The EGA wrote to me the other day. They are sad that I didn't send them my $40 last September. Will I tell them why? Check all that apply:
[]I no longer stitch. []I have become involved in other activities. []My chapter dissolved. []Meetings are too far away. []Chapter was not welcoming. []Personality conflicts in my chapter. []I did not receive Needle Arts. []I did not read/enjoy Needle Arts. []I did not understand how to participate in educational programs. []Too expensive. []Did not receive a renewal notice. []Complying with EGA formalities was too confusing. []Not interested in class offerings. []Not enough time to devote to EGA. []Don't understand the benefit of belonging to such an organization. []I felt too inexperienced to fully participate.
Here's the sad thing, they are so out of touch my reasons don't even appear. How can I drag my sorry ass to a meeting when the local organization is completely perplexed by women like me; honestly a recent post on their website discussed how to include working women as if we were some new and strange breed. Also, the local chapters, hell dude, no chapters seem to be doing things that I find particularly interesting. OTOH, I don't want to be sitting in my house by myself all the time. (Nine days to camp!)
I spent several years floating about as a Member-at-Large, and I never really understood what I was a member of. What was I supposed to be doing? I know people will say I should join the Cyberstitchers, but honestly, I belong to a number of boards and listservs, and I don't feel particularly connected to those people either. Mostly I think, why do these people feel the need to share all of their thoughts with us? Why can't they just shut up? Everything everyone does is just super! Good for you! I feel like we should be getting stars pasted to our foreheads. I often have to hold my tongue because I think such antisocial things. Like, this is from a totally different situation, and I feel horrible saying it aloud, but it's totally been bothering me. On a list I am on, a woman's teenage niece was recently killed. The niece's obit said she wanted to open a shop in New Hope, PA because of the "diversity of people" in the area. Diversity in New Hope? I haven't been there in a while, but diversity? in New Hope? When you live a stone's throw from Philadelphia where there is a diversity of people? It's was all I could do not to ridicule a dead girl.
And that's why I didn't renew my EGA membership.
6 comments:
You rock! Couldn't have said it better myself about bulletin boards/listservs. Though I belong to several myself.
Hey. Now I feel really special. I got the exact same letter yesterday. (Of course, in my case, I had paid my membership in January. Just let it lapse in the run up to the holidays.)
I am extremely sorry your local chapter isn't wonderful. I've gotten so much out of mine, I've joined the board.
The whole situation with your local EGA reminds me of nearly every situation when trying to deal with mother groups and/or kid lessons. Why is it so hard to fathom that a woman might not be available to do non-work stuff during the day? If you think it's bad with stitchers, you should know that it's worse with mothers, simply because it's impossible to not judge a mom who does something kooky like work.
I got that letter too! You nailed a lot of my issues with the EGA. Add to that, our local chapter hasn't had a great teacher in over a year. I decided to join the kind of local sampler group instead and I am much, much happier.
We don't have a national group like the EGA, but we have state guilds with local groups. My local group is pretty good and they realise that they have a broad base. They have their meetings on a monday, with two "sessions" - one in the morning and one that starts at 6pm, which allows the working people to come along. We have to travel for teaching so that isn't such a huge issue. I must get back to going along.
But I hear where you are coming from, so many groups I'd like to be involved in meet during the day and then wonder why only a few people turn up!!!
Cheers,
Laren
Pretty much the only reason I renew EGA is because my friends are officers. If I can find any reason to NOT go to the meetings, I take advantage of it. LOL
They're nice people but I just don't go for the organized stitching thing...
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