TBT: On Point #3

As I sit and watch my students work on their end of term projects, I am given enough time to think back to my local Barony, the Barony of Darkwater, and our recent event.

Every year, at Clans, we give out a local award called a Ring of Chivalry. I’ve seen other Baronies do this as well; however, if for some reason your Barony does not, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is an award that carries no rank, title, or position. It has no mention or note within the Order of Precedence and it does not even come with a scroll.

It is, however, an incredibly powerful award and something that is incredibly touching.

I am incredibly honored to have been given my Barony’s Ring of Chivalry this year. Admittedly, I am more overjoyed to have seen the inspirational Lady I voted her, Gravin Eva van Oudeachterkol, receive her Ring as well.

I truly think that the award is so touching because it is a vote of the populace as to who they find to be inspirational. Nothing can take away the feeling of joy of kneeling before a Crown or Coronet for their acclaim, praise, and respect – but to know that you have the respect of the populace as well… there is emotional power in it.

My truthful confession is that I am at once touched, and at the same time, confused. I am not special – nor do I try to be. I do not actively try to be “more courteous” or “more chivalrous” than anyone else, nor do I try to go out of my way to be nice. I have bad days, cranky moods, and you don’t even want to see me before I’ve had a cup of coffee in the morning. And yet…

I believe in the Dream. Not because I want respect, an award, or even the honor of this Ring, but because in believing in it – I am a better person than I have been.

I write the things I do – here, and within performances at the Bardic Circle to show people in the best light, because in them I see the Dream as well. To me… they are that inspiration, not the other way around.

But there’s a trick…

In believing in the Dream-in-Them, that thing which ennobles them and inspires them… I am made better.

A bard may be the Voice of the Dream… but you, the people and populace… you are the lens through which the Dream is seen.

I believe in the Dream because I need to see others believing it as well – because if they can live to the ideal, perhaps I can, too.

Yours in service and humility,
James

Lord James Highgate of Darkwater is protégé to Baroness Ilene Johnnestoune and Cadet to Don William of Aschem. He holds the awards for Poet Laureate (for about another week), Bard of Darkwater, and Bard of Oldenfeld for his written and performed poetic works.

He can be reached for comments, questions, or article suggestions at Jacob.a.tessler@gmail.com

TBT: On Point #2

Dear James,

I have been in the SCA since the dawn of time. I was on the committee that decided to call that brown stuff ‘dirt’. I have every award that the Society can give. My AoA is older than you are. My students have peerages. My student’s students have peerages. I have nothing left to do, and I am bored. HELP!

Sincerely,
Tired in Trimaris

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Dear TIRED,

I’m actually really lucky in this regard. Because I am relatively new, though I’ve been accused of being a boomerang on more than one occasion, I have the blessed ability of finding everything to be brand new.

There’s something special in the human brain about how we treat things that are new, because… well, the grass usually IS greener on the other side, at least for a little while.

So – what to do when nothing is new anymore? When you’ve done everything, and you’ve been in for so long that you’re really just not feeling it any longer. It’s become a habit, or the way in which you see your friends, or any one of a selection of reasons why you’re still coming, even though you’re not feeling enthusiastic.

The simple solution is to think outside the box you’ve put yourself in – again, I’m lucky in that everything is new to me, so I can leapfrog from thing to thing like some kind of demented ferret going “oooo, shiney!”

Don’t believe me? Ask me sometimes about the 200+ dollars in leatherworking supplies I bought after a ‘how to make a belt’ class. I make me some mean belts, and that’s about it at the moment…

Ok, so to get back to the point. Some ideas for folks who have been in for so long that they feel like
they’ve lost what brought them in:

Idea One: Mentor a Newcomer
There is nothing quite like ‘new relationship’ energy; that thing that makes new boyfriends and
girlfriends obsess over each other and post sappy social media updates. That same ‘newness’ energy can come by proxy – by mentoring a newcomer, you’re able to sort of feed of their excitement as they learn all these new things; see the SCA through their eyes as a new person.

