Masonic Traveler

Building Hiram – a review

April 23, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Building Hiram – Uncommon Catechism for Uncommon Masonic Education
by Br. John Nagy.

Uncommon is a good word to describe this book as its approach to Masonic education is anything but what most would consider common. Not the visual bullet point summary or elaborated description of a several thousand-year-old temple, Building Hiram… is definitely not your run of the mill Masonic lecture.

I suppose I should qualify that statement. Often, what seems to be produced with Masonic education in mind is a rehash of the elements of the degrees: the tools, the positions, and the knocks. In their own way, they are valuable, but often are conveyed in unexciting and repetitive chapters, that seems to lack the real meat of the symbolism that strive to teach. Why the triangle? Why the tools? How do they relate? What else do they relate to?

What makes this diminutive book exciting is the steady measure and rhythm of the question and answer catechism that should be familiar to every Mason who’s tested through the blue lodge degrees. Br. Nagy, in approaching the common education, has stepped outside the box and back into the lodge room to recapture the creative verve each of us experience in our mentor/pupil experience. The Q&A gives the reader a real sense of master and student development. For example:

I – Inquiry and R-Response

I: what is Logic?

R; The Art of thinking

I: What’s more?

R: The mechanics of thought, Analysis, and Synthesis.

I: What’s further?

R: Logic is concerned with things as they are known.

I: How is this important to a Mason’s life?

R: Masonry relies on thought, analysis, and synthesis; the ability to think well is essential to being a Mason.

I: What else?

R: Logic is supported by a firm understanding and usage of all the elements of Rhetoric.

This exchange continues throughout, taking you in ways impossible to imagine at the onset and impossible to foresee at its conclusion. It’s from this back and forth exchange through the myriad of symbolic connections that the learning takes place.

I have to admit, that in reading it, I found myself imaging the questions coming from someone else, and it seems to me that was the intent in putting this jewel together.

Another great attribute I found is at the start of every chapter (of which there are 12) there is a small summary of what is to come. But the summary is not a list of upcoming ideas or key points but rather a short anecdotal parable of the chapters relationship to the teaching; not the how and the why, but the how of the why. The book really builds on itself.

As a catechism, it does make for a quick read, but the material is not meant to be taken in all at once. The small stature of the book definitely conveys a sense of it being a quick to get through, but each chapter could be read and then reread to pull the nuance and flavor from the text. It really does go deep into the connective symbolism and builds a strong foundation.

Another fun aspect that I found in the book is the abundant use of cipher throughout, but again in a most unconventional manner. Yes, it is the “Masonic” cipher, but repurposed and re-keyed to make it unique to this book and for this books message. And, I have it on good authority that in all of the code inclusions the reader will find several jewels to delight and entertain.

At the beginning of the book, Br. Nagy says “The Masonic journey that begins with the preparation of ones heart does not end at becoming a raised mason….”and this book will definitely help shape that the uncommon journey of the raised Mason with his uncommon education. I think this book is an excellent educational tool to every newly made Mason and every mason on that journey that wants to learn something new.

You can find “Building Hiram…” in our Gift Shop direct from the publisher! And, you can listen to the Masonic Central pod cast with Brother John Nagy as we discuss the book.

Masonic Charity is a myth.

April 20, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in a Multiple Sclerosis 5k Walk-A-Thon here in Los Angeles. My family worked to raise a modest amount of money for the fight against MS and we wanted to walk to show our dedication to the cause. We walked because we cared.

The event was early with a 9am check in and a 10am start. There were a lot of free bagels, free t-shirts, and participants, a lot of participants. I thought I overhead the number as 16,000 participating in the regions events and with a column of people nearly a mile long where I stood. It felt like a big event.

Being amongst such a large group allowed me to make some mental notes and draw parallels to other aspects of my life that I find myself in the company of people of similar ideals. The event gave me pause to stop and contemplate the awesome power of Masonic Charity. That in amongst this retinue of walkers, with their team shirts and color coordinated bandanas, that to see a troop of Masonic walkers with a banner in the air to rally the team spirit of the crew and lead the fellowship of the dedicated would be a sight to behold.

But, then I started to think about how asking for charitable contributions in lodge for Non Masonic recipients is against our rules, and that the measure of Masonic charity is in the volume of monies raised to beat another lodge in how much was given to the homes fund. That the idea of Masonic Charity is the institutional brand of what that charity means… not in what worthy causes we find or believe we should levy our oratory skills to convince others. That, unless it’s an “official” charity, its not of value to elicit the help of our local lodge. And, I don’t even know how to approach the changing of the will of the lodge to even contemplate doing something like this.

