🚀 go-pugleaf

[Line eater bugs are strictly out of period!]

This is posted for a friend (Liz Coolbaugh).  Replies sent to me will get
back to her.  Eventually, when I get NCAR on the net, this won't be 
necessary....


From:	MRS::AAP1::MANAGER        12-NOV-1984 16:31  
To:	MRS::RDSS::CORBET
Subj:	Here is my posting.  Thanks a lot!   Liz


In article <2566@rochester.UUCP> lee@rochester.UUCP (Lee Moore) wrote:

>    ...    I attended meetings for several months at which time I went to
> a feast.  At this feast, several of the officers asked me "Who are you?".
> They thought I was some stranger from out of town.  The reason they didn't
> know who I was is because they were too busy plotting over who was to be
> King.  Apparently there was a debated call by one of the referees in the
> final match to determine who was to be king.  So now there were two contenders
> each of which had his own supporters.  Even though everbody talked about
> the succession, nobody was willing to give details... "if you don't know
> already, we can't tell you".  Great.

First, no one in the SCA can "plot" who is to  be  King  or  Queen  since  the
decision  is  solely  the  outcome  of the Crown Tournament, a contest of arms
using rattan weapons and following rules of safety the SCA has developed  over
the last eighteen years and sometimes including a contest of skill in the Arts
and Science though rarely.  People may have been  concerned  that  unfortunate
circumstances could cause it to be unclear who should have won but they cannot
"plot" what the outcome can be.

Second, there  are  no  "referees"  at  an  SCA  fighting  event.   There  are
"marshals"  on  the  field  but  their purpose is to prevent the fighters from
accidently leaving  the  arena  (helms  are  notoriously  bad  for  peripheral
vision),  to stop the fighting if safety is in question (someone's armor comes
undone - they may not notice but the marshal should) and to protect the people
who  are  watching the fighting.  According to Corpora, (the "constitution" of
the SCA), in the Rules of the Lists, any fighter is honor-bound  to  accept  a
blow  dealt  to  her/him  as  if  it  had  been a real sword.  S/He is in turn
honor-bound to accept the judgement of her/his opponent as to the blows dealt.
This is ONE of the fundamental ways in which honor and chivalry is an integral
part of the SCA.  Obviously, to question  the  outcome  of  a  contest  is  to
question  the  honor  of a fighter in the contest, an emotion charged issue at
best.

These are some of the "details" that people did not tell you about.   Now  you
know.

For better or worse, the Society for Creative Anachronism has many of the same
characteristics of a small town.  You could  easily  debate  (as  many  people
have)  the  advantages  of  a small town over a city or vice versa.  I have no
desire to do so here.   Small  towns  and  cities  are  different.   One  main
characteristic  of  a  small  town  is  the  exaggeration  of  both faults and
defaults.   The  Society  can  produce  friendships,  ties,   kindnesses   and
courtesies  far  in  excess  of  what  you  will find normally in business and
organizations where the  membership  fluctuates  frequently  or  meets  highly
infrequently.

Conversely,  because  of  close association, the enmities between incompatible
personalities tend to reach high proportions.  This reflects poorly in  people
who do not want to talk to new people or who are so occupied in current events
that they do not spend the time with someone new to explain events.

I make no apologies for the Society.  I believe if nothing else  we  are  most
honest in both our faults and virtues.  The addition of one or two people to a
group often changes its characteristics wildly but like  all  things,  wait  a
while and it will change again.

Obviously  the  Society for Creative Anachronism provides a great deal for the
people WHO ENJOY WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER.  I would hope that everyone who came to
an  SCA  event  would  meet  kindness  and  good  people.   I  try  to  extend
friendliness and courtesy to everyone  I  meet.   Unfortunately  for  my  good
intentions,  I  sometimes  meet  people I don't like or don't wish to talk to.
That does not mean that they are  unlikable  or  that  they  wouldn't  make  a
valuable  contribution  to  the  organization  from which I might benefit.  It
simply means that our two personalities are incompatible.  Nothing will change
this.  Everyone cannot get along.  The best thing you can say about the SCA is
that what I think of you doesn't count at all.  You are welcome in the SCA  on
the basis of your own behavior and not on the basis of my opinion of you.  The
only thing that will bar you from an SCA event is to break a mundane law at an
event,  or  to  be  totally  unwilling  to  wear even an attempt at a costume.
Whoever you are and whatever you do, when you stop by an SCA event there is  a
chance  you  will meet some people you like and a chance you will not.  If you
don't the first time you may the second.  The SCA cannot make any promises.

As for "everyone"'s unwillingness to tell you the details of  what  was  going
on, you have to remember this.  You are asking someone who doesn't know you at
all to talk about people they probably know very well.  If  a  stranger  at  a
party asked me to give them the details of my sisters divorce, I would be very
hesitant.  The personalities and background behind  SCA  events  can  be  that
complex  and  can require the same amount of delicacy.  After all, even if you
don't like someone you will probably see them again and possibly work  closely
with  them.   If  I  told  you, a total stranger, what an asshole I thought my
ex-brother-in-law was and it turned out you were actually his old  buddy  from
college  or  you  later  became  a  close  friend  of  his,  I would be pretty
embarrassed and would have been pretty rude to my ex-brother-in-law  to  spout
off my personal feelings to someone I didn't know.

