[Archers] my take

[Charles Sprouse]

I think everything said back and forth here have been good points, but I have to agree with a couple people more directly.  The A&S aspect of things should not be something we HAVE to do to get a peerage.  Not that I am knocking that side, in fact I personally am fairly interested in that, and have already made my own crossbow and make my own bolts, quiver, etc.  That being said, not every archer WANTS to do that, nor should they have to.  To become a Laurel, yes they would and should have to get into the A&S/history side of things, and to be a pelican, they would and should have to delve deep into the service side of the archery community.  But the Chivalry, as has been noted already by others, get recognized primarily for their pure ability at their 'profession'.  Yes, they have their chivalric traits they are supposed to exemplify, but so would most archers at the same level of our 'profession'.  Their are knights who have not built a thing,
 nevert submitted an A&S entry, never ran an event.  They are knights because they are VERY good at what they do and somebody decided that they personified what 'we' should all be striving for and that is great.  I am not taking anything away from these knights, they deserve what they have gotten.  But to translate that into our profession nothing exists to honor or recognize those who are simply VERY good at what they do and that personify what we should all be striving for in OUR community.  A good archer who excels at these other things, as Seamus, Colum, Mors, Siegfried, Godai, Janyn, Jonathas, etc. do can very well get recognized as a Laurel or Pelican as warrants, but I still come back to the fact that this would be recognizing them not for their skill as an archer, but for their skill at bowmaking, leatherwork, historical research, service, etc.  What about their pure ability?  Why is that not deserving of recognition in its own right?
 
Again, just the two cents of someone who is currently 'unaffected' by this discussion/decision since I am admittedly not there yet, but I do see so many who are there and it just doesn't seem right.
 
Karl von Konigsberg

From: "loreleielkins at aol.com" <loreleielkins at aol.com>
To: archers at atlantia.sca.org 
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 7:55 AM
Subject: [Archers] my take


Thank you, Baroness Martelle and all of you for this discussion. Great discourse.  I encourage everyone to take Martelle's challenge and WOW them at Crown Tournament with your archery A&S!  Show them your stuff. 

I have been encouraging the entire archery community during my tenure as DEM (and more locally before that), and I'll keep saying it - to promote archery.  To talk it up, communicate with the autocrats, put your shoot results on the lists, entice people to your shoot, run a competition, write articles, sponsor a display or A&S and teach at University, Pennsic, on the field.  Make some noise. Submit your friends for awards, talk up their prowess. AND, talk and discuss things with each other, openly.  

I think the archery community as a whole has been doing this to a much greater degree the last few years.  No, not due to me, but due to all of us holding our chins higher and expecting more from ourselves and from the non archery community in general.  We've insisted on equal time in court when they hand out the prizes, not whined that we didn't get it, but expected it, and gotten it.  Yes, I think we still have a long way to go but we've come so very far!

Continue to invite the Crowns to shoot archery with you, continue to promote your events and show your excitement when someone has done well.  Believe me, people are noticing.  I too think that archery does not fit neatly into any peerage we currently have, and I support a 4th peerage because of that. It is my opinion, as others have stated, that so many of you are a complete package when it comes to archery, not just one small aspect of the art and that is why we don't fit in neatly. Well it's not a neat world and things aren't always fair, but we can work to make them more fair.  

ALWAYS behave in the best possible chivalrous manner and hold yourself to a higher standard.  I was told by two different Crowns, that archers are the most courteous people they had ever interacted with.  That's a win for us folks. 

This has been a great conversation, and I'm sure it isn't over.  We've identified a problem, now let's work on the solutions.  No, I don't think anyone has been whining, because as you all know, there IS no whining in Archery.

Lorelei
setting down her pom-poms

See you this weekend at Ymir or at University
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