SC - King's taste comments Long reply.

[Alderton, Philippa]

: I think this list is an entirely appropriate place for people to express
: opinions about what the SCA is and should be. Do you disagree?

No, Cariadoc, obviously I do not disagree, but telling this List is not
going to get the word out to self-important Peers and Royal Stick Jocks who
only value people's opinions if they have an alphabet soup following after
their names.
 
: The people whose attitude I was commenting on were:
: 
: 1. Local royalty
: 
: 2. A long term SCA member who is a friend of ours, and is trying to
: learn--since, as I commented, she has participated in some of our cooking
: workshops. I don't think any one "came down hard on" her--I wasn't even in
: the conversation. I do think that her (and the royalty's) attitude says
: something unfortunate about the general state of the Society.
: 
: Or are you referring to yourself, and objecting to my response in the
: exchange:
 
No, I'm not referring to myself, I'm referring to many of the same people
you are, coming down on some of the newbies I've known and who have come to
me very hurt and upset because of the way these people have treated them.
In one case a squire informed one young lady, at her first event, loudly
and in no uncertain terms in front of others, that the white lace ribbon
belt that she was wearing with her matching garb and hair ribbon was
reserved for Knights and she was to take it off right there. I didn't find
out until later, or I'd have discussed the matter with his Knight. Knowing
him, that squire would have been wearing a white lace hair ribbon to his
next few events- no doubt tied in a becoming bow. 

: I think I am entitled to argue that practice at Pennsic 1 trumps all
: subsequent practice in defining true and ancient traditions with regard to
: the hiring of mercenaries. And, as the final comment was intended to
imply,
: I believe in selectively recognizing practices as traditions or ignoring
: them as innovations, according to whether or not I think they are a good
: idea.

Again true, Cariadoc, but the Chocolate Chip Cookie bribe was not carried
on at Pennsic, it was done by the original Kingdom's Royalty and
supporters, at the First Coronation of a new Kingdom, which had just split
off in a time where The Board and other people are doing strange things as
a result of the recent mundane furors about alcohol abuse. To each their
own egg salad sandwich.
 
: Do you think that is a mistaken strategy? Do you think that refusing to
: support traditions involving public gifts of strikingly out of period
: items--what my Lady wife was doing--is likely to make the SCA, on the
: whole, a worse or a better game?

No I don't Cariadoc, and your Lady Wife handled the situation wonderfully-
I thank you that I have learned another strategy in the Game towards more
authenticity from your description of her actions. By the same token, I'm
not going to go haring off and tell these people that their tradition is
not a tradition, any more than I'm going to go to East Coronation and tell
their current Majesties that regardless of Their Royal Decree, that
chocolate candy is not period and that they should stop declaring it to be
so. That is a job to be handled by a Peer whom they hold in respect, and
who is not in a position to be inconvenienced by their displeasure,
preferably one who has been King of half the Knowne Worlde at one time or
another - Did you know that Master El got banished by the current Royalty
for declaring publicly that someone whom they disliked was the best King
the East had ever had?

I believe in the Dream, Cariadoc, and I believe that we should all be
striving for greater authenticity, and I further believe that we should be
led by knowledgeable Royalty and Peers, but as long as our Royalty gets
that qualification by mere physical prowess, and the Peerages have
deteriorated into cookies for political prowess, it's going to be a long
slow road. There are very few Peers I'd even talk to as I do you- I
wouldn't waste my time. You are a man of honor and integrity, with very
high standards- I know enough people whom I like and respect and who have
known you for years to be sure of that. Unfortunately, there aren't many
people like you.

And along those lines, the one thing I wanted to suggest to you is that you
try to weigh your words a bit before you send them. I know that you simply
say what you mean, and mean what you say, but I really wish you'd couch
them a bit more gently. There are newbies on this list who are afraid to
post for fear they might get their head handed to them- I've talked to
them. That's why every now and then I get very irritated at you. You tend
to be a bit brusque, at best. Please remember, we have all levels here,
both cooking and period. We are all trying to learn and get better
together, I hope. Me, I'm fine. If you were to tell me to go <Bleep> myself
(i know you wouldn't know matter how much you might think it ;-), I'd
simply ask for period references.
: 
: David/Cariadoc
: http://www.best.com/~ddfr/
: 
: 
:
============================================================================
: 
: To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
: Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".
: 
:
============================================================================


============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================