[Bards] topic for discussion: when to enter a local competition

[Jay Rudin]

It's worth remembering that we all need to set up our own personal goals and 
standards, and that these will not always agree.  For instance, I will enter 
a local competition for a branch only if I believe I can get back to that 
branch often enough to serve them.  I won't enter to succeed myself, and I 
won't enter one local competition while I'm bard of somewhere else, unless I 
am stepping down in the next couple of events.  But as the Bard of Elfsea I 
entered, and won, Bard of Dragonsfire Tor.  But before I did it, I asked the 
Baron of Elfsea if was woudl be cofortable with me as the bard of his barony 
and its canton.  And I'm quite comfortable entering Kingdom Eisteddfod as 
the Bard of the Steppes, which I will be doing next month (if I get off work 
in time that Saturday).

These are my rules, but I don't try to enforce them on anybody else, and I 
don't assume a stricter rule is inherently wrong.

My cadet Lord Dyryke entered and won a fencing championship in the West 
kingdom.  And he returned the next year to help see his successor chosen, 
with new regalia he had had made for the position.  The group was charmed by 
his level of support.

I have no problem with somebody whose personal code is stricter in some ways 
than mine is, and have respect for somebody who is trying to be sure he 
lives up to the responsibility of any competition he enters.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin

P.S. A generic subject line like "topic for discussion" doesn't serve the 
purpose of a subject line, which is to tell people what it's about.  Please 
use clear, specific subject lines