Someones commented that the officers I talked about were Bureaucrats 
and the A&S already had the job for organizing for us.

I have been trying to get the A&S officers in local groups to provide 
the venue and promote the educational and performing situations that 
we need for the last 10 years. I have taken proposals to Baronial, 
shire, canton and kingdom officers and they have done nothing. There 
wasn't any thing even tried until Master Jhon was appointed. Many of 
the officers I talked to actively suppressed Bardic and Performing 
Arts. Many of the Performers/ Bard on the list have stated they need 
information and education. If the system was enough we would have it. 
When we had our own officers we did have educational and preforming 
venues. In Theory the officer system of the SCA should solve our 
problem, but in fact it hasn't. 

Why hasn't it solved the problem. Part of it lies in the difference 
between a bureaucrat/ administrator and an organizer. First Organizers 
can be officers, but they function differently from your standard 
bureaucrat. In my  youth I was a professional organizer for the SOCC 
and AFL/CIO. I was trained in the Civil Rights Movement. A bureaucrat 
or administrator is working from a already establish system, usually 
with an Hierarchy. There are usually guidelines for doing things and 
goodly amount of red tape and paper work. In the SCA the main job of 
the A&S officer is to keep track of what is going on and report. 
Organizers gather people together and create social groups and 
interactions to solve problems. They assist people in establishing 
organizations. They do not administer. They assist people to set up 
things they need and help them to network and then they go to the next 
project. The paperwork and reporting is usually done by the people 
taking on the administration and leadership of these new activities. 

You asked the question why do we need official officers that do this 
job when we have Master Ulf, Master Robin and myself doing it 
unofficially. This is a very hard question and it is hard to answer. I 
just know I got more done when I was one of these officers then I have 
done working on my own. Maybe it is a matter of being legitimizes. 
Maybe I appear less egomaniac when I can claimed I am working for the 
good of a large group of people. All I know is it worked better with 
the Bardic College behind me.  
Duchess Willow de Wisp  


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