SC - a grid?

[Maggie MacDonald]

cclark at vicon.net wrote:
> 
> Raoghnailt wrote:
> >That's wonderful news.  I would institute (if you don't already have one) an
> >award for those persons who by their work (feastocratting) and teaching
> >others encourage the use and spread of good period cooking.
> 
> Please don't. It seems to me that awards in most parts of the SCA have
> proliferated to the point of triviality, to say the least. 

Ok Alex, I agree with you up to this point- and I must add (and I'm sure
that the new Princess already knows this) that many places, including
Oertha, already have this sort of thing. In the West there are a variety
of 'Spoon' awards (Silver Spoon, Wooden Spoon, Bronze Spoon, what have
you), and Ber, you have several, including the Oertha one don't you?
Certainly no need to create a redundant (and theerefore of little
meaning) award.

Frankly (and opening myself up to target practice here) I get a little
tired of the award-based atmosphere we seem to have created. I cook
period food in my camp because I enjoy it, I enjoy sharing it, and that
is the reason I do that sort of thing- not because someone will give me
a doobus on a string. Things on a string are nice, and they make me feel
good- but they are not my primary motivation. When we start measuring
each other by how many and grand strings we have, we have lost the
ability to enjoy the simple motivation- the "gosh, I made this doobus
because I thought it would be cool!" or "try this soup- the recipe is
from the 14th century and it is so neat to taste something that they
used to eat then!". We lose the Wow! factor, and get down to the "I made
this for the 12th Night contest, and boy was it a lot of work to do the
documentation..." or "I made this jalab because we can't drink Coke in
front of the Crown..." The difference in attitude and direction reallay
affects the attitude in play- and hell, I don't think it sounds like fun
at all!

> About the best
> thing that any king/queen or prince(ess) could do is to bundle all awards
> except SCA-wide standards (and kingdom-wide, for a principality) into no
> more than three orders, inducting (en masse) all recipients of lower and
> more specialized awards into those orders, and then close all but those
> orders. It would go over like a lead balloon at the initial announcement,
> but in the long run it would be well worth the trouble.

Mmm... nah. Too many people would feel hurt, and too many people feel a
need to measure their 'progress' on a scale marked by their awards. I
prefer to look in the mirror or at my sweetie and say to myself- "That
looks _just like_ the Tres Riches Heures gown... YESSSS!" or have
someone who knows what they're doing say "Oh, what a lovely 14th c.
Bohemian Hoobus-snatcher! Where did you get that?" But if someone
doesn't know how or want to do their own evaluation, taking away the
only quantifier they have is likely to cause problems...

I don't know. Have I just argued against myself?

Food. Must make food. Brain work better thaen.

'Lainie
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