[Elfsea] Highland Games Demo

[Liz Wilson]

For what it is worth, my family and I joined the SCA
last July because we met some people at the Highland Games
demo.  I was very intimidated by the website and I broke
my leg shortly after we joined.  Then I had a breast tumor
removed in late August after attending Lammas Day, where
most people ignored us (a few were friendly however).
I am very sad to hear that the demo has been cancelled.
I thought I had emailed someone that my family could
participate on Sat the 7th, but maybe not.

Because of my heath and children's activities in the fall, we
did not attend any other events until 12th Night, with the 
exception of a few Steppes populace meetings.  Moot is
difficult for us on school nights during the year because we
don't have a babysitter for our 8 year old twins.   We have,
since 12th Night, attended the All Con and SMU demos for
Steppes, and participated in Defender of the Flame (daytrip),
Springfaire (Camping) and Warlord (Camping).  We are starting
to get to know people and we are getting hooked.  We
have some financial constraints like everyone and we aren't
attending anything that is more than 2 hours away right now.
My husband is teaching woodworking at King's College and
once a month we are doing woodoworking in our garage for anyone
from anywhere to attend. 

 Maybe we are the only new members
to have joined after the HIghland Games in 10 years, I don't
know.  I do know that this is a demo with LOTS of public
exposure for the SCA.  I agree that sometimes people will
not join right away but may come back to join later.  I
had thought about joining for several years but I was always
too intimidated.  It took the death of a friend, Caitlin
Cheanledir of Atlantia (aka Rise Sheridan Peters) to make
me realize that life is too short and I'd better get involved
in the SCA NOW while I can still sleep on an air matress
in a tent.

It would help at demos if email addresses were collected, 
and if the Hospitaler or someone contacted people as follow up
to invite them to meetings, Moot, events, etc.  I know that 
Elfsea has made some efforts in this regard lately, to contact
newcomers, etc., and I applaud those efforts.  I have also
noticed more friendliness at events, etc.  But follow up by
someone IN The SCA is probably the best way to recruit
and retain new members if that is your goal.

Frankly, the SCA in general sometimes sends out the message, subliminally
or not, that they are not all that interested in recruiting.  The members
are extremely involved in their own activiites and can be very
cliqueish.  It's worse than lunchtime in high school!!!   There is
also a lot of intellectual snobbery.  I was a lawyer for 15 years before
I became a stay at home mom (I'm still licensed), and my husband's
a database administrator, so we did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday even
if we don't know as much as long time members about the Middle
Ages.  However, I am trying to recognize that folks have known each other for
years and that, because newcomers often don't stick around, it
is hard to make the effort sometimes to be friendly.  We also DON"T know as much
as you do and we are still learning.  Also, while many people in
the SCA are very nice once you get to know them, there are some of them who
have the social skills of an amoeba, and it may be a little worse
than what my husband and I are used to in corporate America or at the PTA.
 And I'm sure that many of you know what I mean. 
Whether this is from being nonconformists in
general or medievalists in particular, I don't know.  But I will try
to make allowances for this if you will continue to try to make allowances
for my family with our ren faire garb and, God help us, CHILDREN.
Believe it or not, I was once going to be Childfree all my life, so I
sympathize with those of you who are not so crazy about the wee
ones, but that' s not where I am at in my life's journey any more.
They are with us and if they are not having a good time and they
are not happy, we can't enjoy ourselves either.   

I apologize if I am offending anyone with this.  It is certainly
not my intent to do so.  Many of you have been very 
friendly and it just takes time to get involved in things.
A year is a short time in an organization in which many
have been involved for 20 to 30 years.  But I do hope that
you are able to do the Highland Games demo and if 
you are, we will participate.   We are not sure of the ettiquette
since we live between Steppes and Elfsea but are probably
closer to most Steppes events (not to mention more familiar
with Dallas since we used to live there).  But we will continue
to support both Baronies in their recruitment efforts.

Christianna Fergusson 
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