[Ansteorra] ideas... long

[Susan Tillery]

Thank you and well said.  There is a certain glamour when we first join that 
begins to fray over time.  Costuming is "much" better now than it once was.  It 
is possible to buy medieval looking tents now and people do.   One of the 
reasons I find things so different now is because I am different.  

AEla




----- Original Message ----
From: Chris Zakes <dontivar at gmail.com>
To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wed, January 30, 2013 2:37:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] ideas... long

At 12:55 PM 1/30/2013, you wrote:




FWIW, that is not a new concern. I've been told that starting around AS 2, 
people were complaining that the SCA wasn't like it was in "the good old days."

Stop and think about this for a moment, folks. Did the SCA seem like a 
wonderful, magical, chivalrous place when you joined, but after a few years the 
shiny started wearing off--people weren't as courteous, they made less effort to 
hide the mundane stuff, and it started to feel like a modern party in medieval 
clothes? I think that hits everybody, no matter when you joined.

I've been in the SCA since AS 10. My first event was in a park on the outskirts 
of San Antonio. The event site was maybe thirty yards down a trail from the 
parking area, and it really felt like walking back in time, leaving the 20th 
century and going into the Middle Ages. Afterwards, when I got home, I can 
recall just sitting there with a big grin on my face for a couple of hours.
But looking back today, *all* the tents were modern camping tents, the pavilions 
were blue tarps, most of the fighters were wearing freon can helms, many were 
wearing carpet armor, and most of the clothing would scream "newbie" to our eyes 
now. In many ways the SCA *is* doing a better job of playing the Middle Ages 
than we did 37 years ago. I agree that camera-phones can be obtrusive, but even 
in AS 10 we had folks with flash cameras. I can remember a prominent knight--who 
was a big Aggie football fan--coming onto the field between rounds at one of the 
Queen's Grace tournaments (held Thanksgiving weekend) and announcing the score 
of the UT-Aggie football game (granted, he *did* say "Shadowlands 17, Bryn Gwlad 
10", but everybody knew what he was talking about.)

All that being said, I *do* agree that we could stand to cut down on the modern 
elements. Go easy on updating every single thing at an event or in court to 
Twitter and Facebook as soon as it happens (or at least do it out of the public 
view) cover your coolers, put your drinks in period containers, if you're using 
a modern camping chair, cover it, as well. But y'know, most of those suggestions 
were being made twenty or thirty years ago, too.

        -Tivar Moondragon
        Fossil-in-residence

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