From: jtn@nutter.cs.vt.edu (Terry Nutter)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Pennsic Land Allotment
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:45:49 GMT
Followup-To: rec.org.sca
Organization: The Rialto

Greetings, all, from Angharad.

As I read the thread on land allotment, I've found myself getting
more and more irked.  I think I've figured out what's bothering
me.  It's not so much what anyone is saying as a subtext.  I don't
know whether anyone intends the subtext -- I rather suspect at least
most do not -- but I thought I'd mention that it's there, because
I have the feeling that some of the other posters are also responding
to it, and that it would be a good thing to filter it out.  (The key
here is that I'm not only seeing the subtext, I'm seeing what I think
are responses against it: so I think it may be worth pointing out,
to reduce the noise level.)

The subtext is that people are using the excuse of doing something
authentic to be space piggies, and that people with period pavilions
should be made to pay some sort of tax for the privilege.  (There
is also the implication that paying extra in money won't do, because 
these are the rich folks anyhow, and paying doesn't really cost them 
anything.)

One of the traces of this subtext is that people object strongly to 
the injustice of letting folks who can afford it rent more space, but 
feel that it is okay to suggest that those with large pavilions should 
be required to give up their privacy to justify their presence.  

My lord and I would stop bringing a period pavilion and go back to a 
nylon dome (or more likely my husband's old GP) long before we would 
apply for strangers to share our pavilion with us.  (My friends by-and-
large _have_ camping equipment; their hobby involves a lot of camping,
you see....)  

Another trace is the mention of sizes like 20 x 30.  I have never seen
a tent anywhere near this size used as a single residence at Pennsic;
has anyone else?  This is a straw man; and straw men tend to be a sign
to beware of hidden agendas.

Our fifteen foot diameter essentially-round is one of the larger period 
pavilions at Pennsic -- one of the main reasons I feel that, while 
nothing personal is intended, we are in the target set for this subtext.  
My lord and I are two, not one, and we do not have (and do not contemplate) 
the 20 x 30 that some people have cited, but we do have a period tent 
that is larger -- at least in rope area -- than many mundane ones.
I made it, and I do feel a bit offput at being told that we are being 
antisocial.  

This year, our tent housed two adults, in 150 sq feet of tent space.  
Notice that by the 235 sq ft each rule, we are _way_ under alottment -- 
of _living_ space.  Most of the space it uses is _rope_ space.  If 
you want a medieval pavilion, and you don't want to use a viking style 
(actually, from what I understand, _abuse_ it: viking style tents were 
roofs on sod structures, not freestanding tents), it is _very_ hard to 
get away from large rope areas, even for relatively modest structures.

It is particularly galling for me to hear this, because my period pavilion
cost less in $ than my mundane tent, which is far from extravagant.  This
leaves me feeling that my friends are blaming me for having invested 
three solid weeks of my time and labor, alone, to try to do something 
medieval.  This is not a feeling I like even to have to fight.

I'm not trying to flame others, or climb up on a high horse.  Rather, I'd
like to suggest thinking carefully about the way some of these claims come
out.  It sounds a whole lot like envy ("Gee, wish _I_ could afford
something like that!") turning into outrage ("It's grossly unfair that
they get to have something I don't!"), and then to a desire to regulate
fairness by passing a rule that nobody else may be any more comfortable
than my personal circumstances allow me to be.

I don't believe that we are really all that obsessed with "Misery loves
company," or that such motivations are really ruling us.  It would make
reading the Rialto more pleasant, though, if the postings did no so often
force me to remind myself of that, through gritted teeth.

Anyhow, that's the subtext flavor I've been getting.  Because I _don't_
think it's by-and-large meant, but I _do_ think there are specific things
in the postings that project it anyhow, I thought I'd mention it so that
people could guard against it.

Cheers,

-- Angharad/Terry