SC - OT Creativity Changes

[Varju@aol.com]

Duke Cariadoc writes:
>If you want to do something different, there are lots of period 
>recipes that haven't been done yet. And of course, in most groups,  a
serious attempt at a period feast is something different. What bothers me
is how often the desire to "do something different" means a gimmick
feast, designed with no thought about, or concern for, the availability
of  period recipes (i.e. a "Marco Polo" feast or the like).<

Your Grace, 
	I don't understand what is wrong with a themed or 'gimick' feast
(although I dislike the term).  I know that they did themed affairs in
period, Elizabeth I was known for this sort of thing, and others,
although I can't lay my hands on other specifics just now.  Now, whether
or not the feast is planned with an eye to specific availabilities, that
is something that must be addressed.  But, I think the theme events,
feasts, contests, whatever are a good way to make the connections in
people's minds as to what was happening in a given area, and what else
was affected by it.    
>
>>Have we moved from living the Dream to attending a 
>graduate-level history class?
>
>No--in lots of ways.
>
>1. Our average is more at the kindergarten level.

Oh, come now.  Perhaps the American average, but the average knowledge of
the folks in the SCA?  Not a chance.  I once read that the average number
of books bought and read by Americans was 2-3 a year.  I have been
merchanting books for a long time in the SCA, and I can personally tell
you that our average is WAY above that! :)  Even counting the newcomers
who have little or no idea past what they have seen on television, they
still have SOME interest in learning about our period, or they wouldn't
be here.  Especially considering the state of public education in
America, I think you do a great injustice to the intelligence of the SCA
community to rank it so low.  (I know you are a law professor, and have a
very intimate knowledge of education, but I still think the average
interest and knowlede in the SCA is higher than most "high school
graduates", if not the average IQ levels as well.) 

>2. What we do isn't "attending a class" at any level. So far as I can 
>tell, nobody in the SCA studies period cooking merely in order to know
about period cooking--people study period cooking in order to do it.
>
>David/Cariadoc

Perhaps this is just my own personal slant on learning, but I have rarely
studied something (non-compulsory) that I was not interested in DOING
something with.  Even if I have no current applications in mind, I file
every piece of education I get away, and someday further down the road,
it becomes significant to something I am doing.  I have learned more
about connecting information and understanding bigger patterns by
studying things in the SCA.  Our ability to make something and work with
it to see the actual funtionality of it transcends a lecture-type
classroom, but it also makes lecture material more relevant in return.  
	No, I don't think we have moved away from "The Dream" (another
phrase I don't like much, as far as I can tell the one common 'Dream' is
to build the perfect SCA site), I think we are Dreaming on a larger scale
now.  


Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, Meridies

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