[Northkeep] New Project, data gathering

[Marc Carlson]

READ THIS FIRST!  PAY ATTENTION!  Respond to me at MARCCARLSON20 at HOTMAIL.COM
or Marc-Carlson at UTULSA.EDU.  Questions and asking for clarification can come
to the list, but the information I am asking for should not.
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I have discussed this with the other officers, and since none of them have
made little squealy guineapigs sounds of fear (at least not where I can hear
them), I'll pass this along.  You may feel free to forward this to whomever
you wish.

After some long discussions and thought, I've decided to work on a history
of the group - generally what happened, when, and why this was important to
the group.  Yes, a general history was compiled when we became a Barony -
but this was some time back and is badly out of date.  Worse, it's a helpful
tool, but historically tells us nothing.
There is no mention made of the events that were taking place that were
important to people.  Ultimately, what I want to do is compile a history
that addresses the past in such a way that (in those rare occasions when two
people or groups were in conflict) both would be able to agree with what I
have said.

To give a non-SCA example, we can look at the "Tulsa Race Riot" -- an
emotionally charged event that people have been fighting over for some time
now -- mostly with arguements of "it's their fault" and "no, it's their
fault".  The basic facts (Mob action leading to rioting, the next morning a
portion of the population was rounded up and where they lived was razed by
fire. People died) are not in dispute, it's the details that people are
fighting over.

What I need from people to do this, at this point, is information.  Ideally
I want to hear from everyone who was around -- that means I'm going to have
to track some of these people down.  Otherwise, if you want to pass this
along to them, be my guest.  The more information I can get from people, the
less likely this will turn out to be "oh that's Diarmaid's version - it's
wrong".

If you want to participate, or know of anyone who would, the URL for the
basic timeline of the history that was compiled back for the Baronial thing
is at http://northkeep.ansteorra.org/history1.html.
I've got that.  It is somewhat different from *MY* version of the events,
which I've already written.  What I want is -your- version of the events -
and hers, and his, and theirs.  If you have documentation to support what
you say, great.  If you just have what you saw, or even what you just heard
-- cool, all I ask is that you tell me that.
I may come back later with questions.  If you say that So-and-So did this
and that - you might want to tell me if you saw it or just heard about it.
In this case, "I just heard about it" is ok (I know that's a reversal of how
I normally handle things, but it's the difference between dealing with
people today, and trying to see what motivated people in the past).

I am not looking to hurt people, or to get people angry.  But if things from
a decade or so ago can still affect how people respond, or respond to the
group today -- and the average age of most members is less than three years,
maybe it would be fair to tell them WHY people are acting such a way, or
these decisions were made.  That's the purpose of history.

For those people who don't live here, but are now, or have in the past
played here, I want to hear from you too.  I want to hear from people who
have had some connection to Northkeep (and yes, that includes Bison's Run
and Rundel and other emergent groups in the Northkeep region).

All response will be kept confidential, unless I talk to the responder
first.

As a second, less controversial thing
http://northkeep.ansteorra.org/history2.html is a listing of officers over
time.  I know I've left people out, am missing dates for some, gotten orders
mixed up.  Please let me know about it.

Thank you.

Marc/Diarmaid
(Yes, we have a historian, and that's not me.  I -am- a historian and will
be dealing with her as I do this.)

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