I just came across this marvelous essay on the SCA fun/authenticity false dichotomy, and a different way of looking at it. It was written some years ago, but is still worthwhile reading for any SCAdian. (It's from Tibicen, who some of you might remember from days of yore.)

I totally agree with the philosophy here: while I'm pretty indisciplined ( Read more... )

One surprising highlight from 50 Year doesn't seem to have made it into many accounts -- I think our encampment was particularly well-placed in this regard ( Read more... )

(As usual for when I've attended something long, I'll be posting some random reminiscences ( Read more... )

Thanks to T (on Facebook) for pointing out the new Zooniverse site, Shakespeare's World. In a nutshell, this is similar to the old Distributed Proofreaders project, but specifically focused on manuscripts from Shakespeare's time ( Read more... )

[Mostly musing to myself as a bit of journal-therapy, although conversation on the topic(s) is welcomed ( Read more... )

*Sigh*. I suppose I knew that the East would eventually follow so many other Kingdoms in adding Yet Another Freaking Layer of Awards. But man, I so don't approve -- with every passing year, the award system becomes simply an enormous list of merit badges. Their Majesties are good people, and well-intentioned, but IMO this is a significant ( Read more... )

Signal boost: a number of folks here might be interested in the first edition of the Known World Bardcast, a fun and well-done podcast of the SCA bardic arts. The first half is various songs (and one story); the second, a roundtable discussion about the bardic arts among a pretty diverse group of serious bards aroud the Known World. (Originally ( Read more... )

Not strictly SCA, but likely to be of interest to folks: in late April, Theatre@First in Somerville will be putting on a performance of The Knight of the Burning Pestle ( Read more... )

So the movement to create a Peerage for fencing has reached the point of a formal proposal, out for comment. Do I send another letter to the Board ( Read more... )

Before I get too distracted by other things, it's worth a minute or two to contemplate the Voyages of Discovery event, which ran last weekendOverall, the event was a solid success, IMO. The classes were diverse, and many of them fascinating. Among my favorites, I wound up in "Where/when medieval Jews fought" kind of by accident (I was the ( Read more... )