Friday, October 26, 2007

Article in T.I., and interview

For the first time in thirty years, I didn't get a T.I.
The explanation involves separate memberships, two T.I.s coming, then one T.I. coming, and me thinking it was Gunwaldt's and him not even thinking about it at all.

So I did get a copy and a Tournaments Illuminated t-shirt for being a contributor (gold on black! My barony's colors, and my household's colors!)

The editor wanted to use something I wrote long ago in Bright Ideas, "Concrete Suggestions for Helping Newer Members."

A new title was negotiated, and it became "Help Newcomers Directly."

Beacuse it's not very long, the editor wanted to fill up the space with an interview. I think the desired response was "Newcomers are the most important part of the SCA," but that's not the response I gave. Still, the topic of the interview was to have been about newcomers.

Because I'm an oldtimer I wish every member still got Tournaments Illuminated. Not so many do anymore. Not even me, I discovered to my sorrow the other day.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

thirty years ago, almost...

Two months from now, thirty years ago, I sent an application/resume/introduction/biography to the seneschal of Atenveldt, because I had been appointed (not so legally, I found out later, when the Aten Seneschal pointed it out...) It wasn't really an application, because I was already "in office" (though I could've been taken out).

sandradodd.com/duckford/1977resume

When I joined, it was generally believed and held in Atenveldt (maybe more broadly; I forget) that the feminine form of "seneschal" needed an "e" at the end. If they were going off formations like Michelle from Michel, they should've doubled the "l" but no matter. The whole deal was dropped before long.

This was done on a typewriter, naturally; everything was then. I have carbon copies of many letters. (Yuck, carbon copies—may you never see or touch one if you haven't already.)

Within just a few years, I had a Kaypro computer with a daisy-wheel printer, then a Mac IIsi with a laser printer, and before I knew it, here I am looking back 30 years.

I think the benefits and disadvantages of one time and place or another are six of one, half a dozen of the other. It evens out. We had more newness and opportunity but less information and example. Nowadays one can learn more just clicking around the internet than we could've learned in a year of dusty library stacks where we were lucky to find black and white line drawings (or occasionally color plates, but nothing like we have now in books and on the internet).

Blogs and webpages are way better, even though less medieval, than typewriters and carbon paper.

Enjoy your SCA life. Enjoy your mundane life, and if you have other side-lives, find the joy in them too.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Humility

Humility's hard to keep up with. I forget, I get grumpy, I work through my tools and tricks again.
I know, too, that it's been the hardest thing for some people to understand when we've discussed it here, and hard for people to transfer from the SCA to regular life. I'm glad to have found some recent and "mundane" things (if something so useful in the SCA and to one's immediate peace can be considered that).

Humility: A modern explanation and example, and link to another site.
http://sandradodd.com/duckford/virtue/modesty

I added a link to the bottom of the lists of virtues.
http://sandradodd.com/duckford/virtue/lists

Friday, October 12, 2007

easy contact page, and camping

http://sandradodd.com/anchoress

Streamlined, direct contact, easy to remember. (Well, easier than sandradodd.com/sca/aeanchoress)


I've moved camping links to a central location and will add more. Recommendations (or writings, or checklists, or photos of your camp or of medieval camps, or links to camping pages already out there) are welcome.
http://sandradodd.com/sca/camping