Dear Finnican 
I am afraid you will need to ask the Crowns who did it and the Dukes 
that supported it. Ask Patrick Micheal why he started the ball 
rolling. Ask Duke Inman who was behind a lot of it. Ask William the 
Bear who told us "to fix it" and ask Sultan and Regina why they did 
what they did. I told you what they told me. 
His Grace, Duke Jonathan has a theory. He believes that the Kings were 
upset because the College was not controlled by them. I know Duke 
Seamus told me that he thought the College should not be under the 
Queens, but under the Kings. 
I told you my theory. The kings didn't want to live up to the 
historical pattern of a good king. They wanted the freedom of the 
Dream. They wanted the power other kings have to set the pattern of 
the kingdom. They didn't want older kings and heroes thrown up in 
their faces. They wanted to do anything and everything and still be 
thought of as a "good king". They felt the unified Bardic presence 
inhibited them. 
The meeting that you went to was a power match between Duke Inman and 
myself. He wanted a controlled College that would do what he said and 
he wanted me and others to continue working as we had before. Since 
everyone else had chosen to answer his demands by boycotting the 
meeting I expressed myself they only way I could. I called for a vote 
to close the Aborted Monster that His Grace had created called the 
Royal College of Bards. As the founder of the original Bardic College 
I had enough influence to destroy his baby. I hoped someday we could 
bring back a free and open college. I don't know if you remember, but 
you came to me with a strange plan concerning the College and where 
you wanted it to go. Again it was something that was not controlled by 
the Bards/performers but controlled by the Dukes. I refused to take 
part.

I believe every Bard/performer must follow his/her own path. I do not 
believe I have the right to tell them what to do and I do not believe 
any power cliche has the right to tell them what to do. If we are 
living up to the Corporia. We learning about the Middle Ages by doing. 
Bards and Performers were an active part of what was happening in the 
time period we are studying. How we manifest our roles as Bards and 
Performers is an individual choice. I believe that by gathering 
together and arranging teaching and interaction and performing 
activities we can help each other achieve our personal best. I believe 
that by teaching new performers to become the best performers they can 
be we will enrich all the experiences of our members. I also believe 
if we become better Bards and Performers we will have more fun. 

I personally hope I will find Bards/Performers in the whole community 
of Bards/Performers ( The College to me is everyone) who will take up 
my personal goal of maintaining the history of our Kingdom. I am 
hoping to share my knowledge and stories. In the past 10 years I have 
almost died 2 times and when I was being hit by the cars the only 
thing i could think about was I haven't shared my stories. I need a 
College with structure that will live past the 5 five average life 
span of SCAers. I have been in the SCA for 37 year. I need some way to 
maintain knowledge for another 40 years. 

Finnican you say that Bards/Performers and Ansteorra did just fine  
without the College. I question that. I heard stories about how people 
don't know how to play persona. The Bards used to teach them about 
culture and history. I hear about Knights not knowing about the Code 
of Chivalry.  I hear about Peers not understanding that they are 
suppose to teach. I hear about gentlemen and ladies not knowing the 
courtesies. I listen to new comers saying no one will teach them what 
they need to know to be good citizens of Ansteorra. The Bards used to 
teach people what they needed to know the same way the 
Bards/Performers taught people in the Middle Ages. I have seen in the 
Child's books of the Middle Ages the suggestion that if someone wanted 
to be a better person then they needed to Bards/Performers and listen 
to the ancient stories. If we are to teach and share with the people 
we need to gather information so the individual Bard/Performer can 
find it. The individual doesn't need to think of himself/herself as 
part of a College, but the College still needs to be there to provide 
those services to the Bard/Performer. 
Your fellow performer/bard Willow 


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