Taking Notes In Lodge

Some new, super high tech gizmos

From time to time, we’ve all got to take notes in Lodge. Through the years I tried all kinds of little notebooks to accomplish this with.

Photo by Aleksander Fox on Unsplash

Field Notes, Moleskines, various planners, all kinds of neat little analog tools.

Yeah, I know, digital is cool, and I’m Master of a Lodge with a lot of really young members, and I live in the land of Microsoft and Amazon…

But, analog is superior to digital for things like this.

Because it is overkill to pull out the phone and open an app to jot down half a dozen words to serve as an aid to memory.

Plus, one can’t create a proper Zettelkasten with a digital tool, and the use of such is one of the greatest ways to find unrealized connections between disparate aspects of Masonic symbolism and philosophy. Little notebooks aren’t any darn good for that either.

But, my biggest gripe with the little notebooks is that once a page is no longer needed, it still exists.

When I’ve handled something, or moved the information elsewhere, I want the entry gone! Not just crossed out, gone!

So, years ago, I gave up on all those little notebooks and started using the humble 3X5 Index Card instead. I’d grab a stack of 20 or so, hook em together with a binder clip, and presto! An instant little booklet gizmo to write a tiny note or two, and when done with each little thing, into the garbage it goes.

This idea was actually a bit of a thing 20 years ago when it was popularized as the ‘Hipster PDA’ by a guy named Merlin Mann. He encouraged a stack of Index Cards and a binder clip as a way of organizing one’s schedule, to do lists, and ideas. Frankly, it works well, and it costs virtually nothing at all.

But, one does look like a bit of a loon in 2024 whipping out a wrinkled and crinkled stack of Index Cards all held together by a cheap binder clip.

So much less sleek than the new Iphone!

I decided an upgrade was necessary quite some time ago.

So, while at what used to be the world’s greatest Man Store, the Filson Factory in Seattle some years ago, I got an awesome little pouch to hold a stack o’ cards and a pen from their custom shop. Waxed canvas and horween leather. It’s awesome.

But, ultimately less than ideal. Because when one wants to write down half a dozen quick words, one has to unzip the pouch to snag a card and pen. Ultimately, might as well grab the phone and open an app.

I’ve been thinkin’ and thinkin,’ lookin’ and lookin.’

Some fancy stationary outfit makes something they call a pocket briefcase that seemed like a good design. It’s got a couple of pockets on the back to hold a stack of Index Cards, and some little flaps on the front to hold one front and center, always in view, ready to be scribbled upon.

I kept thinkin’ about those pocket briefcases, but I never snagged one.

Why? Because that card in front is doomed to either be destroyed or get nasty. Paper in a pocket with no protection can’t be good. I might as well go back to the binder clip method.

Who would have thought that in 1916, in the huge metropolis of Raymond, Washington some enterprising fellow would have invented waterproof paper for use in the logging industry?

Well, he did, and they still make that same waterproof paper today, now in the much larger city of Tacoma. How cool is that?

And, they make Index Cards. (Full disclosure, Index Cards for 16 cents or so each, compared to 2 cents or so for the super cheapo’s at the big office supply store.)

And, they make a cool little Index Card wallet that holds about 25 cards on the inside, with about 3 on the outside, always exposed and ready for the scribbling.

Much like the pocket briefcase mentioned above, but with the waterproof cards that won’t get gross and nasty in one’s pocket! They say that I can even forget these cards in my jeans pocket, Mrs. Bailey can wash my jeans, and the cards will still survive, with the writing on them, A-OK.

Take a look at all the water on that card!

So, I think I found the ultimate ‘Write Some Stuff Down While In Lodge System.’

A Rite in the Rain Index Card Wallet, with Rite in the Rain Index Cards. It comes with tan cards to match the wallet, but what can I say, it’s green for me!

Made in America and heavy duty. What could be better?

Plus, since any Lodge I’m associated with seems to be suffering from flooding these past few months, the waterproof paper seems just about right.

As long as I’m at it, I should mention the pen I use.

Long ago, I decided that the Fisher Space Pen was the way to go for on the go writing. And that’s a good thing, because not every pen will write on Rite in the Rain paper, but the Space Pen will. Actually, Rite in the Rain pens are just rebranded Space Pens.

I use the AG-7, and like it quite a lot. An American made pen to go with the American made paper. Seems right.

But, if you don’t want to spend that much, Fisher Space Pen Refills are inexpensive and fit right into any pen that uses a Parker cartridge, including the snazzy Jotter.

The ink is as strong as the paper.

I’ve been writing here on Emeth, about Freemasonry, more days than not, for going on four years now. That’s an awful lot of words, and an awful lot of topics.

From time to time, I’m asked the question.

Where do all the ideas for essays and discussions here come from?

And this is exactly it.

I’ll be sitting in a Lodge, or talking to a Mason, or reading about Masonry, and I’ll hear something interesting. I jot it down on an Index Card and when I get home I’ll stick that Index Card in a box.

Then, when I’m wondering what to write about, I grab a big handful of cards, and going through them, discover my topic. It’s best when a bunch of those cards, seemingly unrelated to each other, come together to suggest something important.

So that’s how one writes, and writes prolifically.

Or that’s how I write about Freemasonry anyway.

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If you will be anywhere near Centralia, WA this upcoming Saturday, May 25, Centralia Lodge would like to beg your assistance.

Each year, for Memorial Day, we mark the grave of every Freemason buried in our City’s Cemeteries. It is a massive job if only our Lodge members do it, but pretty darn quick and easy when others are able to help.

Last year Job’s Daughters and a number of others, Masons and otherwise helped us, and holy smokes it was quick!

In any event, we will be meeting on:

Saturday, May 25

9:00 AM

At the Mountain View Cemetery

Right behind the Centralia Les Schwab tire store.

Les Schwab is at: 1211 Harrison Avenue, Centralia. The Cemetery is directly behind it.

Thank you for your kind consideration.