It started to occur to me that Masonic Charity was a myth. That we are told to be charitable, and then guided in what works to be Charitable towards, but to leave our specific cause or need at the door so as not to offend the membership in yet another request of money.

Thinking about Masonic charity as a myth started to open up the whole field of Masonic education. Is it something were taught or something we do because we are told to? What was “Brotherly Love”, Relief”, and “Truth” anyways? And, in the early morning hours of the Walk with so many others who obviously were expressing their idea of “relief”, what made my Masonic ideal any loftier than theirs? Obviously they were up, and out, and had raised a sum of money to help fight to relieve the illness of M.S. Was my conception of “Charity” any better than theirs? Was it just different?

How do we envision our aspect of Charity? I can go into the argument of our charity truly being an agape form of loving others rather than the expression (giving) of it, but we measure the giving today not the volume of how much we love. Is it fair to hold Masonic Charity up to be measured against the temple?

Is Masonic Charity a Myth?

Are Illiterates Raising Illiterates?

April 15, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

by Br. John Nagy

If you’re old to Masonic Education you know that, for the most part, “average formal Grand Lodge backed” Masonic Education programs exist today as:

Memorizing Degree Catechism
Learning Ritual and floor work
Reviewing the Digest of Law and taking exams based on it
Reading Pamphlets
Perusing Degree Handbooks
Following Officer Manuals

If you’re more fortunate than most, you may even have some Brothers show up at lodge once in a while to provide some interesting tidbits on Masonic history. These are all important and form a stable foundation to continue the necessary support that Freemasonry requires to survive. What is missing though is the kind of education that many Masons are starving for and which Properly Raises them toward the level that Freemasonry was intended to have.

This is a bold statement and one that requires some explanation so let me ask the obvious question, “What are they starving for?” They starve for the truly important aspect of Masonic Education most missing today: how Masonry applies to their lives overall. Without a firm understanding of how Masonry manifests in our lives, what it means and how it helps us Build better lives, the true Masonic lessons are lost, leaving Masons unfulfilled and dissatisfied.

The sad part of this situation is that it is caused by self-sabotage. We Masons are held back because we have falsely labeled ourselves for years. What’s needed to move forward is an earnest effort to dismiss this notion that we are merely “Speculative Masons.” This is blatantly misleading.

Let me place something firmly before you to consider: All Masons who use Masonry to help themselves Build better lives are “Operative Masons;” Masons today do work in and on Stone; it’s not recognized as Stone though, and that is part of the problem. Most of us Masons don’t understand the symbols before us!

Every Working Tool mentioned in Masonic Ritual has Authentic Application in the real world. What is missing though is a foundational understanding as to the application of these tools in our lives today. We don’t see this because the very symbols that are shared within Ritual do not speak to us today as they did in years past. In this respect, Masons being Raised today are symbolically illiterate. They do not have a sufficient Symbolic Education to be Raised properly; which leads me back to the statement I wrote earlier, most Masons are not Properly Raised.

Let me run a few frank statements past you to consider further.

Freemasonry is Building Builders. Sound Building is based on the ability to properly Understand and Work with Symbols. The basis of Symbolic Education is stated within Masonic Ritual. The final Steps Masons must take to prepare themselves for being Properly Raised are alluded to in the FC lecture. The first three of the final Steps are in preparation for understanding and using Symbols as Words; the last four are in preparation for understanding and using Symbols as Numbers. These Seven Steps are important because without a firm understanding of Symbols, Freemasons metaphorically die of hunger in a grocery store jam-packed with food for lack of an ability to access that which is immediately before them.

These last seven Steps are Symbolic in Masonry and were once considered the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences. They were initially used as preparation for serious study in Philosophy and Theology. Without their foundation, the training in Symbols, one could not properly deal with Symbols, also known in some circles as “the Word” or “the Logos.” Masons may go through the motions of being Raised, but until they are capable of raising their level of understanding above the actual words and numbers, they are Symbolically Illiterate, hence they’re unable to read what is before them.

In this respect, Masonry has failed as an organization. As truly successful as Masonry is in preserving our “food locker of symbols,” our Brothers starve and loose interest because they lack access keys to this locker. The saddening aspect of this is that few Brothers understand this; fewer still are willing to work toward changing this.

