[MR] Coronation Curia - New Orders?

[Grace Morris]

on 9/19/01 12:58 AM, SNSpies at aol.com at SNSpies at aol.com wrote:

> <<  It seems like a feedback loop, where every new member of the order
> has to work harder to get there, and so works to maintain that high standard
> for future members.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing...only, how did
> that trend get started? >>
> 
> Dona Violante has a very good point here which I would like to address, if I
> may.  The perceived idea that the bar gets higher and higher for attaining
> awards in the SCA is in the nature of the beast itself.
>

The bar is getting higher because we KNOW more- and we can access it.  As an
old-timer (18 years in the SCA, 12 as a Laurel) I can tell you just how
difficult it used to be to get information, especially if you lived far from
a university library.  When events were held in a university town, we would
take Sunday to comb the library, scrounging for just one more piece of
information, one more source from a bibliography.  THEN you would send for
it interlibrary loan.  Now, you can find all kind of things through on-line
library sources and send for them from the comfort of your own home.  Add to
that the many interest lists:  if you want to know about something, you just
get on-line and ask.  Folks are glad to share sources, etc..  It's just not
hard to do more than basic research these days.  (Of course, if you want to
do what Ingvild or Thomas Longshanks are doing, that's another kettle of
fish!) "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."

Jessamyn di Piemonte