Re: History of a SCAdian

[Kat Hintze <chhintze@bmd.clis.com>]

Poster: Kat Hintze <chhintze@bmd.clis.com>

Alasdair mac Iain asked (forwarded from the EK list),
>How did you first get started in the SCA and how old were you?  What made you 
>stay?  What did you do to develop your personna and why did you choose
>it/them?

I got involved in the SCA when I was a freshman at Michigan State
University.  I had been out to dinner with a friend and was on my way back
to my dorm one spring evening when I saw three or four guys in armor going
at it with fake swords.  I figured it was for some theater production, but
one of the guys in armor was explaining the organization he was in to a
couple of bystanders and I listened in.  Found out where the weekly meetings
were, etc.  

I tried to get a friend to go with me to a meeting for moral support, but no
one was interested so I screwed up my courage and walked into a meeting cold.

I figured they would be in costume, and expected the meeting to be somewhat
like court - I was afraid I would interrupt them or they would get mad
because I wasn't dressed up or sat in the wrong place.  Ha!  There were six
guys in jeans and t-shirts - event that weekend, so not much of a meeting,
etc.  But I got to talking with them and they seemed pretty friendly.

The second meeting I went to, I recognized someone and went up to him and
said, "Hey, you're so-and-so - I remember you told me how you got your
name!"  He smiled and said he remembered me, then kissed my hand - and I
think I was hooked.  A few weeks later someone invited me to a nearby event
and I've been doing SCA ever since.

I think there were three reasons I stayed.  First, these people were
interested in something interesting - not just the rock groups or mindless
movies or mindless partying that my dorm-mates were interested in.  Second,
eventing and dressing up (and having my hand kissed) were FUN.  Finally, I
had finally met a group of people who didn't look down on me because I was
"weird".  If I was strange, so what?  So were they.  I fit in and I was
accepted for who I was - and I had never really had that before.  

(A lot of the SCAdians I have met have told me they never really fit in
growing up - we seem to be a band of misfits.)  I guess another part of that
being accepted for who I was was being respected for my accomplishments -
where else could a 19-or-20-year-old kid join an organization and run demos,
teach dance, or whatever she wanted to do and be taken seriously by the
other members of the group, though they might be much older and in positions
of authority in the "real world"?  That is something I have always liked and
respected in the SCA.

So basically, I stumbled across the SCA and gave it a try - and stayed in
because it was fun and the people were interesting and I was accepted for
who I was.  My persona started out Irish Celtic from the period known as
generic because Moragh was a Celt and it seemed pretty cool.  (I never went
very deeply into persona in those days; eventually I metamorphasized into
something vaguely Italian Ren and am working to flesh that out.)

I look forward to hearing some other SCAdian stories - or is everyone but me
getting ready for the War?

Lady Kat


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