In general, we Masons as a whole look at increasing numbers, retention of members and ability to “repeat back without firm understanding” as key indicators of our success. They will never be indicators of success – ever!

The challenges we are faced with are based in educating our members in Symbolic Understanding and Use; our problems are based in our Educators not focusing on this; the troubles that are focused on today are a symptom of our not meeting the challenge before us; they are not the cause but we’ll have to live with them until we change our focus.

People support what they can “make sense of” and “use” in their lives. What’s more, when others see how well things are working for Masons, we will attract others in kind. Ironically, if we stick with the basics and educate our members in Symbolic understanding and application, we’ll attract far more members then we could ever imagine.

Let’s make a unified effort to give our Brothers the keys to the Masonic locker. All that is required is taking seven simple Steps.

You can hear an interview with Br. Nagy on Masonic Central!

Dr. and Br. John Nagy is the author of the new book:

Building Hiram Uncommon Catechism for
Uncommon Masonic Education Vol. 1.

The Grand Lodge of Arizona

April 13, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

The Grand Lodge of Arizona is the next stop on our tour of American Grand Lodges.

Arizona Masonic membership:

9,900 – 2006
9,642 – 2007
gain/loss – -258
data from MSANA

State population – 6,338,755 as of 2007 (estimated),

About the Grand Lodge:

The Grand Lodge of Arizona does not have a listing on Wikipedia.

The website has no information on the formation or history of Freemasonry in Arizona.
Some of what I found on my excursion there:

The site at first approach is very impressive. The URL is catchy and relevant to the site it represents: http://www.azmasons.org. Entering the URL, the splash page opens with a panorama of images of the state (the Grand Canyon, cactus, state flower), which then fade into images of Freemasonry. Behind the images is an impressive score of music to usher in the site. It is a bit surprising, given the volume the music starts at (and that I had my volume turned way up), the auto start music definitely caught my attention.

The site meets the user with a very clear top and bottom layout. The top header is the anchor art with the navigation sub bar with color coordinated sub menus for the site menus. This is a straight forward arrangement and navigation and a very simple format to expand as data is added.

glofaz — The Grand Lodge of Arizona website

On the front page there is a clear mission statement of the Fraternity, but without any attribution from where it originated. Reading it left me unclear if this was the statement of Arizona Masonry or of Freemasonry in general. There are two calendar entries right on the front page to relevant events, though one was already expired, but only by a few days of my visit.

The site does offer a lot of choices in the navigation. Six main tabs (including a Home tab) with several pages beneath each option, the navigation also repeats on the pages visited on the left side. All of the major navigation is text (HTML) and easily scalable as updates and additions are made.

Additionally, all of the sites in the navigation go to text based pages without any cumbersome PDF’s or Word docs, which is good, but delving into the data, the pages also seem to be free of unique information to the state. I will commend them in that all of the navigation stays in site, which keeps the visitor engaged in the content. Also, there is a very functional calendar with a lot of valuable Grand Lodge data.

Informational Content:

When looking at the site from an informational stand point, I found that it was very light. With every page filled with content, I found very little of it relevant to someone with an interest in becoming an Arizona Mason. It did include entries in their about section on myths and misconceptions, the fraternities history, but that was it. There was no mention of what Arizona Masonry was about. It also includes a page on “How to Join” which does a very good at talking about joining, but without any means to take the reader to the NEXT STEP. Ultimately the site does nothing to help convert the viewer into a lodge visitor, let alone a petitioner. There is no off link to “contact us for more info”, “submit your name and info on line”, or even a phone number for someone to call with questions. It was disappointing that there was no provision in place to convert the visitor in ANY way on the “How To Join page. I do want to say that there is a lodge locator page which would be a good next step link with instructions to contact a lodge for more info. This may be a good interim solution, but would in turn layer more clicks into the visitation process. There is also a contact us page, with the address of the Grand Lodge (and number) and a contact form for all of the Grand Lodge officers, but again, its disassociated from the “How to Join” page.

As with Alaska, there is a certain presumption that there is an infrastructure in place to field those contacts and manage them as they are received. This again speaks to the broader organization and the back end of the site (and Grand Lodge) management. It again raises the question, what is the emphasis of the site: members or prospective members/general public? Perhaps a clearer idea purpose is needed to define who it is to address.

