SC - anyone know about this book?

[Serian]

Balthazar commented:
>>>>To the public at large, people in the SCA, and the hobby itself, is/are
considered bizzarre.  You can have all the museum artifacts and kindergarten
demos you can take, but until the public knows that we aren't just a bunch
of
goobers who dress up in funny clothes have a pentagram dangling from our
necks, major television networks are not going to say "Hey!  Why don't we
ask
THEM for some help." <<<<

Maybe not TV.  But the Symphony Guild of our city fairly begs
us for our participation and assistance at their annual
Italian Street Faire event.  We have been the opening
performance with Italian Ren dance, before the Symphony
performance.  As the folks who put this event on and
attend this 4 day event include the "creme-d'la-creme" of
the local social pecking order (Including CEO's and the
state Governor). My guess is that at least, in Nashville,
the general public is well aware of who and what we are.
For a couple of years, I have been, to my surprise, featured
in the TV promo for for this event all over the state (edited
from shots taken during our previous participation).  This
is a high dollar thing too, raising half or more of the money
to run the Nashville Symphony every year.  We have been
very pleased to be asked to participate in years past.

>>>>Yeah, your shire or barony or whatever may be really involved in
community outreach, but are the guys in the next town rushing
over for help on medieval history projects for school?<<<<

As a matter of fact, this is quite common with my group in
Nashville TN.   We get  requests from teachers and groups
 across the state.  They ask for aid in making costumes for their
plays, proms, pagents and such.  They are looking for help in
writing papers and teachers use us as a resource for program
preparation.  We don't do a lot of demos to "entertain the
kiddies" but we certainly do have our hands full with all the
requests we get yearly.  The place where we meet, an Adult
Education Facility run by the city, has a bi-annual demonstration
of all the groups and organizations which they are associated
and we put on a show of the whole range of our activities.  THIS
one is in a low income area of the city, so you see, we don't
just hob-nob with the upper crust of the city.

>>>>Are you folks listed in the phonebook under the heading
"Medieval History Experts"?  My guess would be 'no'. <<<<

We would be if we maintained a local phone number!  Actually
the multitude of web sites we (and the SCA in general) offer
has a much more far-reaching impact than a mere telephone
listing.  And yes, you would probably turn up these sites rather
prominently with a search for "Medieval History Experts" or
something similar if you were looking for help.

Bal, I think you have grossly underestimated the legitimacy
of the SCA's reputation at least here in the US.  Perhaps,
the other parts of the world will recognize us too when we
have been ther longer.  I do know for a fact that the prestigious
British College of Arms is very well acquainted with our work
in heraldry and regards us very seriously.  One of our senior
heralds in Meridies was offered a job by the Lion King of
Arms himself some years back.  That is significant and
indicative of our progress as an organization over 30 years.
I am sorry if your local group is not so recognized in your
community.  Perhaps they will grow into community service
and improve their image eventually.

Akim Yaroslavich
"No glory comes without pain"