I wanted to let you know that our Patreon website is now live to take donations. The web address is www.patreon.com/SocietyofOrdinaryGents. I wanted to let you know that Patreon takes 10% of all donations. The other option is to send a Venmo payment although I don't think you can set that up to withdraw monthly. Let me know if there is a way. Anyway, the Venmo handle is @Arnoldville. Whichever way you choose to donate is perfectly fine and greatly appreciated. Thank you for your generosity.

I've felt the same way before but couldn't verbalize what that particular feeling was. Over the years I've lost many friends. Some as close as Scott was. Scott and I had grown quickly to know each other. He knew things about my past and me his to the point that we no longer had to explain things. Like a shorthand that didn't need footnotes or greater explanation. We understood each other's past. I now realize that the feeling is hollow, empty, lost. The typical ten minute conversation with Scott would now take an hour with someone new because there would be so many questions of why, how... Kinda like learning a foreign language before moving there and discovering no people were left alive and the language is now useless. Not complaining, simply verbalizing that which I never understood before. Guess I'm a slow learner. Thanks

I… genuinely don’t know what to say, other than I’m mortified to only learn about this nearly a week later. Admittedly, I’ve been less active on the SOG as my mental health has spiral downwards these past several weeks, and I’ve only just found relatively stable footing this weekend, but it still feels so sudden. I never met him in person, nor was I able to attend one of the weekly calls to speak with him. As such, I almost feel like I shouldn’t be as impacted as I am by the news. Don’t get me wrong—any death is tragic and worthy of grieving, irrespective of context or relation. But I feel like I just lost a friend. I think it comes down to two things: energy and legacy. Though I never so much as heard his voice, Scott’s presence in the Society was attentive, warm, and reliable. He truly was a one-of-a-kind community backbone that not held it together, but encouraged everyone else to continue strengthening its web of connections. It’s one thing to be active—and Scott was *very* active—but it’s a whole nother thing to do so while still making sure every comment counts, every post, precise. His energy was second-to-none. No, it IS second-to-none. After all, energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Scott’s infectious energy lives on in those it reached. But energy isn’t all he has pased on to us. “Legacy” is an infamously difficult concept to define, but even without a precise definition, we all know what it is—what it feels like. It’s creating a community of like-minded outsiders, unincumbered by distance and unrestrained by politics. It’s taking the time to foster bonds within that community, to be the one to make sure everybody feels welcome. It’s seeing a world different from your ideal, then taking the steps to close that insurmountable gap, not because you think you can reach it, but because you know that every step closer is its own victory, that every step closer makes the effort worth it. I didn’t know Scott Thornton that well, especially compared to many of the other gents here. But I saw his vision, his passion, and his care. Even if the Society were to disappear tomorrow, the seeds he sewed and cultivated would continue to thrive. As a historian and storyteller, “legacy” is a particularly sensitive subject to me. Perhaps that is why Scott’s passing has left me feeling so shaken.

who I don't know personally but is talking to me, it seems that if she touches her hair and neck but simultaneously uses her other hand to touch my wrist, shoulder and chest... I wonder what @Renee Migner would say. Might have to get a new doctor... Wondering because she was Not examining me. Sometimes I think she is either Italian or she was hitting on me. Could be my ego. I still have one.

I share with you the day the family is going to say goodbye to our dear Scott Thornton. This Society was one of the most important things of his life. He is going to be remembered as one of the greatest. 10th of November is the Military Memorial. The Society will Celebrate Scott's life on the 9th.