[Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA

Lou Burgin AMBERLEA at peoplepc.com
Mon Apr 22 04:40:16 PDT 2002


Go Pippa!

May the hinges on the doors to friendship never become rusty.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Bowen" <philippa at ev1.net>
To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA


> I just caught up on reading all of the posts about authenticity, and such
> and I have a few comments to add to the mix. These thoughts are in a
rather
> random order, because I thought of different things as I read different
> posts.
>
> I wrote down a persona story many years ago as a way to explain to myself
> the relationships I had with the people I am closest to in the SCA. It
> helped in determining how my persona would act around these people. My
story
> has changed somewhat over the years. A baroness must have a slightly
> different background than a young girl with no title. I needed to explain
to
> my own satisfaction my facination with herbs, my interest in travel, my
> level of learning, etc. These are my personal reasons for doing this
> exercise, but they might be helpful to others as well.
>
> In addition, on the way to an event, I try to think about the event as a
> medieval person would. Why am I going there? How am I getting  there?
> (horse, wagon, etc.)What have I been doing for the last week that could be
> described medievally? It gets me in the mood for the event and gives me
> something to talk about.
>
> Sometimes, when I try to express the above to someone, I get blank looks.
> For example, I had been ill. When a person asked me how I was feeling, I
> replied, "The physician bled me last week, and I am feeling much better."
I
> got a strange look. Oh, well.
>
> On the other hand, the people in the SCA are our "real" friends. When we
see
> them it is natural to want to share our weekday lives with them. The
> relationships would be playacting if we never drifted into the 20th
century.
> These conversations are necessary. I try not to let these conversations
> intrude on other people's experiences. (I do forget at times, but I try
not
> to.) Conversations can be held quietly, or away from the list field or
other
> activities where the ambience is otherwise medieval.
>
> Many, many people have described moments when they had a truly "medieval
> moment." For that moment, the time between then and now was erased, and
the
> person felt that they existed in a different time and place. For many
> people, these moments have almost a sacred quality to them, they are
> discussed in awe, or in poetry. I don't know when someone else may have
one
> of these moments. Therefore, I don't want to be the person holding a coke
> can with an uncovered ice chest, with my minivan parked right behind my
> pavillion that makes those moments less likely to happen. One reason so
many
> of these moments happen at night is that many obvious mundanities are
> covered by the darkness.
>
> Sometimes the very structure of our organization leads to authentic(ish)
> medieval experiences. I have heard people complaining that the border
groups
> don't do things the way that people do in other parts of the kingdom.
(Seems
> that I have heard reference to similar complaints about the Marcher Lords
of
> the Welsh border.) Sometimes people complain that being good at swinging a
> stick does not make a person a good monarch. Neither does being born the
> eldest son of the right family. Our solutions are of necessity the same as
> those of feudal societies. Grin and bear it and/or work around it until
the
> next reign. At least we don't have to wait a lifetime, but then, that
gives
> us less reason to seriously consider assassination.
>
> We can never hope to be truly authentic as an organization. We cover too
> long a period and too large a territory. By our nature, my Norman English
> persona is going to run into my ancestors and my enemies and people I
never
> even heard, of at every event. Yet these people may be my king, my baron,
my
> teacher, my pupil, my best friend, etc. I also live simultaniously in
> England and Ansteorra. These two places have different kings, different
> laws, different lots of things.
>
> This does not mean that I personally can't study and do research and play
as
> authentically as I want to. It does mean that I will have to ignore
jarring
> inconsistencies even if everyone was playing at the same level of
> authenticity (or lack of it. as the case may be). Since this need to be
able
> to overlook differences in period and country is inherent, surely we can
> overlook inconsistencies in the way we play the game. The game is enriched
> in some way by most of the people who play, and I have found that I can
> learn things from most of them as well. Be tolerant my friends, there is
> room in this world for all of us.
>
> In service to Ansteorra,
> Philippa Rookhaven
> Baroness of the Court of Ansteorra
> Lion of Ansteorra
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Flickinger" <brotherkris at hotmail.com>
> To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 9:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA
>
>
> > [ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
> >
> > Whether we are sitting at the camp's fire light telling the no stuff
tales
> or
> > reading the Laurel candidates' documentation;  discovering propane tank
> helms
> > or rediscovering mead recipes from a 1092 A.D.  monks' diary; debating
> fund
> > raising ideas to increase coffer tallies or holding Marshals' Courts to
> ratify
> > new weapon standards or playing with Tuchoks and loving authenticy
police.
> We
> > are an educational organization.  Literally and figurativelly.
> >
> > We come back  for the Dream.
> >
> > Brother Kris
> > >From: Susan
> > >Reply-To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> > >To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> > >Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Authenticity in the SCA
> > >Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 17:39:53 -0500
> > >
> > >At 01:52 PM 4/19/2002 -0700, you wrote:
> > >>the real reason why so many people are drawn to the
> > >>SCA is the diveristy of personalities. the Reason why
> > >>they say is the SCA has long practiced an acceptance
> > >>level Far above that of the main stream. lets not muck
> > >>with that and become small groups of 10.
> > >>
> > >>Sir Samuel
> > >
> > >I have been reading this thread and this hits so well why this group
> > >has
> > >lasted for as long as it has and has the range and diversity that it
> > >does. I love that we can embrace the desire to be involved and the
> > >finding
> > >of each person's niche in the whole, giving support for all the
> > >different
> > >aspects of who and what the SCA is.
> > >
> > >
> > >Susan the Curious
> > >Susan-the-Curious at swbell.net
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >_______________________________________________
> > >Ansteorra mailing list
> > >Ansteorra at ansteorra.org
> > >http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/ansteorra
> >
>
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> >
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>
>
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