[Ansteorra] in defense of Elfsea

[Ameline DuBois]

This is my response to the comments of Lanphier Taylor aka Willow de
Wisp. I was the Landed in the time she is commenting on. I leave the
running of fair Elfsea to its benevolent, capable, and current
leadership but in all fairness I needed to answer this post I felt was
slanderous to the barony I love. She and I have had discussion on her
dislike of Elfsea and our running of it.  

 
Lanphier:
I love events that have more meat on their events. I like Lions or Old
time Warlord or Old time Protector. I like events that feel like they
are taking place in the Middle Ages or the sometime in the past. I like
wars because they make me feel real.

 
Ameline:
I agree these are good things.

 
Lanphier:
In Elfsea the concept is that people come to events to hang out with
their friends and they really don't want activities.

 
Ameline:
I do not agree to this, but I will read further;

 
Lanphier:
  Also mostly in Elfsea  they want events that don't have a lot of show
and they like events where nobles "hang up their hats". That is why they
are always having peasants or Care Pirates or something. 

 
Ameline:
Still not agreeing, but still reading. If you are new to the area I hope
you are not believing this, Elfsea actually has many activities.

 
Lanphier:
They are really into the SCA lifestyle and the study of history out side
of papers and research is not encourage. Persona is not their thing. I
find their event very dry and boring.

 
Ameline:
I am now taking offence...This is from a person who has not treated
Elfsea well in the past and is so self important and insulated that she
seems to rail against all who are open to ideas that come after A.S. X
and that was a long time ago. All people are entitled to their opinions,
but know who's opinion you are taking in. 

  
Lanphier:
 On the other hand some of the events in ByenGwld and Namron and
Bjornberg have been very exciting.
I really liked the Ladies Tourney  Bryn Gwlad had. I loved the flower
battles and we were encouraged to come in fancy dress. I had an awsome
costume to  play Empress Zenobla. Her then Majesty Regina was very
tolant and let me prance around claiming to be of a higher rank. She was
very sweet. I had all these feathers in my head dress that kept falling
off and a corset that took 2 knights to tie up.

 
Ameline:
Well done Bryn Gwlad, Namron, and Bjornsborg, Higher rank than Her
Majesty... Might not fly so well now, but that is the point.

 
Lanphier:
I liked Master Bjorn's Thing in Nanron where the Ravens and I got drunk
in the night and had a kenning contest. That event was great. I have
several great stories with that.

 
Ameline:
They do have fun in Namron!!!

 
Lanphier:
I Love  Bjornsborg's Hunts. They are so exciting. I loved the stag hunt
we had in Namron when Jon was King. I loved the second Protector when
the Viking raided and the women drove them off. 
I like events that have historical reality. I like it when the fighting
feels real and the fighters are fighting like they really are dying. The
fighting in more fun to watch.

 
Ameline:
Again I see the flash of the golden past here, the world is evolving and
getting bigger. Did any of this happen in the last five years?

  
Lanphier:
 I don't like it when everyone treats it like a sport. I am very upset
with the plan to de-medievaize the fighting. 

 
Ameline:
I could be wrong here but I think most changing was done to make things
safer and allow more people to be able to fight, and our fighters of old
are still fighting and they could speak better of this.

 
Lanphier:
I hate a lot of the pseudo mundane things we do. I hate a&s contest.
They are so mundane.

 
Ameline:
So much hate and so little thought to how the A&S brings people into the
SCA and how it increases other's experience.


Lanphier:
 I don't mind whole events dedicated to learning and having those kinds
of activities, but our Tourneys and Feast are suppose to be pre-17th
century activity events. 

 
Ameline:
Once again I am not agreeing with this opinion but opinion and fact can
be a gray area in the SCA.

 
Lanphier:
We used to have spots at events where you could go and escape the
mundane, but now there is no where to go. I sort of hate talking
favorite events because nothing I go to is like those events anymore and
it makes me unhappy to think of what we have lost. 


 
Ameline:
The past is a dangerous place to hold today up to....It will not ever
come up to the mark, often what we remember is not what really happened,
colors are brighter, temperatures are warmer, stories are better, wine
sweeter on the tongue, getting up and down is easier in the past too,
age is a constant in life.  

Lanphier:
I was envious to hear Master Robin say he could believe. I haven't been
able to believe in a long while.

Lanphier Taylor aka 

willow de wisp................................

 
Ameline:
I truly hope you can find peace in your present day because that is
where you are. This railing against the SCA world we live in today is
sad. Your life and how you react in it is all you really have control
of. People will be as happy as they chose to be, and how they relate and
react to others will be the only way they change those around them. 

With respect,

Ameline Dubois, OL

Former Baroness of Elfsea