[Ansteorra] Black Star?????

[Gerald L. Norris Jr.]

Greetings all from Gerald of Leesville.

Gilli, you don't know me, have probably never heard of me before, and so my
words will not carry much weight.  But weigh them, if you will for just a
moment.

I've read some of the problems being faced by the archery community in the
face of the new rules for combat archery safety.

I know next to nothing about archery as a whole and just about nothing at
all about combat archery in particular.  However, I've seen, time and again,
where you have raised a passioned cry to find another way other than cause
archers much reworking of their quivers/buckets full of combat arrows.

The messages I saw strung together speak of that passion, and passion is
something that we should keep about us, for it keeps us from being animals;
it keeps a civilization together - and a society.

I've also read about the problems the Kingdom publication is under and
efforts to bring it under control.  My knowledge about the Black Star, the
efforts involved in its publication, and the costs and underlying stipend
issue make my knowledge of the archery issues at hand seem wizardly in
stature.

I believe that you speak in anger.  It's not that I can't blame you, but
words spoken in anger are usually filled with pain, and the funny thing
about our words is that they can deliver pain and anger as well as heal
them.

I wish that I could tell you that the problem of combat arrow resolution,
the lateness of the Black Star, and the measures taken to try to keep the
publication "solvent" will be amiably resolved, but I can't.  I can only ask
you to take a few breaths (okay, maybe more than a few), and make your
statement, rather than speaking in angry words.

While I'm wallowing in my ignorance, I'd just like to point out that I've
noticed that there's hardly a weekend anymore that doesn't have more than
one event.  If each event gets 2 free pages worth of advertisement, that's a
lot of pages.  Printers, while of a kind heart, can give away only so much.
The Black Star seems to grow thicker each year, and yet I'm uncertain if the
income from advertisements has increased to meet that of the increase in
pages.  I'm sure more learned folk will point out yea or nay on the subject
(and other's will just shout out, "Shut your hole, Gerald!").

I don't have answers for you, but I know that answers aren't found in anger.
It is passion that stirs us on, but it is reason that carries us through.

In service to the dream with a song in my heart, I am
Gerald of Leesville
A bard of Stargate
Kingdom, Ansteorra