[Ansteorra] Re: Fossil memories
Julie Cunningham
Julie at ettros.com
Fri Aug 29 05:51:59 PDT 2003
Being a newbie still, I LOVE stories like this. Is there a place somewhere to read more about the history of the SCA? How did Steppes get started?
Kathryn of Ayr
(Kate)
-----Original Message-----
From: Dyan Ford [mailto:dyanford at txucom.net]
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 11:45 PM
To: Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc.
Subject: [Ansteorra] Re: Fossil memories
>>>So, considering how thinly the SCA was spread in AS VI, how did you
hear of the SCA?
What do you see as having changed the most since then? What stands out
the most in your memories of the SCA in the last thirty years?
Stefan<<<<
Oh Boy, what a set of questions! Let's see how I can answer....
First, I 'heard of the SCA in college, in the back of the book 'The
Broken Sword' by Poul Anderson <sigh>. From what I recall, it mentioned
a group of people who spent their summer vacations near Chicago,
playing 'medieval'. I remember telling my roommate than I was going as
soon as I got out of school & got a job -- that was in 1969. (I _still_
have yet to attend Pensic!)
In 1972, I decided that if I couldn't get to Chicago, I'd try to find
like-minded folk in the Houston area. So, I hand-lettered a
'recruitment' poster & posted it at a local Comics Convention. An old
friend, JL3, saw it & asked why didn't I just join the group that was
already in Houston. I almost freaked, demanding more info. He said
that a group had formed some months earlier but had only 3 three
people. He offered to make some calls & see about setting up a meeting
-- which he did. We all met on the next Sunday to try to restart the
Barony, 7 in person & 2 by proxy.
And since the group (then known only as 'The Barony in Houston') needed
a name, we proceeded to debate possibilities. In those days, groups
were often named for a predominant local landmark. Well, we sure didn't
want the Bayou Barony! So I thought of NASA and suggested 'StarGate'
because a reporter had earlier dubbed Houston as the Gateway to the
Stars.... everyone seemed to like it so the name stuck. The device
became a nine pointed star with 3 greater points for the original
founders & 6 smaller points for the rest of us -- and 1 point was
'supposed' to be a 'binary' because JL3 was the only married founder (at
the time) & we wanted to include his Lady (which she now denies --- hey,
that's how _I_ remember it! )
As to how has it changed..... oh, there are not words to properly
describe the differences! I mean, this was years before the Texas
RenFaire, & we _lived_ the joke of "Are you in a Play?". No one took us
seriously and communications with others in the SCA just didn't exist --
the nearest groups were Draconia (Baton Rouge, LA) to the East and the
Atenveldt Barony/Kingdom (Tempe, AZ) to the West. In those days, there
were only 4 Kingdoms & Atenveldt extended from the southern Atlantic
States across to the border of California. I remember how we struggled
to find references and information about historical practices. We truly
did 'wing it' and things were accepted for the 'effort' involved in the
making, not the 'historical accuracy' that is demanded today. The
Dream was almost a tangible thing in those days & anyone who even made
the attempt was welcome to play. I truly miss some of that 'tolerance'.
As to the most 'Memoriables' ... I'm afraid I'll have to put that into
an article or something. The email would be much too long! And this
email has become too long also! Thank you for your patience.
Shanahan the Fey, MLA, OLA, OMS, Starholder
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