ANST - BELTLESS PEERS

[Patrick Cuccurello]

> Dear people I am one of those Pelicans that think official Protégé are
> unnecessary.

I am more than happy to agree to disagree on this point, but lets
take a look at reasons.

> 1. I see no reasons to link a fellow politician to my politics.  I get
> into enough trouble.

And why is a Pelican a "politician"?  Because they have to move within
the power structure of the Society?  How is that any different than a
Knight who is in direct fealty to the King?  Talk about a politically
charged position!  What about Laurel's who run Kingdom and especially
Interkingdom Arts competitions?  They not only have to deal with their
own Crown, but Crowns of other lands.  Nothing political there.  So
why is a Pelican a "politician"?   I seldom walk around introducing
myself and shaking peoples hands.  I never kiss babies--unless I'm
carrying a cloven fruit and she's wearing a particularly nice bodice
(Hey baby, wanna come over to my pavilion and see my woodcuts?).
So if Knights are just as political as Laurels, and Laurels are as
political as Pelicans, and Pelicans are as political and Knights--
why do we look at Squires and Apprentices differently?  I think the
reason is because some Pelicans like to equate themselves as Politicians.

I was taught--and it is specifically part of the Pelican Ceremony
that I was brought in under-- that a Pelican was the "Good Civil Servant".
A Pelican was the one you could always count on when things went to hell
in a hand basket and somehow, someway, pulled it out of the fire.  Granted,
it might be a little charred, but in the end the situation was better.  A
Pelican was the one who made sure that all the little mundane things were
done, the licenses, the rent, the furniture, so that on Saturday morning
we could come in and move back 500 years in a hopelessly mundane world.
They are also the ones who walk around with 200 safety pins in their basket,
just in case the seams blow on the Queens dress 10 minutes before
Coronation.
Or the one you hear say, "Oh! Here! I have a bottle of Windsor-Newton
peacock blue calligraphy ink!  No, I don't callig--I just thought someone
might need it sometime".

I don't consider that being a Politician.

> 2. I don't want to be responsible for someone else politics. Any true
> candidate for a Pelican is knee deep in their own stuff.

Why?  Knights become Knights without being political beasts.  Laurels
become Laurels without being political beasts.  In order to become a
Pelican you have to go about getting involved in the Kingdom politics,
glad-handing people, winning public support?  If that's what it takes,
I understand now why mine took so long (see next paragraph).  The very
statement says that if someone works their butt off on all levels of
this Kingdom, by their actions they make what we do not only better but
easier, in all ways conduct themselves as a Peer of the Realm, but refuse
to get involved in intercene politics, they will never be a Pelican.
If that is the case, I can see where I'm going to have some sparkling
conversations in the future.

> 3. The pathway to a Pelican has usually taken about 10 years. The need
> for my guidance would be for a max of 3. I think it is unfair to put
> someone in a Junior position for that long. I would not want anyone to
> stand in my shadow.

I received my Pelican in four years.  Granted, during that time I was
extremely active and built a couple of "better mousetraps" but I know
many Pelicans who have take less time than the "Ten Year Pin" minimum
concept.  Personally, I think that a minimum is around 5-6 years for
someone who is extremely active in the service area.  It just takes
a long time for many folks to become comfortable the with culture and
structure of the SCA. I would make exceptions going either way depending
on the person and their activity and demeanor.

Granted, a protégé is a student, but I would consider them more of my
"second" than my "junior".  Odds are, they have skills that I do not have.
Odds are, they are going to teach me just as much as I teach them.  If
not, I would not have chosen them to be my retainer.  My job is to guide
those skills to successfully interface with this nebulous thing we call the
Society.

Where I may consider my shadow great (especially if I've been drinking:)),
I would hope that my protégé's shadow would be greater than mine.
If it wasn't, I would feel I had done something wrong.  I certainly
would expect them at least to be noticed and not eclipsed by me
after three years.

"I reach to touch the stars only because I stand upon
the shoulders of giants".


> 4. When I look for Pelican I am looking for someone who
> stands and thinks
> on their own. Seeing someone who was a protégé makes me wonder who is
> doing the thinking.

When I see a Pelican, I see someone who *can* stand and think on their
own.  Why would I then believe that they would encircle themselves with
people who can't?  They have no where else to go--they have reached
the highest level they can within that area--so now they are going to
surround themselves with sycophants to prop themselves up?  I would
think it would be simpler to just move on to other challenges if that
was what they required.

> 5. I have seem the system be mistreated. In some kingdoms the squire,
> apprentice and protégé are used as work horses. People are given the
> impression that by sucking up to a peer they will be paid off with
> peerage. I have seen good people mislead  by this concept and
> waste their
> time. They would had done better to follow their own projects.

Yet I see no such argument against either Squires or Apprentices.
The world is not a perfect place.  That however, is not reason
to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

> 6. I burn out protégés. Everyone I had ever make a official
> protégé has
> left the SCA and or kingdom. I do have undercover protégés
> and half of
> my apprentices have become Pelicans.

So in essence, you have had Apprentices who have ended up
being Protégés in hindsight.  You also have others who you
do not use the term for and appear to be doing well.  Yet
those to whom you have formally called such have fallen by
the wayside.  I find that just the power of this word is
one that we need to attempt to harness for the good of the Kingdom.

> Willow de Wisp
>
>

Petruccio

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