Awards Policy (Households in Ansteorra)

[Jeanne C. Stapleton]

> 
>  Interesting.  Your Calontir Lurker has been engaged in perusing
> this thread with a lot of interest.  And yes, there are some very
> grasping hoseholds out there.
>  Being an "auxillary" member of several households, (I'm a bard.  I
> don't work just one,) I have been co-opted by several groups to try
> to get me to be "their bard" only.

I'm not sure why the emphasis on exclusion.  I like to know who's 
"with" my household for practical reasons:  how many spaces to plan 
for at feast table.  How many square feet to grab for a camp.  Etc.
And if we have an internal household problem, I'd raelly rather not 
have somebody dashing out the door to tell 25 other people about it.
The family quarrel idea.

>  The idea behind a household was, I thought, to gather like-minded
> gentles together for support.  Some of the houses in Calontir are
> more like political machines.
>  However, most are just what they are supposed to be: support
> groups, "families" when you have none, and worthy sponsors for
> struggling artisans who need support.  I have often thought of
> starting a household of performers, including instrumentalists,
> actors, jugglers, jesters, etc., and trying to find GOA or POA level
> nobles to act as their patrons. Now that I have been informed by not
> only this net, but several others just what some houses have become,
> I am less inclined to do it.

I think that's a really fine idea!  Something to keep firmly in mind 
is that while external factors are out there, and are not within your 
control, you still have a great deal of say *within* your own 
househodl.  If you see a trend developing that worries you, stop and 
talk about it.
I greatly resent a number of the generalizations bandied about that 
imply that people in the SCA are not capable of thinking through 
situations and deciding for themselves if an idea or action is good 
or not.  Once again, this is not a blast directed at you, but you 
turned my thoughts toward some of the little truisms I hear all the 
time: "Oh, it doesn't do any good to write down things for newbies at 
the gate; people in the SCA don't read stuff like that".  HELLO!  If 
anyone were to gather together in one place the aggregate book 
collections of every SCA members, we'd surpass the Library of 
Congress!  Implying that we are a proto-literate society of people 
who can't read simple directions is greatly offensive to me.
Anyway, I guess the point is:  I think your performer household 
sounds *terrific*.  But I'm a big believer in the concept that 
thinking through what you want to hae happen *first* can save a lot 
of grief later.

>  What do you say?  Is the political temptation too great?  Is the
> image some households projecting to the Knowne Worlde too negative
> for the start of this project?

Some households are bad, some are great.  It's the half-glass empty,
half-glass full question.  I think it could work out fine.

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