anniversary logo, racing shirts, and Pride-related merchandise.

In January 2020 we currently have two troops scheduled - a visit to CCMC to drop off some toys and entertain the kids before a showing of "Rise of Skywalker" on the 9th, and a night at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on the 18th. Advance planning has begun for the St Patrick's Day Parade in March, Space Expo in April, and the Middletown Pride Parade in June. Socials are in the works for after each of these events. More events will be added to the calendar as they come in - the first couple of months of the year tend to be fairly light on event requests due to the weather.

My participation in the Legion Council as Commanding Officer??is as follows: I have participated in 141 council votes (out of 148 total) and discussions since March, and posted 75 times in the Legion's Closed Council section. In March Sarah Bailey and I successfully put forward an amendment to amend the Legion Charter and Operations Document to allow Detachment Leaders a formal non-voting seat on the Council. My posts outside of Closed Council can be found here:??https://www.501st.com/forum/search.php?author_id=14783&sr=posts??(you'll need to login with your main 501st forum credentials).

I'd very quickly like to highlight my two favourite events of 2019: the "Reach for the Stars: Pediatric Oncology Survivorship Event" we did with Connecticut Children's, and the Middletown Pride Parade, both in June.????The Survivorship event was important to me because it was a??new event for us, wasn't capped on troopers (unlike usual events at the hospital), and was something we were allowed to do because we had proved our reliability in the past few years. My interest in the 501st has always been primarily in the charitable aspect of our hobby, and getting the chance to hang out with some kids that have had an extremely rough time was immensely satisfying to me. Although the Middletown Pride Parade was not inherently charitable, as a bisexual man who hasn't really had the opportunity to do much in the way of Pride stuff, it was very gratifying to be able to march in costume amoungst my dear friends. It was also nice to be able to march in a parade in pleasant weather for once.

A few more notices in advance of the New Year:

The format of??elections for Legion Commanding Officer,??Garrison Commanding Officer, and Detachment Leaders has changed and will be done slightly differently next year. This was a result of an amendment to the 501st Operations Protocol (something I voted for in support)??- further details of the amendment can be found here:??https://www.501st.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=103543. It essentially just means that the period for things to be done has been cut down a little, with nominations occuring before the start of the official election period, and a reduced time for the Q&A process. The Legion will be making announcements in advance of the changes so please keep an eye on Legion and Garrison social media channels, and check your emails late in January.

I guess this is also a good time to mention that it is my intention to run for CTG Commanding Officer again next year, alongside??Andy Tam as my XO. 2019 has been a journey for me both in a professional/CTG sense and in my personal life. There's been good times, bad times, and times where I've been tearing my hair in frustration. I hope in 2020 we can build upon the good work of the past few years and set up the Connecticut Garrison to continue strongly for many years to come.

I can be reached on these forums via PM, via email on christopher.baileylb@gmail, via phone on (860) 986-0338 (please text me first!), or on the official 501st forum as "Chewy". Please reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or want to get involved with the Garrison. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

See you next decade, folks.???

[Chewy]

Hi folks!??I promised a slightly better breakdown of our financial payments this year.

OUT

From our Garrison??Paypal:
$204.99 was paid to artists for design services.
$119.72 was paid to Design Print Banner LLC for table runner printing.
$30 was paid to Darren Blum for additional 501st leaflets for our table display.
$869.48 was paid to vendors as production and printing??costs for our merch runs in 2019/2020.
$14.70 was paid to the USPS for merchandise postage.
$50 was paid to the Town of Middletown for 2020 Pride Parade entry fee.

Non-Garrison Paypal
$90 was paid by Sarah for IPS license renewal (i.e. the platform we use for our forums).
$50 was paid to the Town of Middletown by Sarah for 2019 Pride Parade entry fee.
$114 was paid by Sarah for another year of Web Hosting costs.
$10 was paid by Sarah for renewal of our website SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate.

Total out was $1552.89. $1228.89 came out from our Paypal.

IN

To our Garrison Paypal:
$1239.79??? was received as payments for merchandise runs (CTG blue patches, bottle opener/challenge coin, CTG shirts,??11" blue patch, 3.5" red FOTK patch, logo lapel pins) and associated postage costs.
Of the above payment, $300 of which was received as payment for trading card printing.
$50 was received from Andy Tam as a donation towards the cost of the Middletown Pride Parade entry fee.

Total into our Paypal was $1289.79.

Current CTG Paypal balance is $131.93.