Levels of Participation

[femkes_follies]

Warning - I have a long commute, and it affords me time to Think(TM). This is a double-edged sword. You have been forewarned.



I hardly qualify as an SCA "old-timer". I attended my first event in 2001. So, nine years hardly amounts to toddling down the hallways in a dusty circlet with a cane. And, some years are more active than others, it must be admitted. But I've sort of been around a few blocks. And I'm still on a lot of E-mail lists - some a result of having been on all the local lists in the state whilst I was Regional Signet. I've taken notice of an interesting phenomenon.

There are different levels of participation in the Society. I know, not very profound. But I'm not talking about how much time or effort you expend, nor to how many events you may go. I'm talking more about where your "eye level" is.

Level one: We all start here, for the most part. You meet the local folks. You go to a Sewing Garb night or a fighter practice. You bring a dish to pass at the revel. You might even join a household, try to register a name, and decide "what you want to do." There are a lot of people who start here - and stop here. For them, the SCA consists almost entirely of local people. Only rarely do they attend an event, other than the annual one their local group is required by Kingdom Law to hold.

Level two: You develop influence in your local group. Maybe even hold an office - Herald, MoAS, whatever. Or authorize as a fighter. The Baroness knows your name!! You might travel an hour or so to events held by neighboring groups. And, Oh, the excitement every year or two when Royalty progresses nearby! Maybe even get a chance to stand guard at the Royalty Room or retain for Her Majesty. Your local group puts together a goody-basket of "taxes" for Their Majesties, and you go up with the entire group to present it in Court.

Level three: You become aware of things going on slightly over the heads of some of the locals - at the Baronial or Regional level. Maybe you're group Seneschal. Or a Baronial Officer. Possibly you contribute regularly to Court, in terms of award scrolls, or tokens, or Heralding when TRMs are in the area. You start to become aware that there are some people who are rather "persona non grata." Or that there may be tensions between adjoining Baronies. Hmmmm, larger things are afoot. Awards given at Court sometimes become headscratching. "Lord Doofleschmirtz got a Dragon's Heart? But he's such a back-stabbing Boob!!" You may start to be told that "the knights" or "the Laurels" are watching you!!

Level four - You begin operating on a Kingdom level. You hold a Regional or Lesser Kingdom Office, or now know enough people to be present in the Royalty Room for one reason or another. The machinations that keep the gears of the Kingdom running become less opaque. Conversely, some of the people who run them (or throw monkeywrenches in them) become more than distant figureheads and morph into actual people. You find that some of them you like a respect - and others make you cringe whenever they win another Crown or take up another office. You're a cog in the wheel - with a view up and down the entire clocktower. It's fulfilling, you feel useful - but some of the gleam and sparkle you saw and magic you felt at Level one are gone. The Society hasn't changed any - but your perspective on it has.

Level five - Crowns, Great Officers, Curia members, and Peers who really make things move around. You know how things work. And how they don't. You are aware when things in the Kingdom are broken - even though sometimes you'd rather not. People come to you with problems you'd have preferred to live in ignorance of - and expect you to solve them. But you're now those Bright, Shining People worshipped largely from afar by level one... Which can be a heady perfume, indeed.

More thoughts on this later....

Comments

[soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck between two and four. I'm the kingdom media liasion, and the seneschal of our incipient stronghold. I've got my AoA, and I hang out with some pretty...um...wow folx around here. (Seriously, awesome people.) It's weird how much your perception changes when you start to move up, that's for sure.

It also scares me that my name is known. Eeeeek.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the paradigm shift happens when you suddenly realized that you have seen the little man behind the curtain - and you have a vested interest in making everybody else focus on the Wizard. ;-)

levels

[(Anonymous)]

I think the first couple of levels are best. When you get to that level 5 you can do a lot but the number of people who hate and resent you is huge. Yes, more people are happy to be recognized and do their work but those unhappy folk are loud and persistant and enjoy dragging people into chaos. The higher you go the more it turns into Jr High School.

