GL of Massachusetts develops new promotional campaign

Springfield, MA --  Following the online uproar over The View host Whoopi Goldberg wearing a PHA masonic sweater on the show, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is capitalizing on the incident to create yet another marketing and publicity campaign.

"We had a bunch of Eastern Star ladies combing the local thrift shops for sweaters, golf shirts, jackets, and even hats," said RWB Clark Stanley, Public Relations Director for the Grand Lodge during an interview with The Past Bastard this week.  "We've got dozens of items that we're going to be sending out to all of the women regularly on network television. If just we can get just one or two of them a week to wear something, it will raise Freemasonry awareness to unprecedented levels."

PHA Freemason Whoopi Goldberg shows off
her lodge sweater during a recent broadcast.

Ms Goldberg, a former Star Trek actress, wore a sweater with a square and compasses and the letters PHA for Prince Hall Affiliate on the front. This led to an uproar on various Masonic oriented Facebook and other web spaces as to whether a woman has the right to wear such emblems. The arguments spilled over into other groups, which sparked an uptick in questions from non-Freemasons, who wondered what the fuss was about.

"Our plan now is to send some of these items to women in media who would be most likely to be watched by viewers. So far, we've sent items out to Katie Couric, Megyn Kelly, Brooke Baldwin, Maria Bartiromo, Susan Li, Tamron Hal, Rachel Acenas, and Anderson Cooper."

The Past Bastard asked Stanley if he wasn't worried about the potential arguments over such a campaign.

"There's no such thing as bad publicity," he told us. "Besides, after the tens of thousands of dollars we've thrown away on TV and radio spots, billboards, and YouTube videos, this approach is amazingly cheap and simple," he said . 

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Maine Masons disciplined for failure to display lights

Bangor, ME - Anonymous sources have been reporting that the Grand Lodge of Maine has been disciplining Freemasons who have not been prominently displaying bumper stickers, hats, belt buckles, shirts, hoodies, jackets, and other Masonic paraphernalia.

"There's no code or regulation saying that we're supposed to," said Fred Regis, SW at LL Bean Lodge in Rockport. "In fact, there's nothing anywhere in writing, but the DDGM came into our lodge the other day and started giving everybody what-for because only half the cars had some kind of square and compass bumper sticker. Kept going on about our fraternity dying and it's up to us to get the word out there."

The Past Bastard tracked down Mark Trail, DDGM for the southeastern district. He explained that while it's not a requirement, the Grand Lodge has recently invested heavily into a public relations campaign, and had hoped that all current members would want to be on board.

"It's not like this was a surprise to the members," explained RW Trail. "The Grand lodge kicked this around for three, maybe four years, and they voted to put literally hundreds of dollars into this state-wide publicity push for new members. We're counting on the current members to help that along by displaying the square and compasses every change they get on their cars, jackets, jewelry, and any other place they can think of. With the amount of stuff available, there's no reason why every Maine Mason can't be displaying a few items."

Masons like Ed Bauer from North Face Lodge in Abercrombie disagree, however.

"It's not like we don't want new members," he told us. "The thing is, this used to be called 'The Quiet Fraternity,' and most of us who don't wear purple aprons are a little uncomfortable with these guys telling us to wear that square and compass on our lobstah bibs, or where-evah."

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