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Props to Pearl...
Aug. 17th, 2011 07:21 am...for sending along this thread from the Armor Archive (which I tend to only read sporadically. I do have a job and all, people):
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=136988&hilit=census
Don't try to read the whole bloody thing, it's 22 pages of posts.
But a lot of it covered both the same territory I've covered here and a lot of the territory John and I have covered talking to each other (He's very much of the mind that to have a truly vibrant fighting community we need younger guys and to snag THEM we have to get them at 14/15/16 - and Boffer is not something "cool" enough for most of them. He was talking about a dojo-like set up. Apparently, so are other folks).
While I disagree with a few of the OP's assertion, the idea that we're at a tipping point where we can focus internally (as we are currently doing) and stagnate and die - or we can return to being a welcoming, newcomer friendly organization and survive - is probably on the money. Note, said OP was apparently on the committee that created the Survey (I won't hoist him by his own petard on that one....)
I do think this stagnation occurs in varying degrees. And I'd take issue with Duke Alaric's posit that the answer is to eliminate a whole bunch of Kingdoms and Baronies and make everything less concentrated. I think that's the answer of someone who's been in forever and sees thing change but pins it on a correlating rather than a causative factor.
Rather, I think the newer Kingdoms, because they tend to have lighter population densitites in general and of hoary old SCAdians in particular and because they are actively in the "making" phase are all in all healthier. I suspect this is why Northshield feels more "vibrant" in it's culture.
I'm also not sure that I can effectively communicated how the "Union Shop Mentality" that pervades the MK amplifies the stagnation to a point where I'm not sure how much can ultimately be salvaged. And it sticks in my craw precisely because I've always had to deal with it (from Jr. High when I first noticed it) and it makes me completely crazy. Defending your territory against all comers (even those who want to help), insisting that things always remain the way the currently are (even when that's untenable) and valuing people on seniority rather than talent are all major symptoms of this effect.
I did notice the other day whilst flipping through Feis dates and contemplating what our lifestyle would be like if Liesl really does start to succeed at ID, that mentally I was thinking, "Hmmm, that might be Val Day weekend. Ooh, that's awfully close to Crown!" And then I realized what I was doing. Heh. The SCA does become a lifestyle. Shaking loose from it to any degree won't be easy. But then again, it's hard to say at what point the whole house of cards is going to come crashing down, anyway.
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=136988&hilit=census
Don't try to read the whole bloody thing, it's 22 pages of posts.
But a lot of it covered both the same territory I've covered here and a lot of the territory John and I have covered talking to each other (He's very much of the mind that to have a truly vibrant fighting community we need younger guys and to snag THEM we have to get them at 14/15/16 - and Boffer is not something "cool" enough for most of them. He was talking about a dojo-like set up. Apparently, so are other folks).
While I disagree with a few of the OP's assertion, the idea that we're at a tipping point where we can focus internally (as we are currently doing) and stagnate and die - or we can return to being a welcoming, newcomer friendly organization and survive - is probably on the money. Note, said OP was apparently on the committee that created the Survey (I won't hoist him by his own petard on that one....)
I do think this stagnation occurs in varying degrees. And I'd take issue with Duke Alaric's posit that the answer is to eliminate a whole bunch of Kingdoms and Baronies and make everything less concentrated. I think that's the answer of someone who's been in forever and sees thing change but pins it on a correlating rather than a causative factor.
Rather, I think the newer Kingdoms, because they tend to have lighter population densitites in general and of hoary old SCAdians in particular and because they are actively in the "making" phase are all in all healthier. I suspect this is why Northshield feels more "vibrant" in it's culture.
I'm also not sure that I can effectively communicated how the "Union Shop Mentality" that pervades the MK amplifies the stagnation to a point where I'm not sure how much can ultimately be salvaged. And it sticks in my craw precisely because I've always had to deal with it (from Jr. High when I first noticed it) and it makes me completely crazy. Defending your territory against all comers (even those who want to help), insisting that things always remain the way the currently are (even when that's untenable) and valuing people on seniority rather than talent are all major symptoms of this effect.
I did notice the other day whilst flipping through Feis dates and contemplating what our lifestyle would be like if Liesl really does start to succeed at ID, that mentally I was thinking, "Hmmm, that might be Val Day weekend. Ooh, that's awfully close to Crown!" And then I realized what I was doing. Heh. The SCA does become a lifestyle. Shaking loose from it to any degree won't be easy. But then again, it's hard to say at what point the whole house of cards is going to come crashing down, anyway.