Membership, Awards, Local Participat

[Jeanne C. Stapleton]

Greetings all:

I've been very busy with work, but I retained this message on an old
thread because I did indeed want to "mull over" some of the points 
herein.
> 
> Herskerinde Gunnora,
> 
> You have indeed given us some additional "thoughts to mull over".
> 
> > In both the scenarios listed above, people who play elsewhere
> > other than 
> in
> > their local group are working for the SCA and making a difference.
> >  Why should they be penalized if the group they mundanely live
> > closest to is 
> not
> > where they primarily play?  No one would complain if I moved back
> > to San Antonio and then acted as a Bjornsborger.  Why should it be
> > a problem that Gunnora lives on the "extreme Northern Bjornsborg
> > border" while Christie actually lives on the north edge of Austin?
> 
[snippage]
>  What
> > about people who have problems with the leadership or politics of
> > their 
> home
> > groups?  Isn't it better for them to contribute in a positive way 
> elsewhere
> > than engaging in backbiting and politicking at the local level
> > with people they don't get along with or don't like?
> 
> My read of the original complaint was where the individual "playing
> outside their group" was continuing or initiating the "backbiting
> and politicking", actively opposing the growth or possible sources
> of support for the local group they chose not to work with
> themselves.  I can understand a certain degree of dissension and
> resentment, but I have seen too many difficulties created over the
> years when one or a few malcontents deliberately create more trouble
> than there need be.
> 
That was indeed my initial read also, but I asked questions with
the idea of clarifying and strengthening that this is indeed the 
case.  

Sometimes in a group there is a faction (oh, ugly word!) clinging 
desperately to the status quo even though it is stale, limits new
participation and looks suspiciously upon change because it
has enough change in the mundane world and wants some-
thing "stable".  Well, the only constant in the world *is* change;
and sometimes these groups look like obstructionists to people
who want ot try something new, to "shake things up".  Usually,
as in "real life", it is left to history to determine whether they
were troublemakers or innovators.  Sometimes, years later, I
have come across the original "bloc" still grousing about hte upset
that an incoming group caused, even though the group is obviosuly
thriving and happy on its new path.

However, this sounds more like a case of true group instability and 
bad ideas.  So what should happen?

Countess Berengaria de Montfort de Carcassonne, OP
Barony of Caerthe
Kingdom of the Outlands