SCA's NEXT GENERATION

[Wendy Erisman]

At 09:28 PM 6/13/97 -0500, Amy wrote:
>Thank you Aquilane.  I very much agreed with Soberbia's posting.  I too have
>found some baronies extremely hard to "break into", Bryn Gwlad being one of
>the worst. 

While I absolutely agree that many SCA groups, including Bryn Gwlad, are
not as welcoming to newcomers as they should be, I also think that the
reality of the situation requires newcomers to take some responsibility for
getting involved in the group. 

I moved to Bryn Gwlad from Stargate almost five years ago, and at my first
fighter practice, no one came up to talk to me. However, I asked around and
found out the names of the local herald and scribe's guild mistress (my
personal interests), started attending heraldic and scribal meetings as
well as business meetings and fighter practices, and within two months had
met enough people that I didn't feel totally alienated. At my first Bryn
Gwlad event, I didn't know anyone to sit with at feast so I volunteered to
serve and met several people that way. It took about a year before I felt
fully a part of the group, but the rewards of belonging have been well
worth the effort I made at the beginning.

Again, I'm not excusing people from the responsibilities of hospitalling
(and, like Aquilanne, I think this should be a group effort led by the
local officer rather than a one-person job), _but_ I also think that
newcomers need to realize that people do get busy with their personal
concerns and so may not be especially welcoming, not because of
cliquishness or hostility, but just because of inattention. So, newcomers,
my suggestion is: find an interest in the SCA (or better yet, several
interests), find out who in your new group shares those interests, talk to
them and get involved, and your efforts will pay off very quickly.

						Gwenllian


Lady Gwenllian ferch Maredudd, Asterisk Herald
Barony of Bryn Gwlad, Kingdom of Ansteorra
werisman at mail.utexas.edu