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<DIV>What's with this either/or mentality? I had always thought that the
idea behind the SCA (since the days of the "Last Tournament" in Mistress Diana
Listmaker's backyard) was to have fun by researching the Middle Ages and
recreating a pre-modern European society. By the time I had started
playing, there was already a widening gulf between what were then termed
"fun-mavens" and "authenicity-mavens". The accompanying illustration to
the article in which I first saw that distinction showed a tavern wench and a
woman dressed up like Mary Tudor with a Laurel medallion around her neck.
What....peers can't have fun? Newcomers can't strive for
authenticity? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>How about a both/and approach to all this? Authenticity can be
fun. I agree with Lord Devin on that front...there are other ways to have
fun. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody's head and saying they MUST play
SCA. If authenticity isn't your cup of tea, there's no shame in shopping
for another flavor. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There are limits to authenticity. The Inquisition is period, and yet
nobody advocates burning heretics at the stake. The Plague is period, and
yet nobody advocates letting flea-infested rats run loose in anyone's
home. And unlike certain Civil War groups, we are not about re-enacting
history. At the same time, there are limits to having fun. Country
and western dancing is fun, but don't hold your breath waiting to see me show up
at an event site with my straw had and ropers. Watching the Science
Fiction network is fun, but you will never see me at an event recreating scenes
from "The Matrix" or "V For Vendetta". (A version of this is a guilty
pleasure of mine. Anybody who doesn't know how much I LOVE "The Lion in
Winter" hasn't been playing very long. I have that play/movie committed to
memory, and I do believe there's a line there for almost every situation under
the sun, but I cringe when I catch myself quoting lines at an SCA event.
While the characters in the play/movie are period, the script itself is
not.) There's a balance, and the SCA is a place where researching medieval
culture and having fun intersect. This is going to sound harsh, but if
those two things are mutually exclusive, it's quite possible that the
SCA is not for you.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The SCA has NEVER been a re-enactment group. We strive for the best
that the medieval period has to offer, to create a new society with a medieval
character. Still, there is no reason to think that researching and
recreating the Middle Ages and having fun are mutually exclusive. The
reason there is an SCA is because thousand of people have believed that
researching and recreating the Middle Ages IS fun.</DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>