Christopher L. Hodapp's Blog, page 50
March 5, 2020
Your Ribald Victorian Poem For the Day: 'The Lady Freemason'
No, this isn't about Lady Elizabeth Aldworth. Nor is it about wimmin in lodge.
If I am surpassed in my love for the arcane, obscure and peculiar things in history, it is only by my wife Alice (who is not herself peculiar, and only occasionally obscure). Since we're both writers, our combined reference libraries are swollen with material that the average reader wouldn't pick up on a bet, but that we both cherish. A random traipse through our 240 linear feet worth of bookshelves is but a mere...
June PSO Fraternalism Conference Cancelled
Paul Rich has just announced that the 2020 Policy Studies Organization Conference on Fraternalism, Social Capital, and Civil Society scheduled for June 5th, 2020 in Washington, DC has been postponed as of today out of caution over the coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.
While it's entirely possible any serious health risks will be over by June, especially here in the U.S., organizers are forced to do this out of uncertainty over the potential scope of the spread of the virus for...
UGLE Issues Coronavirus Guidance For Their Lodges
The United Grand Lodge of England has issued guidance concerning the Coronavirus (COVID-19) for its constituent lodges. Masonic lodges have a higher concentration of older members than the average random gathering of people, and the World Health Organization (WHO) believes COVID-19 more severely affects older people and those with pre-existing medical conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. UGLE has issued the statement because the largest age demographic for...
West Virginia Masonic Home Being Demolished
WTAP-TV is reporting that the Grand Lodge of West Virginia's Masonic Home in Parkersburg is being demolished this week. The retirement home was originally built in 1921 for West Virginia Masons and their relatives. It has been closed since 2016.
Beginnings of demolition can be seen in this photo from WTAP-TV
The once bucolic setting of the Masonic Home now overlooks the local shopping mall.In 2017, city and county officials expressed a desire to work with the fraternity in developing new...
March 4, 2020
Iowa's Masonic Library & Museums' Book Restoration Project
The Grand Lodge of Iowa A.F.&A.M.'s incredible Masonic Library and Museums complex in Cedar Rapids has one of the largest Masonic collections of books and manuscripts in the world. Assistant Librarian Bill Kreuger now reports in the March 2020 issue of the Grand Lodge of Iowa Bulletin that Grand Master William R. Crawford has selected as one of his major fundraising projects the restoration and re-binding of books from their Rare Book collection.
The first Iowa Masonic...
March 3, 2020
New Robert Langdon For NBC's 'Lost Symbol'-based TV Series
Media websites are reporting that Australian-American actor
Ashley ZukermanIt's never been very often that the Masons have been uniformly portrayed as the virtuous good guys and central characters to...
February 29, 2020
Scranton's Masonic Temple To Host Presidential Town Hall
Scranton, Pennsylvania's magnificent Masonic Temple will get the national spotlight turned onto it this week, as the U.S. presidential campaign season shifts into high gear. President Donald Trump will take part in a Town Hall meeting hosted by the Fox News Channel on Thursday, March 5th at the Masonic Cultural Center. Before everybody gets their aprons in bunch over Masons and "No politics in the lodge!" this is EXACTLY what our Masonic temples used to do on a regular basis.
...
February 28, 2020
Bisextilis Annus? Again already?
Made you look. It's February 29th, the one day every four years that we get to be reminded that it is indeed Leap Year. So happy Bisextile Day.
And a tip o' the birthday balloon hat to all those born on February 29th. Celebrate your bisextile orientation with inappropriate vigor, aplomb and medicinal spirits. After all - it's been all corked up for four years now.
February 26, 2020
SRRS Plumbline: The Future of Freemasonry
The Winter 2019 issue of The Plumbline arrived today from the Scottish Rite Research Society, and if you're a member and you missed opening it up, I highly recommend rescuing this one from under your stack of window replacement ads, political PAC begging letters and sweater catalogues. The latest issue features a long essay by Brother Angel Millar: The Future of Freemasonry: Who We Are and What We Have To Offer.
In six pages, Brother Millar encapsulates a whole raft of topics and articles I've...
February 25, 2020
Another One Lost: Troy, Ohio Temple Sold
And another one gone, and another one gone, and another one bites the dust...
The unique 1907 Masonic Temple of Franklin Lodge No. 14 in Troy, Ohio has just been sold to unspecified buyers for $670,000.
From a story by Aimee Hancock on the Troy Daily News website on February 24th:
The historic building was constructed in 1907 by the Troy Franklin Lodge. According to Purke, early indications are that the Masonic Temple building, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings, will...
