Musings: Playing or not playing in the SCA and apathy-proofing things
A friend of mine recently got me thinking about what playing in the SCA means. Obviously one is a member if one pays and has a card, but there are so many levels of involvement. Some people go to meetings all the time. Some people pick one activity and just do it and nothing else. (Someone is called into court for an AoA . Me: Where is that person from? Person beside me: Caldrithig. Me: Then why have I never seen them? Person beside me: Because they only go to fencing.) Some people only go to events and don’t do anything in the canton. Some people only go to things not in the canton in which they live. Most of us are somewhere in between.
I ran into someone at a dinner and she said something about “As you know, I haven’t played in the SCA for about a year and half.” I didn’t know. I thought we just kept missing each other because I don’t go to everything. On the other hand, I became FaceBook friends with someone whom I haven’t seen in about 2 years. I asked if she was still playing to find out she is now on the executive. Figuring out who is playing and who isn’t playing is hard. If you haven’t seen someone for a while, maybe you just keep missing each other, maybe they haven’t been out much due to life circumstances, or maybe they got mad at the SCA or people in the SCA and quit. You never know.
I used to every meeting in my B.K. years (before kids). I even went semi-regularly (every 2 or 3 meetings) when it was at 2:30. Now that it’s back at 4, I never go because it cuts up my day in the most horrible way. I used to go to dance B.K. I’ve been between 5-10 times in total since 2003. I used to go to A&S weekly; then periodically; now I just don’t have time or a spare night. My event participation has fluctuated over the years between 3 and 8 events a year. I’m sure to some people I look like I’m playing a lot, while others probably think I dropped out.
A friend of mine used to use the term “My SCA” to mean her interests and the little corner of the SCA in which she played. Now due to circumstances, her SCA doesn’t even include the SCA. I’m actually seeing more and more of that where SCA people are doing medieval things outside of the SCA. They aren’t going to official A&S nights or canton activities, but just quietly pursuing their medieval interests on their own. Some of it is due to bad social interactions with unpleasant people and some of it is due to having got burned due to apathy.
I think most of us are looking to apathy-proof our “My SCA”. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. A&S nights can be apathy- proof. If you are going to sew every Monday, then you can invite people over. If people come, great; if they don’t, you can just sew by yourself. Dance in Caldrithig went down due to apathy. Dance can never be apathy-proof since it requires 3-11 other people to make the dances work. Since I was only willing to go about 4-6 times a year, I can’t complain because I was one of the irregular attendees who thought it was a good idea, but could not/would not come out every week to make it happen.
Of my two new SCA ventures, one is apathy-proof and one isn’t. I am not worried about Children’s A&S. I want to do this for Grace and if it ends up just being Grace and I some months, I am okay with that. I have invited Lucia and some other SCA people. I think this has the potential to appeal to non-SCA people who are vaguely interested in the Middle Ages but would not officially be part of the SCA due to time, cost of events, or commitment. I want to invite some of my friends to it.
Bardic is by definition not apathy-proof. You need other people to perform for, sing with, and to generally feed off of each other and inspire each other. I am disappointed that Bardic hasn’t actually happened yet - that I’ve had to cancel it the last 2 times. I think I misunderstood the handful of people who told me that they were interested in Bardic. I took that to mean that they were interested the way I was and would make a point to come; they meant that they were interested the way I am interested in dance - they might come periodically if their schedule meshes with the activity’s schedule but they would never make any special effort to attend by re-arranging their own schedule. However, I might have found someone interested in doing Bardic with me. If I can get her on board, then I will be a happy camper. We can have fun together and if anyone else comes out, that will just be the icing on the cake.
I ran into someone at a dinner and she said something about “As you know, I haven’t played in the SCA for about a year and half.” I didn’t know. I thought we just kept missing each other because I don’t go to everything. On the other hand, I became FaceBook friends with someone whom I haven’t seen in about 2 years. I asked if she was still playing to find out she is now on the executive. Figuring out who is playing and who isn’t playing is hard. If you haven’t seen someone for a while, maybe you just keep missing each other, maybe they haven’t been out much due to life circumstances, or maybe they got mad at the SCA or people in the SCA and quit. You never know.
I used to every meeting in my B.K. years (before kids). I even went semi-regularly (every 2 or 3 meetings) when it was at 2:30. Now that it’s back at 4, I never go because it cuts up my day in the most horrible way. I used to go to dance B.K. I’ve been between 5-10 times in total since 2003. I used to go to A&S weekly; then periodically; now I just don’t have time or a spare night. My event participation has fluctuated over the years between 3 and 8 events a year. I’m sure to some people I look like I’m playing a lot, while others probably think I dropped out.
A friend of mine used to use the term “My SCA” to mean her interests and the little corner of the SCA in which she played. Now due to circumstances, her SCA doesn’t even include the SCA. I’m actually seeing more and more of that where SCA people are doing medieval things outside of the SCA. They aren’t going to official A&S nights or canton activities, but just quietly pursuing their medieval interests on their own. Some of it is due to bad social interactions with unpleasant people and some of it is due to having got burned due to apathy.
I think most of us are looking to apathy-proof our “My SCA”. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. A&S nights can be apathy- proof. If you are going to sew every Monday, then you can invite people over. If people come, great; if they don’t, you can just sew by yourself. Dance in Caldrithig went down due to apathy. Dance can never be apathy-proof since it requires 3-11 other people to make the dances work. Since I was only willing to go about 4-6 times a year, I can’t complain because I was one of the irregular attendees who thought it was a good idea, but could not/would not come out every week to make it happen.
Of my two new SCA ventures, one is apathy-proof and one isn’t. I am not worried about Children’s A&S. I want to do this for Grace and if it ends up just being Grace and I some months, I am okay with that. I have invited Lucia and some other SCA people. I think this has the potential to appeal to non-SCA people who are vaguely interested in the Middle Ages but would not officially be part of the SCA due to time, cost of events, or commitment. I want to invite some of my friends to it.
Bardic is by definition not apathy-proof. You need other people to perform for, sing with, and to generally feed off of each other and inspire each other. I am disappointed that Bardic hasn’t actually happened yet - that I’ve had to cancel it the last 2 times. I think I misunderstood the handful of people who told me that they were interested in Bardic. I took that to mean that they were interested the way I was and would make a point to come; they meant that they were interested the way I am interested in dance - they might come periodically if their schedule meshes with the activity’s schedule but they would never make any special effort to attend by re-arranging their own schedule. However, I might have found someone interested in doing Bardic with me. If I can get her on board, then I will be a happy camper. We can have fun together and if anyone else comes out, that will just be the icing on the cake.