[Bards] college versus community

[Alden Drake]

Um...my analogy wasn't meant to imply how to be a bard, but rather to point out the need for our community to have a shared focus.

The example of a fraternity works too.  I'm a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (the Men's Professional Music Fraternity of America, Inc.), and if you just look at the chapter level, it has it's own structure (Pres., VP, Pledgemaster, Sgt-at-Arms, etc...) and organized activities that are annual, or occasional.  We come from all different majors, but with one shared passion - music.  And we are bound by the shared experience of pledging.  That love and that bond makes us brothers. The connection we have with our pledge brothers is especially strong.  Fourteen years after pledging, if one of my pledge brothers called for my help, I'd be there.  Thankfully one lives in Houston now, so it's not a long drive. ;)

Alden


----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Silverhands silverhands at sbcglobal.net


I actually disagree with the analogy.

We're not talking about giving the bardic community a blueprint for  
how to be a bard, or how to conduct bardic activities. At least, I  
don't *think* we are. If we are, then I would strongly object to such  
an idea.

I think it's more like talking about a fraternity. I'm hearing the  
theory that we might feel like a more close-knit community if we  
could say "Hail, sister, and well-met" when we met another member of  
the college. But that's where I get hung up: we can do that today,  
when we meet another *bard*. (You are one if you say you're one.) You  
don't need a college to achieve that. You don't even need "gang  
colors" (a blue favor or whatever), although it arguably makes it  
easier to pick one of us out of a crowd.

Michael