[Sca-librarians] Introductions!

[Sally Burnell]

Hello, Fellow SCAdian librarians!

     I heard about this list at the Knowne World Librarians meeting at 
Pennsic and have been meaning to join, but just did so now, so allow me 
to introduce myself. 

     In the Real World, my name is Sally Burnell and I am a 21 year 
employee of the Akron-Summit County Public Library system, working the 
whole time as a paraprofessional librarian in the bookmobile/Outreach 
Department. I'm 47 years old, hold a B.A. in Theatre from Kent State 
University (1979) and minored in Archaeology. I've lived in Kent since 
I was 2 years old, all of it in the same two block neighbourhood (OK, 
so I'm a hopeless homebody!). I wanted to go to Library School and have 
for 21 years, but it's financially impossible for me to do so. Tuition 
is too high and my salary is too small (I'm sure that all of you will 
agree - we didn't go into this for the money, we went into it for love 
of the career field!). 

     I was lucky with my undergrad degree - I was the indirect 
beneficiary of the G.I. Bill in that my father, a WWII veteran, was 
able to get out of West Virginia and go to college on it, where he 
decided to become a professor, and so, just shy of completing his Ph. 
D. in sociology, he was killed in a car accident in 1961 while driving 
to teach night classes at a branch campus of Kent State. His VA 
survivor's benefits, plus his Social Security survivor's benefits, plus 
being the daughter of deceased faculty and thus eligible for free 
tuition, got me through college, which made my widowed mother very 
happy that her four children could get a college education at little to 
no cost to her. 

     Anyway, that little bit of personal information aside, in the SCA, 
I am known as THLady Saradwen Ariandalen. I reside in the Marche of 
Gwyntarian (Portage/Summit Counties, OH), which is part of the brand 
new Barony of Brendoken in the Northern Oaken Region of the Middle 
Kingdom. I have been in the SCA for 27 years now, joining as a 20 year 
old college junior at Kent State in 1977. I hold an Award of Arms, the 
Award of the Purple Fret (an AoA level service award), the Order of the 
Willow (an AoA level A&S award), the Order of the Evergreen (a Grant 
level A&S award) and the Order of the Dragon's Heart (a Grant level 
service award). 

     Mostly I got my service awards for holding far too many offices to 
count over far too many years to count, plus numerous other odds 'n' 
ends, my A&S awards are for scribal arts, as I am a practicing scribe 
(although not so much this year as my health took a nosedive last fall 
and I am finally out of the woods, having had my last serious illness 
in mid-June, a bad case of shingles!) and I also, when arm twisted hard 
enough, do music as well (I'm terribly shy about singing and playing in 
public!). I also dabble in fibre arts at times. This having been a 
tough year, I've been laying low and not doing much but letting my body 
heal up from so many illnesses. 

     You will also see me at Pennsic schlepping water about on the 
battlefields as a very hard seasoned waterbearer, having been on the 
inaugural waterbearer's corps at PW 8. I teach waterbearing in addition 
to Pennsic survival for newbies (as well as scribing!). Having been 
through floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snow (yes, snow at Pennsic!), 
high wind, mud, blistering heat and other challenges from Mother Nature 
and having survived all of that over the years, I can honestly say that 
I am qualified to teach basic camp survival techniques, or at least how 
to keep your sense of humour when everything else around you is falling 
apart. 

     Anyway, not to ramble on at too much length, but I felt that an 
intro was in order. I promise I won't be so verbose next time! (OK, so 
I'll REALLY try, honest! :-D  )

I look forward to meeting others of you librarians on this list! 

~Saradwen
Midrealm