[Ansteorra] Telling someone that what they are doing is not period
Donna Nesbit
themaefare at yahoo.com
Sat Sep 16 11:55:21 PDT 2006
Greetings,
Thank you Duchess Willow for bringing up this topic. I have seen several newcomers in recent times be put off because someone questioned their garb.
I am in a group that is trying to bring in newcomers and restart a group. We are trying to be very cognizant of our demeanor and all of the comments thus far have helped.
One thing many people must understand is that some of what is period just would not work today. Recently, I saw a book on the history of undergarments. In times it was quite acceptable to reveal parts of the body that we would get in trouble for revealing today. Also, some silhouettes that were considered beautiful in the past are not appealing today. We must remember that we are looking at past dressing through modern day eyes.
Lady Penelope Miriam Darling
"willowjonbardc at juno.com" <willowjonbardc at juno.com> wrote:
Greetings everyone
I have a special request of you. How can we tell people that what they
are doing is not correct? That it is not period, but at the same time
not make them feel bad. Many newer people are telling me that they are
living in fear because they think their costumes, art, performances or
behavor are going to be criticized and they are going to be told that
they are not in period.
Now as a citizen of the SCA I feel it is my duty to inform people
that their work may be better if they would stay in period. I have
tried to tell them in a nice way. I have failed many times. Sometimes
I am too soft. There was the young lady who was planning on beading a
piece of polyester double knit. I warned her that taking that much
time on double knit meant it would not get the best scores at the A&S
competitions. She said she liked the design and she didn't plan on
entering A&S. Of course 3 years later she did enter it and got points
knocked because it was double Knit. She left the SCA over it. I failed
with my own husband. I told him his work was not period and he is
still mad at me. Sometimes I have helped people. There was a lady who
in the everyday world won many awards for her needlework, but she was
getting nowhere in SCA. I suggested she change her designs to
something period and she received many awards for her work. When I
told her that her designs were wrong she cried, but a year later when
she got her Thistle she hugged me.
We need to tell people the rules of the game, but we need to do it in
a nice way. Does anyone remember a time when someone set you on the
right path and did in a way that made you feel good? I would like to
hear about their techniques. Courtesy is one of the pillars of the
magic that is Ansteorra. We are smart people. We need to figure out
how to tell people things without hurting their feelings.
Duchess Willow de Wisp
________________________________________________________________________
Try Juno Platinum for Free! Then, only $9.95/month!
Unlimited Internet Access with 1GB of Email Storage.
Visit http://www.juno.com/value to sign up today!
_______________________________________________
Ansteorra mailing list
Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.
More information about the Ansteorra
mailing list