[Sca-List] Ministry of Children report for May

[Rowenna **]

I must first open my report by saying that I received notice from the 
Kingdom Minister of Children last week regarding two things that will affect 
the populace in general and us as MoC in particular.  I would like everyone 
to keep these two things in mind, please.
First, Society BOD have decreed that all Ministers of Children and other 
volunteers in charge of youth activities must pass a background check.  BOD 
is still deciding how to implement this decision, and I will keep everyone 
who has always so graciously volunteered to help us informed of the final 
decision.  I have waited until now to let the populace know of this decision 
because until recently it was not an official decision, but now it is and 
the bigwigs just have to decide how much red tape we have to navigate to 
actually comply.  I would like the populace to know that I personally have 
already undergone successful background checks with 4H, Boy Scouts, Girl 
Scouts, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  I cannot say for 
certain whether Jean-Michel has undergone any background checks recently, 
but even though I'm incredibly biased I'll say that he is probably one of 
the safest guys you can leave your kids with.
Second, Society BOD has decreed that the term "boffer" is no longer 
acceptable for use, and instead we must refer to them as "foam swords".  I 
am not sure why, and I'm sure all of us will continue to call them boffers 
for a long time still, but we must please the BOD by attempting to comply.  
Along this vein, the game "whack-a-Knight" is also permitted still in the 
Outlands, as long as said knight has no weapons and does no fighting back 
and the boffers are referred to as foam swords.  Thank you all for your 
attempts to comply with this new ruling.
Thirdly, our Kingdom MoC has informed all Outlands MoCs that the BOD 
directive of having TWO UNRELATED adults supervising all official MoC 
activities will be much more strictly enforced in the future than it has 
been.  Since my husband and I are related, we will send heralds about at 
events requesting the assistance of another adult during official activities 
in order to comply with this rule.  I humbly ask you all to assist us in 
fulfilling this obligation; your children's activities depend on it.

I do not have the final report ready for May Day, but I think I can safely 
say we had a good time.  We made mosaics, among other fun happenings, and 
this seemed to be a huge hit with the populace, adults and children alike.  
I am currently on a quest to find suitable mortar for future mosaic 
activities that does not cost as much as the kind I bought for this event.  
Our Maypole has new ribbons and a new flower crown.  I am very thankful for 
the turnout on May Day even though it was a bit rainy at times.  My 
heartfelt and sincere thanks to all who participated.  I apologise for not 
sending out proper thanks; we finished our project and moved Mik into his 
apartment immediately after the event, finishing up on the following 
Thursday during a marathon session I hope never to repeat.  I am DONE 
moving, forever and ever Amen Ra Amen Re.

I would however like to thank everyone, whomever you may be, that nominated 
me for the Order of the Arch.  That was VERY surprising and I am sitting 
here getting a little choked up just thinking about it.  I enjoy playing 
this game so much, even if I'm still wearing the same dress I started in.  I 
adore my position and find playing with the children very fulfilling.  This 
barony has some truly great kids and if I could ask for just one thing I'd 
wish that all the kids I work with were as good!  I look forward to serving 
the barony's children for as long as you'll all have us, and experimenting 
and questing to find more fun and exciting and fulfilling (and educational; 
I always seek to squeeze in a little education!!!) stuff to do with them, 
both as our current compliment grows up and as we add more :)  Trianna, I 
can tell, is going to keep me on my toes!!!  But please be conscious, folks, 
that without my incredible husband I would not be here today.  He has helped 
me through this agonising process of the drama of our friend the past year 
in ways I don't think anyone could really comprehend.  Between holding me 
during nervous breakdowns (and there were a lot of those) and doing 
mountains of dishes and being a general workhorse and never-tiring pack mule 
and EVERYTHING in between, he is truly the rock upon which I stand...or 
which I clutch to with bleeding fingertips, depending on the current chaos 
factor.  My darling Jean-Michel, thank you for being my hero, always and 
forever.

OK now that the sappy stuff is out of the way here's our official report on 
our office.

Our MoC boxes are pretty darn full of fabulous supplies.  We are still 
awaiting the stars to align properly to allow me to pick up a few supplies 
that have been offered by the populace, but that will happen soon enough and 
I'm not fretting over it.  We also have a fair amount of foam swords in 
excellent shape, and we hope to construct some other weapons over the summer 
with the noodles we have.  Our heartfelt thanks to Andros for supplying us 
with our current foam swords; they are very nice indeed and are serving the 
barony's children well.  Besides, between our current Defender and Madra, I 
think we have more foam swords you can shake a foam sword at.

We will be attending two events this summer and wearing our official hats: 
Jester's Folly and Defender.  We will be attending Baron's War but in a 
non-official capacity and just having fun.

For Jester's Folly we will be conducting a class on constructing your own 
limerick.  We will be having a children's bardic Saturday night around the 
baronial campfire.  It would be greatly appreciated if the scrolls we had 
made for May Day could be duplicated for the winners of the bardic (which 
will be everyone of course).  Other activities will include nature walks and 
wilderness safety.

For Defender we are still waffling on again attempting batik.  If we decide 
to hold the batiking until later, we will again work on dyeing since we were 
so rudely interrupted last Defender by the heavens opening.  I also have 
plans to include some leathercrafting and/or sewing activity.

For both of these events, autocrats need not include any funds for our 
office other than perhaps about $20 for children's largesse (unless I can 
hound everyone to supply me with little bits and baubles).

YIS,
Rowenna

"I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied...Learn To Swim...." MJK

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