[Ravensfort] Defender of the Fort 2009 & Spring Event

[byzytym]

Actually the announcement was posted on the Anstorra list as well.  Anyone
in the Known World that logs on and reads my post will get the picture.
That includes the gentles in Elfsea.  Just my way of letting people know
what is going on in Raven's Fort.  I was hoping that I didn't go overboard
by giving the whole kingdom our sob story.  I admit that it was a shameless
ploy to get sympathy friends to attend our spring event.

As far as Elfsea goes, it doesn't matter where they are located, they had a
rough time too so any help we can give them is a good thing.  Ya gotta look
at it through the "three fold" law.  What every you do for or to others will
come back to you three fold... good or bad.  I think it should always be
good, even if it is not the best thing for one's self at the time.  If Star
Trek taught us anything it is that "the good of the many out weighs the good
of the few".

You should not think that the Kingdom level does not know what is going on
in Raven's Fort.  I can assure that they are well aware of our strengths and
weaknesses.  We get comments on our goings on from the Regional and Kingdom
level from time to time both privately and publicly.  Everybody knows that
we are trying.

The  reason that we are accommodating the Archers and especially the
Equestrians is because we want to draw them here.  If putting in a little
extra work means that they are more likely to show up it is well worth the
effort.  It isn't a do this for us and we'll come.  It is a we want you here
so we'll do what it takes to make it look sweet to you thing.  Baron Brian
has always ( even before he got his brass hat ) like the horses & their
riders and especially the archery.  These activities are being included in
the spring event at his request.  I am more than happy to facilitate.

One thing that anyone that wants to get something done in the SCA must
remember is that we are a VOLUNTEER organization.  The populace are like
cats.  The only reason that they do anything or come around at all is
because they want to.  The people that want to chip in and help will do so.
The people that only what to show up and party, well, that is their right
too.  You can't spoil the enjoyment for yourself because you don't think
someone else is doing enough.  It isn't your right.  You can only look
around and see who is making an effort and remember that when the B & B ask
for award recommendations.  Everything else you have to let go.  Just enjoy
what you are doing or find something else to do.  Usually there is some
around that wants to do the very thing you don't.  Life is funny like that.

You are right, we have earned some good will.  Locally, we all have Baron
Brian to thank for keeping our presence in the eye of the Kingdom.  He
travels a lot and encourages the rest of us as well.  We made a good showing
at BAM.  We should do it more often.  If I made it sound like we are in
such dire straights that we need to call in favors, I over stated.
Financially the Barony is still in pretty good shape.  We have plenty enough
to put on this event with a bit left over.  Our decision to postpone
Defender to September had as much to do with having enough time to clean the
site and put on a top notch show as it did with not being in competition
with Elfsea.  That is to say, it was easy for us to allow Elfsea to do their
thing as it will not hurt us.  I like it when things are good for everyone.

As for examining my head or patting it... as anyone that knows we well
will tell you, it takes the advice of my friends to keep me from putting my
foot in my mouth too deep.  I am nothing without them.  Just a madman
howling at the wind.  Thank you Charles.  Thank you Alaric.  Thank you 
Kitsune.  Thank you Saint David.  And on and on... When you are looking for 
heroes in this Barony, you need to look at the people that are not making a 
lot of noise.  See who is making the scrolls, training the fighters, 
cooking, sewing, doing the web page, traveling, cutting the wind fall.  It 
is certainly not the big mouths like me all the time.

The Barony is in great shape right now.  Our members are all getting along.
We are agreeing on almost everything.  When we focus on a project it moves
forward with good will.  We have two events that we are once again excited
about.  Whether we ask them for help or not our friends from around the
Kingdom always show up an lend a hand.   All in all, it is a good time to be
alive in Raven's Fort.  Rich or poor we are a family.

In service... It's all good,
V NV






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cat Clark" <cat at rocks4brains.com>
To: "A Kindness Of Ravens" <ravensfort at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: [Ravensfort] Defender of the Fort 2009 & Spring Event


byzytym wrote:
>
> For those of you that don’t know, Raven’s Fort has had its last two events
> weathered out. Between you and me and the rest of the Known World, we need
> a successful event to replenish our coffers and lift our spirits.
>

My 2 cent opinion what what little it's worth:

Does the world know of our problem??? Maybe... maybe not... They
certainly don't know it the way we know it intimately. If people aren't
really aware of our plight, we have given them insufficient opportunity
to do us a favor, show us their generosity, etc. Unlike the real world,
the generosity of others is something you can make a legitimate appeal
to in this group. We have some good will built up in at least one group
next door. I suggest we consider cashing in on it. ADVERTISE that we
could use a little help and certainly some attendence!!!

