Re: Pennsic Seneschale's Court and Requirements This Year

[Jean Amann <bjamann@erols.com>]

Poster: Jean Amann <bjamann@erols.com>

> 
> > Further, I would find such authenticity police really jarring and it
> > would break up my sense of things seeming period.  Could I haul them
> > into the seneschals' court for that?  ; )
> 
> Again, like above, I don't think anyone is trying to enforce that kind
> of authenticity -- just the (obscenely-easy) minimum requirements.
> Besides, if someone doesn't even have one set of garb, however
> rudimentary it is, I really don't think Pennsic is neccesarily a good
> place for them to be, because it implies that the person is
> extraordinarily new to the Society, and I'm one of those people who
> doesn't think Pennsic is a good starting point for first-timers to the
> SCA. :-)
> 
> Julien

	Why not?  It's a mind-blowing sampler of everything the SCA has to
offer and all the types of people who are attracted to it, from the
incredibly learned to the just-getting-started, and it's FUN.  I started
there, at the invitation of my bog-dwelling daughter, at Pennsic
XXIV--the "War isn't Hell, Hell's cooler" year.  I came in a nun's
habit, but switched to not-particularly-period long skirts and chemise
tops to avoid heatstroke.  Half the bog was wearing as little leather or
bunny fur as they could get away with, and if I had the figure for it, I
might have joined them. Even in more moderate years, Pennsic can get
paralyzingly hot. 
	But it's not just the weather.  Most people don't come into the SCA
with a developed persona and authentic garb; many of the people at
Pennsic aren't SCA members at all--they've come because someone said it
was fun. Do we really want the Period Police to drive them away, or can
we we educate and encourage people toward greater authenticity without
making them think we're all a bunch of anal-retentive (yes, it does have
a hyphen) jerks? I'd rather encourage authenticity than enforce it.
	I hope the Seneschale's Court confines itself to gate-crashing,
land-claim jumping, reasonable noise rules, and violent behavior--the
things that matter most for the safety and comfort of Pennsic
participants. Everybody will survive the sight of the leather and fur
worn by Tuchux and barbarians; some of the bodies under the leather and
fur make you wonder what, or if, they were thinking when they decided to
wear it, but that's another matter entirely.  It wouldn't be Pennsic
without them.
			Regards,
			Roswitha
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