[Ansteorra] Magic Moments

[willowdewisp at juno.com]

Seriously, I think it is time to light a few candles. Anyone with me? 
I have been trying to be with you. I have played my part and lived like a good peer. I have been trying very hard for the last 5years and all I have gotten out of it is to be called "a power mad monster". I want to be a member of the SCA and work with others to make something wonderful happen, 
I really wished I could play with all the wonderful people who wrote me but my health won't let me travel very far now. and most of your events are sort of far off. Also I  really like being part of a team working on something and that is very hard to get into even at a short distance.
I really liked the Sisterhood of Fox  when they allowed me to run a Ladies' Pavilion at their event. I really was thankful when Lindenwood allowed me to autocrate Balls. I really liked the Djinn one. I also was really touched when the people doing Candlemas asked me to one of Queen Eleanor's ladies. or be a noble at their fair or sit at he Ladies Pavilion when they did the Ladies event. I don't know if the Barony of Eldern Hills how thankful I was when they allowed me to judge their Bardic. I was really honored to play Queen Isabella  at the three Queens Event in Bradly Lea or one of the Leaders at Rosenfield. When I was living in the North I was touched when the Steppes asked me to come down and play parts in their Quest. I cannot name all the people who have in the past allowed me to be part of their "Game" and I want to thank all of them.
Unfortunately other than a few areas most groups are not having a lot of those activities. Putting together a Quest mean you have to have an event with some time free. Doing persona is hard because there is  only time for "business" at most events nowadays. Everyone is fighting for the chance to do their idea so there is little room to invite an "outsider" to do something.There are many people looking to do things and only a few opportunities. 
Also no ones wants to talk about the pins and needles of doing persona or making "magic moments". We used to able to talk about what we were doing outside the events. Most persona activities were really well planned out. They just didn't just happen. We could get off-stage and talk in a straight forward way about what we were doing. 
Now a days everything is mixed together. A lot of people are living a life style and have blended their real life and the SCA into one big mass. Talking about how we are doing something  destroys the "Dream". When the people who create Ansteorra were writing our first laws were weren't "living the Dream" we were a bunch of trained social scientists trying to work something out that would endure. Yes, we were Laurels and Kings and knights and Pelicans and Lords and Ladies but we were also Psychiatrists and Sociologists and City Mangers and Business People and Political Organizers and Lawyers and people with knowledge about groups. The Game is based in the real world and we need to talk about the pins and needles of making a magically moment if we want them to happen.
I believe it is important to keep the organization "the SCA" separate from the "Historical reality of the Kingdom of Anstoerra and the Known World".  We get mad at each other when we are doing things and when the throne falls on our toes we sometime fuss. The paper work gets to us and the needs of a mundane organization sometimes gets in the way of "the Dream". This is probably what happened in the West. As 21st century Americans we need to work our problems out. 
I recently made a improper jest at Bonwick's 12th night. I said we should "Kill the King". I took an mundane problem and bought into the game. In fact the problems with West are  organizational problems and should be only dealt with  "the Crown" and the officers in their roles as officers in a mundane organization. The needs of the SCA were what was being addressed by what was done in the West and therefore the arena to deal with them is in organization. Answers to the problems should be looked for in the processes used in the SCA the club. The moment the Crown Prince  and Princess took off their crowns it became a mundane matter of an organization and I should not bought the game into it. 
I believe it is "improper" to use SCA fighting to resolve real life problems. Or you should never fight if you are really mad. I broke with my own rule and I was wrong. 
Writing protest and discussing our feelings about these process are our right as citizens of America.  Please remember according to the rules of the SCA the Laws of the US come before the word of the Crown. Becoming a member of the SCA dose not take away our rights as an American Citizen. 
Lanphier Taylor
aka willow de wisp