[Ansteorra] How the West helps Us

[Donna Nesbit]

I grew up in San Angelo, and when people ask me where I am from, I say 200 miles from nowhere.  If you look at a map,  all towns larger than San Angelo are at least 200 miles away.  
   
  However, the travel issues not only affect those in the West.  I now live 40 miles south of Houston.  I officially live in Loch Soilleir.  When I ask why the Loch holds one of their annual events 40 miles north of Houston, I am told that if they hold it south of Houston the number of attendees falls.  Apparently those that come from the north (Waco, Dallas, Fort Worth) or the west (San Antonio) will not travel the extra 50 miles across Houston.  
   
  I understand the travel issues in the West.  I just think it is ironic that the same issues are felt in the more metropolitan areas.
   
  Penelope

Casey Thorp <casey.walker.thorp at gmail.com> wrote:
  Having grown up in West Texas, I am intimately familiar with the 
logistics of the vast and great Western Region. In Boy Scouts, we had 
similar issues of kids being far flung and scattered about in various 
areas. I knew several kids that wore a 'lone scout' badge on their arm 
because they lived far from any group, which we called Troops, and were 
not able to attend Troop meetings, so they essentially taught 
themselves. Its easy to look at a map and say "this town is only an hour 
drive from Lubbock or San Angelo", but actually the members of a certain 
group could easily live two hours the other side of that town off of 
ranch roads designed to feed cattle in a pasture and not travel directly 
from point A to point B.

Being an officer takes dedication and the ability to put in the time. 
There are probably numerous people highly dedicated to the SCA who 
cannot put in the time to drive two hours to a meeting, meet for an 
hour, and then drive two hours back home without sacrificing feeding 
their kids or tending to their work.

Having just recently joined the official Ansteorra mailing list, I may 
have missed someone pointing this out, but am dumbfounded at what has 
happened. If I'm mistaken, please correct me, but it appears the more 
rural groups have been dissolved in favor of the few metropolitan hubs 
in the area, that may have a movie theater or two and something 
resembling an airport.

Having been to several Wars over the past 8 years, I've personally seen 
four Western Region fighters mow over units that were 20+ fighters in 
size. I'll bet a large majority of Ansteorra has something crafted by 
someone from the Western Region. Yes, the numbers are small, but the 
contributions out of the Western Region are huge.

Personally, I wonder if the current decision is correct, and if a rite 
of combat between champions could be requested by those this affects the 
most. I believe that would be a very chivalrous, noble, and honorable 
way to handle any conflict with this decision.

~Wiglaf Arduisca, Esq.

Pat Mullins wrote:
> This actually makes a lot of sense. One warranted officer and one 
> authorized marshal for fighter practice. They could even be the same 
> person. The marshal could have a family membership, or not even be a 
> paid member.
> Maybe they could call themselves Blacklake, (for example) an Outpost 
> (or Mission, or Kumquat, or whatever term currently has no official 
> meaning in the SCA) of the Barony of Bonwicke.
> These "outposts" would be totally dependent on the Barony 
> financially, and could not hold their own calendar events, but 
> otherwise not much need change. The "outposts" could have official 
> fighter practices and guild meetings.They could even continue hosting 
> their own events, but unofficially. No kingdom awards could be given, 
> or kingdom law enacted, but people deserving of kingdom awards could 
> surely receive them at the Barony's events.
> Maybe the Barony could even be given a few more Kingdom calendar 
> events. There will never be a competing event in the region, and 
> seldom a competing event within 250 miles, (even if the event is held 
> at an outpost). The Baron and Baroness could make a yearly or biennial 
> (if there are several outposts) progress through their far flung lands.
> The only problem I see is if there were several outposts, having 
> enough warranted officer positions to be filled. Is there, or could 
> there be, such a thing as a warranted deputy seneschal?
> Expanding on a good idea,
> Paedric
>
> Robert Fitzmorgan wrote:
> Sub-communities within the Barony will not need a treasurer. If they
> have an official Fighter Practice they will need to file waivers, but 
> other
> than that there shouldn't be any reports or paperwork. To have an 
> official
> Fighter Practice there will need to be at least one warranted officer
> present, but other than that the deputy officers need not be 
> warranted, or
> warrantable officers. The sub-communities will not have their own bank
> account, any expenditures would have to be approved by and come from the
> official branch.
>
> Robert
>
>
>
>
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