The Friendship That Built A Forest

Thanks To Our Readers!

Thanks to our readers! As of 5/18/2017 Heart in Hand, The Modern Odd Fellows Guide has gotten 3,450 views since it began in March. This number is no small accomplishment given the numbers of Odd Fellows that are online and who enjoy reading and interacting with a blog about and for modern Odd Fellowship. We’ve […]

You can run on for a long time.

Cash is from my state: Arkansas. In fact my dad was born in the same community in the 1940’s, although the families did not know one another. And Arkansas, we have a particular reverence for the darkness and irony sometimes found in his music. (Lyrics found below video) MASHUP POETRY: Red letter Odd Fellow and […]

A Lifeboat Challenge

Odd Fellowship has four commandments: Bury the dead, relieve the distressed, educate the orphan, visit the sick. The concept is to do good works in our communities. But is it that simple? Let’s look at an ethical situation. Pretend for a moment your lodge was on a ship that sank to the bottom of the […]

The Making

Taken from The Patriotic Odd Fellows, 1790’s, initiation: My son, the days of man are of short duration, and it is our duty with the help of God, to endeavor, even when the afflictions that attend advanced age press on us, to do our best for mankind although no longer able to bear the burden […]

The Black Keys – In Time

Lyrics are below. Philosophy of Odd Fellowship can be noticed in many places. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTKvLXzFx58 “In Time” Where do we go? And all the people, they sure don’t want you to know They don’t want you to know, oh Livin’ in chains, the heart’s rearranged You gotta lure it back, all of the time Now tell […]

New Music: Odd Fellows Hymn

I wrote/recorded/made the video all in one day just to force myself to complete something in a small window. I had written the words a few months ago. I wanted to capture the disorientation and mystery that someone goes through during initiation. All sound effects are authentic and come from my Lodge. Even the creaky 17th step!

The Common Good: Mad Max and Little Lord Fauntleroy

The Common Good. “It is possible that people should combine for the common good; hence we have societies…united by a compact, which protects their members.” There are several things in the above quote that an Odd Fellow can observe. However, I’ll focus specifically upon the idea, put forth in the quote, of a social contract. […]

Music: Odd Fellows

Release date: August 16th, 2011 MIRROR MIRROR, the New York based duo of David Riley and Ryan Lucero, bring their avant-pop explorations to RVNG Intl. with the release of Interiors, the ten-song follow up to their debut album, The Society for the Advancement of Inflammatory Consciousness. Recorded in two parts, Interiors features the production work of Chris Coady (Beach House, Gang Gang […]

Bro. Mathew Yingling and the “Columbus Factor”

While it is true that idle curiosity caused me to join, what I found in the organization is what kept me coming back. It kept me going to meetings, researching, looking for ways to improve myself and my Lodge. My Lodge and the Order it belongs to impressed me in a way that nothing in the world ever has. It has presented me with the privilege to meet some of the greatest people I have ever met. Doing the work of the order and moving through the chairs has been one of the greatest honors I have ever been able to experience outside of fatherhood and my marriage to Jessica who shares in Odd Fellowship with me.

Attracting Attention to Your Lodge for Potential Members

While I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone or every lodge situation… this is what I have witnessed from successful Lodges and my own personal lodge experience. Also, of the things listed below, so much of it depends on determining the culture of your lodge and what kind of members you are aiming to attract. I wrote a post about that you can check out on the blog. I am sure a lot of these are obvious and you probably already know all this too… but here goes.

Odd Fellows Hall, Digital Painting, Young Poets

In the video below we learn that our buildings continue to help communities express themselves, even though the lodge membership is long gone. The 99Angles Project is a multimedia artistic proposal that links digital writings to intervention’s methods in the public space. These 3 buildings, selected together with local artists, represent the past and […]