Re: levels

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Well, certainly the sheer Kali-like destructive power of the Goof-Jobs is increased as you go on. And some of them manage to hold office after office. NOT because they're good officers, but because they keep volunteering so loudly and no one wants to tell them "no."

Though I get frustrated with some of the level 1 and 2 folks some days, too. A lot of them do not understand why, for instance, you don't really need to put everybody in the Shire in for every award you can think of every time Royalty shows up. Or even HOW to interact outside their local groups. I remember talking to one ENTIRE shire once about A&S. I mentioned an upcoming Laurel's Prize Tourney. They responded that they did not know any Laurels. O_o So, I ran and got a few and fixed THAT problem. But I still boggle over a whole Shire full of people so isolated that they don't even KNOW any Peers.

[lady-guenievre.livejournal.com]

That reminds me (in a good way) of this: http://sandradodd.com/ideas/consider9.html

And I went from 3->4ish when I stepped up as Baroness - and "maintaining the sparkle" becomes absolutely essential to think about - you sometimes just have to consciously take a step back and remember the magic, or else the whole thing gets really silly.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. At some point, you have to consciously commit to the idea that now you're part of the "show" if you will - cast of the Renn Faire, not just an attendee.

It can be a weird place to be, when your perspective first shifts. You start to realize the pointy hats are pretty heavy, and all that deference must be responded to with an effort to maintain the appearance of all regal courtesy and grandeur. Even if you're busy grinding your teeth because somebody has the schedule for Court all screwed up, or a couple officers aren't speaking, or whatever. ;-)

[lady-guenievre.livejournal.com]

I didn't just mean maintaining the sparkle for everyone else, though that's obviously important. What I actually meant was more... taking a moment to look at everything through rose-colored / "newbie" glasses to see the sparkle again for yourself, or you *wouldn't* be able to maintain it for other people.

It's not "unseeing", precisely, so much as... choosing where to look. ;-0

[gwacie.livejournal.com]

That's one of the reasons I love talking with new people; their enthusiasm is contagious and after a while of explaining stuff to them you remember your own enthusiasm and awaken your inner newbie :)

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Ah, YES! You're absolutely right. It helps to rub shoulders WITH the newbies from time to time, as well.

Thank you for the link, too. I think now, I had seen it before, but forgotten. And the Christmas story really expresses it better. ;-)

[attack-laurel.livejournal.com]

I have the wrench that keeps the whole thing bolted together. :)

I've been in my kingdom so long, I know exactly why things work the way they do, what can change, what's set in stone, and where we can push people in new directions. There's satisfaction to be had at this level, in that I can look and see quite clearly where I have influenced things, and how things have changed because of stuff I've done, but it's harder to get sparkly.

And sometimes, I need a rest. I attended all of six events last year, yet somehow managed to have an inside seat on all sorts of things.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Aha! You're the one who keeps taking it. ;-)

Yeah, that was sort of my point. A lot of people will blithely say "The SCA is whatever you want to make of it." True, in a way. However, I don't think anybody ever tells you as you move up in the clockworks that you can't really go back. It is not possible to "unknow" things - even when you sometimes wish you could.

[gwacie.livejournal.com]

There's a local group of people doing and working and being happy, there's a regional level of people that's about the same size and same activity level, doing and working and being happy and there's a kingdom level of people, again about the same number of people, they know each other and they're doing and working and being happy... is any more worthy than the other?

