[MR] Tokens left for A&S entries was gift giving and A&S judging

[Tricia Donadio]

Wow.  If someone were to give me a token, regardless of what it was (looked
like, how it was made, etc), I think it would be terribly rude and
ungracious of me to think "Gee, you should work harder on your tokens,
'cause they look like crap next to my hard work." Or "Thanks for telling me
you like my stuff, but did you really have to leave a token for everyone
else?"

Gestures of appreciation, in whatever form they take, are just that, and
ought to be appreciated.  It is, after all, the thought that counts.
Perhaps those "horrible, and everything in between" entries are someone's
first attempt, or her first entry into a competition.  It is that kind of
elitist attitude that keeps people from participating in the A&S community
more fully.

What, precisely, is wrong with having A&S tables LITTERED with tokens of
appreciation? Hoarding up tokens as a measure of the worth of your art is
silly.  Tokens are not descriptive, constructive commentary on your work.
If that is what you are seeking, no token will convey it.  Tokens are a nice
way to say "Hey, I saw your stuff.  Cool!  Keep it up!"  Artisans who want
to give real feedback can certainly do so, but I doubt that I could
interpret a handmade something as saying "This is wonderful research.  You
should see sources XYZ, and perhaps focus more on ABC."

I have a variety of tokens that I carry with me, and none of them were made
by my hand.  Some of them are of a period style, but all of them are clearly
identifiable as being from me.

Padraigin

-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-bounces at atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-bounces at atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of Olwen the Odd
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 3:12 PM
To: Atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: [MR] Tokens left for A&S entries was gift giving and A&S judging

Somehow this is not the same almost at all but here goes.

I have seen folks who leave tokens of appreciation for A&S entries over the 
course of the last many years and have even gotten a few myself and found 
this a kind and encouraging gesture.

More recently I have watched this kindly gesture turn into something that 
holds almost no meaning any longer, on two levels.

Over time I have seen more and more computer generated business cards, 
sometimes with a bead or something attached and sometimes not.  Now, I know 
your heart means well, but let's face it, this is the SCA and we are trying 
to recreate the past.  So you plunk down your computer generated business 
card on top of a hand made re-creation to show you appreciate the 
workmanship and/or documentation.  hhhhhhmmmmmmmmm.........  But the part 
that I find worse is that more and more often people are just plunking down 
their cards or tokens on ALL the entries, magnificent, horrible, and 
everything in between.

Now, put yourself (if you have been there you probably know what I'm talking

about here) in the place of the artisan who works very hard on a project 
that has sometimes taken over their life for a while; one who does the 
research and the documentation and sets forth a beautiful display which  
sits on the table next to a project that may be made by someone who has 
entered an ok piece of work with little or no documentation, or maybe 
something that is done by a complete novice in the skill set.  All of these 
happen, and that is just the way it is supposed to be.  Nobody ever came out

with any more skills than the other - we all knew how to breath - that's it 
- everything else is a learning experience.  Ok, back to the topic... It is 
perfectly fine for any one of us to appreciate someone's work, even if it 
isn't the best "knock your socks off" thing on the table.  Sometimes the 
"knock your socks off" thing is not *your* thing.  Maybe the item by a 
not-so-good novice *is*your thing, leave a token!  It is even better if we 
let someone know that we really *LIKE* their project!  But how does an 
artist KNOW if they see the very same token at every piece of art on the 
table?

Of course we would all like to say how much we appreciate everyone for 
entering a competition or display, but if we all did then the arts would be 
buried in tokens.  Instead, we may consider getting back to the idea of 
leaving a small token of our appreciation for the particular items that we 
enjoy, thus giving more meaning to that token.

OK, I'm stepping down from the haybale now and readying myself for the 
pitchfork toss.

Cariad a heddwch (love and peace)

Dame Olwen the Odd
Laurel to Lady Katherine O'Carroll
Order of the Pearl
Bright Hills Cooks Guild
House Blackstar
Barony of Bright Hills
Kingdom of Atlantia!

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