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Since I'm sure y'all are getting tired of hearing about my attempts to line up dance classes for the girls.
This may be a Kingdom thing, yet again. But there seems to be (of late) a bit of an "up or out" attitude. By this I mean, the general feel is that most things in Kingdom happen to one degree or another for or at the whim of the Peerages. And, therefore, past a certain point in your SCA career, you either buy into the system and aim to BE a Peer... or you more or less "get out." And that "get out" holds a multitude of responses from leaving the SCA altogether to racheting back activity to the "Sit in chair and hold beer" level to only playing with your own household.
I'm starting to think the Kingdom as a whole has gotten "peer-heavy." And it's not so much that we have too many Peers. It's that so many things now seem to "require" a Peerage.
Let me give you a F'rinstance:
There is a section of Midrealm law that provides for the awarding of a GoA upon Great Officers of state - and comes with it the right to use a dragon supporter in a full achievement. Now, let's think about that for a minute. When is the last time YOU can recall a MK GO who did not already hold at least a GoA level award of some type (All of which, by MK Law, outrank the bare GoA - I leave aside for the moment my rant about the stupidity of the MK Award structure)?
In point of fact, if your read Curia minutes (and I do) a Queen in the last few years actually went so far as to insist that the KMoAS and Deputy ought to be Laurels. In fact, she objected to a Deputy candidate on the grounds that said person was NOT a Laurel.
I suspect, if this trend continues, that it won't be long before a Peerage is required to be a Great Officer. Which begins to take the Peerage from "Hall of Fame" award status to "Must Have This Punched" status.
Anything you try to do in Kingdom will garner the advice, "You need to get the Peers behind it, for it to succeed." Now, I will grant that you have a pool of people within the Peerage who have a great degree of collective experience to draw on. However, you also have a group of people who have a vested interest in the system as it currently operates - and therefore are anything but unbiased when it comes to matters of fundamental changes to the Kingdom or Society.
And I think some fundamental changes are needed.
What I don't know is whether I can spare the emotional energy to try to push for them.
This may be a Kingdom thing, yet again. But there seems to be (of late) a bit of an "up or out" attitude. By this I mean, the general feel is that most things in Kingdom happen to one degree or another for or at the whim of the Peerages. And, therefore, past a certain point in your SCA career, you either buy into the system and aim to BE a Peer... or you more or less "get out." And that "get out" holds a multitude of responses from leaving the SCA altogether to racheting back activity to the "Sit in chair and hold beer" level to only playing with your own household.
I'm starting to think the Kingdom as a whole has gotten "peer-heavy." And it's not so much that we have too many Peers. It's that so many things now seem to "require" a Peerage.
Let me give you a F'rinstance:
There is a section of Midrealm law that provides for the awarding of a GoA upon Great Officers of state - and comes with it the right to use a dragon supporter in a full achievement. Now, let's think about that for a minute. When is the last time YOU can recall a MK GO who did not already hold at least a GoA level award of some type (All of which, by MK Law, outrank the bare GoA - I leave aside for the moment my rant about the stupidity of the MK Award structure)?
In point of fact, if your read Curia minutes (and I do) a Queen in the last few years actually went so far as to insist that the KMoAS and Deputy ought to be Laurels. In fact, she objected to a Deputy candidate on the grounds that said person was NOT a Laurel.
I suspect, if this trend continues, that it won't be long before a Peerage is required to be a Great Officer. Which begins to take the Peerage from "Hall of Fame" award status to "Must Have This Punched" status.
Anything you try to do in Kingdom will garner the advice, "You need to get the Peers behind it, for it to succeed." Now, I will grant that you have a pool of people within the Peerage who have a great degree of collective experience to draw on. However, you also have a group of people who have a vested interest in the system as it currently operates - and therefore are anything but unbiased when it comes to matters of fundamental changes to the Kingdom or Society.
And I think some fundamental changes are needed.
What I don't know is whether I can spare the emotional energy to try to push for them.