On the 24th of February, the Lodge convened to confer the Entered Apprentice degree upon a worthy candidate who had waited patiently for several months. The turnout was exceptional, with nearly every seat in the Lodge room occupied by Brothers traveling from across the region to witness the occasion.

To the formidable brothers born in March: you didn’t just wait for the year to begin—you arrived exactly when the world decided to wake up.

JS Bro. Brent Breese is a native of Hobart, IN and has been a Mason since 2017. He was initiated, passed, a raised to the degree of Master Mason in Montgomery Lodge #50 in Crawfordsville, IN while attending Wabash College. He graduated from there in 2019 with a degree in French.

Long before the stone of the Temple was laid at Jerusalem, and long before the first initiate walked between the pillars, there was another temple, an invisible one, built not of stone but of thought. This was the Memory Palace. Known in the classical world as the Method of Loci, it was practiced by orators in Greece and Rome, who required not parchment nor ink to recall their discourses, but the ordered chambers of their imagination.

Pillars to Dust
By: Bro. Justin Miller

I once stood before a mausoleum
A tomb of stone for a traveling man
Doric columns like the colosseum
Assembled with care by a Master's hand

I thought how great a man he must have been
To warrant such work as splendid as that
Lasting impression left upon his kin
For them to commission such grand format

The February edition as it appears in your email client.

On February 3, 2026, Porter Lodge proudly hosted our traditional annual Chili Cookoff, and once again it proved to be an evening full of flavor, laughter, and fraternal fellowship. Brothers, family members, and friends gathered to enjoy a wide variety of chilies, each crafted with pride and a competitive spark.

There is an old truth, seldom spoken aloud yet quietly understood by those who labor in the quarries of life. Masonry is not learned all at once, nor is it ever truly completed. It is not bestowed in a single evening, nor confined to the walls of this Lodge. Rather, it reveals itself slowly. Sometimes in moments of solemn reflection, and sometimes, quite unexpectedly, in the ordinary passages of daily life.

On January 27, 2026, Porter Lodge conferred the Fellow Craft Degree upon Brother Casey Weems. In keeping with Lodge tradition, the Senior Warden presided over the degree, with Brother Randy Graham delivering an excellent and well-executed performance. The Obligation was presented flawlessly to Brother Casey by Acting Worshipful Master Graham.

Edgar A. Guest, often celebrated as the "People's Poet," was deeply committed to the principles of Freemasonry, which significantly colored the optimistic and fraternal themes of his writing. A member of Ashlar Lodge No. 91 in Detroit, Guest viewed the craft not just as a social club, but as a blueprint for a life well-lived.