Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 19:59:42 GMT
From: mfy@sli.com (Mike Yoder)
Message-Id: <9403111959.AA07581@ravel.sli.com>
To: hablutzelml@attmail.com
Cc: schuldy@zariski.harvard.edu, cclaus@willamette.edu, mittle@watson.ibm.com,
        antir@Kwantlen.BC.CA, sca-west@ecst.csuchico.edu,
        carolingia@bloom-beacon.mit.edu, calontir@unl.edu,
        nordmark@ludd.luth.se, northshield@stolaf.edu, e5@uriacc.uri.edu,
        sca-reform@MIT.EDU, jaymin@maths.tcd.ie, lgrant@lanczos.maths.tcd.ie,
        rgoff@mcimail.com, 71233.3035@compuserve.com, MMS6824@tntech.edu
In-Reply-To: Margo Lynn Hablutzel 's message of 11 Mar 94 18:43:02 GMT <9403111845.AA10754@bloom-beacon.mit.edu>
Subject: The recent past and the near future


Quoth Morgan Cely Cain:

>This of course can continue, but what about people like me who
>travel widely within the Society?  The Kingdoms could end up
>with less continuity than they have now, and my friends in
>other Kingdoms and I would have much less common ground.  We
>could end up with, instead of one Society, thirteen or fifteen
>or fifty-five little medieval re-enactment groups, each with
>its own rules and practices.  I, for one, am NOT comfortable
>with that idea; I would miss too many friends.

Why do you think you would miss even a few, let alone many, friends?  These
groups aren't nations: there are no border guards.  Even if fifty-five groups
were to arise (unlikely, I think), why do you assume their memberships would be
exclusive?  And, even if exclusive, you could still attend every group's
events.  I hope what you have in common with your friends is something over and
above a mere agreement of SCA regulations.

Aside from this, not only the Kingdoms, but the baronies, shires, etc. have
their own customs already.  Outside of fighting (and arguably even within it),
we need more and not less diversity: the current SCA is like an organization
dedicated to culinary excellence that allows only identically-run burger joints
to join, for the sake of uniformity.  Allowing a few Chinese and Mexican
restaurants as well would be better, not worse, and wouldn't threaten the
existence of the burger joints.

    Franz Joder von Joderhuebel (Michael F. Yoder) [mfy@sli.com]