Kinda of late writing this but we had a perfectly wonderful weekend. We had friends come over and we introduced them to the joys of rectangular patterning. Making your own clothes from the ground up can be pretty satisfying, but definitely time consuming! I hope we gave them the tools they need to keep on sewing and exploring the styles they’ve chosen.
Progress on my own dress is moving right along. I took a couple of pictures and will load them later tonight. (The dress isn’t mythical!! I really am working on it!! I promise!!) I’m so jumping the gun here because I’m already thinking ahead to things I want to wear on my head that will look cool. And speaking of headwear, I have to recommend the tutorial posted over at “The Completely Dressed Anachronist.” Wow. I just loved it. I think Lady Edyth Miller may have more tutorials posted but I haven’t checked yet. I’m completely inspired to try new ways to cover my noggin.
I want to give a brief shout out to my friend Nancy. Last time I posted I mentioned that we lived in Kingdom Lands. Nancy, we moved out of Ansteorra about 5 years ago to the fair Kingdom of Meridies.
And I’d like to address a point that my friend Sandy makes about living near a group that might be difficult to hang out with. That brings a whole different set of challenges into play. Different, I think, even from living in Kingdom Lands. Perhaps that deserves and entirely new discussion thread.
One of the challenges the SCA is currently facing is membership. Interestingly enough, after financial concerns, the second most common reason people leave the SCA was a “bad experience with people/local group.” Wow. That’s some food for thought, folks. Thoughts anyone?
An Imbalance of Humours 
I've heard people describe the SCA as a kind of family. If you're anything like me, there are members of your family that you'd like to be as far away from as possible. You may wish them well, you may acknowledge that they have a multitude of good points — but they are like fingernails on a blackboard to you. Because we are a geographically organized group (if you look at the 'political' structure, leaving the voluntary associations of households and such aside), we are bound to run into those 'relatives' we'd rather avoid. Sometimes we have to live near them. It is a problem, and one that (as you rightly point out) would require a lot of talk to thrash out.
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Oh wow, so far away from where you used to be. If I ever get off my lazy chair and make something to wear I might go visit.
I left the SCA because I had been in too long and grew tired inventing myself to new people. Maybe I should address that in my blog. But I always remember what a sense of fun you instilled in me. I remember a Yule where for some reason you and I were silly and laughed alot. You always make me smile.
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One thing that Artemisia does to help the membership problem is we are a “pay to play” kingdom. If you want to be an authorized fighter, who participates in wars, you must have a current membership.
This does not stave off the issues with anger, drama, and political messes that are bound to happen with social groups. My own local Barony has been going through quite a shift and upheaval that we are working through and trying to heal from. It's my first experience like this in my 16 years of playing. There are those who will take their toys and go home, and those who will pick up a hammer and help rebuild.
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I like the analogy of the SCA being a sort of family. In our case, when the pooh started flying, we started playing with other people. Maybe we did take our toys and “go home”, but we didn't leave the SCA right away. That was precipitated by work and other life events. We weren't interested in rebuilding because the other parties were interested in rebuilding either. They wanted a status quo that wasn't the SCA ideal to us. We found that in other groups and other friends.
The beauty of the SCA is that a person can still be contributing towards the ideals of the SCA with anyone they choose. I don't have to play with my barony to have a good time at an event. Maybe that hinders recognition in some kingdoms, but the shinies are not why I play.
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Hey Barbara!
Thanks for jumping in here! Your describing the SCA as a kind of family does seem very accurate, and the SCA is as far from me as my own family these days. It is an awkward place to be. But your description is dead on! I loved it!
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Nancy!!!
The fact that you I made you smile and laugh a lot means so much to me!!! If you remember me for nothing else, that's okay by me!
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Hi Jacqueiline!
Thanks for your comment! I'm sorry to hear about your Barony going through a difficult time. I've been in the SCA 20+ years and the longer you're in the more likely you are to run into some sort of upheaval. In my experience it seems that everyone handles it differently and the challenge is to find what works best for you to keep you corner of our game sane and fun! I hope you come through it well and that your group is able to heal and move forward!
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Hi Sandy!
Thanks for stopping by! You bring up an interesting point when you mentioned shinies in your post. We are past the point of receiving any sort of recognition these days and so being in Kingdom lands isn't such a difficult prospect. (It just gets kind of lonely out here.) But, I think for newer members it would be a real challenge because there are no opportunities to volunteer let alone be recognized. Shinies are definitely not a reason to play but it doesn't hurt to have someone say, 'Nice job' every once in awhile. 🙂
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