SC - beans info

[Stefan li Rous]

I believe everyone's perceptions are based on the what is happening in
their area, how long they have been playing, and changes in their
mundane life .....

MUNDANE LIFE
I have only been "in" for four years and I still see the majority of
people I play with either making or bartering.  People that are new to
the Society especially "have a go" at making garb or cooking or weaving.


For many of them it is an economic factor - who could afford to buy
everything (even if it was available) when they first started.....  How
many now have a greater percentage of disposable income than then ....
Buying is a mundanely more accessible option for many people after they
have been in for a while ....

Also a lot seem to join at Uni, where they have the time to "make
stuff".  As we get older, and start working, or work our way up the
corporate ladder we have less time and more money (well less time
anyway) to spend on being creative ...

TIME IN THE SOCIETY
I have observed that most people that have been in the society for a
long while seem more focused on what they want out of the society.  They
go deeper into research, but become also more narrowly focused.  They
make because they enjoy making - they buy what they don't consider a
high priority to make.  And the priorities do change....

MERCHANTS
How active merchants are in an area can also affect how many people buy
rather than make.  In Lochac it appears that merchanting is not great.
At Festival this year we had a couple of stalls selling clothes,
pottery, armor and food.  On market day many more people came out, but
that was more of a barter than a merchant.  (Note: I consider merchants
people who *make* items to sell to SCA people).

How does all of this relate to the above question:
It appears the group discussing this question are those that do
narrow-focused deep research.  They enrich the society because they
raise the level of what is possible .....

Newbies and people who (for one reason or other) make/barter for their
items also enrich the society because they are often the average masses
and without them there would be no SCA.

However I believe it is interaction of the two groups that really
enriches the Society.  The bottom level is continually being raised, new
things are continually being learned, and lots of fun (and personal
enrichment) is had by those that make rather than buying ......

>  By being able to purchase items, does that
> decrease a person's motivation for doing? (either making or
> bartering).
> 
No.  everyone gets something different out of the SCA but I don't know
anyone who doesn't make "something".  Newbies seem to make more and
older people tend to be more focused, but they all make things.

> Does the pursuit of exact reproductions drive people away from trying
> to
> (cook a feast, make a project, make a wine, which is our personal
> love) due
> to lack of time, resources, a fear of not meeting "the standards" or
> perhaps just wanting to have fun doing something different?
> 
I believe no.  But merchanting does not influence what the average
person makes in Lochac.  There are some that will/will not pursue exact
replications regardless of outside influences ......

As to your point regarding lack of time, resources etc. - well you
personal may have a problem with this, but somewhere in the SCA is a
person who doesn't.  For all of the long-termers there are so many more
newbies to act as a foil to keep research and fun moving along ....

> 	Have we moved from living the Dream to attending a
> graduate-level history
> class?
> 
Some of the long-termers might have - but there are lots of newbies out
there who haven't.

Just my opinions (and apologies for the long-windedness)

Meliora de Curci
Politarchopolis, Lochac, the West

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

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".

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