[Namron] Dealing with period police

Sandy mensik ladyelfseeker at yahoo.com
Sun Jan 9 12:27:37 PST 2005


Personally,I would just ignore her.There are a lot of us who understand  that modern convieniences have to occur.Even those of us who have small children at events know modern conviences are a necessity and we should not give up something we enjoy because a few get haughty about it.
 Something I intend to plan out as soon as i can afford it, is getting a small goat cart and begin training a couple of pups to pull it tandem style and getting them certified as service animals.
 Definitely not completely period,but a lot easier than taking a pony to events.
 Cassie

mikea <mikea at mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
On Sun, Jan 09, 2005 at 02:48:17AM -0600, Chass Brown wrote:
> Prey tell how does everyone deal with the period police? The reason I am 
> asking is the last event we went to a lady in a very lovely gown approached 
> me and started in telling me that my wheel chair was not period and I 
> shouldn't come to events in it. Now knowing I cant walk and have to have my 
> chair (and have been working on a way to hide it and make it look like a 
> chariot) how would ye handle this lady? I took it as she was telling me not 
> to come to events. No I don't know her name nor where she resides from (yes 
> this happened at Protectorate) and welp I have mulled it over and not gone 
> to events thinking this over. Suggestions?
> 
> 
> Chass of Rundel of Ansteorra aka of the SCA aka
> Charinthalis Del Sans of the portable Chariot
> Honorable Recruiter of the House of the Red Shark (Have you seen my Belaying 
> Pin??)
> Maison Du Corsaire Rouge
> Muddeler of Mead, Ailment of Ale, Whiner of wine. 

Greetings from Michael Fenwick.

While you may find it difficult to ignore what this person said, you 
*can* -- and you *SHOULD* -- safely ignore the content. You also 
should hold it up to public ridicule, and her with it.

First and foremost, she was 100% Out Of Line: she had no, repeat *NO*
business saying anything about how you cope with your disability or
disabilities.

This person showed herself to be a damn fool; her actions deserve to 
be publicly exposed and held up to be ridiculed. 

It might interest you -- and her -- to know that my late and beloved
wife, Mistress Roane Fairggae of Lochlann, Companion of the Ancient
and Honorable Order of the Laurel, received her Laurel from the hands
of Their Ansteorran Majesties *after* her body had betrayed her to the
degree that she was forced to use a wheelchair. For about ten years,
when Roane attended events, she attended them in her fully non-period
wheelchair.

My current wife uses hearing aids, sometimes uses a wheelchair 
because of back problems, and has a service dog to alert her to the 
many things she can't hear. Woe betide any, common, noble, Peer, or 
Royal, who is foolish enough to take her to task for any of those 
things, or to tell her that she is not allowed to have her service 
dog at any event. 

I can't say that I've had the pleasure of meeting you, or even of 
seeing you, but I *can* say that your wheelchair would in no way 
detract from my "period experience" at an event, any more than did
Roane's or Lady Mairin's while we were fortunate enough to have their
company. I also can -- and do -- say that I'll offer to help you with
your chair or the things you need to move, if I happen to be in your
company while you're moving from Point A to Point B.

We no longer relegate the handicapped to back rooms, warehouses, the
city gates, or the cathedral steps: they are not only permitted, but
absolutely ENCOURAGED to take part in mainstream society, and the 
equipment and appliances they require for that participation is just
as much a part of them as my glasses are of me: without them, I can't
do a damn thing, and so could not attend and participate; I'd be bound
to the house or dependent on the generosity of others. 

The Corpora requires you to make an attempt at pre-17th-century 
costume; it doesn't say anything about adaptive equipment, and that 
omission is completely by design. 

Now, I wonder some things about Miss Seamchecker:
o Did she ride a horse or carriage to the event? 
o Did she hand-sew, or have hand-sewn, all her clothing? 
o Was the sewing thread hand-spun from peiod materials?
o Was the needle hand-made? 
o Was the fabric hand-woven to a period style from period materials
on a period -- and hand-made -- loom?
o Does she use only period vision correction: only spherical-
surfaced lenses, in metal, horn, bone, or tortoise-shell frames? 
o Are her shoes made by hand from leather tanned by period methods
and sewn using only linen cobbler's thread?
o Does she use a period timepiece -- say, a Nuremberg Egg or 
equivalent? 
o Does she bind her breasts, rather than use a brassiere?
o Does her nether garment tie with a drawstring, rather than use
elastic?
o If her jewelry includes diamonds, are they rose-cut, rather than 
brilliant- or square-cut? 
o Does her _other_ jewelry use only stones cut in period styles?
o Does she use rags, rather than tampons or napkins, for menstrual 
supplies?
o Does she go off her modern medications while at events? I suppose
that might explain some aspects of her behavior.

That's only the short list; I could go on at considerable length. 

The best and only way to handle such "people" is to ridicule them 
publicly, in a loud voice: "Hey, everyone, Miss Seamchecker tells me
I'm not supposed to be using this wheelchair! Can you _BELIEVE_ anyone
would be stupid enough to say that?" And then you should ask her if
she was born that stupid, or did she have to study: rudeness, like
stupidity, is period, and blatant stupidity deserves a rude answer.

-- 
Mike Andrews / Michael Fenwick Barony of Namron, Ansteorra
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old music Laurel 
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