Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site boulder.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!cires!boulder!jon From: jon@boulder.UUCP (Jon Corbet) Newsgroups: net.rec Subject: Re: a SCAdian call to arms Message-ID: <242@boulder.UUCP> Date: Mon, 12-Nov-84 18:45:55 EST Article-I.D.: boulder.242 Posted: Mon Nov 12 18:45:55 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 15-Nov-84 01:18:39 EST Reply-To: jon@boulder.UUCP (Jon Corbet) Organization: National Center for Atmospheric Research Lines: 194 [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