[SCA-cooks] I quit

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

>     This seems to kind of parallel something I've been watching for quite a
> while, the slow decline of courtliness and chivalrous behavior in general.
> It used to be that ladies didn't go about unescorted, or had a lord to carry
> bulky items for them. But of late, that seems to have been on the wane.

Well, there aren't a lot of times when I would feel it was appropriate for
someone to escort me-- Pennsic at night when I'm going near the beer
parties is about it.

I admit that I take advantage of the fact that I can ask just about
anybody for help moving stuff if necessary, and I'm insanely pleased
(having grown up moving stuff for others) when people offer to help me
carry stuff. But about half of the people who help are women, and to my
(poor little modern) mind, that's how it should be.

>     Last crown list, I watched from across the field as a lady struggled
> with an obviously heavy cooler, dragged it past a group of knights and
> squires. They were at least polite enough to get out of her way as she went
> by . . . I headed over, but by the time I got there, she was where she was
> going. I was going to say something to the belted stick jocks, but didn't
> bother.

This is a problem. It's not restricted to fighters-- and a lot of fighters
will cheerfully stop what they are doing to lift and carry heavy objects.
It's not restricted to people above a certain rank, though I admit that my
experience is that a lot of people above a certain rank find themselves
too busy to help, because they have so much going on.

On the other hand, I remain stubbornly loyal to teens in the SCA because
if you ask them nicely and don't make it obligatory, they are more likely
to be willing to help with strenous tasks than any other subgroup in the
SCA I know.

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
"Are you finished? If you're finished, you'll have to put down the spoon."