Cookies, Recognition and perception
Apr. 18th, 2005 01:14 pmThis weekend was Heralds and Scribes. It was a nice event. Got to spend time with family and have pack time. And road trips with ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dicea are always fun.
However I had had it in my mind that my class was to be at 1pm. So we took our time getting to the event and arrived at 10:30, walked past a classroom and got "there you are" and learned I was supposed to be teaching at 10.
So I taught my one hour class in 30 minutes in mundanes rather than in garb. And let me tell you that it is a rather unsettling feeling. The whole experience of getting into garb helps me to put myself into the frame of mind needed to teach on the subject.
Luckily for me there were only two people in the class, well three because Dicea sat in through it as well, and Dicea and one of the others has taken the class before and the other woman is from my Barony so i can giver her better information another time.
But I got through it and then went and put on garb and spent the day sociallizing. At 4pm I taught my class again because one of the other teachers was sick. Again I had three students, two of which had taken the class before.
However the second time around was slightly different, the teacher from the class timeslot before mine was still there cleaning up. Normally this wouldn't have really phased me, but this was Master Brendan. I mean, I look upon him as one of the premiere Laurels and teachers in the society. So needlesstosay I was nervous. But I hung on and started my class.
For any of my dear readers who do not know, I have focused my SCA research into finding and using period documents as inspiration for wording for scrolls. It is not, to my knowledge, something many in AEthelmearc had really done research in, and felt it was something that should be done, gives more flavor and authenticity to scrolls, and is not a cookie-cutter idea in the Arts and Sciences. I promise that soon I will put up on my webpage examples of my wording and even my class notes.
Anyway back to my tale. As I get through I start talking about where to find the documents and I mention online sources. I state "Don't limit yourself to just legal documents and decrees. Look for publications and other sources of period writing. For example, the Malleus Maleficarum is on line". At that point Master Brendan turns, looks at me and grins. He then says "wow, I really wish I had the time to sit in on the rest of this class".
I can't even begin to describe the overwhelming honor I felt to hear those words. This was Master Brendan, and he was impressed with me and my presentation and stuff. Oh wow... happy wuzzle feelings all over.
I finish the class with that "Oh gosh, gee, wow-wee" feeling and then go about getting ready for feast. As I'm in the ladies room freshening up, I run into Mistress Allicia. Another one of those Laurels whom I respect beyond words and wish and pray that someday I can even be 1/100 the person and artist and all that she is. She's there cleaning paintbrushes from the class she had taught. She looks up and goes "Oh Ekat..." in that happy Allicia voice that makes me go all squooshing cuz she knows who I am. "I wanted to talk to you."
At this point I don't know what I should be feeling... worried because she wants to talk to me... happy because she wants to talk to me, etc. So I go over and she explains to me that she has begun to really notice that since I have started teaching my class, the quality of the wordings on scrolls has really improved. This was especially evident, apparently, during the calligraphy judging at the Ice Dragon Pentathalon. Mistress Allicia, went on to explain that she has been so impressed that she went to the organizer of the Pent to see if they can add a new category to the C&I section. they have Illumination and they have Calligraphy. She's trying to push for a category for "wording". My head began to swim. Not only had she noticed me, my work, my research and the effect it was having on the scribal word, she's trying to help get my stuff a place at the Ice Dragon Pent.
She said she had seen the research I had done for a Fleur d'AEthelmearc scroll's wording that I had done and would have loved to have seen it entered into the pent. She told me that the organizer said that right now the wordings would have to go into the Poetry and Prose category and that means entering them actually a month before the actual Pent so that the judges can read through them.
Allicia said that if we start encouraging the scribes to enter this and we can get a couple years of several people entering it, we might just might be able to show the need for the new category.
I left that ladies room going "oh my god".
On the drive home, Dicea and I got to talking and I really realized that the two encounters I had at the event with Master Brendan and Mistress Allicia was all the recognition I could ever want or need from the Society when it comes to my research.
I know that some perceive me as a "cookie hunter" or that I am aloof and don't seem to accept praise of my work well. But see... I can't look at my work without going "I can and need to do better" or "it's not perfect don't judge it until I am comfortable with it". In fact, the only reason I've been teaching my class has been because other people ask me to. They have said "I want to learn that... you need to teach a class" so I do.
I could care less if I get any other awards from my Kingdom. I do not seek the medallion, and I do not have much room on my walls left for scrolls. I do not do this for the public acclaim. I do it because it is something that interests me. I do it because it is an area that needed to be explored. I do it because I want to. I do it because I find it fun.
