[Artemisia] A closed mouth gathers no feet

[Cat Clark]

On Sun, 2007-08-12 at 10:28 -0500,
artemisia-request at lists.gallowglass.org wrote:
> I disagree- if you do not believe that the Dream of Knight Errantry
> and Chivalric Actions and Courtly Graces is alive and well, 

Morgan dear,
I must not have written clearly enough. You're talking apples
and I'm taking oranges.  The zeitgeist to which I refer is that
of Haight-Ashbury, anything goes, be yourself, question authority,
do your own thing, dance to the tune of a different drummer. We're
talking the zeitgeist of the late 60's/early 70's here.  I was
not talking about courtesy/chivalry, but the late 60's outlook
on life that was in full flight and rebellion against "the
Establishment."  If you go back and read the early TIs, this way
of looking at the world is pervasive.  And it's why the SCA grew
and flourished - because it melded that zeitgeist of the time with
the romanticized Victorian conception of chivalry - and in a
the hotbed of the Summer of Love in the Bay Area...

Back when Elizabethans and Samurai were the extent of deviating
from the Late Gothic tourney society model that the founders had 
in mind, the "do your own thing" zeitgeist let all sorts of people  
play and participate in the SCA who were not exactly doint the
15th C. tourney society thing that Diana and Marianna and Henrick
and Dave and Flieg and fiends had in mind for Diana's going away 
party to send her off for a half year in the Peace Corps. But now,
40 years down the pike, this laissez faire attitude is hurting us 
because we are still trying to accommodate people who want to do 
their own thing under the SCA umbrella, with one result being such 
a dilution of efforts that we can not sustain the whole and are 
hurting the core vision. That's what I'm talking about, ok?  I 
think we would serve ourselves well to remind everyone that without
the founding vision, we risk becoming Not-the-Society in what we
do.  I really don't think I said we would be better off without 
chivalry and knight errantry, which I agree is alive and well on
the level of individual populace members on the green. If anything,
we don't have enough of these, especially of the good ol' fashioned
tourney society variety.  Capische?  ;-)  I think you're talking
people and I'm talking mission statement...

I was attempting to make the point that the 60s zeitgeist of our 
founders is now hurting us because if we continue to try to be all
things to all people as an organization, the loss of focus may
very well cause the Society to fail and break apart. If I accidentally
gave the impression that I was attacking our chivalric culture, then
the fault is upon my own head for not being sufficiently clear and
I beg for your pardon for it.  :)

The most telling piece of evidence that the SCA has some of its roots
planted in the Haight is the concluding act of Diana's farewell party
cum first tourney, where the participants marched up Telegraph Ave.
in Berkeley in garb, carrying signs protesting the 20th century...

ttfn
Therasia FootChanger