[Ansteorra] Questions 7/18

[Jay Rudin]

Lorraine asked:

> 1. What attracted you to the SCA?

Fencing, low necklines, drinking beer, singing dirty songs, chasing girls.
(I was 21.)

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

There's no short answer.

The fighting and the arts?  Yes, a little bit -- I came in for the
activities.  But that's not why I stayed, just as you go to Disney World for
the rides, but you keep going back for the joys and the cleanliness and the
atmosphere and the people.   Of course, the activities -- in the SCA and at
Disney World -- are crucial, so let's start there.

I have fenced, and learned to fence well, and taught others to fence.
I have fought heavy, and learned to fight it well, and taught others to
fight.
I have written poetry, and learned to write poetry well, and taught others
to write poetry.
I have danced pavonnes and bransles and country dances and others.
I have fought in Di Grassi's style, and learned moves from Saviolo and
others.
I have studied an SCA-produced translation of Sainct-Didier.
I have practiced -- and fought -- for over twenty years.
I have entered hard tourneys with serious competition.
I have fought greatsword, halberd, glaive, axe, mace, spear, hoe, shovel,
and many other combinations.
I have fought against three or four at a time and won -- or lost.
I have fought in massed battles with hundreds on a side.
I have been given an axe by my king for my fighting skills.
I have trained fighters who came to me to learn.
I have seen some of my students become better swordsmen than I ever was.
I have sworn real oaths that really mattered on my sword.
I have written poems, sonnets, a psalm, a Canterbury Tale, etc., and found
people who wanted to hear them.
I have heard my fighting exploits extolled in poems.
I have written a poem while fighting, and struck my foe on the final line.
I have had people tell me that something I said made a difference to them.
I've had people come up to me and ask to be my cadet, my apprentice, my
protege.

I have called for help on the battle field and had my mates come to help me.
I have hastened to the call of my mates in trouble.
I have led forces into battle.
I have won a tournament with epees and one with sword and shield -- on the
same day.
I have taught fencing from Phoenix to Massachusetts and from Minnesota to
Florida.
I have taught poetry, and honor, and history, and rhetoric, and Aristotelian
logic, to people who really wanted to learn it.
I have won prizes to give to the lady I fought for.
I have danced in the evening with the lady I fought for all day.

The SCA has many problems, but it's also the only place I know where I can
do all that.  It's the only place where I can scratch the fencing itch, and
the theater itch, and the poetry itch, and the camping itch, and the
research itch, and the role-playing itch, and the teaching itch, and the
party itch, all at the same time.

I can fight in my own back yard.  But only in the SCA can I fight for the
honor of my lady-wife, in defense of a Queen who I am pledged to protect.

Have you ever needed to call someone in the middle of the night to get out
of a warm bed to come do a favor for you -- car trouble, or a medical
emergency?  I couldn't estimate to the nearest dozen the number of SCA
members I could count on to do that for me.  Some of my friends *have*
gotten out of bed to help me.  And I've sometimes gotten out of bed to help
others.  But where else in the world can you find lots of people who will do
this when you don't even know their real names?

On a college campus, I spent a year and a half trying to get the Chaucerian
scholar to listen to my Canterbury Tale, with no success.  At an SCA event,
I can get a crowd to listen to it almost any time I want to.

Think about the people in the SCA that you like the least -- that tacky,
annoying, political group that you really can't stand.  Do you realize that
if you have an accident on the way home, and they drive by, they'll probably
stop, and try to save your life?

One of C. S. Lewis's students asked him why he liked Shakespeare so much.
Lewis replied, "Because he takes me somewhere I've never been before."  The
SCA took me somewhere I had never been before -- and it's somewhere I came
to love.

I met many of my closest friends here.

Finally, it's where I met my wife, so it's the source of the greatest joy
and comfort I've ever known

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

At various times in my SCA career, it's been each of fencing, House Gilwell,
poetry, Steppes, heraldry, marshalling, the College of Bards, Ansteorra,
Trimaris (yes, I lived there for a short time), Midrealm (I helped them
start their fencing program), and probably others I haven't thought of.

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

Very early (2-3 months).  There was no fencing in the Steppes when I first
became active.

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

A.  My friends.
B. Because the king, in white-hot fury at me, nonetheless defended me
against advisors recommending that he banish me.
C. Because I don't give up.
D. There is no political situation worth losing everything I described
above.

> 6. How long before you burned out? Why did you burn out?

Oh, every five years or so.  No one specific reason.

> Is there anything anyone could have done to help keep you from "burning
out"?

No.  If you care, it sometimes hurts.  If you give as much as you can,
sometimes you run out.

"Preventing" burnout is as impossible as preventing fatigue.  People get
tired.  The key is to sleep, recover, and start a new day.

One of my best friends took as his motto "Patience and Persistence".
Problems happen.  Persist.  Some things you can't fix.  Have patience.  It
looks horrible.  Give it time.

Calvin Coolidge said "Nothing in the world can take the place of
persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men
with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."

> 7. What do you get out of the SCA?

I get to be Robin of Gilwell -- that strange visitor from another time who
came to the Steppes with powers and abilities far different from those of
modern men.  Robin, who can change the course of bardic circle, bear steel
in his good right hand, and who, disguised as Jay Rudin, mild-mannered
professor for a great metropolitan university, fights the never-ending
battle for truth, honor, and the Ansteorran way.

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

About 16 months.

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

It's fun.  First for the activities, then they meld into a bigger, more
satisfying game.  Fencing is fun, but devotion to the Queen makes it
ennobling.  Performing is fun, but filling people's hearts with tales of
heroism is inspiring.  Combat is fun, but defending the kingdom is a noble
endeavor.

It's "... a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or storytelling or
singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them
all.  Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness."

Also, we hit people with sticks.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin