[Nordskogen] Accessible Helpful Support was demos -

[Claudette.Pomroy at us.telex.com]

Some of you know me, and some of you don?t.  I?ve been mostly on hiatus 
for the past few years but have stayed a card-carrying member of the SCA 
and will on rare occasion show up at an event or local meeting.  I?ve been 
around long enough to know how the game is played, but gone long enough to 
see things from the perspective of someone who has not been in the Society 
long.  I can?t help but think that if someone new were to be exposed to 
this ?discussion? that they would be quite disappointed and we would stand 
a great chance of losing a talented potential member and reduce our 
ability to further enrich our group with that talent. 

I?m disappointed to see that the name-calling, finger pointing, 
innuendoes, and veiled threats that drove myself dangerously close to a 
nervous breakdown are still wildly rampant in our Barony.   I joined this 
forum yesterday after finding myself highly appalled over the treatment of 
one of our long-time members.  I?ll admit I have not seen all of the posts 
regarding this subject, but I do believe that I have seen enough to be 
informed enough to form my own opinion and voice that opinion.  The facts 
as I see them:

1) Giovanna voiced her opinion (and clearly stated it as such) that our 
demos should strive to be more authentic.  While I don?t totally agree 
with everything that was stated, I feel a number of her ideas were good 
ones ? well thought out, presented well, and with situational context 
provided to show that other groups can and have been able to pull it off.  


I feel this should have been a jumping off point for a discussion of how 
we can design our demos to attract the attention of others who are 
interested in the history of our time period and those who want to learn 
more about that time period.  This is a group based on the study of 
history, after all.  These demos are our first impressions we leave on 
nonmembers, and it provides these people with the basis of their opinions 
about our group and what we do in it.  This point was largely ignored, 
bringing me to?

2) The attack of someone who stated an opinion.  What little I have seen 
in response has been those attacking Giovanna personally and/or evasive 
recollections of incidents with ?ANYONE  in  ANY  position  of Authority.? 
  I have also seen those who feel they must stand up for someone?s right 
to an opinion.  I myself am firmly in the second group.  Giovanna brought 
up some thought-provoking items and for that I applaud her.  It was not 
presented as a mandate and should not have been viewed as such.  It was 
simply a proposal to inspire thought and discussion.

I?m sure to be blasted by people who think I?ve been sucked into ?the 
inner circle? and that somehow this has colored my personal opinion.  I 
can assure you this isn?t the case.  Although Giovanna and I do have some 
friends in common and have both been in the local group for some time, I 
really don?t know Giovanna all that well.   I can state that I have found 
her to be a wealth of knowledge on numerous topics and that she has been 
helpful in trying to help me locate information or people with information 
when I want to delve deeper into my own personal studies and skills 
building.  It is for these reasons I feel that she is being treated quite 
unfairly, for no other reason than yet again trying to help.

I?m looking at all of this as someone who is interested in this group and 
am trying to decide if I?d like to be involved on a more regular basis. 
The name-calling and back-stabbing keeps me wary.  If we are looking for 
ways to improve our local group, in my opinion these are the issues we 
need to address first.

Respectfully submitted,

Claudette Pomroy
AKA Bronwen Arianwen of Rivenwood Tower

 

Claudette Pomroy
Senior Sales Coordinator
Telex Pro Audio
952-887-5514
claudette.pomroy at us.telex.com
*Please note new e-mail address*