(no subject)

[stitchwhich]

Today was my spouse's 71st birthday. He's still kinda stunned by it - he never thought that he would live this long. But he's adjusting. :D Dining out with friends helped with that. So did the bacon wrapped grilled asparagus at the restaurant.

I have been sewing SCA garb. At the same time, I have been stressing over the fact that there is no room for my new SCA garb in my garb boxes. So my piles of "too much fabric" in the craft room are destined to become "too much garb" once they are in the bedroom. And while thinking about that today I realised that I have no clue about what is in the right half of my clothes closet beyond a heavy winter coat. I never open that side of the doors. The closet is in a corner and the right doors form a corner with a side wall, which is where my SCA garb boxes are stacked, making it tough to access the rest of the closet. Which is fine since I really only need to use one side of the double closet. As a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of person, I don't need a lot of clothing. But now the internal pressure is building for me to go through all of my clothing storage and ruthlessly cull out those things that don't fit or (forgive me) don't "bring me joy". I need to decide that saving garments which are too small because they are nice and I'd want to wear them "when I lose a little weight" just need to go. But giving up my red & black striped 8th century wool gown (I can document that to Viking Dublin!) and my bulkier blue gown with the oh so cool weave will be hard. Especially to make room for cotton Mongolian deels or Ottoman coats.

The latest SCA BoD/Marshal kerfuffle has soured me a bit more about doing service in the SCA. What I wrote on Facebook was,

"It doesn't just affect the fighting field - how can any volunteer believe that they are supported by the organization when they make a decision according to our written rules? As a person in charge of a registration desk, will I be sanctioned for refusing to admit a minor arriving with a Royal Peer but without the required paperwork*? Can I refuse admittance to someone who was R&D'd or does that only apply to those who are not past royalty?

Where is my incentive to continue doing service in this organization now?

(Adding - luckily most Royal Peers wouldn't try to break any of the SCA's rules and are decent folk. But the BoD's decision seems to create a sharp divide between those allowed to break them and "the rest of us".)"

I hope that there is a good and solid reason for the decision the BoD made, as a couple of the members are friends of mine and I cannot imagine them siding with the Duke who caused the original problem just because he was a Duke. But the optics (a word I didn't think I'd ever use) look bad. Really bad. Then again, so does allowing said Duke to continue in the SCA with his known behavioural problems.

And in a more personal area, I am struggling with my Pennsic boss and the vacuum of information and support she has created. It is frustrating and feels like it is adversely affecting my reputation too. This is not the way I had hoped my last couple of Wars were going to go. I would quit - honestly, I really would - except that there is no one able (trained) who could replace me, and many of the regular volunteers who are planning on working at Troll this year are doing so because I am there. I cannot pull myself out without gutting the department again after that had been done the year before. I'm supposed to be rebuilding it.


*This actually happened to a woman who was Pennsic Troll a couple of years before my first stint at the job. It was her own king, too, and now after sanctioning she and her husband declared themselves citizens of a different kingdom.

Comments

[gurdymonkey]

Part of the reason I dumped my practice on someone else and haven't been to an event since August is that they need to not need me.

Maybe the SCA needs to not need you. Maybe someone else needs to step up and fill the hole and learn that they can do it.

[cellio]

Ugh, what did the BOD do now? I'm out of the loop.

I agree with the previous comment: you've poured a ton of yourself into that job, and at some point, it has to become someone else's problem. It's ok to say "this is my last year"; you're giving plenty of warning and if it falls apart without you, the system was already broken and that's not on you. You deserve to be able to enjoy yourself on your vacation.

I've kept some garb that I'll probably never wear again because of sentimental attachment. The choices aren't only "take room in my closet" and "toss". If you don't want to toss it, don't toss it -- and think about other places it could live. The sewing room doesn't sound like a bad option in your case; you were storing not-yet-garb fabric there and should now have some room for already-garb fabric, right?

[herveus]

Lsat Gulf Wars, Duke Baldur (Alex Cooley) of ongoing infamy from Trimaris attempted to fight on the rapier field without a valid authorization. When the RMIC would not allow it, he got the Trimaran kingdom earl marshal to sign paperwork (that requires two signatures). Then the RMIC would not buy that, it got ugly. Ultimately, the BoD sanctioned the RMIC for not accepting the authorization. And it's been established now that the kingdom earl marshals have the authority to sign authorization cards even if they themselves would otherwise not qualify to do so. As far as I know, Baldur was not sanctioned over this, nor the Trimaran kingdom earl marshal.

Baldur is the guy who began his most recent reign with an overtly religious coronation ceremony, and also elevated someone to the Order of Defense who was unanimously rejected by the order (and who turned out to be as much of a racist nazi awful person as Baldur seems to be).

It's not pretty. And apparently Alex Cooley has enough personal resources to credibly threaten lawsuits if the SCA BoD tries to balk him.

[cellio]

Whoa. So, so much wrongness there.

It has been a long time since I thought the BOD valued the best interests of society participants, but this is a new level of reckless disregard. From this account, they actively threw under the bus somebody who was following the rules, while allowing someone with royal rank and a presumed bank account to bully people. It feels less and less like something built on principles of honor and chivalry every time something like this happens. :-(

There was a time when the people in charge of the SCA would would have responded to threats of baseless lawsuits with "bring it". Now, they fall over themselves to appease, even though a suit about authorization rules keeping him out of one inconsequential tournament would be laughed out of court if it actually got there. And they show no regard for the harm they've done to the other people involved, especially the RMIC. Ugh.

[medievalbooks]

Had a somewhat similar situation on a much smaller scale. Fire Dept wanted a committee to write up a history of it for its 100th anniversary. Someone was chosen to lead that never showed up for meetings or give feedback or do the homework. I pretty much told the president that I was taking it over doing the research and Carol would pull various bits and pieces out to make up the history. And Chris would make up the 180 pamphlets from our information. 6 months working most nights on it got 6 albums full of information. Had a meeting last week, we presented what we had done so far. The president wasn't happy..she hadn't read it or looked at the albums. Told her I would be gone for two weeks, look at the stuff. And that Chris has to have 2 months to create the booklets, needed to work a half hour after work. Also let her know there wasn't going to be much change in the presentation unless something was wrong. I am dealing with the "you have only been here for 5 years, our families have been in the Fire Dept for generations" mentality, which is a a reason I chose Carol whose family has been in it for eons. Had to make it happen or it wasn't going to happen and the dept deserved better.

You did a fantastic job as head of Troll and you will again. You know what you are doing. If you need to go above that person's head, do it. Get what you need.


Oh, and if at sometime you need to find homes for handmedowns...please let me know!