> We are hoping that changing both heavy and light fighting scenarios to
> MELEE BATTLES will draw the fighters that aren’t interested in list style
> tourneys. Good for Elfsea and good for us. We will also sponsor an
> EQUESTRIAN competition and an ARCHERY open. A simple event, but simple is
> what is needed now.
>

and more along those lines, does Elfsea know we're moving our events to
accommodate them? If they don't (and even if they do), let's guilt them
a little by some juditious ADVERTISING. What good is being noble and
self-sacrificing if no one knows about it? Geez, moving an event for the
sake of a group not even "next door" (at least in a metaphorical sense,
though if you live in Centerville and not in parts south like me, your
mileage will be different...) and not letting your heart bleed all over
the field somewhere so people can know how wonderfully considerate we
are to other groups is just not good advertising...

My second thought:

Okay, we want archery and we want the horsey folks and we want melees in
the Spring and we want the Stones to be looking nice for Sept. and we
need to pile a bunch a time into cleaning up the site...again... I have
nothing against work weekends...well, other than hating to camp and
poison ivy and still being stuck on food restrictions (life without
coffee and spicy spices...well, it's ugly, really really ugly,
especially the no coffee bit...). But archers and riders want nice
places at regular events to play at too - so why aren't we asking for
some help from the folks in these communities? Say, like a work weekend
with a little prize wand shoot thrown in on Sunday afternoon as an extra
incentive? Work weekend with a woods battle "fighter practice" thrown in
for an hour and a half on Sunday sometime? And just having the chance to
insure a great place to ride is often enough to get some of the horse
folks to put their fingers in. And when you involve groups that draw
people in from outside the barony, they end up "owning" a little bit of
the site too. They get invested in it and our event there and that makes
them a bit more likely to show up later at the event... This is
something my old barony up in Artemisia really milked (ie getting other
communities like war junkie fighters and archers and horse folks and
week-end long arts projects like bread ovens, etc.)

Even at our "simple" event (no event is simple, guys, even the simple
ones...) we could schedule a little light half hour before certain
activities to draft a little voluntary labor before you start up an
activity... I've done this. It can work when handed adroitly. I got an
uncleared broken field area cleared of the ankle-turners by the fighters
just before the first broken field battle. It was scheduled into the
event. They knew it was coming. Frankly, people don't mind pitching in
if you remember to ask nicely (that's important) and if it's in their
self-interest too. My experience in the past with the equestrian folks
is that they have lots of enlightened self-interest to pitch in and will
help clear or clean-up a field so they can use it safely.

I don't think people know how much effort we put into our site. As
someone who's been here less than a year, I've been trying to figure out
if what we do at the Stones is worth the effort. A small number of
people in the barony do a HUGE amount of work there. What are we really
getting out of it? (If there is some big advantage here, I do not know
about it - and if I don't know, what about other relatively new folks in
the barony? Please don't assume that some of us know very much - and
when you miss as many meetings as I've managed to do...it's hard to make
up for the lack). So many can benefit from the efforts of a few - but we
have so many neighbors. What do we have to lose by simply asking certain
others to come a help a bit?

Back to really needing to hold an event that's not canceled by weather.
It occurs to me that more than one event got cancelled because of our
friend Ike. Has anyone considered doing a baronial road-trip down to
some near-future event in one of the other Ike-impacted groups that had
to cancel "because they too had to cancel an event - and being another
group in the same boat, we felt the same sort of pain and wanted to to
be supportive..." Do not underestimate the power of mutual
back-scratching initiatives as a form of advertising that we really
could use some targetted attendence at our next Defender Tourney.

One last thought before I go and check if my data transfer from Scotland
is done yet (it's so rough getting paid to sit on my butt while my data
travels...though the party will be over and it will be back to slavery
as soon as it's here). The thought is that "advertising" (at least as I
have labeled it - YMMV) doesn't have to clumsy, obnoxious or even in
anyone's face. Sometimes it's a simple matter of communication, i.e.
making sure it happens in directions you want it to go. Or if you want
to make a point that everyone will remember, turn it into theater and/or
make it funny. (Site hand-outs done as comic strips, etc.). But if
people don't know in advance that we could some help and/or attendance,
or that we've disadvantaged ourselves for the sake of groups close
though not exactly in our back yard, we'll rob ourselves of the
opportunity to use that info for our own advantage. This is not a good
time to hide our own light in a bushel (just my opinion - though you
know what they say about opinions, yes? That opinions are like
sphincters - everybody's got one!)

Oops. One last thing to follow the above one last thing: Vlod not Vlad
needs his head examined for insufficient reluctance syndrome AND
deserves lots of pats on the head for being mister trooper super
autocrat man from all of us. (This opinion is not that of any officer of
the Barony of Ravens Fort, does not delineate baronial policy even
though its excellent quality ought to be adapted by right-thinking
people everywhere, is indistinguishable from the ravings of any random
lunatic or unwashed member of the uncounted and disregarded populace, is
not good for discounted or free admission to any SCA event or car wash,
and would likely get you thrown out of any Starbucks even if you did
have enough money in your pocket for a grande-sized latte with
quadrupple double-shots of expresso...)

I had to work straight through the weekend... does it show yet?

ttfn
the lunatic Therasia

I stop annoying everyone now.

ttfn
Therasia


_______________________________________________
Ravensfort mailing list
Ravensfort at lists.ansteorra.org
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ravensfort-ansteorra.org