SC - Minor corrections- non-member submission

[Michael F. Gunter]

Lars did post:

> Perhaps this is because when I first got 
> involved in the SCA I was in an Arts and Sciences dedicated household; they 
> were looking toward prizes and awards for their efforts. 

This is a frequent and fundamental cause for problems in the arts and 
sciences in the SCA, as far as I am concerned.

Getting awards should never be the goal, only an encouragement to 
continue on your path.

The reason you do something should be because you like doing it.
the reason yuou get awards should be because you are doing well 
at something you like doing.

let me explain my point with an illustration:

Say there is an annual "prestigious arts contest" in your region.

Take two cases, Lady A and Lady B.

Lady A wants to win that contest more than _anything_.
So Lady A picks Eastern Slobbovian Feather Weaving, because that
category was very sparsely entered in last years contest. She does 
this because it increases the odds of winning. 
So she hits the library, and finds out all she can about it. but now she 
has a dilemma, go with the secondary and tertiary sources she has in 
the library, and be able to start her project on time to enter the event, 
or to wait to get more information, and enter another year. Of course 
she chooses to get right to work, because she is doing this to win.
Now little does she know, but most of her source documents are 
very poor, and consist mostly of heresay accounts, and some small
photos of artifacts with very little detail.  In her documentation is an
account which is in fact blatently untrue and false.
Lady A completes her work, Photocopies her documentation and 
enters it into the Competition.
There are two outcomes.

outcome 1)
No Judge knows anything about Eastern Slobbovia, and she wins 
her category and the over all contest. 
Now she is the "local Expert" on all things Slobbovian, and she 
continues to perpetuate errors in her research, as she passes that 
misinformation along to proteges and in workshops.

Outcome 2)
A judge happens to have done some research on Slobbovia, and 
spots the holes in her documentation, and she gets fair marks, but 
documentation errors cost her any kind of award.
Now she is frustrated, angry and sour over the loss of almost a year 
of her life, she drops the entire Slobbovian Project, or drops out of 
the SCA altogether in disgust.


Now take the example of Lady B.

Lady B is interested in Eastern Slobbovia becasue of something 
she read in another of her researches, so she digs in, and gets all 
the information she can. Getting books through the ILL, and visiting 
museums to take pictures/sketches of the unique Feather weaving.
It looks fun, so she makes a loom, and starts playing. Two or three
years down the road, as she is making this at an event, someone says
"Hey! B, that's really good, mabe you should enter it in the competition!"
so she does, supplying her researches and references.

There are three outcomes: 
outcome 1)
No Judge knows anything about Eastern Slobbovia, and she loses
her category and the over all contest. 
Lady B shruggs her shoulders and says, "OK, Next year"
and goes right back to the researches and weaving she enjoys 
so much, and Teaching anyone who happens to be interested how to 
do it and where to find the correct information

outcome 2)
No Judge knows anything about Eastern Slobbovia, and she wins 
her category and the over all contest. 
Lady B shruggs her shoulders and says, "OK, thanks"
and goes right back to the researches and weaving she enjoys 
so much, and Teaching anyone who happens to be interested how to 
do it and where to find the correct information

Outcome 3)
A judge happens to have done some research on Slobbovia, and 
checkes her documentation, and she wins the category and the 
over all contest.
Lady B shruggs her shoulders and says, "OK, thanks"
and goes right back to the researches and weaving she enjoys 
so much, and Teaching anyone who happens to be interested how to 
do it and where to find the correct information
the Judge sits down with her, and is astonished to find out how much 
she knows in the course of a three hour conversation. The Judge 
then reccommends her for Laurel consideration, and she is given the
accolade of Peerage for her work.
Lady B bows her head  and says, "OK, thanks"
and goes right back to the researches and weaving she enjoys 
so much, and Teaching anyone who happens to be interested how to 
do it and where to find the correct information