[Northkeep] Just an observation and opinion on the Fighters' practice issue

Hugh & Belinda Niewoehner BurgBorrendohl at valornet.com
Thu Oct 6 06:26:36 PDT 2011


Many valid points have been made.  As Ld. William mentioned, this is not 
a new problem.  I can remember hearing that people who showed up at 
fighter's practice weren't staying to clean years ago.  Our 
life/schedule has always been difficult for attending, so we have rarely 
been there.  Sir Ulf did a great service to the Fighter community by 
obtaining an indoor site (people had been trying to find one for years), 
but it was inevitable that eventually this issue of people not pulling 
their weight would come up.  As His Excellency Ian pointed out it 
happens at event clean up, officer drives, etc.  This is the nature of 
all organizations, a small core group does most of the work.  As Her 
Grace pointed out, it's not just the SCA.  And it's not a new 
phenomenon.  Eons ago the Shire of Northkeep wanted to claim a section 
of highway for litter clean up.  My lord and I voted against it--not 
because we didn't think it a worthy cause, but because we were sure it 
would be difficult to find a time when all could get together and work 
on it.  And sure enough, some showed up, many didn't and it became a 
point of contention.

I think that Kevin's post most moved me.  I have been thinking much 
along these lines for quite some time.  Things have changed much in the 
SCA since the time I joined.  Much of that is 'progress'.  We have grown 
both locally and Kingdom wide.  We are thrilled there are more groups, 
but with more groups, event scheduling has become an issue.   We have 
the honor of being large enough to be a Barony, but with it comes the 
politics (and if you say we don't have that here you're either naive or 
well...just naive).  We do try to work together in spite of it all, 
however.

Fighters' practice has changed over the years.  Back when the earth was 
new, it was the place where many people encountered the SCA for the 
first time.  Fighting is flashy and the public is drawn to it.  Others 
were encouraged to come to practice to show observers that the SCA had 
other activities and interests besides fighting.  Some of the practices 
were turned into demos.  One of the first examples of this is when they 
turned what had originally been a practice tourney for the fighters 
(Djnadr) into a Public Demo.  Some of the fighters resented this at the 
time.  Understandably, it was now not their event, but the Barony's.  
But they grumbled quietly and did their best to make it a success.

But, as Kevin pointed out the fighter's attitude has shifted with time 
as well.  This first started when the 'serious' fighters had their own 
practice on Wednesday nights at Sir Balwin's (regular practice was 
Saturday at Woodward).  Eventually the Saturday practice disappeared 
(with more events less Saturdays were available/attended for practice) 
and soon the official practice was moved to Wednesday.  Woodward became 
difficult to use with parking issues and reconstruction so we moved to 
McClure.  Many felt McClure was unsafe.  And the weather was always a 
problem no matter what park was used.  Sir Ulf found the VFW when he was 
Knight's Marshall and generously encouraged all the Populace to attend.  
Although Montega had started the grub and garb before we moved, the new 
facilities made it an even greater success.  More and more people came 
to practice for all sorts of activities and Baronial projects.  But the 
use of the facilities required the janitorial duties (not just cleaning 
up after ourselves as some seem to think) and from the beginning not all 
who have used the place have contributed to the cleaning.  With the 
crowding from loss of available space the resentment has finally come to 
the point of vocal protest and action.  In my opinion, it's overdue.

Like Kevin, I too, long for the relaxed good ol' days when fighting was 
for fun more than ambition.  But to be fair, I see this in all aspects 
of the SCA, not just the fighters.  In my opinion, everything in the SCA 
has become too competitive.   More and more people are centering their 
activities (what events they attend), what they learn or participate in 
more on how it will effect their goals (Pelican, Laurel, Knight, etc.) 
than rather if it sounds like fun.  I have heard "I don't really want to 
go to this but my Knight/Laurel/Pelican says I need to be there..." or 
other similar mutterings.   Is this wrong?  Not necessarily.  It's their 
lives, it's just not for me and I hope new people don't get discouraged 
thinking it's required of them.

Arthur's suggestion of more times for the general populace to gather is 
great, but as he pointed out a place for such a gathering is difficult 
to find.  Also, a time that is convenient has always been an issue.

In closing of this rather long post (sorry about that--but do I ever 
have short ones? :-) ) I leave you with a verse from a song I wrote in 
one of my nostalgic moods that occur more and more with old age:

Ismet

(to the tune of "Those Were the Days")



*/Those were the days, my friend, We thought they'd never end/*

*/We'd feast and fight forever and a day/*

*/We'd party all night long/*

*/We never thought it wrong /*

*/To just have fun, to sing, to drink, to play/*




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