From: schuldy@progress.COM (Mark Schuldenfrei)
Subject: Re: Group activity
Organization: Progress Software Corp.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 14:58:32 GMT

Elwyn of Thornbury misses the point. He wrote:
  While I realize, as I stated before, that no generalization will cover every
  contingency, it has been my experience that groups which do not want to or are
  otherwise unable to hold events are among the more insular and stagnant 
  portions of our Society.

True, generalizations will not cover every contingency.  But, what followed
this comment was a long examination of a failure of a local group, and
it's potential salvation from running a single Kingdom event.  While
possibly oversimplified and overstated, it's a good report to hear.

However, it does not address the real question.  Is this a generalization
that is safe to make, that groups that do not run events are all moribund
and stagnant, and that all groups in this situation, if they run a single
event, are saved?  That a group which runs a single event a year, by
definition is not stagnant and moribund?  The single instance from your
experience, Elwyn, does not apply.

Elwyn also wrote:
  I also asked in my previous missive whether it was really all that difficult
  for an active group fo sponsor the minimum number of events.  Lord Arval
  declared that the question missed the point.  Again, I disagree; I believe
  that the question is at the very heart of the matter.  If a group is unable
  or unwilling to play the game that the rest of us play, are they really still
  part of the SCA?

Unbelievable.  Do you think the SCA could survive homogenization, and still
be the SCA we know now, Elwyn?  I assure you, such a group would be a
part of the SCA, but an unfamiliar part.  For a concrete example, when
I lived in Trimaris for a few years, I found the whole style of interaction
of the local groups and the Kingdom, to be quite different from my experiences
in the East.  Nevertheless, while I prefer the Eastern way of doing things,
Trimaris is *definitely* serving its members, and definitely a part of
the SCA, thank-you-very-much!  And, both Kingdom's may be quite different
from where you are.  I fear a day where everyone must play the same way.

Elwyn closed with:
  P.S. -- In reference to Lord Tibor's contention that a group could meet the
  minimum requirements by sponsoring an "event" at the seneschal's place of 
  employment for an hour or two on a weekday afternoon, I can only hope that
  he was not truly as serious as he sounded.  I doubt that most gentlefolk of
  the SCA would consider such a ludicrous proposition to constitute a real
  event, and can not imagine that any Kingdom Seneschal would be foolish enough
  to allow it to be put on the Kingdom calendar or advertised in the Kingdom
  newsletter as such.

Primus, I am not a seneschal, and have no need to play such shenanigans, thank
you.  However, if I were part of the hypothetical group I described (practices
almost every day of the week, if not two a day, a large happy group of people,
but no events), and if I were the Seneschal, and if my Kingdom Seneschal were
being a rules-hugging pain in the nether regions, I might rules-lawyer a bit,
yes.  If the happiness of my local group could be assured by such a bit of
pro-forma nonsense, I would hope I would have the presence of mind to protect
their fun.  Thankfully, the whole scenario is hypothetical.

Secundus, Neither I, nor anyone else, would consider this an event worth
attending, which is the whole idea.  But, under EK law, there is no
way to stop it.  And, it doesn't have to appear in a Kingdom Newsletter,
just a local one.

Tertius, My point was to lampoon the law, by showing how easy it is to get
around.  If a law can be bamboozled this easily, doesn't apply uniformly,
and requires 300 patches to kingdom law to begin to be effective, it's
a stupid law.  Especially if it doesn't address it's real point, as I
first noted.

Lastly, (I can't count to four in foreign languages), I could just as
easily design an event that fits almost any criteria you could list,
that wouldn't be any fun to attend.  Heck, a lot of events I've attended,
that were supposed to be fun, weren't (:-).

	Tibor
--
Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy@progress.com)
[I'm just showin' you my opinions: this ain't a gift]
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca