I had another LA Local Communications meeting for SAG-AFTRA this week. I know I always say how grateful I am that this committee has regular meetings because I haven’t been able to be a part of a lot of other union things that I am used to doing. So having these happening every month or so has been nice and something that I can look forward to so I can continue to feel connected with my union.
Our last meeting was more of a presentation regarding the union archives. I really enjoyed that meeting and learning about something I really had no idea about with the union before. I hope that in the future, the committee has more presentations like that because I know there are so many things I don’t know about. But this meeting was more of a regular meeting and had agenda items that we typically have.
Most of the committee meetings go over the most recent newsletters and what articles were included in them. And there are always updates on things we went over before and the status of different projects and requests. And after that, we go over the different articles that are in process of being completed. I haven’t written anything yet, but I have suggested several articles and one is being worked on by the staff. I’m ok with not writing the ones I suggested because they do involve things that the staff has better access to so they will have an easier time completing them.
I feel like one of my main responsibilities on this committee is helping to think of newsletter articles and ideas since that is one of the big things we are in charge of. And even though I have suggested a few in the past, many of them were not right for what we are supposed to do (for example, they would be better for the national newsletter and not the local one). But for the past few meetings, I haven’t had any new article ideas to suggest. I know that’s ok and we have a lot of articles in the works right now, but I also want to feel like I’m involved with this committee and an active participant. And the biggest thing I can do would be to have more ideas.
I was thinking about the articles in the works during the meetings and trying to see what might be missing or if something would spark an idea in my head. Unfortunately, during the meeting, I didn’t have any new ideas that I could suggest. I was pretty quiet for this meeting, which is common for me since I also am working at the same time as in Zoom. But I do wish I had something I could really contribute to the group.
When the meeting was done, we set our next meeting date. It’s about a month away, so that gives me a lot of time to keep thinking of article ideas. I’m hoping that something will hit me so I can present ideas at the November meeting. I know I can’t force inspiration or anything, but I can make a more conscious effort to look at what I see in the acting world and what might be helpful for other members to be aware of.
Maybe that will work, or maybe it will take being in the next meeting and hearing someone else’s ideas for me to feel inspired. But I really am setting a goal to try harder with being an active committee member outside of attending the meetings and hopefully when I am in the meeting next month, I will have more to contribute than I have before.