[MR] A&S issue

[Karen]

Gerita asked:

> But, beyond sharing our misery with one another, what constructive things can we do?

BE PROACTIVE.  ANYONE CAN BE PROACTIVE.  YOU CAN BE PROACTIVE, TOO.

YES, YOU, HUNDREDS OF OTHER PEOPLE READING THIS MESSAGE.  You don't have to be someone "official" or a peer or an MoAS or whatever.  YOU CAN BE A POSITIVE FORCE FOR CHANGE.




ARE YOU MAKING NIFTY STUFF?

Share it.  Teach classes about it.  Demonstrate your work at events.  Show your work in displays and competitions.

Learn to write effective documentation.  YOU CAN DOCUMENT WHAT YOU'RE DOING; everything is documentable.

Set up a website where you share the nifty stuff you do.  Take photos.  Talk to other people -- in Atlantia, in the SCA, in the world reenactment community -- who share your interests in your study areas.


Write about what you're doing.  Submit it to "The Oak" and "Tournaments Illuminated."  (Seriously, do you KNOW how content-hungry "Tournaments Illuminated" and "The Oak" are right now?  Seriously?  SO HUUUUUNGRY.  Feed these beasts.)



ARE YOU AN A&S OFFICER?

Help shine a light on the awesomesauce that your group is putting out.  Got poets?  Plead with them to publish.  (See above, regarding "The Oak" and "Tournaments Illuminated.")  Got makers of nifty stuff?  Encourage them to show their work at events, hook 'em up with people both within your group's borders and beyond who can help them learn more.

Work with your autocrats to plan A&S activities at upcoming events that your populace will get excited about -- and promote the contest far enough in advance that things can get done.  Cut it out with the esoteric "but wouldn't it be terribly interesting if" contests.  Nobody wants to make that crap.  Gauge what you want to encourage, and design competitions and activities that are doable, interesting, and engaging.  If there's a good space for an artisans' row (live displays/demos), do what you can to encourage this to happen.

Spend a little time analyzing what your group needs overall, as well as what is going to help your group's artisans in particular.  Did your last A&S competition suffer from lousy (or nonexistent) documentation?  Stop writing "documentation not required" in the competition description, and actually hold a workshop in documentation-writing.  Do you have a lot of shyness, a lot of people too timid or intimidated or uninterested in showing their work, but they're doing nifty stuff?  What can you do to hold their hands and help them move forward into the light?  (This is going to be a question you're going to have to answer on a case-by-case basis.)



ARE YOU A TOOTH-GNASHING, SOUL-CRUSHING, MINDGAME-PLAYING PEER, A&S JUDGE, AND/OR OLD FART?

Of course you are.  You think you're the quiet type, reticent, polite.  They think you're an arrogant, conceited person who'd have nothing to do with 'em.  You're busy with a thousand behind-the-scenes tasks for an event.  They think you're a lazy bum who's not working hard, because you're not helping them load their own personal crap, or you breezed past them without so much as a "pardon me," even though they can't tell that you're on the cellphone with the site superintendent dealing with a major problem that needs to be dealt with right now or else the event is over for EVERYBODY.

It's about perceptions.  You have to be your own public relations representative.  You are the Ambassador of the Country of You.  Are you being your own best diplomat?


There is always going to be someone butthurt over whatever comment you could possibly make on a judging form -- and likewise butthurt over not getting any comments at all.  Start your comment with a cheery compliment -- "Great work!"  "This is lovely!"  "I like your technique here!"  Make sure you have looked over the written documentation -- nobody likes to see "Have you considered ..." when YES, DUMMY, SEE THE SECOND PARAGRAPH OF THE DOCUMENTATION.  Include some contact info for follow-up.  Better yet -- if you actually *do* want to follow up, YOU CAN BE PROACTIVE, TOO -- get that entrant's contact information, pop 'em an email when you get home.  (Or see if you can meet up at the event.  Smile.  Be pleasant and charming.  See above, regarding being the Ambassador of the Country of You.)  Remember that this person has been studying this subject at some level for some time -- they may not be an expert, but they've got an opinion, and it may
 well <gasp!> be valid. ;-)


Work with your local A&S officer.  Can you offer a workshop in your skill area?  Is there someone who can benefit from one-on-one assistance with your area of expertise?  Is there something you can do?  Take a look around.  Someone is looking for a hand to hold.


And for crying out loud, you can write for "Tournaments Illuminated" and/or "The Oak," too.  These beasts want the tasty, tasty fruits of your brainmeats.  FEED THEM.





So, that's the answer.  BE PROACTIVE.  You see the need -- that's what this whole thread has been about, hasn't it?  Be the answer.




Karen Larsdatter
www.larsdatter.com