One item of concern I found was in the about us section; it indicated that Masonry in the state is over 11,000 members which must be old data when compared to the date from the 07 MSANA. It may seem a clerical over site, but it does seem to link the site to old information on cross reference.

Also, I found a good many of the links on the sites link page to be broken or connected to non existent pages.

Look and Feel:

The colors choices for the site are very powerful and very Masonic, which I like, but from a non Masonic user, they almost feel overpowering. Dominate Blue and Purple with yellow accents is very strong, and always runs the risk of being TOO powerful. The balance is meaningful content.

The Arizona Grand Lodge site is definitely content driven and not based on images and art. The opening header is excellent as it highlights Arizona Masonry, but there is little to follow it up to show some Masonic activity in the state. Images, I want to stress, are not a mandatory inclusion, but they are an excellent way to tell a story and add value so long as they are relevant. When you couple the lack of images with the generic content it loses its ability to engage the viewer with any relevant message giving it a “work in progress” flavor.

Overall:

The site looks every bit what one would expect a Grand Lodge website to look like. But when you drill down into the pages the visual cohesiveness becomes diluted and difficult to associate with the state it is said to represent. Taking it in a overall context, it feels incomplete. The form is in place, but it seems to be waiting for the fine hand to weave into it the meaningful (and relevant) images and content. Or even for an attentive hand to manage the links so as their connections are relevant.

From a visitor stand point there are lots of questions I’d like to find out about by coming to the site: “When did Arizona Masonry begin”? “What do Arizona Masons do”? “Why would a young Arizona man want to be a Mason”? And “How would he best do that”? These questions are all left unanswered when a visitor comes to the Grand Lodge of Arizona site. By not answering those questions, it leaves a lot of leads (and conversions) unanswered and potentially result in even more turned off and disinterested visitors.

Coming up next – The Grand Lodge of Arkansas

The only viable option.

April 10, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Is the Shrine leaving the hospital business?

Its a possibility according to Ralph Semb, chief executive officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children in an article by the AP today out of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Speaking on the shrinking revenue and increased costs:

“Unless we do something, the clock is ticking and within five to seven years we’ll probably be out of the hospital business and not have any hospitals”

This is someting reported on by Freemasons for Dummies just recently and on the Masonic Blog too. They both had interesting things to say about the threatened closures, but reading the story from the AP, and seeing the reality so close at hand, it makes one wonder if there really is any hope for the widow’s son on this one.

Has the fraternl arm of Freemasonry gotten longer than what it can sustain?

The AP story does say that donations only make up a small percentage of their operating costs, with the remainder coming from the past endowment that has taken a substantial hit in the economic down turn. It also asks the question towards the end about being saved by its forbearers. Melissa Brown, who is the associate director of research for The Center on Philanthropy says that health care giving is down, and that:

“the aging of once-prominent fraternal organizations might be affecting their ability to grow donations. “It could be that what they are seeing is a generational shift,”.

Its the last statement that takes us to Freemasonry. Bro Mark in his piece speaks to the idea that The Shrine has, in a sense, disassociated with the notion that a developed Freemasonry leads to a developed Shrine. Did they perhaps see their role diminished in their namesake charity? Or was there still an active engagement of what has been going on to asses the present situation. This will be interesting to see how it works its way through the Imperial Council Session in June. At the present burn rate of $1 million a day from the endowment (of $5 Billion) to cover operating costs, they still have some time, but thats with the presumption that the economy (and the stock market makes a turn).

So what does it mean, what does it foretell? Thats hard to say. It does seem to be a physical manifestation of the shrinking fraternity that we can bare witness to and take heed from. That as the numbers continue to diminish, the failure to engage the community meaningfully, and the active dis-engagement of society persists, more of the institutional edifices created will fall away… Unless we do something about it.

The possible collapse of the Shrine are the rocks in the river ahead that we can see. Lets learn from them and do things differently before the Associated Press article is about the closing and selling of Grand Lodge buildings, and its become to late to navigate.

Martin Faulks of Lewis Masonic

April 10, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

This week on Masonic Central, we have the chance to talk to Martin Faulks who is the colorful and vibrant marketing director of Lewis Masonic publishing.

Join us as we welcome him to the program to talk about the Masonic publishing business (and Lewis Masonic), English Masonry, his work with Lewis and the art of esoteric literature, and life as the “Masonic Ninja”.