Idea Two: Go learn something new 
If you are a Laurel, Grand High Poobah of Underwater Basket Weaving, and know everything there is to know about it… go learn something about Leatherworking, or C&I. The SCA is the hobby that
spawns other hobbies. If you’re bored with what you’ve got and feel you mastered it… go be a student again. (Frankly, if I could afford to, I’d be a student at my University forever and have ten different degrees) If you’re one of those people that have run events since Time Began and or Fought with Gods and Demons, then likewise – go learn something new. Dabble in the arts, or explore a fighter practice.
Break out of your box that you’ve put yourself into and I think you’ll find that ‘new’ passion again.

Idea Three: Go Back to your Roots 
Finally, go back to what brought you into the Society to begin with – if you are a fighter who
hasn’t fought in years, go get back into armor. Go back to your art and craft – go do what you initially loved to do, even if you haven’t done so in a while.

All in all, it’s a matter of attitude. If you go into any of these suggestions thinking that it won’t work – you are absolutely correct.

Approach everything with the eyes of a newcomer. Let yourself feel wonder. At the risk of the pun, it’s wonderful.

Yours in Service to the Dream,

James

Lord James Highgate of Darkwater is protégé to Baroness Ilene Johnnestoune and Cadet to Don William of Aschem. He holds the awards for Poet Laureate and the Bard of Darkwater for his written and performed poetic works. He can be reached for comments, questions, or article suggestions at Jacob.a.tessler@gmail.com

On Point #33

Hello good gentles,

I want to relate a story, of sorts. About five years ago when my wife, my friends, and I joined the SCA, we had one of those memorable experiences which helps newcomers to remain in our Society. It was our second event, or so, and a Kingdom Coronation; of course, I knew very little about anything related to that, had no idea how the entire process worked, and so forth. All I knew is that we’d come to the event, and had planned to, as a group, help serve feast.

At the end, when they called the feast staff out, the King, now Jarl Ari, held me and my friends back and told us how good it was to see new people come right in and find a place to begin serving. One of the things that he said which stuck out in my mind was that everyone, in some capacity, serves during their time at an event or in the club. He further said that it was a good sign that we’d found something to dive into with service right away and that, he himself, had begun by serving feast in a kitchen.

They were powerful words, and stay with me almost five years later. Because we’d found a place to pitch in, we had found a place to fit in. For the next few events, The Thing that my friends and I would go do was serving feast. It got so that I met people in the kitchen or as hall stewards, some of whom have become some of my closet friends.

So when you’re talking to a newcomer, or meet one at an event, consider offering to go serve with
them. Even something as simple as coming along with a couple people to help prepare a meal, serve the feast, or clean the hall can build many lasting memories and help that newcomer meet people during the course of their day. Because really, in the end? Many people come for the fighting, or the arts, and so on… but they stay because of the friends they make and the people they meet.

Yours in service,

James

Honorable Lord James Highgate is cadet to Don William of Aschem and protégé to Baroness Ilene
Johnnestoune. He is, further, the Kingdom Hospitaller and can be reached for comments at Jacob.a.tessler@gmail.com

On Point with James Highgate #1

This article was previously published in Talewinds and will be part of an ongoing series of reprint and syndication of the continuing article named On Point with James Highgate.

Hello good gentles of Trimaris!

This will be the first of a monthly column where I discuss various elements of ‘human interest’ in the
SCA, give advice, or otherwise comment on the going’s on throughout the Kingdom from the
perspective of a relative newcomer to the Society.

If you have a topic you’d like to see addressed, please see the contact information listed below and I’ll be happy to wax poetic (hah) on any topic you like!

This month’s topic is how to adjust the sales pitch when attending a Kingdom or local Demo. The
important thing to remember is that a Demo is not like a normal event – it is strictly for the point of
attracting newcomers to our Society; such as local ren faires and the like. While this, to some extent,
means that you can show up and simply do whatever it is you do (such as illumination, fighting, etc), the thing to remember is that you’re doing it “on stage”.

Specifically, however, this goes to those gentles who come to Demos to be a roving Hospitaller –
standing in front of the camp or display, trying to attract people to come inside and look around.

There’s a trick to this – in marketing, it’s called giving a ‘sales pitch’. When doing so, the primary concern is to pick the right pitch for your audience; in short, knowing what your audience wants before they do. People go to Ren Faire’s looking some indefinable quality – and it’s usually not the overpriced commercial mead.

