SC - Fwd: Article from the globeandmail.com Web Centre

[Tara Sersen]

*sorry to be chiming in late on this thread*

I've found that a disproportionately large number of SCAdians are quite
shy until you are introduced to them.  I, myself, am one of these
people.  There are several people on this list who can attest to the
fact that I am anything BUT shy once you know me.  Perhaps the lady who
wrote this article was taken aback by not being embraced immediately by
everyone at the event.

HOWEVER, I couldn't help but notice that her attitude wasn't exactly
what I would expect in someone likely to stick with our hobby.  She was
offended by the fact that we take this seriously, instead of sticking
our tongues out at nobility.  Would she be similarly offended if she
went to the Christmas Day Washington's Crossing reenactment and didn't
see soldiers sticking their tongues out at ol' George when he told them
to row?  She didn't like the fact that we have more rules than she
thinks a childs game entails (although we were never short on rules in
any child's game *I* played).  It never occurred to me that our rules
are restrictive.  

Given her apparant expectations and her condescending assessment of
things that we know well and appreciate, why should I assume her
relation of her experience to be accurate?  How do we know that her
party didn't act like morons from the moment they walked through troll? 
Did the person who bade her come abandon her once she got there?  Did
she actually have any clue about what was going on around her?  At a day
event with 80 people, you can expect an autocrat or chatalaine to
recognise a newbie and react accordingly.  But, at a tourney with 200+
people, the only person at fault for their failure to integrate
themselves is the person who entreated them to come in the first place.

It sounds to me like she had grossly false expectations about what this
activity was all about.  I think many people who are dragged to an event
by a friend leave with similarly skewed views.  They didn't find what
they expected, so they failed to see the good and the fun in what really
was there.

My point is, don't worry about this.  It's junk.  I've heard very few
rumors about new people being snubbed at events, and I've never
experienced or heard a first hand story about someone experiencing such
a thing.  This is just some mundane looking to play land-of-make-believe
instead of history, and is now crying sour grapes.  I feel sorry for
her, but I know better to think that this calls for a massive reprisal
of our social mores.


Lady Magdalena vander Brugghe
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