My thanks and appreciation to everyone for their confidence expressed by electing me president. The 25th anniversary membership meeting and reception were well attended. Thanks are due to Bunny Brown, Karen Campbell, Connie Eichenlaub, Daisy Lu, and Laurene Peterson for helping provide refreshments and setting up and cleaning up. The Wagners' film presentations were both informative and provocative. A number of copies of their videos were sold, and we have added a complete set to our library.
Throughout last year Karen served very capably as president. And, as she has for the past four years, she also edited our newsletter. Her desire to pursue more education has led her to leave both posts, and she will be greatly missed. However, we are very fortunate to have Kenji and Debra Tachibana return after a number of years and step right into editing the newsletter. This is a real help and benefit for the Society.
At last year's retreat the board set three goals: increase volunteer recruitment, collect membership demographic data, and revise the bylaws. The revised bylaws were adopted by the board on May 3, and copies are available in the library. The membership survey began last October and will be completed this October. We'll share the final results at that time. Responses so far have been about 30% of those who received questionnaires. A number of members indicated their willingness to help out as volunteers, and we wish to express our thanks.
With regard to the survey responses, it appears that those members with some depth in Jungian material are more inclined to respond and we may, as a result, overlook the need to provide programs or material for those who have just recently begun to explore his work. As a relative newcomer to Jung myself, I encourage everyone to share with us, in some way, how and what they would like to learn.
At this year's board retreat we discussed many issues but didnít reach a set of specific goals. Consensus was reached, however on several items. We continue to search for a larger space for our library, to acquire more bookcases for the library, and to include videos in our lending service (see the Library column). There was also an agreement that we should continue to explore different ways for members to meet in small groups for informal discussion. Several board members are developing options for this, and some of the possibilities under consideration are a poetry group, video viewing and comment, one-meeting sessions to discuss a lecture topic or theme, and some form of members sharing their reading or studies.
We also are starting to pursue cooperative efforts with the other local Jungian organizations, such as the Jungian Psychotherapists Association and the North Pacific Institute of Analytic Psychology, consistent with our stated purpose of offering non-therapeutic educational opportunities to members.
The coming year holds the promise of stimulating programs and continuing development for our society. I encourage everyone to participate, learn, and grow in their best possible way.
-- John Krausser