[Artemisia] Event Thoughts

[Mary Hodges]

I have experienced "magic moments" at really unpromising venues.  What 
they all have in common is not being indoors or outdoors, camping 
weekends or day events, but *people* making the effort to step out of 
their mundane selves and letting the rest of us follow.  One such 
experience was Baron Niccolo's Laurel ceremony.  It was held in a 
university banquet room, a decidedly unpromising place, with assorted 
mundane artifacts and people in constant view, but the power of the 
words, the naked sword blade, and Master Niccolo's conviction lifted me 
into a world where the king did have power of life and death, and for a 
few moments, mundanity vanished.

I suppose that's why I'm so crotchety about names of awards and heralds 
and things.  Words have power, and words that throw the modern world in 
my face tend to decrease the likelihood and frequency of "magic moments."

Just my experience.

Jehane



Bruce Padget wrote:
> --- Sir Gregory writes:
> 
> 
>>Let me go out on a limb here and guess that the
>>overwhelming majority
>>of "magic" happens at camping events.  If so, that
>>skews the logic a
>>bit.
>>
>>Gregory
> 
> 
> Quite right, camping (or at least outdoor) events were
> mentioned most often.  The trick would be capturing
> whatever they have for other events.
> 
> One aspect would be the fact that camping events have
> you playing around the clock, for more total immersion
> in the game.  In that connection, I've been to several
> winter "day" events in Montana where the site opened
> Friday afternoon and closed Sunday afternoon.  The
> actual "event" only runs Saturday, but there's plenty
> of time for unstructured revelry and immersion.
> 
> Another aspect is ambience.  As Elyn and I discussed
> yesterday, Nature is a great decorator. :D  Some of
> than ambience can be brought into day events, tho.
> Many schools and churches have wonderful little
> courtyard or garden areas.  However, we usually leave
> them entirely unused, walking past them on our way to
> the lawn where the tourney will be held.  (My combat
> form has particularly fallen down here -- rapierists
> were once known for taking great care to select the
> most picturesque spots that would safely accomodate
> combat.)
> 
> Also, once the weather gets decent, "day" event
> doesn't have to mean "indoor" event.  Consider parks
> (public or private) and USFS or BLM group use areas. 
> Sentinel's Keep has often made great use of museum
> grounds.
> 
> Even an indoor event can have a good "wooly" feel,
> with a little luck in site-finding.  Some great Loch
> Salann events were held at the Old Mill, which
> was...well, an old, half-tumbledown mill.
> 
> When Sir Gregory and I discussed this last night, two
> other "outdoor" factors came up -- darkness and
> inebriation.  Darkness can come indoors, even where
> flames are forbidden -- just have to remember that,
> with few exceptions, there are choices other than Full
> Dark and All the G**D*** Flourescents on.  As for
> inebriation -- I fully realize the more and more sites
> are ruling that out.  Just have to find substitutes :)
> 
> Another thought I've had for a few years, that
> somewhat ties in.  For indoor event sites, the focus
> seems to be that we need to find One Big Room.  While
> that room is handy, we too often stop with the One Big
> Room.  Very few of my "magic" moments have happened in
> the OBR.  Rather, they've usually occured in side
> rooms or other small spaces, with smaller gatherings
> ranging from a dozen down to complete solitude. The
> topography and foliage of outdoor sites lends itself
> to many rooms of various sizes, especially when you
> have tentage helping to define the spaces.
> 
> Even the OBR can be made into many rooms of various
> sizes, tho.  Elyn was at a Mid Eastern event in Twin
> Moons, where the event was in an OBR.  However, by use
> of their rugs, the attendees divided the OBR into
> little "encampments."
> 
> That last paragraph comes round to a key point I've so
> far left unsaid -- when you take the onus of making an
> event happen off the event steward, you put it
> squarely on the attendees.  My experience has been
> that attendees learn this very quickly, given the
> opportunity.
> 
> Regards,
> Niccolo
> Abbastanza Buon Non E Abbastanza Buono
> bapadget at yahoo.com
> 
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