FWD - Re: Pennsic Letter

[rmhowe <magnusm@ncsu.edu>]

Poster: rmhowe <magnusm@ncsu.edu>

Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: Pennsic letter]
   Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 00:21:50 -0500 (EST)
   From: "Thomas R. King" <todric@raex.com>
     To: magnusm@ncsu.edu

Magnus, would you be so kind as to forward the following back to the
Atlantia List for me?

Unto Lady Rosalind Jehanne does Master Todric send greetings and
well-wishes.

Milady,

As I have been following some but not all of the discussions involving
"the Elves", Master Magnus has been kind enough to forward to me such
parts of the discussion as he feels would interest me. Recently, he
forwarded a posting to the Atlantia List (attached for reference) 
from you, to which I must offer a different opinion.

I also took some time to talk to a group of "Mythology Re-creationists"
at Pennsic a few years ago, and I came away with quite a different
impression. The group I refer to called itself  "Phoenix Aerie", and
consisted of several dozen persons who had undertaken to research and
recreate common mythological persona-types. They came to Pennsic 
without a full understanding of the nature of the event, but made an
honest attempt to integrate. They restricted themselves to their own
camp in the daytime, and only went out at night to go places they had
been invited. Even so, the treatment they received from the average 
SCA populace they encountered was generally offensive and simply
shameful.

These people, unlike those you encountered, _wanted_ to integrate
into the "Pennsic Scene", and were more than willing to adapt, adjust,
and make compromises.
    
Consider this: Membership in their group required beyond-Laurel-level
research and scholarship into one's persona _before_ one was allowed 
to actually portray that persona. The Society could have _learned_ 
from these folk, and they showed every sign of wanting to learn
>from us.

Sadly, most of the SCA-folk they encountered were all-too-quick to
decide "They don't belong here."
        
Milady, it's really a shame that the folk you encountered left you
with such a bad impression. They did a real dis-service to the folk 
I had the privilege of getting to know.
        
In Service to the Society,
Todric, OL, OP

**(Note from Magnus here. M. Todric asked me to forward some of the 
comments from the Merryrose, as he has been advising Swiftrunner on
the reactions to the Pennsic Court letter, and it is being revised
again. 

Also Master Todric got his Pelican for helping run Pennsic
for a number of years. He is a long time Society Member residing
in Ohio. He is still involved in running some services at the war.

One of the reasons folks were alerted about that letter
to begin with was that the original had the potential for abuse in
the way it was worded and appeared to be oriented against non- 
Western Medieval personas and groups. That is being changed. It
was hastily written and has been reconsidered by the Seneschale.)     
        ____________________________

>To: atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
>From: The Davidsons <paradox@gamewood.net>
>Subject: re:Pennsic letter
>Sender: owner-atlantia@csc.ncsu.edu
>Reply-To: The Davidsons <paradox@gamewood.net>
>X-Organization: The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
>Precedence: bulk
>
>Poster: The Davidsons <paradox@gamewood.net>
>
>Dear gentles: I think there is some distinction to be made by those 
>who want to play our game, and can be gently encouraged by example,
>loaner garb, and inspiration to achieve a higher level of spiff and
>authenticity, vs those who never had any intention of doing so. I 
>spoke in a friendly manner 2 Pennsic ago with several of the elves,
>vampires, etc, and discovered that they just want to use us as a
>backdrop to their game, because of our non-mundane atmosphere. I 
>feel this only works when the groups in question play a similar 
>enough game  that they could pass for SCA - ie, ACre, Markland, the
>Roman troop. , because the scope of their game is WITHIN ours,
>rather than outside our scope. Even within the SCA, there are areas
>like the enchanted ground, or the monk group, that want to play a
>tighter game, and courtesy would suggest that going in that area 
>means to play that aspect for a while. There are just Elizabethan
>parties at Pennsic. Those groups that respect our overall rules have
>never been a problem, but then they are not just using us, but are
>working in partnership, if you will. 
>        In service, Rosalind
>
>    -----------------------------------------------------------
>    Rosalind Jehanne 
>    Paradox Keep in the Shire of Drachentor    
>    Or, a Rose Gules, on a Chief Vert Three Suns Or 
>    -----------------------------------------------------------
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