ANST - Documentation

[Dory Grace]

AAAAUUUUUURRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!


Russell Husted wrote:
>
>> There is no forum for the newby, or dabbler. I would like to see two
>> competitions sit side by side, not as equals, but side by side. One which
>> requires everything, and the other which is just "Overall Impression" Let
>> the newbies play as well without the "threat" of documentation hanging
>> over their heads.

and Don Dore' responded:
>Now wait a minute, that "threat" is only 20%. The only reason to 
>worry about that 20% is if you think it may make the difference 
>between whether you win or not. If you are new to a field, winning 
>an A&S with your entry is probably a remote possibility anyway (not 
>unlike the odds of winning your first tournament, eh?).
>
>So take 10 minutes to write down how you did what you did. I have 
>done this on some of my work. No research, no sources, just "how I 
>did it". You won't get full points, but so what?
>
>There is no reason to stress and obsess about a measly 20%. As 
>with fighting, A&S competition is about more than winning.

Thank you, thank you, Dore'! Well said.

It really concerns me, some of the undertones that I'm hearing from folk
who want to avoid documentation, who see documentation as a "threat" of
some sort. It concerns me much in the same way that Disney's portrayal of
of characters in The Lion King, ie: the Good King is Strong, the Evil
Brother is Intelligent. Anybody else getting a sense of this sort of
association with the whole Evil
Documentation/learning/research/writing-a-measly--few-sentences-ferchristsak
e? I've heard a couple people even express *fears* that learning something
might slow down their "progress".

How do I explain this? Excercise is excercise; artistic excercise enhances
intellectual capabilities and vice versa (they do all spring from the same
sorce, after all). I can guarantee you, Mahee, that the whole while you've
been practicing at card weaving, you've been learning more than kinetic
motor memory; your intellect and creativity have not been sitting in a
corner of your brain dormnant. Taking a few moments out of your week to ask
some questions and get some historical perspective hasn't "slowed you down"
by any stretch of the imagination, and you would be wrong to believe it.
Now as you sit and weave, you have a broader base of knowlege to draw from
both technically and inspirationally. How could something as positive as
learning a few things "get in the way of" a person's artistic progress?
Yes, I've seen instances of documentation overkill, but we're certainly not
asking that of anyone. As has been repeated by Laurels and non-Laurels, all
documentation has to be is a few lines saying What it is, How they did it
in period, How you did it, and Why you substituted/deviated from period
where applicable. That's *not* a whole hell of a lot to ask of someone who
wants to enter a competition.

As to displays being held 'side-by-side' with competitions, absolutely, you
bet. I would encourage anyone to display anywhere as often as they can.
Even if you go to a competition where there hasn't been a special table set
aside for display (and you believe that you might somehow be too
psychologically bound up in scoring well before caring about the comments),
there's not one thing in this whole wide world stopping a person from
setting up their stuff and putting a little card by it that says "Display
only, please comment." 

I understand that our world is rife with the perils of opening ourselves to
being "judged" by others and that we've been taught that writing something
down is a terrifying thing. I also understand that, statistically speaking,
something like 80% of the workforce a few years ago was functionally
illiterate (can read the words but has trouble with overall content of a
passage.) However, I beleive the SCA has a higher median IQ than the
general public and that functional illiteracy shouldn't be as big a concern
for us--especially when we're asking for so little. If you need help, then
ask for it. If you don't want to deal with competition or documentation,
then stay away from them. No, reading something doesn't make your artistic
skill level go down. No, writing a few sentences doesn't stunt your
technical progress. Learning doesn't hurt you. I repeat, learning doesn't
hurt you.

Aquilanne


Dory Grace***The Inkwell
Austin, TX

"No matter where you go, there you are."
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