I have learned a lot from this club in the little over three years I have been here. I have learned how to be a better writer. In some cases, a better friend. And still in others, a better supporter of fairness and equality.

I want this to be a club where people not only feel welcome… but supported. Encouraged to grow, become better able to support those around them, and better able to embrace new and exciting ideas for us all.

In some of my private discussions around this election, the term ‘sides’ has come up again and again. Some discussions were about whether or not there are ‘sides’ to this club at all. Some were about people being perceived as ‘taking sides’. Its hard to admit for some, I think, but there are sides here. My first instinct was think that… and the endorsements that have come in for each ticket made that tendency easy… but that would be a mistake on my part. That would be feeding into the notion of ‘sides’… of ‘old’ versus ‘new’… of ‘us’ against ‘them’.

And that gets us nowhere.

We have a great advantage as a club in this particular election. Neither of these two ‘sides’ are entirely wrong… nor is either side entirely right. Each side possess strengths and weaknesses that stem from us simply being human and seeing things differently. But it is in those differences that we have to allow ourselves to be open to the idea of change. And that seems to be the crux of where we are at… at least from my own perspective.

This election we are simply choosing between what I see as two solid and actionable platforms, each with their own priorities and own visions. They are both put together and supported by members of this club. Members who, regardless of tenure or lack thereof, deserve to be listened to.

We as a club have a choice to make, and I am in this moment I am not referring to the election. We have to choose whether or not to hang on to past slights and disagreements… or to let the past be and move on. I choose the latter.

Twenty- nine years. Twenty-nine years of work, creativity, administration, disagreements, concessions, accords, and community. Twenty-nine years. Dozens and dozens of people working and creating this amazing club where our mutual love and passion can be shared and supported and nurtured. We cannot allow ourselves to dwell on past hurts and slights. We have to let those go and be in the now so we can have another twenty-nine years to do this wonderful thing of ours.

In order to post this on the Election Ship, where I think it will be most viewed, a statement has to fall into one of the categories of Question, Endorsement, or Campaign Statement. So here is the Campaign statement part:
I would love it if the club elected Jerome and I to lead it next term, and I am asking for your supoort, and your vote, to that end.

If not, I ask that you vote for Sarah and Rob. They are a good team and want to do well by the club.

That is the choice before us as I see it. And that is why we have these elections. To make these choices as a club… as a membership… and as a group dedicated to sharing our love for writing, Trek… and each other… in a way that no one else on the internet can do.

I urge every member to vote. Vote your conscious. Vote your vision. Vote for who you want to take us forward that the first step into the next twenty- nine years.

Just vote. Because that is how we are heard… and being heard is how we come together.

James Sinclair