Reply to Blackfox

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Dear Master Blackfox...

        Methinks you have misunderstood me.  The point of my statement was
NOT that a peer had no life and no fun, but rather that you get no extra fun
that you were not already having.  So if folks think being a peer is going
to be some big wonderful orgasmic thing, they should really look more closely.

        I like teaching.  I did it before my peerage, and I would continue
to teach if I had to resign my Laurel.  That's the best part of it for me.
But being a Laurel and being conscientious about it is DAMN hard work!
Sitting in Circles is long and and a hassle, but it has its rewards when a
deserving candidate is selected.  Judging at A&S is harder yet, if you try
to look at everything and give useful comments in the field(s) in which you
are knowledgeable, but when people thank you for suggesting some new idea,
source or technique they haven't thought of, it's all worthwhile.  Risking
flesheaters (those who only want to suck up because you're a peer and they
want to be one too) is an occupational hazard of both peerage and nobility,
but finding one student who will share the joy of your art is worth a
thousand pounds of flesh lost to the people-piranhas.

        My point was that chasing a peerage ONLY because you want an award
is bogus.  My personal observation is that the folks I've seen who got
peerages who were only in it for the award dropped out of view (i.e.,
resting on one's Laurels) very quickly... they weren't prepared to sustain
the level of responsibility the rank entails.         
         I have quite a lot of fun being a Laurel.  But none of the fun I'm
having is anything I did not have before.  The Crown of Honor-Leaf has not
made me have more fun... only perhaps made me look with new eyes at some of
the fun I was already having.  

        It occurs to me that we are probably saying the exact same thing,
but in such different ways we have a communication gap.  Run me down
inperson the next time we're at the same event and we'll gab about it.

Wassail,
::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
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