Missed the Live Program, Listen now!
[podcast]http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Masonic-Central/2009/04/13/Martin-Faulks-on-Lewis-Masonic-Publishing.mp3[/podcast]

Lewis Masonic was founded in 1801, and is the largest and oldest Masonic publisher in the world. Well-known to the English Freemasons, Lewis produces many of the ritual books used by United Grand Lodge of England lodges and Holy Royal Arch Chapters. Lewis is today opening up shop here in the American market with a new on line store featuring their exciting collection. you can find the U.S. store at LewisMasonic.us.

Its sure to be a fun conversation and insightful in all things Masonic with maybe a bit of conversation about ninja throwing stars…

Listen to the LIVE program at 6pm PST / 9pm EST, and join the conversation from at our new home at Blog Talk Radio, or you can listen from the player widget on FreemasonInformation.com. To participate live, dial into the show to listen and interact with the guests. You can also join our interactive show chat at Masonic Central on BTR!

A Handbook for the Freemason’s Wife

April 5, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

Seldom does a diminutive book deliver on the promise that it makes. More often than not, the reader is left wanting more. But this time, that’s not the case, and the “A Handbook for The Freemason’s Wife” delivers exactly the right dose of information to answer almost every question that the spouse or partner of a Mason, or Mason to be, could imagine to ask.

Packed into a slim journal, the guide is one part Q&A, another part encyclopedia, and a third part experiential, as it is the collaborative effort of Masonic wives Philippa Faulks (who you may remember from her appearance on Masonic Central) and Cheryl Skidmore. Together, the two have close to 30 years experience in the enjoyable trade of being the wives of Freemasons. And, from that experience,nearly every nuance to the fraternity gets touched upon to put the ideal reader (the wife of a Freemason) at ease.

The book, in its simplicity, makes the hard task of explaining what exactly we Masons do, in and out of the lodge, that much easier. I found that the short description of the history, the quick trip through the emblems, and the overview of events and banquets were smart and to the point.

On top of all that, in between the meatier content is a good collection of Masonic poetry, songs, trivia, and to top it off, one of the funnier Masonic jokes I’ve heard in a while.

“A Handbook for The Freemason’s Wife” really is a must have for the Masons spouse. Its already answered a few of my wife’s questions, and I’ve only left it out for her to find a couple of times. Imagine what would happen if you put it in her hands…

The handbook comes from Lewis Masonic, and if you’re the U.S. side of the pond, you can find it at Amazon.

Br. Peter Millheiser Editor of the Hibiscus Masonic Review

April 3, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

In this episode, we speak with Br. Peter Millheiser, who is the editor of the Hibiscus Masonic Review Journal, which is a publication of Hibiscus Masonic Lodge N. 275, in Coral Gables, under the Grand Lodge of Florida.

In the conversation, we will talk about the journal, how it came to be published, why it was necessary, and what makes its content so unique.

As the editor, Peter is the Masonic Education Chairman of the Hibiscus Shrine Fellowship Club, that publishes the quarterly journal. But once you delve further below the surface of this printed book is a solid design of education, fraternity, and an insight for the future of Freemasonry.

The goal of the work, and the discussion, is to bring the spiritual feeling back into the lodge, back into our education, and talk about that in the program.

Listen to the LIVE program and join the conversation from our new new home of Masonic Central at Blog Talk Radio, or from the player widget on FreemasonInformation.com. Or, to participate live, dial into the show to listen and interact with the guests. You can join our interactive show chat at Masonic Central on BTR!

Missed the live program? Listen Now!

Or, download this episode

Is “Solomon’s Key” completely out of date?

March 26, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

The spin machine is starting to turn. The well placed stories in the media are starting to percolate to the surface now and in strange key locations (including this blog perhaps) the made up stories are starting to be retold and made real…

It sounds like a bit out of a mystery novel by perhaps, say, Dan Brown.

Well, with no stone left unturned, Why not retell the tale so the myth can become legend.

It would seem from a recent article in the Seacoast On line, that an exasperated publicist for Dan Brown, on the subject of his, very late, forthcoming novel has declared that the title “Solomon’s Key” is so out of date…

As if.

Its not like the Masonic community hasn’t written everything there is to write under the sun about Freemasonry, tis secrets, the potential meaning of what Solomon’s Builders “might” mean, or the possible secret places… And forget about the non Masonic writers pool and their contribution to the dirth of “possible” meanings that they pull together.

