The Peerages...

[dennis grace]

Hi there. Aquilanne here.

Pug wrote:
>One that concerns me is that I am continuously reminded that Laurels
>don't get their "laurel" in anything when I try to find assistance with
>brewing. Well that then means that they are apparently expert in
>everything. (It's like a PhD in my eyes, yes, you may know a little bit
>about other things, but you know a lot about one topic and this is what
>you got yoru PhD in.) If someone who doesn't know better thinks this,
>they may be listening to the wrong person on a topic.

Y'know, I'm gonna go off on a tiny tangent, but that's something that has
kinda niggled at me since I've been here, too. I think it's more of a
regional/kingdom thing. In Atenveldt or Artemisia, if you asked a person
what their Laurel was in, they'll tell you "scriveners' arts" or "costuming"
or "cooking" or "woodworking" or "cheese-making" or whatever, although, of
course, there is no official categorization of any kind recorded anywhere.
No one assumes that the Laurel in question doesn't know about other
artforms, just that that is the area of work she/he is most accomplished in
or known for.  I can understand the desire not to be pegged as a one-trick
pony, but I think it can make it a bit difficult to figure out who has
expertise in what area unless they (or somebody)tell you. Case in
point--when I've asked local Laurels what their Laurel was in, several have
automatically replied "oh, we don't give Laurels 'in' any specific area."
Only after pursuing the question of what area their expertise was in did I
get the desired response. Why is that? What's wrong with just saying what
you do that's good enough to have warranted a Laurel?  Let's face it, if it
-weren't- for that field of expertise, the Laurel thing wouldn't happen,
would it?

Just throwing some alien perspective around.

Aquilanne
_____________________________
Dennis Grace
University of Texas at Austin
English Department
Recovering Medievalist

"Oh God comma I abhor self-consciousness."  --JB