From: dagoura@MIT.EDU
Message-Id: <9402120050.AA05353@marinara.MIT.EDU>
To: carolingia@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Subject: The Demo and some Philosophy (was RE: demos for ourselves?)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 94 19:50:02 EST


Lord Harold Longfellow writes:

 >Sounds a lot like what the MIT Castle (which I have twice failed to
 >attend, unfortunately) is supposed to be.  

No, it's not.  The Castle was about a communal work-talk space to
pursue individual projects in process, and possibly teach and learn.
I believe what Siobhan, Nesta and I found appealing about the demo was
the comfortable small-scale presentation of finished products.  At the
Castle, we had lots of little groups of people chatting and doing
their (*non-performance* and *quiet*) things; at the Felding demo, we
had one big group of people, not chatting, but acting as audience for
short, slightly less formal than usual, demostrations of arts and
skills.

In the worlds of classical music and dance, this is could be called a
"recital".  More about that another time.

Harold, you weren't in attendance at the demo, and I think you don't
understand what exactly happened to so pique our interest.  It was a
matter of several things, not the least among them atmosphere and
setting. 

There were several nice aspects to the demo, all of which that I can
remember I shall enumerate below, for I think they are all worth
pursuing.

(1) I have no idea if the mundane aspect of publicity was handled
adequately (we did only get 2 new people :(), but internally (within
the SCA), it was handled perfectly.  The person running that aspect of
the demo thought out what she wanted to have there, cornered the
person in the barony responsible for each art or skill she wanted, and
personally invited them to attend and do their thing.  None of this
"Please contact us if you would like to come" silliness (borough
organizers pay heed!); personal invitations can call 30 people through
the snow all the way out to Wellesley on a weeknight.  It makes a
difference. 

2) I was late, thus I had the pleasure of walking in and seeing all
the Scadians assembled.  You know, we do look splufty.  The velvet,
the fur, the trim, the long folds of gratuitous fabric brushing the
floor or caught up in gathers -- we do look splendid.  But it is much
easier to look splendid in front of an authentic 16th c. fireplace
than a basketball hoop or cafeteria mural.  I wish all our
surroundings we so pleasant.

3) There is also a big difference between a large cavernous hall and a
small plushly furnished room.  And here we come to what I believe
Harold might have been surmising: both the Castle and this demo (and
the Mitgaard Libraries) were very intimate.  

Thinking about this, I believe this is a very important issue.  I just
realized that in this region, which holds mostly day events, we almost
never do things which are intimate in that way while in garb.  In
fact, the two other times I recall intimate gatherings in garb were at
the campfire at Les Chantes au Bois and at the Rapier camping event
Emilia ran (I don't know about the fencers, but the musicians had a
grand time ensconced in their cabin :).  

It seems to me that it is a pity such occurances are so rare.  I do
love enourmous revels, but they often seem to be lacking in the social
arena; everyone is so busy helping out or doing their thing (fighting,
performing) that there's no being-together.

Part of it is the many concurrent activities; it makes an event a
dizzying whirl of happenings.  This can be delightful.  Having a
cornucopia of things to choose to watch and do can be half the
splendor of the event; it is a kind of wealth, and can make you giddy
like a fair or a bazaar.  But it does lack focus; there's never a
sense of everyone (or even a sizable group) doing something together.

Another part of it is accoustics.  In a large cavernous hall or on a
field, it can be hard for a group of more than 8 people to talk
amongst themselves.  I find it hard to carry on a conversation with
everyone at my usual 8-person-segment of feast table.

Part of what was so lovely about the demo was that we had something
like 30 people all involved in what was going on.  And this is what I
mean by "intimate".  One person or a small group had the floor, and
everyone else payed attention.  The person being listened to did not
need to compete with conversation or other noise, and when someone
said something everyone else got to hear.  Conversation included
everyone. 

All this raises the question "What do we do about it?"  I don't know.
I don't think we should change our other events, which are also
wonderful.  But this does suggest we put our heads together about
alternate kinds of events, and see if we can think about how to hold
pleasant - in garb, in persona - gatherings of this sort.

4) Cariadoc was right.  Having one person act as...er, "host?"...works
very well.  Juliana kept things moving and took responsibility for the
pace and flavor of the discussion and demonstrations.  This was dandy.

5) It was in garb.  Yes, it's a hassle to get into and out of garb,
but it does make all the difference.  I realize now that most of what
I do with the SCA I don't do in garb.  I go to lots of practices and
meetings and while I think of them as "doing SCA", I'm neither in garb
or persona.  It is my opinion that this is not a great thing.  If we
divorce actually getting into the funny clothes and playing medieval
make-believe from our mental conception of the SCA, we risk letting
the SCA lose one of its uniquenesses and letting it slide a little
closer to being just a historical arts-n-crafts club.

Hmm.  I think that may be a better way of explaining what I was trying
to do with the Castle: re-connecting the practicing of arts and crafts
with the doing-the-historical-recreation bit.  I suppose the division
between these two parts of the SCA is a bit starker in my craft than
others.  I have never been under the illusion that the music I play is
somehow uniquely Scadian.  I can take me and my learning to any BRS
meeting and blend right in; heck, I could go and pursue a degree in
it!  What makes what I do different in the SCA is that I do it in
garb, in the unique social context of the SCA.


I hope this gives a some idea of what the demo was like which made it
so nice.  These are merely my observations, and anyone who can further
relate the character and happenings of this demo should do so.  This
demo gave me many ideas.  I think I shall tackle most of them further
in other email.  But I have one bit of philosophy I want to pursue
here. 

I have several times in this message distinguished between those SCA
things we do not in garb (practices, rehearsals, meetings, etc.) and
those other SCA things -- the "official" things, the "for real"
things, the in-garb happenings.  I used the phrase "in garb and in
persona" but *I* for one am not big on persona -- its hard to explain
a 12th c. noblewoman wanting to play in a 16th c. dance band.  And "in
garb" is kind of vague, because we wear garb to mundane costume
parties, yet wear things other than our garb to SCA costume balls!  We
usually refer to those large gatherings in which we are all in garb
and ostensibly in persona as "events".  But the word "event" doesn't
cover demos, at which we are in garb, but aren't supposedly in
persona, and it doesn't allow for things that are in garb but are
practices, etc.  Not to mention the UoC.

For this reason, I would like your aid in coming up with a term that
means "doing the recreation part of the SCA".  This term would imply
"in garb" and "in persona, though no more strictly than any other
Event".  This word or phrase would be greatly helpful in discussions
of alternate kinds of events, and would serve those who talk to new
people well in helping them explain where and when garb and feastgear
are expected.

The idea that I have is the French for "in the colors", because that
is the association I hold in my mind; we are bright and colorful in
our garb.  Also, it implies livery, and I like the idea that while we
are at events we could be referred to as wearing the livery of the
Society.  I alas, know no French; I surmise it might be something like
"en colour".  If this is about right, I think this would work well.
Someone throwing a private party in which they wanted people to come
in persona could say on the invitation "please come //en colour//"; a
provost could tell newer Scadians that "Buttery Birthday is not //en
colour//."

Could someone please correct my French or propose an alternate term
before this catches on?

Much obliged,

Tibicen-but-not-really-because-12th-c.-noblewomen-cum-16th-c.-dance-band-
leaders-don't-do-email-or-discuss-persona-but-that's-the-name-you-all-know-
me-by
(dagoura@mit.edu)