Rapier Trends

[cmwalden at bga.com]

Llywelyn, cousin.

I feel we are of a mind on the matter of what the rapier community should 
be.  You have a spark of the true spirit of what we are doing that I have 
missed among many of our cadet brothers.  My comments are mostly 
cheer-leading here.

From: tmarsh at iadfw.net (Todd Marsh)
Date: Wed, 10 May 1995 00:34:43 -0500
Subject: Rapier Marshalate

>Sorry, I forgot to say what I think should be consistant.  IMHO, the
>marshals enforce safety, not skill or honor.  [other wise things]
Right!  We are not arguing here.

>I think that the White Scarves are the keepers of the vision of the rapier
>community.
YES!  You are correct.  I spoke from sleep deprivation on that last comment.

>I apologize if I implied that White Scarves (WSA) were not qualified to be
>marshals.  I think that all of the active WSAs are more than qualified.
>Today, the structure of the marshalate denies most of them the opportunity
>to authorize fighters.  
YES!  Absolutely correct.

>I think that any Don/Dona that _wants_ to take on the responsibilities of 
>being a marshal in addition to the responsibilities they already have as 
>a WSA should be allowed to do so. 
Dangerous word in there:  "allowed".  That one word has been the cause of 
most of this brou-ha-ha has been caused by that word.  I will refer you to 
Savien's comments which followed your own post for more on that point.  I 
believe those responsiblities are inherent (sp?) in a White Scarf.  It's his 
job.  The marshalate should be people who have chosen to *share* that 
responsibility without being granted the other *duties* of a WSA.

>This would require a change to the existing marshalate.  I spoke to Don
>Horoun at Squires last weekend, and he is considering some changes 
>including allowing more authorizing marshals.  
I wish I could speak to Horoun myself.  I don't know anything about him, 
other than that he decides what the rapier community will be doing tomorrow. 
 I hope he and I are playing the same game.

>The founding members of the WSA did have the advantage of being a smaller,
>closer group. I envy them for that sometimes. Today, we have to work harder
>to share their dream and ours of a renaissance style of honorable combat so
>that newcomers will know what we're about. Handing them a rule book doesn't
>do it.  You're right, we are better than that.
Truth is, Llywelyn, these red rags we decorate ourselves with compell us to 
take up that task.  There are people that I work with that try to look at 
blow calling from the view of what the *precise* definition is of a good 
blow.  They want a clear and concise guide that will cover all the 
possibilities.  Then I get the chef's knife that I carry for this purpose in 
my armor bag (or what's left of my armor bag).  We look at the knife.  We 
discuss the fact that the entire length of this knife is a minimum draw 
according to the rules.  We talk about how the point of the knife skips-- or 
doesn't-- off of the body.  I explain to them that blow calling is a skill 
that is equally as difficult to develop as fighting.  I remind them that the 
ability to call quickly and react appropriately is as much a part of what we 
do as being able to parry.

We just need to ground people in the basics again.  (Once again, I'll referr 
you to Savien's definition of BASICS.)  We need to remind people of why we 
are here.

I remain Yours, etc.
Antonio Bastiano
or cmwalden at bga.com