ANST - Has the Population Grown

[Paul Mitchell]

Galen here!

Gunnora (quoted below) is completely right.  Do _you_ want to live
in a Principality?  Get moving!  No one's going to do it for you.
Principalities in Ansteorra will be formed when a group of people
get together and say "we want to live in a principality, and we're
prepared to do what it takes to make that happen."  Not before.

Too often in the past it's been, "you guys should form a principality."

- Galen

C Ward, Software Support, x3115 wrote:
> 
> > *Has* population grown, though?  I think SCA membership has been static
> > for several yeasr (tho $35 full membership per year may have something
> > to do with it; I just wrote a renewal check, and that plus first-class
> > plus Complete Anachronist plus the BoD minutes set me back $72).
> > Didn't I hear something about Ansteorran paid membership dropping,
> > to where people were starting to worry about long-term status?
> 
> Sael og heill!
> 
> I guarantee you that we have many, many more times the people we had when
> Ansteorra became a kingdom.  I haven't looked at Corpora for the numbers,
> but it really doesn't take a huge population to be a kingdom.  In terms of
> sheer numbers of warm bodies, we have more than enough people to make two
> and possibly more kingdoms out of Ansteorra, much less form a principality
> or two.
> 
> Whether or not it is wise is another thing altogether.  As we discussed
> exhaustively the last time the P word got mentioned, in order for a
> principality to form several things have to happen:
> 
> (1) there must be a regional identity -- I think a whole lot of the
> argument previously was because the proposed principality lines seemed
> "gerrymandered" to some folks, and I had heard it said that the proposed
> divisions at that time were divided the way they were delierately to keep
> any group from successfully becoming its own kingdom -- kind of contrary to
> the purpose of a principality to my mind, which is "a tool to support and
> promote growth."
> 
> (2) the movement to make a principality must be a grass-roots thing, a
> cause decided upon and worked for by the people in the area that wants to
> be a principality.
> 
> (3) the group which desires to form a principality must have sufficient
> population, peers, and stability to support itself, else it could wither
> and die of isolation before it gets a chance to root well and grow.
> 
> (4) a whole lot of people have to get over the idea that their lives will
> disintegrate if the status quo is altered.  This is a big part of the
> "knee-jerk" reaction to the P word -- simply that people fear the unknown.
> For centuries nay-sayers have been telling the world why (fill in the
> blank) won't ever work, only to be proved completely, foolishly wrong.
> 
> I have thought for a long time that a principality or two would be a good
> thing for Ansteorra, in terms of new leadership opportunities, new heraldry,
>  more pagentry, the possibility of more fun.  But I've also come to the
> conclusion that it cannot be forced.
> 
> If you're a proponent of the P word, you need to figure out what area would
> be in the principality you'd like to form.  You need to travel extensively
> within that area, and encourage your firends to do so as well.  Work to
> promote a regional identity.  Work at autocratting regional events, not
> just local ones. And that is how a principality will eventually form.
> 
> Ves heill,
> ::GUNNORA::
> 
> (writing from work, as always these days!)
> 
> home email: gunnora at bga.com
> 
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