[SCA-AE] are we doing too much? (long)

[KaziBrionSCA]

Greetings!

     > >Now compare your average SCAdian, who dabbles in 3 things,
     > to your average
     > >neighbor.  You will find that our neighbors may have one
     > hobby, or maybe no
     > >hobby at all!
     >
     > That's pretty darn elitist of you, Kazi.

Thank you.  I have never been called an elitist before.


     > Let me point out that this is an unfair assessment of both people in
     > the SCA and people outside the SCA.  Just because we don't find
     > things like crossword puzzles, scrapbooking, floral arranging,
     > scripture study, reading the newspaper, video games, shooting guns,
     > survival, crochet, candlewicking, computers, or whatever as
     > interesting as the myriad of things that we can do in the SCA that
     > have a clear and somewhat singular focus, I think it is somewhat out
     > of focus to assume that those people don't have hobbies, or hobbies
     > as engaging as our own.

Let's see...I do crosswords in 2 languages (my other two aren't good
enough).  I scrapbook our photos, occasionally.  I definitely arrange
flowers, both Ikebana and traditional US kind - I learned how from a florist
who allowed me to help with my wedding flowers to save money.  I study
religion a good bit.  I do needle-work, including crochet.  I have tried to
make candles before (but decided it's too hard on our kitchen).  I read my
Wall Street Journal.  I shoot guns.  I learn survival techniques, both
primitive and modern, by mundane teachers.  I use and break computers :-).
OK, no video games - too much visual stimulus.

In addition to your examples, I study and teach mundane martial arts,
volunteer in the running of the dojo, am a member of the PTA, run the
Science Fair, help with swim-team fundraising, work with non-profit business
groups in organizing international trade missions, give speeches at business
luncheons, volunteer at Tellabration (a mundane story-telling event,
annual),  take on language translations,  play my flute occasionally, help
with homework, do all kinds of domestic chores, enjoy indoor and outdoor
gardening (my orchids died again, though...). Plus raise the kids with
Brion.  Plus keep up with my great marital relationship, which takes time we
need to block off to spend time alone and talk on a regular basis.  Brion's
the brain behind our menu planning, but I still do a lot of "fun cooking",
and we entertain mundanely.  International travel is fun, too, so are
restaurants and concerts.  Take the kids to museums and "into nature".  Bike
rides. Art projects.  Building a circus trapeze in the back yard. Hikes and
walks.  Going fishing. Genealogy.  Plus I run a small, international,
high-tech business on the side so I can get paid.

There is also a long list of things I no longer do, like car racing, rock
climbing, et cetera.

This is normal for the SCA.  It does seem a bit out of the ordinary for our
non-SCA friends.

I never thought of being elitist, I thought I merely lacked focus.  For sure
there are people in our neighborhoods who have meaningful hobbies.  But I
know, personally and fairly well, a number of our neighbors who are pretty
boring people.  Maybe our interests don't intersect, true.  I hope they
enjoy their life, but sometimes I am not so sure.  They view our activities
with a degree of puzzlement.  They are alarmed at the fact that our kids are
allowed to shoot arrows with real metal points.  I have a hard time relating
to some of them, because they are *booo-ring*! (But nice otherwise :-)


     > When you finally meet me, you will have finally met someone who
     > typically doesn't read for pleasure and doesn't consider
     > themselves a
     > 'reader'.

Perhaps you are the exception that proves the rule.  I once met a Tuchux who
didn't read, but most in that group do, as well as most SCAdians I have met.
Nothing wrong with it...it's just a trend I have noticed over the years.

	>I also think that the assertion that the SCA magically
     > makes people more likely to be readers than people outside is
     > incorrect.

I haven't actually asserted that people will become readers.  I have
asserted that people can try new things and the overall SCA environment
encourages and fosters people's curiosity.  Take your average office
employee who works out of a cubicle and spends time in meetings...what a
breath of fresh air the SCA can be!  Of course there are other groups who
promote cross-crafting, as somebody else has pointed out.  That's great.
Some of them are better at it than we are, perhaps.  Anything that draws
Dilbert of of his cubicle to have some fun is to be applauded.


     > I've spent a lot of my free time wandering among the non-SCAdian
     > majority and find most of what you're writing here to be untrue.
     > What they do may not interest me in the least, but I'm not going to
     > be a snob and claim that they aren't doing anything or reading
     > anything.  You can look in many a garage or bathroom reading pile to
     > see what people are doing.

OK, let's be logical here.  Just because I claim that most SCAdians read for
fun doesn't mean that most mundanes don't read for fun.  However, I do think
it's likely that most SCAdians read more than the rest of the "general
population".  This is based on my personal experience.   Perhaps my
experience is tainted by hanging out with non-readers.   BTW bathroom piles
are misleading.  Some people have catalogs and crosswords, others have pulp
fiction.  I showel books out of bathrooms all the time.  We keep Longfellow,
Kipling, and Houseman in the downstairs powder-room to look more erudite for
visitors :-)


     > Of course I think the SCA has a lot of good points, but I also think
     > that there are PLENTY of other people out there doing some spiffy
     > stuff who will never set foot in an SCA event.

Of course there are.

Kazi


     >
     > Flaxy
     >
     > _______________________________________________
     > Sca-aethelmearc mailing list
     > Mail posts to: discussion at aethelmearc.org
     > Visit
     > https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sca-aethelmearc
 for more info.