[Sca-cooks] merchants as Laurels

[AEllin Olafs dotter]

A similar, though not identical issue I've heard commented on is the 
situation of the professional performing artist. People who do indeed 
make their living (and usually a just scratch by one) performing and 
perhaps teaching. They then have to think long and hard about how much 
of their livelihood they can afford to do for free - especially when it 
is to the same somewhat limited audience. Most, from what I understand, 
will perform - though if musicians also sell recordings I've seen that 
denigrated - "He just wants us to buy his tape" rather than "Gee! He'd 
usually be paid $200 for that, and he didn't charge us anything!"  (Most 
people do know better than that - but the attitude does exist.) But most 
who teach professionally will not, logically enough, teach for free just 
because it's the SCA. Teaching is the bread and butter that gets them 
through the slow seasons. But teaching, also logically, is one of the 
most basic requirements we have. You teach me, and then I'll go teach 
someone else... (In this case, I'm not thinking of anyone specifically - 
these are unrelated comments I've heard from and about various 
people...)  I think we need to find some kind of compromise - and 
perhaps on an individual basis. "You can't teach the instrument, perhaps 
you can teach theory, or history? You can't teach theory, perhaps you 
can teach vocal projection?" And then give due credit for the one class 
or track they can find...

Now, the flip side of all this was a conversation I had with someone who 
thought another person should be laureled *because* she makes her living 
as a merchant. Therefore, she must be good enough... except that the 
work she does professionally does indeed take the shortcuts that she 
needs to earn more than about 50 cents per hour at the price people are 
able/willing to pay... I certainly don't blame her for that, as a 
merchant - but just as I think that doesn't disqualify her for 
consideration, it certainly doesn't qualify her for it, either. I've 
encountered her in a non-SCA context, I know she is both skilled and 
knowledgeable, and I'd really like to see what she could do without the 
press of limited time and money...  I haven't seen that, others may 
have, I don't know her at all well, so am not judging.

Personally, I've made a conscious choice to avoid the entire issue by 
*not* really practicing my professional art within the SCA. This is 
basically because, while I enjoy the design, I do not much enjoy the 
production - which is what I'd have to do. It's hard to get away from 
it, though... people know you can do something, and they expect you to 
do it. I expect to get paid for it... and I'm not going to get into that 
issue in the SCA. It's still always at the back of my mind, though...

AEllin

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>
>> Eirene commented:
>>
>>> I, too have heard that those who make a living (or at least support
>>> their SCA habit) with the proceeds of their craft won't get a Laurel -
>>> that somehow selling the goods cheapens the skills and PLQs.
>>
>> I suspect in general this is true, but there are exceptions. It may 
>> well be that, as with the general population of SCA players, that 
>> there are a number that meet all the requirements for peerage, but 
>> for one reason or another, visibility, personality, their circle of 
>> friends or lack of the right people in the right places etc, just do 
>> not end up in the pool that candidates are drawn from.
>
>
> A variation on this is the assumption that cooks in the SCA who have 
> attended culinary school and are professional cooks are displaying 
> skills acquired somehow unfairly, or maybe showing an unfair advantage 
> might be the better term, and are getting paid to do what they do in 
> the SCA, probably leading to an approach similar to that some people 
> have about SCA merchants. I gather I was a big test case for the Order 
> of the Laurel in my kingdom, when I demonstrated a consistent approach 
> that said, "I'm going to show you how this was done by period cooks, 
> and then I'm going to show you how it's done today, only because I 
> have 400 hungry people out there, a much smaller staff than I would 
> have had in period, and a two, maybe three-hour window of opportunity 
> before they walk out on me, if I'm lucky. And while the technologies 
> used for the two methods have some basic similarities, here are all 
> the areas where they differ..."
>
> Most of us on this list are acquainted with a merchant who is pretty 
> consistently passed over for awards because he's a merchant. I once 
> had a conversation with a recent King of the East (Yes, Gunthar, 
> _that_ one) which consisted of:
>
> "But he's a merchant. We don't give awards for merchanting."
> "Why, if I may ask?"
> "Because he earns his living by merchanting."
> "With respect, Your Majesty, no, he doesn't. He sells all his wares at 
> just above cost and puts the pennies he earns back into the business 
> to keep prices down. He works at a job unrelated to the SCA to support 
> his invalid mother the rest of the time."
> "Nevertheless, he's a merchant."
> "But your Majesty, the service he performs is to the Known World. 
> Cooks around the _entire_ Known World depend on him for hard-to-find 
> ingredients, so they can pursue their art in a more period manner. He 
> himself makes no profit. He even runs his stall in a period manner, 
> with ceramic jars and balance scales, and scads of lore about his 
> products. He's studied period alchemy, medicine, cookery, and trade, 
> and shares his knowledge freely with everyone."
> "Yeah, but he's a merchant."
> "If you define a merchant simply as someone running a business, yes, 
> he is, but he's doing considerably more than that, Your Majesty, and 
> all of that 'more' is a gift, gratis, to Your people, and the people 
> of the SCA. It has become a joke around the Known World that we don't 
> recognize the service of some of our finest. It is an embarrassment, 
> and to this realm's ongoing shame, that we have not recognized this 
> man's service to the Known World, his service to the Arts and 
> Sciences, and his achievement in the Arts and Sciences, simply because 
> the people that he helps defray the bulk of the costs of this 
> operation. Is he supposed to sell his blood by the pint to buy this 
> stuff so he can give it away? He practically does that already, Your 
> Majesty." [Note that it was not a Pelican I was advocating.]
> "Yes, but he's a merchant. We don't give awards to merchants."
>
> Please don't even ask me for more details, it's too depressing.
>
> Adamantius
>
>
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