Musings of an Ex-Secretary

 - from January 2014 Newsletter

by Mendie Cohn

When Loretta Sparks called me up three years ago and invited me to run for the Academy secretary, my first reaction was, “Why me?”  My second reaction was, “I won’t win anyway because no one knows who I am.” To encourage me, Loretta told me, “We have a lot of fun in EC.”  Lot of fun?  How could sitting through 16 hours of meetings be a lot of fun?  But I figured, why not…since I’m not going to win anyway, I have nothing to lose (except the election of course).

Surprise number one: I was being considered for membership on EC with no prior experience. 

In spite of attending every I&C for the past 20 years and every Summer Workshop since joining the Academy 15 years ago, and also presenting six times at meetings, I truly believed that no one knew who I was except for my family group and a few other people that I befriended along the way.  I’m shy and I tend to keep a low profile, talking little in workshops out of fear of talking too much, and spending most of my free time at AAP alone in order to recover from the intense interpersonal interactions that take place in the workshops.

Surprise number two: Apparently people do know who I am because I won the election.

The only other time I ever ran for any type of office was when I was 15 years old.  My best friend was in the GAA (Girl’s Athletic Association) in high school. I thought that it would be fun to be the Art Director, who was responsible for putting up a weekly bulletin board.  I caused a bit of a ruckus because I was not a member of GAA, but there was nothing in their by-laws that said that you had to be a member of the organization to run for office.  Initially I was running against another girl, but she withdrew her candidacy and ran for a different position so that she could run unopposed. It turned out that I too ran unopposed, and I would be a shoo-in with even one vote.  I won that election too.

Surprise number three: Loretta was right…being part of EC is a lot of fun.  

I can’t say that the 12 to 15 hours I spent at home after meetings writing up the minutes was a hoot, but I loved being a member of EC.  I already knew everyone who was on EC during my term as secretary, but I got to know them in a different way.  EC is a working group, and experiencing the ways in which we all worked, sometimes together and sometimes at odds with each other, was interesting and educational.  I learned a lot about the running of an organization in general and more specifically, the inner workings of the Academy. I will miss the camaraderie and sense of shared purpose that we had together. 

Surprise number four: People were bemused that I took minute notes by hand rather than on a computer.

I didn’t quite understand why people found it interesting and amusing that I did not use a computer when taking notes during the meetings.  After all, I learned to write in kindergarten when I was five years old.  I learned, under protest, how to use a computer when I was in my fifties, and then only because my children needed help with their homework, which they did on the computer.  With roughly 45 more years of experience writing by hand, it made sense to me that this would be the way I would most efficiently take notes.

Epilogue

I have chosen, like Hillary Clinton, to take a rest from politics at this time. Right now I’m two-for-two in my political career, and I’m not quite ready to take the chance of losing next time.  I am very grateful to all of the Academy members who voted for me (and I still like those who didn’t) and enabled me to have such a rewarding experience as secretary. I encourage all of the other shy people who keep a low profile to consider running for an EC office.  Trust me…it really is a lot of fun. next time.  I am very grateful to all of the Academy members who voted for me (and I still like those who didn’t) and enabled me to have such a rewarding experience as secretary. I encourage all of the other shy people who keep a low profile to consider running for an EC office.  Trust me…it really is a lot of fun.