[Northkeep] Remembrance

Pukhta 'Pooky' Lovtsevich pookyloves at gmail.com
Wed Oct 5 23:38:26 PDT 2011


Dream
Dream with your hearts
Dream with your minds
Dream with your fellowship
Dream that all may know what is our greatest value

The Dream


Respect and Loving Gratitude,
Pookie


"Love's lifelight dispels all shadows upon the path grown over with
truth." ~ Pooky



On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 11:56 PM,  <Kevinkeary at aol.com> wrote:
> 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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