What you're talking about in level five is a lot of what His Grace Laurelen told me about the job of Baron back when I was a newbie and would never in a million years believe that the job he was talking about would one day be mine. "You stand between the light and the dark" he said, which was a poetic way of talking about how you see behind the curtain, all the gears, the yuck and ick and nastiness, and you protect those wide-eyed newbies, active folks, officers, and jaded old timers from that nastiness and emphasize and encourage the good. Yea verily many times you're working hard to protect the very people who are resentful of your interference. It's not a different level. It's a job. And it's a very lonely job b/c everyone who is in such a position is alone (unless they are lucky enough to be in a couple position, in which case they are alone with their partner). The heady perfume is seeing how you can, sometimes, make someone's day, sometimes the work pays off and good things happen.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Oh, certainly. I didn't mean to imply anything regarding worthiness. More as, where your "eye level" is. Only that you must needs go through the levels sequentially, in order to GET there, for the most part. And once you have done so, you really can't go back. Your participation can return to a Baronial or local level. But you can't "unknow" what you know. It's like knowing how magic tricks are performed or watching "behind the scenes" specials. At best, you can relocate and remain blissfully unaware of the principals involved in such things in your new Kingdom - but you know it goes on, nonetheless, in a way that those who never move much beyond their own personal circle never will.

[gwacie.livejournal.com]

True, once you've glimpsed behind the curtain it's hard to forget what you saw.

It's very fitting that our litany for the creation of a King includes the line that the sovereign is a sacrifice to the people. That said; most of the real work of the society happens on the local group level. Individual people helping individual people.

[landverhuizer.livejournal.com]

I'm more like at retirement age (perhaps an early one, but not dead yet) but somehow managed to skip over parts of stages 4-5 but most unfortunately, not all of it.

I lack the desire to sit in many positions (at least not anymore and who knows when??), mostly due to lack of time to contribute that way, but at the same time I'm not in magical awe over it :P

[mistressarafina.livejournal.com]

How did I end up at level 5? I'm still surprised when people know who I am and I don't know who they are. Maybe I'm not really supposed to be up here and someone will figure it out soon and I can just go back to being a regular joe.

It's like finding out that the Wizard is just some shmuck who got lost.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Heh. It's a bigger shock from Dorothy's side of things. ;-)

I remember one particular reign in which the Royalty Room degenerated over 6 months' time from tense to shouting, snapping, and flying four letter words.

I, being a mere peon, was apparently part of the furniture. I was reminded of the "help" in English period dramas. Of no more thought than the davenport or the sideboard.

I was so very unimpressed. It was the first time I really came to the conclusion that some people utterly do not belong on the thrones. And frequently they're the only people who don't realize it.

I've also found that the older I get, the less patience I have with that kind of adolescence. I just have to walk away. I've also come to note that rapidly changing, small, or cranky royalty staff is a sign that you ought to run away. ;-)

In the same way that I am glad I no longer work at the practice in which I cut my teeth and made my wet-behind-the-ears new grad mistakes... I think it might be no bad thing for me to make the leap from 4 to 5 in a different Kingdom. O_o

[asagormsdottir.livejournal.com]

Your description of the levels makes a lot of sense.

I'm at Level 3 in the SCA. Not sure I want to go any higher right now.

Probably because I'm at Level 5 in my "real job" and have more than enough politics and work and care there looking after our thousands of employees while keeping the faith in my company. The sparkle is nice but I work hard to earn and maintain it.

In the SCA I hold a canton office, act as den mother to a transient student SCA group (rides, food, clothes, teacher, native guide), contribute kingdom scrolls, teach at a kingdom level.

Frankly I think I'm doing more good at the local level where it's definitely needed. I have only seen a Royalty Room when dropping off a scroll. I respect the folks in there and the jobs they do. It's just none of my business right now.

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

And I think that's the key - that you find where you're comfortable. Frankly, most of the local people make me want to slam my head in my desk drawer. Repeatedly. I'm happier dealing with people I see less frequently. ;-)

Students? *shudder* You, m'dear, have the patiences of a saint.

Hanging out in the Royalty Room and standing Court was enlightening. Some things were in the "Things You Can't Un-See!!" category. And I needed the mental palette cleanser afterwards of diving face first into research for a while. But still, there is some allure.... ;-)

[mistressarafina.livejournal.com]

Hanging out in the royalty room is fun when the royalty and staff are your friends. Just like anything else. Friends make any situation better. Sometimes, it's a CF. It's where I learned that being royal is about 5% glory and 95% hard work. I just like the pretty hats.