What were we talking about again, oh yeah, the Dan Brown book that hasn’t come out yet, on the subject that is or isn’t about Freemasonry…

Is it possible that the literary Brown fan club has written themselves right out of his next book and Brown’s just chucked the idea all together?

According to his publicist, they may have:

During a conversation (with a British Journalist) about the book, which the journalist repeatedly called “The Solomon Key,” Brown’s rep seemed to get exasperated and stopped her:

“You are using a title that was used several years ago. That is completely out of date.”

The rep also dismissed the ET story, the journalist said, repeating that Brown had not finished the book.

The last part was about a quote taken from Ron Howard on February of 08 while shooting the new FILM slated for release this may. Howard had said:

…that Brown had not only finished his next book, he was excited about it. That started a whole new slew of speculation about the release date.

Or, is it just more media hype to infiltrate sites like this to help stir the silt of our memory that there really is this mysterious book coming on the horizon…

Is it me, or is the mystery of when this book is coming out starting to feel like a Brown plot line?

I’m sure the real story will garner its own “Secrets of the some day to be released Solomon’s Key“. Until then, we’ll just keep twisting the cryptix.

*editors note, why I called it “Solomon’s Buildres” and not “Solomon’s Key” confounds me.

The Grand Lodge website of Alabama.

March 23, 2009 by Masonic Traveler

The Grand Lodge of Alabama is the first stop on the tour of American Grand Lodges.

Alabama Masonic membership:
30,952 – 2006
29,775 – 2007
gain/loss – 1,177
data from MSANA

State population – 4,627,851 as of 2007,

About the Grand Lodge:

Founded June 11, 1821, previous charters in the state had been issued by the grand Lodges of Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Alabama is one of a few states to have a Wikipedia entry with this information.

The website is very straight forward in that most of the active links live right on its front page. The site is built on a simple HTML architecture which allows some flexibility in the overall structure and content. The plus is that if there is a desire to add something, it just needs to be hand coded in, the down side is that it needs to be hand coded in which can be time consuming for the coder. I tip my hat to the person maintaining the site, as I know the monumental challenges that it can be to manage just such a project.

Some of what I found on my excursion there:

At the time of my visit on March 18th, there were three updated messages, two of which were from January 2009, and one from December of 08.

From the main page, there is a wide selection of links and content to spend some time on. I did find the “how do I” link an interesting addition to help those not familiar with how to navigate a web site to find what they be interested in finding. Some may overlook this or trivialize it as unnecessary, but with an older member base unfamiliar with the web this could be an excellent tool to guide users through the operation. The “how do I” list covers everything from reporting a members passing to finding lodge events. This latter item is an excellent feature and precursors to a state calendar, but it keeps those interested in knowing what is going on informed.

The only draw back to some of this deeper site navigation was the inconsistency of the page layout from the sites original style and layout navigation. This is purely a cosmetic function though as the content is pertinent. I mention this as these aspects are important when visitors are perusing the site and want to jump around to various locations.

From the top level site, another inconsistency I found is the diversity of file types being linked to. What I noticed were links to PDF’s, text files, word files, and other off site links for information. In some situations this practice is ok, but unless the originating site has consistency, it interjects another random element into an experience. An option may be to translate the various file types right into text and drop it into the HTML. That way all the info is searchable and simple to pull.

One thing I will say about the site is that it contains a lot of information and that it has a site map. So if you are really looking for something, you can go right to the map to find it.

My only disappointment in the site is that it doesn’t say much about Masonry’s relationship to the state or to its members. This is more of an aesthetic opinion about the site rather than a functional one, when looking at it through the eyes of a first time visitor, especially in a state as vibrant and beautiful as Alabama. There isn’t much visually to say “this is Alabama Masonry” which misses the opportunity to hammer home the first impression from the digital enquirer.

Another area of concern, to me, is the degree of personal information posted on some of the pages. Again, this a personal call but it leaves open the opportunity for spam or unwanted correspondence.

One question that the site does not seem to readily address is a strong answer to the 2be1ask1 invitation. In the event that a young Alabamian man ventures into the site, there is not an immediate means to get more information, or to have the question of “who to ask” in the 2be1 proposition.

Overall, the site is sound and communicates what it needs to communicate. What seems to be missing is just the flavor Alabama Masonry.

Next – the Grand Lodge of Alaska