So, keep the cookies. Keep the scrolls. Being told by two people whom I respect very much that they have noticed, is all the recognition that I need.
dicea are always fun.However I had had it in my mind that my class was to be at 1pm. So we took our time getting to the event and arrived at 10:30, walked past a classroom and got "there you are" and learned I was supposed to be teaching at 10.
So I taught my one hour class in 30 minutes in mundanes rather than in garb. And let me tell you that it is a rather unsettling feeling. The whole experience of getting into garb helps me to put myself into the frame of mind needed to teach on the subject.
Luckily for me there were only two people in the class, well three because Dicea sat in through it as well, and Dicea and one of the others has taken the class before and the other woman is from my Barony so i can giver her better information another time.
But I got through it and then went and put on garb and spent the day sociallizing. At 4pm I taught my class again because one of the other teachers was sick. Again I had three students, two of which had taken the class before.
However the second time around was slightly different, the teacher from the class timeslot before mine was still there cleaning up. Normally this wouldn't have really phased me, but this was Master Brendan. I mean, I look upon him as one of the premiere Laurels and teachers in the society. So needlesstosay I was nervous. But I hung on and started my class.
For any of my dear readers who do not know, I have focused my SCA research into finding and using period documents as inspiration for wording for scrolls. It is not, to my knowledge, something many in AEthelmearc had really done research in, and felt it was something that should be done, gives more flavor and authenticity to scrolls, and is not a cookie-cutter idea in the Arts and Sciences. I promise that soon I will put up on my webpage examples of my wording and even my class notes.
Anyway back to my tale. As I get through I start talking about where to find the documents and I mention online sources. I state "Don't limit yourself to just legal documents and decrees. Look for publications and other sources of period writing. For example, the Malleus Maleficarum is on line". At that point Master Brendan turns, looks at me and grins. He then says "wow, I really wish I had the time to sit in on the rest of this class".
I can't even begin to describe the overwhelming honor I felt to hear those words. This was Master Brendan, and he was impressed with me and my presentation and stuff. Oh wow... happy wuzzle feelings all over.
I finish the class with that "Oh gosh, gee, wow-wee" feeling and then go about getting ready for feast. As I'm in the ladies room freshening up, I run into Mistress Allicia. Another one of those Laurels whom I respect beyond words and wish and pray that someday I can even be 1/100 the person and artist and all that she is. She's there cleaning paintbrushes from the class she had taught. She looks up and goes "Oh Ekat..." in that happy Allicia voice that makes me go all squooshing cuz she knows who I am. "I wanted to talk to you."
At this point I don't know what I should be feeling... worried because she wants to talk to me... happy because she wants to talk to me, etc. So I go over and she explains to me that she has begun to really notice that since I have started teaching my class, the quality of the wordings on scrolls has really improved. This was especially evident, apparently, during the calligraphy judging at the Ice Dragon Pentathalon. Mistress Allicia, went on to explain that she has been so impressed that she went to the organizer of the Pent to see if they can add a new category to the C&I section. they have Illumination and they have Calligraphy. She's trying to push for a category for "wording". My head began to swim. Not only had she noticed me, my work, my research and the effect it was having on the scribal word, she's trying to help get my stuff a place at the Ice Dragon Pent.
She said she had seen the research I had done for a Fleur d'AEthelmearc scroll's wording that I had done and would have loved to have seen it entered into the pent. She told me that the organizer said that right now the wordings would have to go into the Poetry and Prose category and that means entering them actually a month before the actual Pent so that the judges can read through them.
Allicia said that if we start encouraging the scribes to enter this and we can get a couple years of several people entering it, we might just might be able to show the need for the new category.
I left that ladies room going "oh my god".
On the drive home, Dicea and I got to talking and I really realized that the two encounters I had at the event with Master Brendan and Mistress Allicia was all the recognition I could ever want or need from the Society when it comes to my research.
I know that some perceive me as a "cookie hunter" or that I am aloof and don't seem to accept praise of my work well. But see... I can't look at my work without going "I can and need to do better" or "it's not perfect don't judge it until I am comfortable with it". In fact, the only reason I've been teaching my class has been because other people ask me to. They have said "I want to learn that... you need to teach a class" so I do.
I could care less if I get any other awards from my Kingdom. I do not seek the medallion, and I do not have much room on my walls left for scrolls. I do not do this for the public acclaim. I do it because it is something that interests me. I do it because it is an area that needed to be explored. I do it because I want to. I do it because I find it fun.
So, keep the cookies. Keep the scrolls. Being told by two people whom I respect very much that they have noticed, is all the recognition that I need.
