Where's the Magic?

Something "broke" in me a few years ago. After years of working toward making change in the SCA, it suddenly slapped me in the face like a Buffalo snowstorm - it hadn't made a bit of difference. People laughed at "period". People resisted "period", made all sorts of excuses about being not period, and steadfastly refused to consider making more period choices at all. It seemed as if no one had noticed, and if they had, my efforts were viewed with derision rather than respect.

Yes, it was all about me that night. I could certainly have extrapolated those feelings to the other 6 people in the kingdom who were doing the authenticity thing, because I'm pretty sure they feel the same way. Although I didn't that night, I have since.

Since then, it's not gotten much better. It seems that I'm utterly disenchanted with the SCA. It's not that chocolate still seems to be the feast desert of choice, or that the battle cry, "WAR" sounds for all the world like "PAR-TEEE" to me. It's not the belly dancers dressed in 19th century outfits or that people still go out on the tournament field in blue plastic armor. It's that they aren't even trying.

It's all about choices, and people keep making choices that are worse rather than better, because in the SCA we *can*. We've got this notion that we have to be sensitive to people's feelings, that we can't be critical of what people do because the SCA is supposed to be some sort of big tent that includes whatever comes along.

Rubbish.

Why shouldn't we affect change toward more faithful representations of this period that we're supposed to be studying? Why shouldn't we teach people to make better choices? To dance a pavane rather than the Korobushka? To buy the linen for one good dress rather than the crushed velvet for several? To make peeres in syrup rather than brownies for desert? Because their feelings will get hurt? The dirty little secret of the SCA is that not everyone belongs here. And that's OK.

I used to think that people really knew and abided by the SCA's purposes as states in section II of the Articles of Incorporation: "...to present activities and events which re-create the environment of said era, such as, but not limited to, tournaments, jousts, fairs, dances, classes, et cetera; to acquire authentic or reproduced replicas of chattels representative of said era..." I had a naive faith in the goals of my fellow members, that we were somehow all on the same path. Once the rose-colored glasses came off, I haven't been able to look at the SCA the same since.

I am trying to find the magic again, really I am. It's hard to see beyond the Wheel of Jell-O and the mounds of mashed potatoes. Someone please tell me why I'm here, because I've forgotten.