[Bards] Queen's College of Bards -- who's up for it?

[Marlin Stout]

Kathy Elliott wrote:

> Good call.  A poor choice of words on my part.

Well, I was starting to wonder if anyone actually /read/ my post, until 
your reply...  =)

I just think we should remember that politics killed the last college, 
and a new one needs to be seen as a benefit to the kingdom, or politics 
will kill it as well. Which would be a shame, as it always is when 
politics kills fun in the SCA, especially since fun is what were all 
here for in the first place.

For my $.02 on it, I think the idea of a college of bards is good, and 
having something to identify us as bards is also good, though not just 
for the reasons I've seen discussed. There is a young lady here in BG 
(age 9) who is very much bitten by the bardic bug, and really enjoys 
performing. I think it would br great for her, and all the other folks 
out there who want to be bards, to be able tell who is a bard and ask 
them for advice. By this I mean sometime other than at a bardic circle 
or competition; then we tend to concentrate on our performances and 
those of others and not be interested in discussions. So, if she sees 
Kat, or Robin, or Simone, or anyone else wearing the insignia of the 
college sitting around the list field or such, she'd know they're 
someone she can talk to about bardic.

In other words, if you're in the college, you're a teacher. You may not 
be as knowledgeable as some others, but you're telling new bards out 
there that they can ask you for advice and you'll answer them. Or at 
least tell them who can better help them.

As far as a sash or baldric goes, that would be good. After all, it 
works for chiurgeons and heralds well enough. Depending on what else I'm 
wearing I might want a belt favor of the same colors/pattern/etc to wear 
instead; for instance a baldric wouldn't work well with my BG Guard 
uniform, or my armor for that matter. But that could be a personal 
choice and not legislated; as long as it's recognizable, it should be ok.

And I'm very uncomfortable with 'ranks' in the college. If you've got 
the stones to perform in public, you're a bard. If you don't get nasty 
things thrown at you, you're a good bard. If you occasionaly get nice 
things thrown at you, or people ask you to perform stuff, you're a 
really good bard. If you've won a championship or two, you're lucky.

You know where you are, and where you want to be. What else matters? 
With heralds and chiurgeons, ranks are important. If heralds don't know 
who's in charge nobody knows who to tell stuff to, and names, devices 
and awards maybe get lost. If chiurgeons don't know who's in charge, 
everyone does their own thing, and somone maybe dies. If bards don't 
know who's in charge, everyone does their own thing....
...and maybe someone has a moving experience. Or better yet, gets 
/inspired.../

Ld Charles MacKinnon
Bard of Bryn Gwlad
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