[Artemisia] Peer qualities (was: thought for discussion)

[Ellen Stavash]

Thanks, Bijou, for some excellent food for thought.  It's good to see you on the list!  Personally, I think that if a large number of people happened to be really, truly ready for Peerage in every respect, then all of them should be recognized.  I'm not interested in keeping things elite for the sake of it.  On the other hand, Peerage is more than a reward for hard work.  For one thing, it's a job.  Peers have duties and responsibilities not only to the Crown but to the Populace, and for most people, once they've got their Peerage, their hard work and personal development within the Society will never again be recognized with awards; rather, it will simply be expected as part of their job.  The good news is that this job can be very rewarding too.  There's nothing quite like watching your students learn, grow, and eventually surpass you.   

Sometimes you will hear people say that if you express a desire to be recognized with awards, or to get a Peerage, then "The Establishment" will see to it that you never get these things.  This is not true. (For one thing, we're not organized enough to make this happen, even if we wanted to!)  However, there is a core element in this false rumor which is worth considering.  If a person values awards even more than growing as a player, and even more than teaching and watching his or her students grow, then what happens to that person after he or she gets a Peerage?  The fact is, Peerage is a wonderful thing to achieve, and can make you feel really good about yourself for a while, but eventually life settles down into more or less what it was before the day of your ceremony.  Now what does the award-oriented player do, faced with the prospect of possibly never getting official recognition ever again?  That's a question that every Peer, and everyone who aspires to Peerage, needs to consider at some point.

Now, getting back to Bijou's post, the Solstice Court example is an interesting theoretical model.  I would say that the people in question don't necessarily deserve Laurels.  If they're also teaching enthusiastically, helping to organize arts-related events, and acting with great honesty and courtesy, among other things, then they may well be deserving.  

It's also not about producing "Laurel level products"-- although mastery of some period art or science is a basic prerequisite for being a Laurel.  For instance, here's another theoretical model for Solstice court, which is probably a more likely one... Suppose there are five very well dressed people in a room.  Four of them are wearing exquisite period garb, which they spent many hours sewing themselves, and which they made specifically for this event.  The fifth is a lady who is wearing an extremely well sewn gown, which she made six months ago.  She didn't have time to make a new one, because she was busy doing the research, making the patterns for her friends, helping them select fabrics, doing fittings for them, and giving them tips on period construction techniques.  Now she's at the event, and she's glowing with satisfaction because her four friends are so happy with their new outfits.  She has less in the way of visible products to show, but she is in fact the most promising Laurel candidate.

Anyway, I'll get off the soapbox now.
Ellen

----- Original Message -----
From: FactorOfSurprise at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 10:32 AM
To: artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] Thought for discussion-

<snip>
    Perhaps this comes from my not being a peer, but I also disagree with the  
"top 10% level" idea as well, in theory if not in practice.  If you went to a  
Solstice Court and saw that everyone had fully researched their garb, put  
hours of time and effort into coming out with a beautiful piece of art, and not  
only had researched the manners and customs of their time period but were  
implementing them in their game play would they not all deserve laurels - or only  
the 10% who had a few extra hours to put into their research and came out with  
a better finished product?  Granted, in real life 90% of our kingdom doesn't  
have the time, or necessarily the desire to put out laurel level products and  
awards should be given to those who deserve them, not as a matter of habit, but  
is the point of a peerage to create an elite inner circle of people who  
through their own conversations and judgements have deemed themselves more skilled  
than the rest of the kingdom, or is it to reward the hard work, efforts and  
achievements of people dedicating their time and efforts to medieval reinactment?

Bijou Jacqueline Josephine de FontaineGet more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
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