SC - Cossacks, Mongols,

[Marisa Herzog]

OK - Forgive a bit of "how things work around here" griping...

Last night I had dinner with a group of friends, amongst whom was
their Majesties of AEthelmearc (who I've known for years).  It was a
casual, non-sca dinner, but her Majesty was telling me about a Christmas
party she was at over the weekend with some other SCA people.  Now, she
is a really big proponent of somewhat subtly pushing people she knows are
doing good work to the people who have already been recognized in that
area, so in conversation with a Cooking Laurel she pointed out that I
had told her that Cheddar wasn't period.  The Laurel's response was
*shrug* "People like it."  Her Majesty pushed a little bit, with something
like "True, but she chose to serve other cheeses at a feast and to
explain why when asked", to which the Laurel again replied, "Yes, but
people like it".  One more try yielded the same type of response.

Now, I don't do the things I do for recognition, and I figure the odds
of my getting a Laurel are just barely above those of my getting knighted
(since I don't fight heavy).  I split my time between being Kingdom MOL,
cooking and fencing, and don't concentrate on either of the last two enough
to get a lot of recognition for them.  

But it really ticks me off that a Laurel, whose role I see as being to foster
their chosen art, would take such a flippant attitude.  I can understand
someone saying "yes, that's true, and it's great that she's doing that 
research, although from a practical perspective it's inexpensive and
people do like it, so I don't hold it against a cook for putting it on
a side board."  but it was crystal clear to her Majesty that this person
didn't want to know about a cook she might not have heard of before and
didn't care what that person was doing.

No offense is intended to those of you here who have your Laurels, as
in generally your presence here is encouraging and you all do a great job of 
teaching.  It was just a reminder to me that the process is political and
that there are still a lot of people out there who got their cookie in
their art and no longer care about it, having moved on to a different cookie.
It made me very glad that I get satisfaction from the work, not the 
awards and that I have enough self confidence in the work I do not to 
need the external help or support, because the physically nearest person
who might doesn't seem interested.

Sorry for the interruption, back to your regularly scheduled discussions 
of gross foods and such :-)

Ruadh

- -- 
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      'Becca Tants, aka Roo, Lady Caitlen Ruadh, Delftwood, AEthelmearc
    becca at servtech.com                http://www.servtech.com/public/becca 
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