Saturday, April 17, 2004
The Rise and Fall of Crispinus Spellar, Part Two
Or, How I Learned to Love and Then Hate The Society for Creative Anachronism
Author's Note: Make sure to read Part One before reading this.
As I said in the first part of this story, I joined the SCA mostly out of boredom and an interest in the Middle Ages. For the first several months, I really enjoyed what I was doing, who I was meeting and the things I was becoming involved in.
However, as the old saying goes, the honeymoon came to an end. Before long, I had become a part of Ardchreag (the Scarborough/Pickering canton -- I might as well name it; it's easy to find out what it's called since you know the location) and was soon going to events at least once or twice a month. When the chatelaine (the person in charge of greeting people new to the SCA -- and basically propagandizing the organization) moved out of his position and into the role as the new seneschal of the group, he took my enthusiasm to mean I would make a good officer. While I certainly have the organizational skills to take on a role like that, hindsight shows me I probably should've just let it go by. I'm pretty sure it was the first mistake I made that led to my eventual departure from the SCA.
By the time I became the chatelaine, I was regularly attending events -- sometimes with Kim or other friends and other times with just SCA buddies. Unfortunately, as I learned more and more about the organization on all levels (from the corporate body on down to the local cantons), I started to get a taste of the politics and soon started doing exactly what happens to so many other people in the organization. Frankly, I started seeing the SCA as important, almost as if it was "real" and the real world was "fake." Bad idea, but it's a form of escapism that is very common in the organization.
Also by this time, I was working steadily again and no longer freelancing, so I was becoming quite busy during days, evenings and weekends. If it wasn't work taking up my life, it was the SCA. Sad, eh?
By the time I had spent a year in the SCA, I was starting to become a little bitter about the organization. I'd accomplished nothing as chatelaine, as at least one person kept telling me how unimportant the role was, and I had basically become the guy who showed up at events, wandered around drinking beer and chatting with the group of friends I had made upon first entering the canton and not really making any new friends. The politics of the organization were becoming somewhat unbearable, Kim and I had broken up, I started dating Jacquie, I was hating my job and Rawl was back in town (although only for a short while, since he disappeared again to the University of Windsor a month or so after coming back to Canada).
Things had changed considerably, and I was becoming jaded and bitter about the SCA. It might seem petty to people, but when you understand the cult mentality of the SCA, it makes sense. Once you're in, you're part of the family. You either get more involved or you will probably end up getting shunned. If you don't make it your life and forego most everything else outside of the organization, then you're not committed enough and you start falling out of the cliques. I'm sure my bitterness and growing annoyance at everything around me wasn't helping, either. The death of a friend in the SCA also contributed to some my moods, I'm sure.
In the fall after my first year, I left my job and took a new, much cooler job. Anyway, I started to enjoy life again, and with my job being more fun than a lot of my hobbies, I was doing less and less in the SCA. At some point, I gave up the chatelaine position and started trying to get involved in other ways. Unfortunately, none of those ways seemed to keep me intrigued in the SCA as a whole, and I was probably causing more damage to the group than helping it.
Author's Note: Make sure to read Part One before reading this.
As I said in the first part of this story, I joined the SCA mostly out of boredom and an interest in the Middle Ages. For the first several months, I really enjoyed what I was doing, who I was meeting and the things I was becoming involved in.
However, as the old saying goes, the honeymoon came to an end. Before long, I had become a part of Ardchreag (the Scarborough/Pickering canton -- I might as well name it; it's easy to find out what it's called since you know the location) and was soon going to events at least once or twice a month. When the chatelaine (the person in charge of greeting people new to the SCA -- and basically propagandizing the organization) moved out of his position and into the role as the new seneschal of the group, he took my enthusiasm to mean I would make a good officer. While I certainly have the organizational skills to take on a role like that, hindsight shows me I probably should've just let it go by. I'm pretty sure it was the first mistake I made that led to my eventual departure from the SCA.
By the time I became the chatelaine, I was regularly attending events -- sometimes with Kim or other friends and other times with just SCA buddies. Unfortunately, as I learned more and more about the organization on all levels (from the corporate body on down to the local cantons), I started to get a taste of the politics and soon started doing exactly what happens to so many other people in the organization. Frankly, I started seeing the SCA as important, almost as if it was "real" and the real world was "fake." Bad idea, but it's a form of escapism that is very common in the organization.
Also by this time, I was working steadily again and no longer freelancing, so I was becoming quite busy during days, evenings and weekends. If it wasn't work taking up my life, it was the SCA. Sad, eh?
By the time I had spent a year in the SCA, I was starting to become a little bitter about the organization. I'd accomplished nothing as chatelaine, as at least one person kept telling me how unimportant the role was, and I had basically become the guy who showed up at events, wandered around drinking beer and chatting with the group of friends I had made upon first entering the canton and not really making any new friends. The politics of the organization were becoming somewhat unbearable, Kim and I had broken up, I started dating Jacquie, I was hating my job and Rawl was back in town (although only for a short while, since he disappeared again to the University of Windsor a month or so after coming back to Canada).
Things had changed considerably, and I was becoming jaded and bitter about the SCA. It might seem petty to people, but when you understand the cult mentality of the SCA, it makes sense. Once you're in, you're part of the family. You either get more involved or you will probably end up getting shunned. If you don't make it your life and forego most everything else outside of the organization, then you're not committed enough and you start falling out of the cliques. I'm sure my bitterness and growing annoyance at everything around me wasn't helping, either. The death of a friend in the SCA also contributed to some my moods, I'm sure.
In the fall after my first year, I left my job and took a new, much cooler job. Anyway, I started to enjoy life again, and with my job being more fun than a lot of my hobbies, I was doing less and less in the SCA. At some point, I gave up the chatelaine position and started trying to get involved in other ways. Unfortunately, none of those ways seemed to keep me intrigued in the SCA as a whole, and I was probably causing more damage to the group than helping it.
// posted by Chris @ 9:04 AM 
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