[Sca-cooks] RE: SCA Article in Chicago Tribune

[Joanne Clyde]

In defense of the Trib:

I would like to ask how many people critisizing the article were actually at 
the event?  How many people actually got a chance to talk to the reporter?  
I was fortunate enough to attend the wonderful event.  My friend Baroness 
Ailene Fitzwilliam (mka Dawn Conlin) was quoted in the article.  We spoke 
with this guy for about half an hour before we found out that he was from 
the Chicago Trib.  The author of the article spent the entire day at the 
event.  He had a little tape recorder and filled up several pages with 
notes.  I saw him talking to the fighters, the fencers, the merchants, the 
autocrats, the general populace, anyone who even smiled at him, he spoke 
with.  He was polite and interested.  He even stayed for feast.  I was lucky 
enough to sit at the same table as this man (not intentionally, I assure 
you).  Everyone there took pains to share factual information about the SCA. 
  He was very brave and tried everything.  We all lent him some feast gear, 
and helped him maneuver the table.  He was genuinely interested in what was 
happening, and he wrote down a lot!

Please remember, that newspapers are usually strapped for space.  This man 
may have written a HUGE article, but it had to be edited down to what was 
actually published.  Please don't villify the reporter.  All of us who 
talked with him found him to be a very nice man, very polite man, and very 
much interested in getting the facts.

And yes, Baroness Ailene, and several other of the fighters did explain to 
him about the saftey procedures, the weaponry construction, the armor 
construction, the chivalry parts and all that.  He had all the facts.  He 
chose to either simplify them for the average reader or he was "edited"

Geertruyt