[NR] Thoughts on the past

willow taylor jonwillowpel at juno.com
Thu Feb 14 13:15:43 PST 2002


THE DREAM ....Ah there is the rub! In the past many Ansteorrans fought
against our kingdom from becoming one of the Dream kingdom. We understood
there is not one Dream but many little ones. We create the construct- THE
KINGDOM OF ANSTEORRA- This construct had rules and norms and values. We
based the kingdom on bits and parts of the medieval world. We then
allowed people to fit their dreams into the system. Things had a reality
to them. You asked a young girl for a favor because a gentleman of
Ansteorra was courtly. Knights sang because It was the proper thing for
an Ansteorran knight to do. The nobles did things because there was the
Noble obligation. That what a good medieval noble would had done. This
construct was based on a reality so we understood we had to work for it.

Now we have THE DREAM. It was first pushed hard by kings who wanted
Ansteorra to be broken into smaller kingdom. Then it was pushed by kings
who did not want to live up to the Ansteorran ideal of King. The Dream
allows whoever is in charge to define it. Think about a new person coming
into the SCA. They are told that there is a Dream  and you should  live
to it. Two things happen; first is related to  the term Dream,  Many of
these newcomers to the SCA have spent their whole lifes playing role
playing and video games and in these games things are done without
effort. When you tell them "we are living the Dream " it makes it sound
like they don't need to put in any effort into the SCA. The man who
brought me into the SCA told me " it is a game but a very serious one. "
Second problem our new people have is there is no clear definition of THE
DREAM. They go to person after person and get different versions. and
soon they give up. They start talking  about The dream in vague ways
afraid to do anything because they are not sure what it is. THE DREAM
also give people a great out. If there is something they don't want to do
well it not in their DREAM.

Lets talk about THE DREAM dividing people. When we were the kingdom of
Ansterorra or the Barony of whats-it we were  working together to put on
pre 17th century events. This meant that we all worked together to create
something we could share. Sometimes we ran into problems because my dream
of the Viking age didn't fit into your dream of the  War of the Roses.
This resulted in different  kinds of events. and comprises between
people. We knew there were things that we needed to talked out because we
talked about our dreams and our difference. Now everyone uses THE DREAM
and they think they are talking about the same thing but they are not.

The Ansteorra of the past was not a DREAM kingdom. It was a place were we
studied history and tried to bring to life the best  of the Medieval
dream. We studied things like honor., chivalry and courtesy by doing
them. Today we are a group of people in the SCA "living the Dream"
When there was a combination of THE DREAM and the reality it was OK. THE
DREAM people gave us lots of fluffy candy and Ansteorrans gave us the
reality to work for. We are out of balance. We need to promote our IDEALS
of honor, courtesy and duty. We need to work together to make Ansteorra
come alive. Each one of us can work for this by believing in Ansteorra ..
If you have to talk about THE DREAM do so but also talk about the things
that make it come alive. Then go out and do them.

Willow de Wisp

> For all of you who have caught yourselves complaining that the SCA
> isn't
> what it used to be....
> What have you done recently to encourage harmony and peace in the
> dream.....

> When was the last time you spoke with gentle speech to an elderly
> grandmother
> And watch the blush of youth come back into her cheeks.....

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