[MR] KASF-A word from HRM Ragnarr

[SNSpies at aol.com]

If I may, I would like to add a perspective from someone who has only been  
in kingdom for ten years.
 
When we arrived in Atlantia, the first thing we were told was  this: Atlantia 
is a fighting kingdom.  We quickly also  discovered that there was almost no 
focus, let alone an equal focus, on the  arts and sciences.  They were 
distinctly the poor cousin of the fighting  arts.
 
We were absolutely delighted to attend the first KASF some years ago and  
have watched as the arts and sciences -- the very talented but  too long  
neglected artisans and the scientists -- blossom and grow into what we now see  at 
every KASF: displays of rigorous research, in-depth attention to period  
techniques, a hunger to pass this information along.  This has been  beautiful to 
watch.
 
The arts and sciences in Atlantia have started to reach parity with the  
fighting arts due mainly to the Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival, and the  
ripple-down effect on the kingdom has been pleasingly obvious.  
 
KASF (and University, for the most part ) is the only event in  the whole 
Atlantian calendar that is dedicated solely to the arts and  sciences.  It should 
be left that way.  If fighting is added, it just  becomes another regular 
event, and that would be a terrible shame.
 
Mistress Ingvild Josefsdatter
(Nancy Spies)
Barony of Bright Hills
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