[MR] Personna and creating the mood

[EllenG at mchsi.com]

That magical time when the present melts away and the past gently flows in 
around you is an experience that is not easily forgotten.  Sometimes it only 
lasts moments, other times longer, and a lot of time it doesn't happen at 
all.    

My first such moment was shortly after I began playing, at an event held at 
Kings Mountain, NC.  Feast was over and it was beginning to get dark.  Folks 
were lighting their torches, some strolled through the area with candle 
lanterns, quietly talking and laughing.  On the steps of the feast hall were 
several people who were singing period songs acappella; beautiful voices that 
carried through the night air.  Not far away another group was sharing stories 
while speaking forsoothly.

As I walked away from the more populated area toward the cabin, flickers of 
light could be seen from the torches and lanterns, and the voices in song wove 
tapestries of times past...a slipstream into the middle-ages...I could have 
sworn I was really there.

That moment still lives in my memory and that moment is one that I share with 
newcomers.  I have been associated with the office of the Chatelaine, in one 
way or another, for some years now.  I would love to see all of us try, just a 
little more, to keep the original reason we came to the SCA alive and to help 
these new people (who will keep the SCA going when we are old and gone)living 
the Dream.

I am just as guilty as the next person for 'forgetting' and I pledge now to do 
more to help make the dream come alive however I can.

--
Lady Elizabet de Roslyne
Kingdom Emergency Deputy Chatelaine,
Protegee of Duke Olaf Askoldssonn
House Askoldssonn, Atlantia