> While authenticity is a reasonable goal, it is often
> used as a means to put down people.
>   ...

The  debate  among  members  of the SCA as to whether the SCA should emphasize
authenticity or "having fun" has raged since the year one.  It  will  probably
continue  on as long as the SCA exists which currently looks to be a very long
time.  You have  an  opinion  that  authenticity  is  a  reasonable  goal  but
shouldn't  be  emphasized to put down people.  Congratulations!!  Your opinion
is that of probably the vast majority of the people in the SCA who continue to
try and compromise between authenticity and, literally, fantasy.  The point is
to have fun and not to stop other people from having  fun.   Considering  your
opinion  happens  to  be the same as mine, I hope you someday join the SCA and
add to the number of people working towards this goal.  If you  want  to  read
more debates about the role authenticity should play in the SCA, I suggest you
read some official SCA publications since they are  often  full  of  the  same
debate.

Personally  I  think  it  okay to flame about problems in the SCA.  You should
here me flame about the ones I run into.  It is no better and  no  worse  than
anything else but it won't hurt the SCA to have some shortcomings pointed out.
The worst problems are most likely to occur when people forget that a  problem
can  happen  and  therefore  don't  take  the time to listen to people who are
upset.

> Another detail: when I arrived I was asked what I did.  When I told them,
> their reaction was: "Oh no, not another computer person!"

Mea  culpa!   Mea  culpa!   I  think those same words have fallen from my very
lips.  Of course, I myself make a  living  as  a  programmer  which  has  some
influence  on  this fact.  It is a very strange and highly anomalous aspect of
the SCA, an organization known for having at  least  one  representative  from
every  known  profession  on this planet including teachers, bus drivers, bank
clerks, waitresses, contruction workers, artists, etcetera ad  infinitum  that
an  incredibly  large  number  of us are computer programmers.  I really don't
think you should take it as  a  put-down.   Our  soon-to-be  Princess  of  the
Outlands  who  was  until  just recently our Kingdom Herald is also a computer
person.  So is our Organization-wide herald who is also one of the most  famed
bards the SCA has ever produced (For people in the SCA:  I may be exaggerating
but I think I can fairly say this for the kingdoms west of the Mississippi  at
least, certainly my own kingdom (Atenveldt).

My only explanation for most people's reaction to this anomaly is that the SCA
primarily attracts individualists (contrary to the apprehension that it breeds
bureaucracy  -  we  simply  let born bureaucrats run whatever they are good at
running, as long as it isn't us!) and therefore don't like to be reminded  how
predictable they are.  (Ah!  You're a computer programmer!  Then, according to
the stats, there is a 45% greater probability that you will like the SCA  than
if you had been a waitress!  You should try it!)

For  the  people who are reading this, yes, I am long-winded, aren't I?  Maybe
they should have a separate topic for the SCA so you  wouldn't  have  to  read
this unless you wanted to!  (Never accuse me of being obvious.)

I am glad to see some mailings about the SCA showing up on the USENET bulletin
board.  When my friend (who is posting this for me) first showed me  the  list
of  topics  for USENET I was disappointed not to see one for the SCA.  I would
like to extend greetings to  all  people  out  there  who  are  in,  near,  or
interested  in  the  SCA.   One  of  my  favorite  things about the SCA is the
wonderful  people  I  have  met  while  traveling  to  far-away  SCA   events.
Unfortunately, monetarily, I cannot always travel as much as I might.  So, I'd
like to meet a few people through USENET.  After all, if you have anything  to
do  with  the  SCA at least we already have something in common to talk about.
Also, there is also the exciting possibly of getting to meet someone in person
after  knowing them vicariously over several months.  Unlike some of the lucky
people who wrote before me, I have never  made  it  to  Pennsic.   Being  from
Boulder  Colorado  makes  it  tough  to  take  time to travel to Pennsylvania.
However, the more people I wanted to meet the more  reason  I  would  have  to
travel there!  Besides, in 1986 comes the 20th year celebration and I wouldn't
mind at all spending the whole week introducing myself to people from all over
the county that I had met on USENET.

I  am Lady Demelza Felinnoir from the Shire of Caer Galen, Principality of the
Outlands, Kingdom of Atenveldt and I greet you all and wish you well.  In  the
SCA  I  spend  most  of my time as a Lists Officer and in work in the Arts and
Sciences.  I am the Lists Officer for the Principality  of  the  Outlands  and
would  be  very  interested  in hearing the customs for running tournaments in
different areas.  I have been collecting different methods ever since I became
a  Lists Officer but again, have been restricted by the distance I can travel.
I also love costuming, cooking (and eating!), calligraphy, flirtation (maybe I
should  have listed this first!), more flirtation, and having as much fun as I
can get away with.

Please respond ye members of our Society.  Tell me of  yourselfs  and  I  will
tell  ye  of myself, those around and dear to me and any other information you
might request (within the bounds of courtesy and privacy).  May the roads rise
to meet you and the wind blow always at your back!

                                       Lady Demelza Felinnoir
                                       { Liz Coolbaugh }

--
Jonathan Corbet
National Center for Atmospheric Research
{seismo|hplabs}!hao!boulder!jon