[Northkeep] Remembrance

[Ld.blackmoon]

greetings

all I can say is .....
well said !!
your much better with words than I am : /
your post brought back so many early memories = )

my point was that I believe the barony needs more social interaction , and 
yes as you point out more " face " time with the general public.
but I think that unfortunately , the mundane is again infecting the sca , 
not just northkeep.
in the modern world it is most common for most everyone to be in a hurry, 
rude,and sometimes socially unacceptable, while not accepting responsibility 
for their own words or deeds , be they good or bad  : (  , and heaven forbid 
, someone be forced to fulfill an obligation : (
very few people want to slow down and enjoy anything , and open 
communication  is a rare thing . unfortunately , as we work longer hours for 
less money , and worry over more and more mundane issues, I believe that 
more and more cases of " mundanity poisoning " may be creeping into the sca 
: (

Be Safe , Be Happy, Have Fun .
Arthur
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Kevinkeary at aol.com>
To: <northkeep at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 11:56 PM
Subject: [Northkeep] Remembrance


>I am saddened.
> I won't talk in hyperbole or parables, of any ethnicity.
> I will speak of our history, mine and yours, even those few of you who 
> have
> not been here as long as I have.
> When I first came to a gathering of Northkeep twenty-nine years ago --  
> more
> that half of even MY lifetime -- it was a fighter practice. In a park. A
> co-worker of mine, known in the Society as Patricia MacFarland, herself
> recently  moved to Northkeep but already in touch with the shire members,
> brought me and  my wife in. And our three-month old son. We met the 
> members of
> House Provence,  Caer du Pard, and Casa de Marada. We met the inimitable
> William Blackfox. We had  encountered the SCA more than a year before in a 
> demo in
> Sacramento, but this  was our first chance to participate, to become and 
> be
> a part of it. And the  pageantry, because that's what it seemed to us, was
> palpable at that fighter  practice.
> Fighter practice was in front of the public eye back then. The public came
> by, watched, some few of they stayed. Nobody was a knight. Few were even
> squired. (Finn and Sif had moved away just before that.) But the fighters 
> we
> had  could put on a show, and they did. And so did the rest of us, the
> dancers, the  singers, the storytellers. The fighters practiced, but we 
> LIVED the
> dream on  those Saturdays. And we brought people in.
> Needleworkers was a different venue, and served a different purpose. 
> People
> gossiped, told stories, planned projects, or just hung out and visited.
> Listened  to Patricia's latest song or read William's latest comic. 
> Sometimes
> even a  little needlework got done. But it was turned inward, a time to
> connect and  learn about each other. It was for us, where Fighter practice 
> was
> at least  partly, always, turned outward, aimed at the outsiders that 
> might
> become  newcomers.
> Other 'guilds' came and went, over the years. There were armorer's guild
> meetings and brewer's guild classes, dance and bardic and now archery
> practice.  But those, too, were turned inward, serving our own needs. And 
> worse,
> they were  insular, allowing people to exercise and grow their own 
> interests,
> but doing it  apart from the whole populace.
> There were issues with the city parks department, that had always provided
> the venue for our fighter practice, and using those parks became harder 
> and
> harder, and using them to reach out to the public became harder as well.
> And the  attention of the fighters shifted too. It became less about 
> playing
> for the fun  of the game, and to show off to the outsiders, and more about
> progressing,  gaining position in the kingdom's fighter hierarchy. The
> fighters turned inward,  and the rest of us, who had left them to be the 
> public
> face -- the dancers,  jugglers, storytellers and bards had all faded 
> away -- 
> were slow to realize that  we were no longer showing the public what fun
> there was in the Game, what magic  there was in the Dream.
> When the current venue for fighter practice was obtained by now-Sir Ulf,
> the idea was sold to the barony that here was a place where we would not 
> have
> to  worry about the vagaries of weather, where the fighters could gather
> rain or  shine, heat or cold, wind or still. And more, there was room for 
> all
> of us. We  gave up on the idea of using fighter practice for its old
> (secondary, but still  important) purpose of showing ourselves to the 
> public, but
> in exchange we would  be able to all share time together, heavy and light,
> bard and costumer and  scribe and dancer. We could grow back together,
> reconnect. That seemed like a  worthwhile trade, to me anyway. And it 
> worked, for a
> while.
> In ways it was a victim of its own success. As we grew, the venue did not.
> It in fact shrank. When I started gaming there, we had a room off to
> ourselves  where our decidedly non-Baronial activities would minimally 
> offend
> others. That  room is now a set of cubicles, because the owners of the 
> venue
> needed it so --  and who could blame them for using their property as they 
> need
> it? They needed  the building on the nights we had arranged to use it, so
> we moved to another,  and then were told they need the half of the 
> building
> we had been shunted into  even on that night once a month. And meanwhile, 
> the
> prestige of the heavy  practice grew in the region, and as a result the
> number of heavy fighters grew,  so that there was no room for anything 
> else in
> the other half of the building.  This is a good thing, for those fighters,
> but not I think for the cause of  unity, of making connections across the
> interest divides.
> And we were also shown that we have not been teaching some pretty basic
> SCAdian values to the newbies, nor reminding all the old-timers 
> effectively.
> Things like pulling your own weight, living up to obligations, something 
> as
> basic as cleaning up after yourself, leaving the space you use cleaner 
> than
> it  was when you got there. That's not the fault of the fighters, that's
> the place  of the culture-imparters, the bards and storytellers. The 
> teachers
> of our ways  and our mores. Those who make the SCA more than just a fight
> club with  clubs.
> And now I'm told that fighter practice SHOULD just be for fighters, that
> all others there disrupt the ambience. That all those years when it was 
> the
> social focus of the shire, and later the barony, were wrong. That it is
> wrong  now. I suppose the same must be true for the tournaments at events, 
> and
> those of  us who merely herald them, or just watch them to cheer for their
> chosen  champions or just to enjoy the panoply, well, that must be wrong, 
> too.
> I am saddened.
> I remember a Northkeep that stood together, every interest group and every
> household, and refused to die when the Kingdom grew weary of us. A
> Northkeep  that turned its back, I hoped and thought forever, on 
> name-calling and
> back-biting and in-fighting of any sort, that was determined that however
> much  honor and respect we got (or more accurately, didn't get) from the 
> rest
> of  the kingdom and the rest of the Society, we'd be DAMNED before we'd
> disrespect  each other. I want that Northkeep back. I don't see how 
> staying away
> from  fighter practice will bring it closer, but being there clearly 
> won't.
> I say again,
> Peace,
> Kevin
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