[Ansteorra] Questions 7/18...2nd

[Chris Zakes]

1. What attracted you to the SCA?

I'd been interested in sword fighting and Shakespeare for years. The SCA
gave me a chance to explore both those areas to a greater depth than
anything in a book.


2. What is your perspective of what the SCA is to you?

It gives me a place to play with swords and dress in 16th century
clothes without freaking out the neighbors. <G>


3. Where do you invest the most time and energy in the SCA (household,
local group, kingdom, specific activity)

Rapier stuff. That includes anything from training newbies at the local
fighter practice to going to KWARs or being "Guest Teacher" in other
kingdoms; marshalling everything from local events to Queen's Champion
or the melees at Gulf War; fighting in local "tiny tourneys", Baronial
Championships, Queen's and major wars; and studying the period masters
and weaponry to try to fight more like they did.


4. How long before you started to take initiative in the SCA (applying
for an office, organizing an activity, etc.?)

Depends on what you mean by "take initiative". I was working on rules 
for rapier fighting and trying to adapt DiGrassi and Saviolo to the SCA
fairly early-on,  but it wasn't until shortly before Ansteorra became a
Principality that I actually held an office.


5. Were there instances that could have "run you out of the SCA"..why
did they not...or why did you come back?

Possibly--if, for example, there'd been a lot more opposition to rapier
than I actually faced. But I'm pretty stubborn, and tended to outlast
the folks who didn't want rapier. "Patience and persistance."


6. How long before you burned out? Why did you burn out? Is there
anything anyone could have done to help keep you from "burning out"?

I don't know that I've ever really "burned out." My activity level has
gone up or down depending on things like money, how well our cars
worked, and how old the kids were, but I've never come close to saying
"forget this, I'm out of here."


7. What do you get out of the SCA?

It's fun.


8. If you have your AoA...how long did you get it after starting to
participate in the SCA?

Slightly over two years.


and last but not least...why do you think that people should join the
SCA and stay in it?

It's not for everybody, but for me (to quote Robert Heinlein) "It beats
the hell out of card games."

    -Tivar Moondragon