ANST - Re: Why am I playing this game

[Mike C. Baker]

Moriel, I must vehemently disagree with one claim you made
(NOT the first point quoted, it is necessary to the context.
Neither the second.  But that third claim...):

>The one thing to remember is that peers and nobles are people too.
They
>have needs and wants the same as we do and if they are NOT in garb
than
>they are no longer Mistress Whoozit, only Jane Schmoe.

Peers of the SCA remain peers even when they take off the funny
clothes
and nifty-neato jewelry.  We don't take away peerages or even lesser
awards just because someone changes their persona name -- at root,
the award is made to the physical person and not the name currently
in use.

There are several adages in the modern world about things that "come
with the territory".  One of the things that comes with the
territory of being
an SCA peer is that they are agreeing to serve ever after as an
exemplar
of courtesy, nobility, and grace to those who follow after.  (Well,
OK: maybe
some of the more "barbaric" types substitute other cultural values
for
those associated with the Pairfait Knight of western European 12th
to 16th
century romantic idealism -- BUT we as a Society expect them to
continue in the role which is recognized by creation as a Peer, on
and off
the field, at and away from events, at and away from the palette and
inkwell.)

I am a bard of the SCA.  But I am also a Bard outside the strictures
of the
context represented by the Society, and with that recognition came
certain responsibilities that were explicit in the pledges I made
upon
my naming.  I can no more lay the burden aside just because I'm
sitting
at my employer's workstation coding COBOL than *I* believe any Peer
of the SCA can abrogate their trust (short of resignation of their
peerage).

Mike C. Baker
SCA: Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
"Other": Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard)
My opinions are my own -- who else would want them?
e-mail: kihe at ticnet.com OR kihe at rocketmail.com

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