ANST - Re: Camp Walls at Pennsic

[Pug Bainter]

Nathan W. Jones (njones at ix.netcom.com) said something that sounded like:
> Personally, I hate walled encampments.  Strong words I know, but I feel 
> strongly about this.

Well I'll be. I personally *love* walled emcampments at those large
wars. I have camped with Dark Horde Moritu the last 3 years at Pennsic
behind one of those walls.

While it may be open and inviting to not have walls, there are many
things at Pennsic that are *not* Ansteorran nor the SCA, IMHO. Having
never been to Gulf Wars, I don't know.

There are many people there that Pennsic is their only war. There are
many people who are not honorable and will take stuff that they find.
There are many of the locals that come through and "dog rob" stuff
that is still standing around before being packed. There are idiots (or
drunks) that would think it's funny to do something to this group or
that Royal camp but think better of it when they can't sneak in as
easily. (It is amazing the things you can hear on a late night gate
shift as the drunks are wandering home.)

Rarely will someone who is coming to see someone at Moritu gate
be refused.  Those times it is either because the person they seek
is not at home or they are actually busy working and don't want to
be distrubed. As well, many people who just happen to stop by and ask
about Moritu, mongolian culture, or even Austin, TX (it happened this
year because of us flying the TX flag below the Mongolian flag), are
invited in and talked with for as long as they like.

This is true of I think every camp I have come along as well. While it
may not be as inviting as no walls, it does enforce the common courtesy
of asking permission before entering someone's camp. I know that I feel
uncomfortable wandering around even near Ansteorra since I don't know
where they start and the next group starts. This means I could not only
be rude to Ansteorrans that are my friends, but that I could be rude to
people I don't even know.

Of course I also like the simple esthetics of being able to hide things
between the tents and the wall in order to make things look nicer from
both sides. It is very unappealing to me to walk along the serengity and
see people's trash along the roadside just because they feel better
about their camp because they don't have to look at it anymore. (Moritu
camp is surrounding on all sides by roads that people travel.)

Now having said all that, I see no reason for this type of thing to be
happening at a local level. We do not have wars that have over 10,000
people at them from all over the world.

Ciao,

-- 
Phelim "Pug" Gervase   |  "If you want my views of history
Bryn Gwlad - Ansteorra |   then there is something you should know.
Dark Horde Moritu      |   The three men I admire the most are
pug at pug.net            |   Curly, Larry and Moe!" --Meatloaf
  Note: The views do not reflect the SCA nor the Kingdom of Ansteorra.
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