Hayden's Histories: The First Official Literary Ladies Society Meeting Minutes

Hello to our wonderful readers.  It's Hayden here.  This post was supposed to be published earlier this week, but things got a little bit busy. :}  I'm going to need to be better at posting on time in the future.

And yes, I will be posting in the future...very regularly, in fact.  I've officially been elected as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Literary Ladies Society, so it was decided that I should be the one to report about our meetings here on the blog.  Not only do I have an official job, I now have an official name for all of my special posts:  "Hayden's Histories". :D  Do you like it?  I do!

Our first official Literary Ladies Society (or LLS) meeting was on Saturday, December 15th.  It was held in the room that Jenna and I share.  We decided not to dress up for this meeting since we were already in our formal Christmas gowns.  But I don't want to give too much away before I start.  I want this to documented properly.  So here are the official minutes that I took in my notepad and then typed up for the blog post:

Literary Ladies Society Meeting Official Minutes

Saturday, Dec. 15th

The meeting commenced at 12:00 PM.  Those in attendance were Emma Hathaway, Tess Prescott, Jenna Benson, and Hayden Hathaway.  No one else was interested in participating at this point in time.

The meeting began with Jenna's suggestion that the members vote for a leader, or "Head Heroine".  Emma and Jenna were both nominated, and Jenna won by a vote of 3 to 1 (she did not want to vote for herself, of course!).  

After offering her thanks for being voted in as Head Heroine, Jenna nominated Hayden Hathaway as Secretary/Treasurer of the group.  The other members voted in agreement, and Hayden began her work as secretary, documenting everything that happened.  

The Head Heroine next suggested that all members select their Literary Ladies Society name.  It was to be the name of the members' favorite literary heroine.  Jenna chose first and selected the name of Marianne Dashwood from "Sense and Sensibility".  Tess chose Elizabeth Bennet from "Pride and Prejudice".  Emma selected Emma Woodhouse from "Emma", and I...I mean, Hayden selected Catherine Morland from "Northanger Abbey". 

Jenna wanted Hayden to make note of the fact that this was not meant to be a Jane Austen exclusive literary society, and while it was not inappropriate for all of the members to chose names from Austen writings, they would have to be sure to remember to inform future members that they could chose literary names from other authors.

The Head Heroine then suggested that the members should be addressed by their selected literary names while attending the meetings, but thought the members should vote on it.  The vote was unanimous...the members of the LLS shall henceforth be referred to as their chosen character names when attending any meeting.  They shall be referred to as "Miss" and their last name.  The only time this will change is if a new member selects the name of one of the current member's character's older sisters.  For example, if a future member chooses Elinor Dashwood as their literary heroine name, then Jenna will be addressed as "Miss Marianne" and the new member will be referred to as "Miss Dashwood".  

All of the members thought this was a splendid idea, especially Tess, who expressed her appreciation for the fact that the Society was attempting to do things properly.

After this, the Head Heroine opened the floor for suggestions for future meetings.  She wanted to know what the members wanted to discuss or learn at these meetings.   

Emma...er...Miss Woodhouse...suggested that one meeting be devoted to a discussion of the members' favorite period dramas.  She also suggested that a meeting be held in which the members discussed which period dramas were better as movies (if any) and which were better as books.

Tess...oops...Miss Bennet...thought it would be nice to have a meeting all about etiquette and how it has changed through the years.  She also suggested a day of reading the members' favorite period drama books aloud...if not the whole book, then perhaps just a favorite chapter or something.

I...uh...Hayden...grrr...Miss Morland recalled seeing posts about making up a "dream cast" of a future movie and thought it would be great fun for the members to select a future period drama to be filmed and cast it with the members' favorite actors and actresses for each part.

The Head Heroine, Jenna...oh, bother...Miss Dashwood, approved of all of these ideas and had a suggestion of her own:  a period drama marathon in which all the members selected their favorite period drama, got dressed in their pajamas, and watched all of them straight in a row while eating snacks.

All of the ideas were put to a vote and unanimously approved.

The Head Heroine asked how often the LLS should meet, and after much discussion and some voting, it was decided that the Society shall meet once per month, and always on the 3rd Saturday (to celebrate the Society's first meeting).

The last suggestion of the Head Heroine was that all of the members vote on whether or not formal/historical attire would be the required dress code of all meetings.  The members voted, and the result was a unanimous yes.  

The meeting was adjourned, and everyone returned to their proper places.

Written by Hayden Hathaway, Dec. 15th, 2012

Whew, that was a lot harder than I thought it would be!  I hope it gives you a glimpse of how the meeting went, though.  We may not always do the "official minutes" after each meeting...I may just summarize what happened instead.  And sometimes, we may let you sit in on a meeting or two as it happens.  You'll just have to keep checking back each month to see what we have planned. ;)

For now, I've got to get off of the computer and give someone else a turn!  We'll have another post up soon, as we had a lovely snowfall this morning and all of us got to go out in it! :D  We'll try to get that post up as quickly as possible.

P.S.  Can you believe there are only 4 more days until Christmas?  I can hardly wait!!! :D