STARTING OUT
My first SCA meeting was in 2001, in Atlantia’s Canton of Buckston-on-Eno in the Barony of Windmaster’s Hill. Shortly afterward they took me to my first Event, where I got to wander around and see all of the various things the SCA has to offer in small, intimate scale. It was absolutely lovely, full of whimsy, and clearly a group of “my” people.
By my next Event, I was friends with people who happened to be helpers, and we put up pavilions, worked in the kitchen, packed up site… all the little on-the-ground things that Make Events Happen. Eventually, I became the President of the various student SCA groups at the colleges I attended, helping to organize student activities and campus demos, as well as reserving rooms for weekly Canton business meetings. Sharing with and recruiting new enthusiastic members from the student body was one of the most rewarding parts of that job.
With this group, service was easy because it was hanging out with people who were fun to hang out and work with. In addition to general helping and holding offices, I did a lot of work with children. Four of my siblings are significantly younger than me, so I was at ease with youth and ended up helping out with children’s activities frequently. This work moved my Barony and my Kingdom to induct me into orders for my service (St. Nicholas, Opal).
The decision to move to New York in 2009 was a difficult one, for many reasons, but a large one was leaving behind the people and the Kingdom I had grown accustomed to and starting completely anew. I knew that I wouldn’t have many resources for the first 3 years because of law school, so I would have to give up most of my SCA activities until after graduation. But I had friends in NY that were non-SCA, and I was pretty sure I could get through those 3 years with that support network whether I had an SCA network or not. So I went for it.
NEW KINGDOM, NEW START
Not too long after I moved, I began dating my now-Husband (P). It became clear he was a serious contender for life partner, so I decided I had to introduce him to the SCA since it was an important part of my life, even though I knew nothing and nobody here. So we did some research and found the group operating in his city, and I joined their email list and lurked.
They had an Event coming up in a few months: Wars of the Roses on Memorial Day weekend. After watching some of the discussion, I had a pretty good idea of who would be relaxed and welcoming to camp with, and I reached out looking for a group who would allow us to camp with them and share in meals. P also reached out in parallel. We both got responses from the same Household: Vestfell Farmstead, from the people who had already established themselves on the mailing list as relaxed and welcoming. (Not that they knew they were doing that…) So we took them up! It was a lovely camping experience, if somewhat hot. We, of course, helped with what we could.
FINALLY JOINED A HOUSEHOLD
This Event became the foundation for our decision to join the Farmstead, with whom we served in many capacities at many future Events. We have a joke that “Vestfell” translates to “conscripted labor,” which is only partially inaccurate (we retain the ability to say no — there is no requirement that anyone give more than they are able at any given time).
Vestfell volunteered as teardown crew for Roses, was a large part of the crew for Beowulf the Event (I personally didn’t have much to do with that one), volunteered as labor for other Events, and eventually started moving toward higher jobs like running Events and sub-divisions of Events, holding branch offices, and serving Kingdom and Barony in a myriad other ways.
AND SO…
This was my introduction to the East, and it has shaped my path from that Memorial Day in 2010. Seven years later, I am looking back on my experiences and what I have learned, and through this blog I hope to share those things with you. Perhaps some of the challenges I have encountered will resemble those of others, and my experiences and resolutions may provide insight or tools for overcoming them. As I write about these, I will add them to the “Steal This Idea” page for easy access so that this website is a more helpful resource for those who would also walk this path.
Smash the Shell 