[Ansteorra] History

John Atkinson johnmatkinson at gmail.com
Wed May 7 10:12:00 PDT 2008


On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 9:53 AM, Jennifer Smith <jds at randomgang.com> wrote:

>  I have two children (8 and almost 4), and their NORMAL bedtime is between 8
>  and 8:30pm. At events, this translates to somewhere between 9 and 10pm, 10pm
>  at the latest. Obviously, they're not going to be left alone in the tent, so
>  at least one parent is 'stuck' watching the kids. (I'm usually tired from
>  chasing them all day, so will be passing out shortly myself.) I know a lot
>  of parents in the same boat. So who, exactly, is throwing the parties? Half
>  your population is out, due to kids.

The demographics of the SCA have changed a great deal since the
Semi-Mythical Early Days.  A "young" fighter today is 25 or older.
I've been to more than one event where I've been the youngest guy in
armor.  I'm 30.  At another few, I was the youngest excepting a few
who had grown up in the SCA.

With the aging of the Old-Timers comes the Haze of Nostalgia.  You see
this in any line of work.  As a Soldier, I'm particularly familiar
with it--the old crusty First Sergeant for whom nothing is quite at
good as it was when he was a private is so common as to be stereotype
from a joke.  It seems to be human nature for old memories to acquire
a patina that an objective observer at the actual event could not
discern.  A drunken idiot acting the fool at an event last weekend is
offensive, while a drunken idiot acting the fool at an event 25 years
ago is a lot funnier.  It's just a fact of life.  I tune most of it
out, I suggest you do the same.

Ioannes Dalassenos
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again. We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani



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