[Loch-soilleir] a missive to the populace

[Lauren]

Rhi - I have lots of top in assorted weights/lengths, and would be happy to
donate some for a spinning class.  I'm not sure I'm a proficient enough
spinner to teach a class, but I'd love to help out with one!

-Anne

On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 9:12 PM, Virginia Lively <vdlively at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I can bring inkle looms and do a mini weaving intro esp if someone will
> help me warp my rigid heddle loom beforehand.  I also have drop spindles I
> bought to endure junior high students if someone else wants to do a spinning
> demo - I don't currently have any top though.
>
> Hedwig - do you want handouts as well? Rhi
>
>
> --- On Sat, 6/21/08, Hedwig/Melissa <honeyfrog at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Hedwig/Melissa <honeyfrog at gmail.com>
> > Subject: [Loch-soilleir] a missive to the populace
> > To: "Loch Soilleir Announcements" <loch-soilleir at lists.ansteorra.org>
> > Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008, 10:26 PM
> > Greetings unto the Populace,
> >
> >             We had an unusually small turn out for populace
> > meeting this
> > last week.  Many of our officers were away on modern
> > business or had
> > personal issues to attend to and could not make the
> > meeting.  I hope that
> > everyone is now well, and their business is booming!
> >
> >             We did have a small contingent of newcomers at
> > the meeting and I
> > took that opportunity to find out what drew them to us and
> > prompted them to
> > seek out our good barony.  Naturally there were diverse
> > interests and
> > motivations.  Without fail however there was this one
> > common thread.  There
> > is so much distance between the guilds and where we all
> > live.  It makes it
> > very hard to attend things and try to make it to events.
> > We even have a few
> > who are more interested in the guilds and could really care
> > less about
> > events.
> >
> >             The sad fact is that with gas prices still on
> > the rise and the
> > cost of events being what they are, there are many of us
> > who are looking at
> > cutting back on making it to anywhere more than a few miles
> > from home.  It
> > is a given that our hobby is an expensive one in the first
> > place (when
> > you're looking at duplicating your life and making it
> > medieval as well it
> > can really sap your budget) but when you add trying to
> > drive to and
> > sometimes hotel an event then it has become prohibitive for
> > a great many
> > people.
> >
> >             Here is the one thing that our newcomers have
> > emphatically
> > stated.  They understand that business meetings are a
> > necessary evil but
> > they do not represent what they are looking for from this
> > group.  It would
> > be wonderful if they could come to populace and be
> > introduced to the people
> > they've been hearing about but can't make it to
> > their homes for guilds…or
> > they don't even know we have these people so expert in
> > their fields of
> > interest in our barony.  If just one hour could be set
> > aside or even once a
> > quarter be designated for a newcomer's college or
> > classes at populace that
> > would be awesome.  They've even volunteered to help set
> > up etc.
> >
> >             I have to tell everyone now that this very idea
> > has been on my
> > mind since I took over the office of seneschal.  We've
> > had newcomers who've
> > come and gone and we can not keep them because they are not
> > being included
> > or they do not feel welcome and cannot find a place to get
> > involved.  We can
> > all sit and read this and say, "Well they should find
> > a way to participate."
> > Or "There are guilds they should show up."  That
> > may be true enough, however
> > when you live in Galveston and armor guild is in Pearland
> > and you know
> > enough about Ansteorra to know that the man running it is
> > Sir Alexis (you
> > can sort of piss your pants just thinking about calling to
> > set up a time) it
> > can be intimidating to even go at all!
> >
> >             A few people have mentioned that we've
> > tried this
> > "before"…that's nice I'm glad we've
> > tried it before.  I've been playing in
> > the Loch for four years so it's been longer ago than
> > that since we tried it
> > last.  I've also heard the argument that people are
> > coming from work so that
> > makes it difficult.  Really?  Well I'd like to point
> > out that we all
> > routinely get ready for an event and pack our cars and get
> > our garb and all
> > our important things together and still go to work daily.
> > This is a weekly
> > thing for many of us.  Planning for one night in garb (not
> > even court
> > garb…kitchen garb works for this)  and perhaps teaching a
> > one hour or 30
> > minute class or just being available for questions really
> > shouldn't put too
> > much of a clinch on people's time.  There is a restroom
> > to change in at
> > populace so it isn't like you have to change at work
> > and freak the mundane
> > just to be at a newcomer's college once in a while.
> > Yes, I'm getting
> > preachy here.  Think back to your first few months in the
> > SCA.  What did you
> > expect from populace meetings?  Did you really wish you had
> > a mentor to walk
> > you through things?  How about having someone to sit with
> > at an event and
> > explain why someone was getting part of a bay tree branch
> > shoved on top of
> > their head (yeah it can seems strange if you don't
> > know)?  Would you have
> > liked the chance to sit down with someone and ask the
> > awkward questions but
> > it was too intimidating at an event or even in
> > someone's home (because no
> > one had on their garb and you didn't recognize who was
> > who when everyone was
> > wearing flip flops and shorts…OMG I just asked the Queen
> > a stupid question
> > I'll never live that down!)  Case in point one of my
> > very first posts on the
> > Loch list was to ask "which" Ulsted had just won
> > crown and then I was told
> > there "could be only one"…(OK no one has ever
> > accused me of being shy or
> > unwilling to ask!)
> >
> >             So, having said all of that I have decided that
> > July populace
> > will have a 10 to 20 minute business meeting (I've done
> > that already don't
> > scoff) and the rest of the night will consist of a few
> > classes or small
> > groups to answer some questions and lead our newcomers in
> > the direction they
> > seek to walk.  I will be looking for people to teach these
> > classes (a great
> > place to try out a class your working on for a
> > "real" event) or just to
> > answer questions.  I also ask that everyone bring garb to
> > change into or
> > show up in garb.  I would like to include a short session
> > on court and some
> > of the customs and manners that are encompassed in that
> > subject.
> >
> >             If anyone has questions please email me at
> > honeyfrog at gmail.comor contact the hospitlar Gunthar (who is
> > working
> > with me on this) at
> > hello.loch at gmail.com.  If we want to grow as a group and if
> > we want our
> > dream to continue on then we have to nurture the newcomer
> > and work with the
> > situations we've been dealt.  We may all love history
> > but that doesn't mean
> > our habits can't evolve into something new and
> > different.
> >
> >
> >
> > Stepping on toes to step up our game,
> >
> > Hedwig, seneschal
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Loch-Soilleir at lists.ansteorra.org
> > http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/loch-soilleir-ansteorra.org
>
>
>
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