The January Executive Board Meeting of the IATSE

At the moment, I'm in Las Vegas for the semi-annual gathering of the IATSE's official family: IA President Matt Loeb, a dozen IA Vice Presidents, West Coast office staffs and other elected officers ...

These meetings take place in winter and summer. I used to come to very few of them when my children were small and I didn't relish flying long distances to sit in a room and take notes on different union reports. I mean, it's good to know what's going on inside the House of Labor, but I made the calculation that not knowing what the Cinematographers Guild was doing in New York, or the latest organizing drive of editors in Canada would not hinder me in repping Animation Guild members in Los Angeles.

Sometimes I was right. Sometimes wrong. (You do miss the opportunity to hob-nob with your fellow wizards, but you soldier on as best you can.) Now that my children have reached adulthood, I attend more of the Exec Board Meetings. Unending fun.