[Ansteorra] I have a question

Fri Jul 16 21:08:54 PDT 2010

Okay, guys, you asked for it.

I've always had my nose in a book. When I was a teenager, if I wasn't
reading, I was going for long walks to the back forty of my grandparents'
place. I imagined castles on every hill, fairies and sprites hiding behind
every tree. There was a creek with a bank where I pictured people in
medieval attire, gathered for a tournament and feast. During my junior year,
my German teacher had us read a re-telling of The Nibelungenlied. Come my
senior year, I was most fascinated in my English class with the units on
Anglo-Saxon and Middle English literature, and I devoured Beowulf and The
Canterbury Tales. Anything more recent than the seventeenth century bored me
to tears. I dreamed of a world where I would be surrounded with like-minded
folks, costumed and engaging in all sorts of pre-modern European diversions.
Little did I know...

The second semester of my freshman year in college, I was assigned a new
roommate (my roommate from the fall was not returning in the spring). Unlike
my first roommate, my second was quite gregarious, asking me questions like
nobody had ever asked before. We talked about religion and politics.
Finally, he asked me what I thought of homosexuality. I froze--could he see
it on my face? I had been struggling with this for years, and I was to
continue struggling for several months after this conversation. I hemmed and
hawed, and I finally muttered what I thought would be the most enlightened
response I could: "Well, it's really none of my business, I guess. What
people do with their own lives is their own call." I felt like I had dodged
a major bullet and began to wind down for the night.

The next morning, my suitemate came into our room. We had the same first
class that day. My roommate had already gotten up and left, and Phil asked
me, "Is this yours?", holding up a copy of The Advocate. I had never heard
of The Advocate, and when I looked at the cover, I was horrified. If people
knew about my roommate, it would only be a matter of time before they knew
about me! I told Phil it wasn't mine and hurried to get us both out of the
room. In no time, the whole floor knew about my roommate, and I felt
horrible, because I felt responsible for having outed him. I also felt like
a hypocrite, not having the courage to be myself the way my roommate did.
Another guy on the same floor had moved out of the dorm during the first
week, and I asked the resident assistant if I could move over to that room.
He knew I was uncomfortable around my roommate, but he had no idea WHY I was
so uncomfortable.

When I moved, I put up a Nina Hagen poster on my side of the half-empty
room. My NEW roommate arrived late that evening, and when he saw the poster,
he lit up. "Hey, you like Nina Hagen? COOL!" We hit it off almost instantly.
I knew he had lived in Austin, and I knew he was into the same kind of
post-wave music that I was into (we stayed up all night listening to Kate
Bush, The Cure, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood), so I was relieved to find
that we were going to be more simpatico than I had ever been with another
soul.

It was this new roommate who told me about the Society for Creative
Anachronism. He also introduced me to several of his SCA friends on campus.
In no time, I went from having no social life (thus earning me a spot on the
Dean's List) in the fall semester to running around practically every night
in the spring semester. I went to fighter practices, newcomer revels, dance
guild meetings at Lady Alix's house in Conroe....and I finally went to my
first event, Quest for the Clover. Up to that point, I really had thought
that SCA was a mainly local thing, but at Quest, I actually met the King and
Queen of Ansteorra, along with people from all over the kingdom.

My beginnings with the SCA were rather clumsy, as I learned the customs and
history of the Society in general and the Kingdom of Ansteorra in
particular, but I grew into it in time. Mainly I played locally, within the
Shire and then Barony of Raven's Fort, but in a couple years, I got to see
some of the rest of Ansteorra. I held a couple offices in Raven's Fort
(chronicler and Munin Pursuivant), and then I did some work with the
Ansteorran College of Heralds until I graduated from SHSU in 1992. After
that, the mundane world took over for a while, but I still make it to events
from time to time, and if I can, I'd like to get more involved.
Peace out!
DT+LF
Detlef von Marburg
On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 10:41 PM, <marlyna at aol.com> wrote:

> The SCA saved my life....
>
>
> I had gone to an Arts Festival in Lubbock with my husband and had seen this
> group in really neat clothes there.  The marriage was not a good one and
> soon ended.  By that time, I was not in a good place mentally and
> emotionally.  The next year I was at the Arts Festival again and again saw
> this group of people in wonderful clothes.  I went and signed up for more
> information.  Soon I was contacted about a Newcomer's revel so I went.
>
>
> When I am around people I don't know, I usually sit apart and watch.  The
> revel was in the backyard of one of the member's house.  I was sitting by
> myself and two different gentlemen came over at different times and sat and
> talked to me telling me about the SCA and what all was happening at the
> revel.  I didn't think I had anything to offer the group because my ex had
> emotionally torn me apart.  During the next few years, I realized that I had
> LOTS to offer.  The SCA helped me to rebuild my life and my self esteem.
>  They became my family (I know you have heard that many times before, but it
> is so true).
>
>
> Sadly, one of the gentlemen that talked to me that first time has since
> passed on and I have lost touch with Lord Anton, but their actions had a
> bigger impact than either of them ever knew.  I no longer live in Bonwicke,
> but it will always have a special place in my heart.
>
>
> Marlyna
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rachel's <hallarachel at yahoo.com>
> To: ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
> Sent: Tue, Jul 13, 2010 10:21 pm
> Subject: [Ansteorra] I have a question
>
>
> I never post to this list or any list.  Yet, I am puzzled can some one
> please
> tell me why they joined the SCA?
>
> Just wondering?
>
> Halla
>
>
>
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-- 
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
--Micah 6:8