[Stargate] Two weeks ago I asked a question - long response

[Kathryn Norris]

 Okay, I will add my two pence worth.  This is longer than I expected.
I must be hanging around Gerald too much. I am best at responding to
defined points so I have gone through other people's notes for those
points:

Do you like the SCA you play in today?: Mostly yes.  I am in the SCA for
the people, the friends and the friends who have become family.  I like
the dressing up and pretending that suits the little kid in me.  

The purpose?  To try to find out what it is that we like, what we
dislike, and come up with ways to convey the positive to new people,
help to keep them interested and to work to improve the things we
dislike.: I am somewhat dismayed by what I see as the commercialization
of our corner of the SCA.  I understand that we need new people, but we
are trying to put ourselves forth to people who may not be interested in
us.  What I mean is that when we were at TRF (RenFaire), the people who
saw us had a higher percentage in getting people who might be interested
in what we do.  Now, we are looking at things like going to public parks
or associating ourselves with the Toys-for-Tots, which is a good thing
in itself but not really medieval in nature.  
Have we checked recently into having a presence at Scarborough Faire
lately?  I know some groups host demos at movie theaters when a
medieval-type movie is going on.  These are good ideas in that the
people who go to the fair or movies are more likely to be interested in
what we have to offer.
As for how to hold onto new people, we should return to the idea of
mentoring households.  Basically a person, couple or group of people
would "adopt" a new person and show them the ropes for a while.  Dress
them up, bring them to events, and introduce him/her to people they
should know. 

Less persona play now: I agree with Wulf.  The persona play now is the
exception rather than the rule.  You'll see a bit here and there and
then it's back to our regularly scheduled event.  I'll be the first to
admit that I'm not very good at it myself, but there are those in our
group who can transport you.  

A set of themed competitions where we pick our "uniform" and dress
appropriately.: Once again I agree with Wulf [bad habit, that :)]: A lot
of the events I have been to in the past few years are pretty much
interchangeable where you have a fighting event or an indoor event with
classes, etc. but not much else to capture your imagination.  This is
one main reason why I asked to steward Stargate's Baronial with the
theme of the town faire.  I'm really hoping to have a lot of people come
out and show us what they do, both within and outside the confines of
the usual event.   

Once they had a whole guard: Ihon and Isabeau are working on setting up
a new baronial guard for Stargate as we type.
  
When did it get to be Ok to chit chat about computers and mundane jobs,
standing by the listfield where folks were trying to hold a Medieval
tournament?:  A big part of this is that we don't get to see many of our
friends as often as we'd like and so we catch up with the latest news
when we can.  

Generic tunic with a pair of jeans and tennis shoes: My pet peeve is
people bringing their children in blinking shoes.  It is easier to
overlook the jeans, but when the shoes blink every few seconds, it's
hard to miss.  We also have people who change back to mundane outfits
before the event is over.  They change clothes because they want to pack
up and go home, but it is again detracts from the medieval atmosphere
the rest of us are trying to hold onto.

I have been in the SCA for a while now and know that from time to time,
I need to refocus on what the SCA means to me and why we spend our money
each event to be with our friends.  We also need to remember that we are
each playing our own version of the game, depending on what makes us
happy.   
--HL Caitlin bean Ghearailt