ANST - Re: Alexandrian vs. Dance

[C. L. Ward]

Patrick said:
> The criticism over the scheduling of Alexandrian was not 
> intended as a slap against Bjornsborg. It was merely a 
> comment on the lack of forethought as to the scheduling 
> of the event against a Kingdom-level event. 

It sure came across like one, though -- perhaps a function of email
communication.

Scheduling is the responsibility of the Kingdom Seneschal's office.  I
assume that these worthy gentles have the best interests of the whole
kingdom in mind when they allot dates for events, and of course they are
the final word in what date a particular event gets on the calendar.

>  It is rare that  any event is placed on the same date 
> as Kingdom events.  

It's rare that any event gets placed across from *Coronation or Crown
Tourney*.  The rest can and have had events across from them.  And, of
course, we've had other "unofficial" events like special fighter practices
draw attendance away from certain kingdom events as well.  *shrug* It's a
fact of life -- you gripe about it when it happens, and either go on and
enjoy the event, or I guess one could sulk about it, but I'd rather be
having fun.

> And as far as not drawing people away from Kingdom 
> Dance, that's just not true.  Baroness Pashley was 
> approached during ATYC with apologies from several 
> people who are now planning to attend the Symposium.  

How many is "several"? Four? Five?  I've been hearing that there has been
dissatisfaction over the conflict since the event was first scheduled, so
what I want to know is why the affected people from La Marche Sauvage
haven't either:


(1) contacted the organizers of the Alexandrian Company Symposium and tried
to negotiate a compromise, or `

(2) contacted the hosts of the Alexandrian Company Symposium in Gate's Edge
and tried to negotiate a compromise.

Why is it exactly that the only response I've seen is pure and simple
politicking and complaining to everyone *except* the people who could do
something about it?  It really doesn't achieve anything useful.

As everyone who knows me even a little knows, I'm all for talking out
problems face-to-face.  Had this been brought to me early enough to
realistically change the event scheduling, I'm sure we'd have tried to work
something out.  As it is,  the last two days have been the first *I've*
heard of the problem, it's too close to the event to reschedule now.

As I mentioned before, we only have one of these Symposia a year, and when
our initial site fell through, Gate's Edge graciously came to our aid --
and we scheduled on the weekend that our gentle hosts could arrange.  We
don't have flexibility with the date, we took what we could get.

> In any case, Bjornsborg is not the one responsible for the 
> scheduling of the Kingdom Calendar and so no malice was 
> meant in that respect.  

Absolutely -- Bjornsborg isn't even *involved* in this event at all.  It's
plain and simply the Alexandrian Company, as well as the good folks at
Gate's Edge.  It doesn't matter at all whether Bjornsborg *has* any power
over the kingdom calendar or not, since Bjornsborg is NOT holding nor
sponsoring nor associated with the event.

I feel like I'm not getting this point across, so I'll say it again --
members of the Alexandrian Company live ALL OVER our fair kingdom -
including members in Houston, Austin, and yes, a couple in San Antonio.
Plus members outside the kingdom who work with local branches of the
Alexandrian Company in their local areas.  This is NOT a Bjornsborg group!


> But further thought should have been done before the 
> request for this particular date was made.   As a 
> suggestion:  the weekend of August 13-15 was still 
> labeled "open" in the July Black Star.  

I don't see why "further thought should have been done".  The Kingdom
assured us that the date was fine because *they scheduled it*.  If it was a
problem, they should have told us to get another weekend.  It *wasn't* a
problem, so we *did* get the date.

To paraphrase a person who wrote me privately, "So, are you suggesting that
Kingdom Dance reschedule?" If it's reasonable for the Symposium to
reschedule, then it's equally reasonable for Kingdom Dance to reschedule.
So why hasn't LMS done so? 

Please note that I am NOT suggesting that Kingdom Dance be rescheduled, I
merely am turning it around to illustrate that at this late in the game it
simply is not feasable to reschedule... sauce for the goose, and all of
that y'know.

We have the weekend that our host group can provide, and the fact is that
rescheduling an event this close to the event is not possible, nor a good
idea even if it was possible.  At this point, it's too late.  

If this was such as issue, the people who had problems with it should have
contacted either the Alexandrian Company members or the good folks at
Gate's Edge and asked to negotiate some sort of compromise IMMEDIATELY back
when the event was first scheduled.  Instead, as far as I've heard, there
has been lots of hair-tearing and wailing behind the scenes, but no actual
attempt to talk *to* anyone actually involved -- *about* yes, *to* no.

> Btw, La Marche Sauvage would love to 
> get 100 people attending their events.

They should probably talk to the wonderful people in the Western Region
about events and attendance, then.  There is a popular misconception in
this kingdom that both La Marche Sauvage and the whole Western Region alike
are somehow "too far" to travel -- it just ain't so!  The people who have
this idea have not gotten out a map and a ruler to check, usually. LMS
should contact folks in the Western Region to see how they overcome the
"it's too far to go" stigma -- since the Western Region DOES overcome it,
and they put on some fine events.

As for me, I go to events based on the liklihood of having fun and seeing
my friends.  I wouldn't normally attend Kingdom Dance no matter when it was
held or who was holding it, since I don't like to dance and don't much care
to watch it, either.  But that's me.   The people who *do* like dance and
who *do* want to learn dancing will attend -- witness the dedicated
attendees at the Kingdom Dance held in Bryn Gwlad when the site A/C was so
inadequate!  I personally don't think LMS has anything to worry about -- if
people attended and *stayed* at the Bryn Gwlad Kingdom Dance when it was so
hot and uncomfortable, they'll attend LMS's version as well.  But people
ALSO have to recognize that people who are uninterested in dance probably
won't attand no matter what, that's just life.




Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva, OL
Baroness to the Court of Ansteorra
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

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