So when you’re doing the ‘roving Hospitaller’ or ‘front door man’ position, use the right approach – if you’re talking to a small, older, lady, talk up our artisans and crafts people. If you’re talking to someone who looks reasonably fit and into sports, talk up the various martial techniques. Pick the part of our society that is most likely to appeal to them, and tell them about it. Offer to walk them into the tent and introduce them to an expert on the topic – often times the personal touch of an introduction can make a person feel really welcome.

Additionally, there’s an aspect to giving a sales pitch called starting with a ‘positive statement’. This is often used when the audience has a really short attention span – such as walking from booth to booth window shopping at a Faire. Open up with something to get their attention in the first five seconds – if you can’t even get them to stop walking long enough to look, the pitch doesn’t matter.

I usually open with something along the lines of “Hello! We’re the Society for Creative Anachronism, we’re not here selling anything but simply as guests of the faire. If you like anything you see here, we’d love to teach it to you!”

They usually stop for one of three reasons: to ask what an ‘anachronism’ is, because I’ve told them
we’re not selling anything, or because they like the idea of learning whatever might be on display. This kind of quick intro is usually enough to get them to stop moving long enough to explain that we’re a not for profit teaching organization filled with a bunch of history geeks – if they’re somewhere we’re doing a demo, it’s highly likely THEY ARE A HISTORY GEEK, TOO!

In closing, always remember that when you’re at a demo, be it to fight, craft, or just generally help out and talk to people, you’re there to put on a show. So put on a good one!

Yours in Service to the Dream,

James

Lord James Highgate of Darkwater is protégé to Baroness Ilene Johnnestoune and Cadet to Don William of Aschem. He holds the awards for Poet Laureate and the Bard of Darkwater for his written and performed poetic works.

He can be reached for comments, questions, or article suggestions at Jacob.a.tessler@gmail.com

On Point: #32

Hello good gentles,

Last month, I asked you to challenge yourself – to get out of your comfort zone and try something new; to be comfortable in a struggle and find joy in it. When considering what to write this month, I had to ask myself if what I meant was clear – what that struggle would actually look like. Certainly, we find ourselves trying new things after a particularly compelling class or when a friend of ours drags us along to a bead-making lesson, and so forth. Since we’ve invested no energy, mental or otherwise, there is often very little struggle there. It’s easy to fail, after all, when we’re not trying.

There are two great pieces of advice I want to pin my writing to – the first comes from Duke Gunnar. I believe he gave me this advice shortly after my lady was elevated to the Laurel. He said “commitment means that, at some point, you’ll want to quit.” These words have remained with me, and still do – commitment to a goal, a person, an ideal, etc, is not what happens when things are easy, but what happens when you’re ready to throw in the towel. When you’re ready to give up, throw it all away, and walk away because it’s become too frustrating – that is when your commitment is actually tested. Being comfortable in the struggle, be it the struggle to master a new craft, a new technique, or your own fears and doubts, means being committed to that struggle – and keeping to it when you’re ready to give it all up, turn off the lights, and go home.

But not quitting, itself, doesn’t make the struggle. There has to be some element of willingness to go forwards, to advance, and to continue. My friends and I were speaking with Duke Martin one evening, and we had begun by asking him what makes a Duke; a question for which he had no easy answer beyond ‘winning Crown twice’. Eventually, after some conversation, we came to the singular definition that a Duke was made by being, in his words, somewhat crazy enough to go the extra mile
- To spend hours, instead of minutes at the pell, to drive for hours to go to fighter practice each week, and sometimes multiple ones per week, and so forth.

Do you want to succeed?

Commit. Go the extra mile. Be comfortable with the struggle to get there.

It’ll be worth it, in the end.

Yours in service,

James

Honorable Lord James Highgate is cadet to Don William of Aschem and protégé to Baroness Ilene Johnnestoune. He currently stands as the Wyvernwoode Rapier Champion and the Kingdom Hospitaller. He can be reached for comments at Jacob.a.tessler@gmail.com

This article is syndicated from the Kingdom of Trimaris newsletter, Talewinds.