On Tuesday, October 31, 2006, at 07:12 AM, Charles Ó Floinn wrote:


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<fontfamily><param>Arial</param><color><param>0000,0000,8080</param><smaller>…</smaller></color></fontfamily><color><param>0000,0000,8080</param>then
make it the final event of many. … Give every group the chance to run
a Bardic circle that picks the representative or two that then goes on
to the premier event for their region who then sponsor the winner with
an alternate to the Eisteddfod. … Let the five alternates vie for the
deputy position in a second circle.</color>


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<bold><color><param>FFFF,CCCC,0000</param><bigger><bigger><bigger>Charles
Flynn</bigger></bigger></bigger></color></bold>


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Sigh. I guess I'm the stick in the mud again.

 Anyone can enter Crown Tourney, Kingdom A&S, King's Archer, etc. All
the warriors need is certification, like we require for every
combat-related activity. Any artist can enter Kingdom A&S. The sense
that "I'm not good enough for Eisteddfod" will only be worsened if we
have run-offs or regional requirements. It seems to me that an all-day
competition is difficult but worthwhile. The locale was the original
issue, and Robin has said he'd look into getting some changes made.
Let's give the Anglican a couple of weeks to discuss it with someone. 

I do not like these standards. It actually flies in the face of the
philosophy that anyone can be a bard (a concept of the old College I
agreed with).

It also puts even more focus on competition. There's so much more to
bardcraft. I gotta be honest, I see these standards as dividing our
community and harming the new performer. These sorts of requirements
will lead to a perception that there is a bardic elite and the new
person isn't welcome. Those that try and fail the first few years may
be completely turned off by the process. We already have this problem
in small.

Some of you have had this experience, wherein a performer, a talented
one with a real future, sees you enter the competition and actually
decides it isn't worth trying. That is heartbreaking. This proposal of
local/regional try-outs simply justifies that viewpoint. 

It seems the amount of time spent in that room at Steppes is an issue.
It was an observation a few people agreed with. That does not mean we
need to completely re-define Eisteddfod. At most we need a better
place, we need to let people understand that they don't have to sit
through every performance (most warriors don't watch every fight) and
maybe we need to invite waterbearers to set up some punch and coffee
for the day. 

I don't want any barriers to performance in this Kingdom. Whether you
hold a title or not, you should feel that you have the same chance of
entertaining a court or a circle as anyone else. 

I remember my Eisteddfod. It began at 9:00 am, the crowd was filled
with the legends, we were outside under a metal picnic pavilion and I
was running on 2 hours of sleep. It was double elimination, and by the
third round I was dehydrated, exhausted to the point of delirium and
unable to keep any food down. That is when it began to snow. We froze
under that open air pavilion until the competition ended, at sundown.
I couldn't stop shaking, I was barely coherent and I feel asleep on a
bench in the middle of court. It was hell, physically and emotionally.
It was Eisteddfod, not a revel.

So now the Eisteddfod is held indoors in a cramped little room at a
massive noisy event. It needs a better setting, but there's a bar in
that building, people. This isn't Dante's Inferno. It needs improving,
not an overhaul.

It's not so bad that we need to redefine the competition.


~Finnacan