SC - Under 40 crowd?

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/29/99 4:57:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
RACHEL.HOLLIDAY at roche.com writes:

<< This was billed as Authentic and it was not.  I cannot express how 
disappointed I was.  Does the SCA advertise itself as authentic, if not then 
I probably won't have too
 much of a problem with it.  It is for these reasons that I fell that I will
 not fit in! >>

I can certainly understand your disappointment with what you thought was an 
authentic recreation not being authentic enough.  I've been there too.  (Not 
to the place, but to the emotional state).  There are no real authenticity 
requirements for the SCA; the only related rule is to "wear an attempt at 
pre-17th century clothing".  This means that for your personal portrayal, you 
can be as accurate and authentic as you have the time, money, and enthusiasm 
to be.  I have seen people be incredibly authentic with all their clothing, 
their campsite, their pets, even, and very well regarded for the effort.  On 
the flip side, we do get people who are just here for the party, who make 
extremely minimal efforts to meet the "attempt at pre-17th century clothing" 
rule and no other attempt at all, and some people get annoyed about that 
because they think we should have a higher overall level of authenticity.
I'm not sure whether you would like the SCA or not.  We don't require 
authenticity, and in no way should be billling ourselves as doing so (in any 
case, it's difficult to achieve authenticity when every event may include 
people from 700 years or more of time and many different cultures).  However, 
with your liking for authenticity, you may find it hard to tolerate as lax a 
standard as we have.  I think your best bet would probably be to attend a few 
events and see whether you like it or not.  You do not need to have a 
membership to attend events; there are places online to find out the 
schedules for your area, and then you need only go to the event, wear 
pre-17th century clothing, pay your site fee, sign any waivers they ask you 
to sign (basically, it says you won't sue the SCA if you get hurt there), and 
behave as a lady or gentleman for the course of the event.  I would try to 
attend several different events, of different types, with various groups, as 
many things can vary between types, places, and sponsoring groups of events.
If you let us know where you are located, someone can probably help you with 
getting a local schedule of events if you are interested in trying this 
method.

Brangwayna Morgan
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