Estrella recap

Slowly but surely, my heightened sense of morning grumpiness begins to decline as I begin to formulate my posting. Coincidentally (not!), I find my disproportionately high levels of anger fading rather quickly as I now begin to down a cup of yogurt breaking my morning fast.

Important question for self - is my hypoglycemia getting worse? I'll figure that out later. For now... Estrella.

Added on to my list of SCA wars, I can now say that I have attended Estrella. WooHOO! Having now been, I can attest to a few general descriptors - it really IS cold. It really IS windy. It really IS incredibly dusty. Not being an asthmatic myself, I just cannot see how people like my hubby could even survive such an event. I feel like I have a layer of powder inside my lungs that just doesn't want to come out.

This year, I attended with my buds, Thea and Thomas. Early-to-bed and early-to-rise folk that they are, this was a bizarre war experience for me - early involvement in administrivia, and no nighttime party-fun. Le Sigh. Oh well. I'm sure it was all for the best anyway since this really was more of a "work event" for me than anything. My main purpose in attending this year was to witness, and become involved with, the A&S competition. Having just a wee-bit of experience in this arena in the past, I was curious to see how things are done out here. Having seen the process, I can see the pro's and the con's. I have some suggestions to make to the powers that be for future competitions. They can either take them or not. I respect the fact that it is not my balliwick to actually run, and will support whatever is decided upon.

Now onto the most important part - the shopping. The shopping was actually pretty darned good. For the SCA folk out there, I would rate it above GWW, slightly above Gulf War, but nowhere near Pennsic. I picked up some books, some sparklies, and enjoyed the sights.

I most enjoyed just hanging out with my buds. Particularly, it is always a pleasure to run into friends from afar. Walking the "Merald-Mile" is a fun game-plan. I was very happy to see friends from the Outlands, Calontir, the West, etc., etc. But I must confess I was very pleasantly surprised to run into friends from Trimaris. Whoddathunk they would travel so far? I ran into Lord Drell, Countess Cherish, and Mistress Herokyn (I never could spell her name correctly). The best surprise, by far, was running into Lady Hannah from my old shire. She is still every bit as bubbly and stunning as person as ever.

Now to return to the daily-grind and figure out what is next on the "to do" list. Ugh.

"G - the coastal tour"

Giggle...



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Arts & Sciences competition - the path of least pain

Yes folk, another boring SCA post where I discuss philosophy, the history of past events, and reflect upon whether or not I am making a difference in a positive way.

As y'all know, this past weekend I attended Estrella. Well, in truth I can't say that I visited the entire war. After all, I am only aware that there was fighting because that is what I heard. Truth be told, I only witnessed the two things that I really enjoy the most - the shopping and the arts.

It has been a while since I have really ventured into the administrivia of the arts and sciences competition. I have a long and pretty involved experience in the administrivia of such competitions, and took a much-needed mental health break when I stepped down the last time as a KMOAS. But now that I am gearing up to do it in a different kingdom, I am oiling the rusty machinery of my brain, combing through my memory archives for useful bits of past-experience, and making lots of room to learn what makes things work here on this coast.

When I ask myself the question - "what have I actually learned as an entrant, as a judge, and as an administrator of such competitions in the past?", I think of the following:

1. There is no such thing as a perfect competition. The design might be perfect. The forms might be perfect. And the structure might be perfect. But what makes it IMPERFECT is the addition of one very volitile factor - human beings. By the very nature of human foibles (artistic insecurity, harsh criticism, misperceptions, miscommunications, fatigue, etc.), it is simply impossible to go into an A&S competition from any angle thinking that one is guaranteed to come out 100% free of any possible issues. It just ain't gonna happen.

2. Entrants - I can never guarantee that you will be free of judges who are jerks. I wish that I could, but I just don't have that power. Is it possible that you could have a judge who marks you down incorrectly? Yes. Is it possible that you could have a judge that comes across as mean or bitchy in his or her commentary? Yes. I really, really, really wish I could guarantee that that won't happen to you, but I can't - not all the time. It is my fondest hope that you will do the best possible job that you can do as an entrant, enter your piece, and that you will hopefully receive some useful commentary back that will help educate you. Frankly, I don't care about scores, and I hope that you don't either. A score is just a number. Knowledge is the real prize. If you receive knowledge, you have won. If you don't, you still have the experience of having created your piece and having gone through the process. That in and of itself is knowledge. So hopefully, no matter what, you will see the value in the process.

3. Judges - I wish I could guarantee that all of the pieces you will be judging will be magnificent. I wish I could guarantee that the artists who created the pieces are all mature adults who can handle criticism when you are asked to give it. I wish I could guarantee that you will never feel like you are wasting your time trying to give advice to people who just don't want to listen. But I can't. The truth is, somewhere out there, you are probably going to run into somebody who is angry, or upset because you didn't find their piece stellar. Try to find out what the upset is - is the entrant upset because of what you MEANT to say, or are they upset by what they PERCEIVED you to say? It is my greatest hope that you too learn from and enjoy this process.

4. "Competition." I have been described by friends as being extremely competative. I don't know if I agree or not. I can say that I have never felt competative. To me, it isn't about "winning." Again, I don't care about numbers. To me, it is about accuracy. I would like to think that if I "win" a category, only to find that the #2 person actually did a better job, I would point this out to the powers that be for the sake of fairness. Sadly, it seems to me that human nature frequently strives for winning and for competition. I wish I could remove the numbers from A&S faires. But, the truth is, we'd probably see a sharp decline in entries. Le Sigh.

5. Apples vs. Orangutans. Ah... the never ending battle. In a competition between a perfect Viking outfit vs. a perfect Elizabethan outfit, my gut-hunch is that the Viking outfit won't stand a period snowball's chance in Dante's Inferno. Yet, what is the alternative? Do we create seperate categories so entirely unique and divided that we need to create prizes pretty much for every single entrant? Ugh... what a nightmare.

6. Interkingdom competitions. Ah... the ultimate logistical nightmare. For fighters, this is easy - let's all play! The more the merrier! Sure, there are challenges - battlefield size, marshals, authorizations, differences between "known and understood" callibrations of shots, etc. But in the long run, once these logistics are ironed out, everyone gets to play and have fun. Not quite the same for A&S. To have EVERYONE play means a helluvalot of judges, space, tables, entries, potentials for disaster, etc. And to create limitation barriers (whether it be in terms of categories, numbers, etc.), is to exclude people from playing. The logistics of doing an interkingdom competition can be a nightmare. But what is the alternative? Not have a competition? Then one has to contend with the screams of "INEQUALITY!" from the artists who want the same opportunities as the fighters. Once again, Le Sigh.

7. The Value. I really don't like to assert my own experience over and above other people's. All of our experiences are valid, and all are important. But that being said, I will say simply this. I have a long and very heavily involved degree of experience in this particular arena. And for me, ultimately, the goal is a combination of two things - inspiration and knowledge. For me, it never ceases to amaze me what beauty SCA artisans are capable of. I have seen pieces that truly bring tears to my eyes because somebody cared enough about detail, quality, and history to create the piece. It is truly humbling. In other cases, the value is an education. Learning a technique that I wouldn't have known otherwise, or learning about a particular book that I never knew existed is worth the price of admission and then some.

Is there a perfect system? No.
WILL there be a perfect system? No.
Should we continue to bother? YES! YES! YES!