From the President
Just a few updates...
ELECTION
This year we decided to use a secure, professional online balloting service, Election Buddy, for our election of 2014 officers. We not only saved money and trees, we dramatically increased voter participation. Last year, 125 members voted. This year, more than double that number cast their votes electronically: 277. Our HSA secretary, Angela Terry, will be publishing the complete results and full statistics after the 90-or-so paper ballots have come in, but the early returns indicate that we made a good decision to go paperless for the majority of members.
Those of you who voted will have noticed two questions tacked on at the bottom of the ballot. These questions were not an official referendum; they were simply a convenient way to get your feedback. I apologize if there was some confusion about this. The first question invited general feedback on the HSA and write-in suggestions for improvement. Next January, the Executive Committee (EC) will be going over these comments carefully to see what we might be doing better. The second question asked, "Do you approve of the recent decision to distribute our newsletter (Ripples) electronically and to use the money saved to make the members' anthology free to all members?" This question was added at the request of a member. I told her that I would gladly add the question so that we can gauge members' opinion on the matter. 94% favor the electronic delivery of Ripples. It's useful to know that there's wide support for this change initiated by my predecessor, Ce Rosenow, and the 2012 EC.
I'd like to thank everyone who helped (and, in Angie's case, is still helping) to made this election possible: the Nominating Committee of Jeannie Martin (chair), Debbie Kolodji, Aubrie Cox, and Peg Byrd; our intrepid technical advisor Jim Sullivan; efficient and friendly Ripples editor Adrienne Christian; and our energetic, dedicated, hard-working, and so-hard-to-replace HSA secretary, Angela Terry.
INTERNATIONAL HAIKU EXCHANGE
Yesterday I received in the mail the latest issue of Blithe Spirit, the journal of the British Haiku Society. Inside it (pages 38-39) I found a selection of haiku written by HSA members Ce Rosenow, Cherie Hunter Day, Eve Luckring, Carole Johnston, George Dorsty, Tom Painting, Michele L. Harvey, Ignatius Fay, Joan Prefontaine, and Rebecca Lilly. This publication is the latest result of this year's initiative to reach out to haiku organizations around the world, sending haiku by HSA members for their journals and offering to publish haiku written by their members in Frogpond. You may have noticed in the last two issues of Frogpond selections from Romanian and Serbian haiku associations. In friendly exchange, haiku written by HSA members appeared in Romanian and Serbian journals. HSA-written haiku have also appeared in the most recent issue of Sommergras, the journal of the German Haiku Society, and our Frogpond editor, Francine Banwarth, informs me that German poets of that organization will appear in the next issue; the British Haiku Society selection will appear in the one after that. We also have exchanges with Bulgarian, Colombian, and Canadian haiku associations in the queue.
For the early exchanges we sent haiku written by EC officers. More recently, we've been sending haiku written by members culled from this year's issues of Frogpond: winners and finalists chosen by the EC for the best-of-issue Museum of Haiku Literature Award. We feel that this is a great way to showcase some of the best haiku being written by our members while at the same time forging ties of haiku friendship internationally.
CONFERENCES
Last month's issue of Ripples has the agenda and other information pertaining to the fourth quarterly HSA meeting of 2013 (and, for me, my personal record-breaking tenth haiku-related conference this year!): New Orleans, Louisiana, December 13-15. If you didn't save your copy, feel free to email me, and I'll send all the information. Our program will include a haiku-writing workshop led by Tom Painting, a reading and book signing by "Haiku Elvis" (aka Carlos Col�n), and other fun and informational sessions. And, did I mention that the food down here isn't half bad?
We're already looking ahead to the first quarterly meeting of 2014, slated for Atlanta, Georgia, the Spring Equinox weekend of March 21-23. Expect more details in future e-bulletins and Ripples, but in the meantime, please mark your calendar. Also, if you can attend and have an idea for a panel or presentation, contact me, and I'll share it with the Planning Committee (Tom Painting, Terri French, and myself). So far, we're planning to have a keynote address/discussion led by Jim Kacian on the selection process and some of the issues raised by the publication of Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, a panel on designing chapbooks, a panel on teaching haiku to the next generation of poets, a haiku-writing workshop, a "monster renga," a performance by local high school poets, and a few surprises in the works. If you think you might attend, let me know and I'll add you to the headcount for hotel rooms at the special conference rate.
AND FINALLY...
I'd like to wish each one of you a very happy, safe, and haiku-filled holiday season. Take care!
David G. Lanoue
HSA President
