Mi Contra Fa

The Otter of Glendalough

There are two stories of miraculous otters associated with St. Kevin/Coemgen. One story takes place at the abbey of Glendalough, one takes place somewhere else, and sometimes the otters are apparently taken to be the same otter?

Anyway, otters rule, and I may want to do something with this someday, so here are the relevant links to some sources to refer back to later.

Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae

Bethada naem Erenn: Lives of the Irish Saints

Citation for one of the MSes mentioned in one of the above two sources

Soumak design started

To resolve my weft-faced issue:

1. I checked the sett.  My "how to rigid heddle" book says sett for tabby is 1/2 the number of wraps per inch.  Wrapped, measured, checked loom.  Holy cow, I managed to get it right.  Sett is not the main problem.
2. Reduce tension, pack less.  I slid the work up closer to the shed, so I could use my shuttle as a weaving sword, instead of using a pin beater. Some combination of the tool and the position helped me lay in the weft more loosely.  I think it's still weft-biased, but it's much closer to even weave than it was before.

I had some pulling in - maybe my starting row didn't use fluffy enough material?  But the pulling in seems to have put the sett where it needs to be, so I'll just try to keep it there.

To get the World Tree to fit in my 34 warp threads, I reduced most of it to single thread "pixels." It's built mostly of diagonal lines, so I have a lot of single warp-thread wraps.  With the tabby weave in there too, and the wrapping yarn maybe being to thin, the design isn't popping.  If you look at the chart and look at the design, you can see what it was supposed to be, but I'm not sure that you could tell if you didn't have the chart.

The tree trunk was a long vertical line across the piece.  I was able to do 'real' soumak/snare weave there, going over 4 warps, then looping/snaring under two, over four, under two, etc.  That is the good Overhogdal "is it stem stitch or is it soumak?" look, and it also filled in and stood out much better.

I will do a little square person or a horse or something next, to try to have a sample of something more filled-in like that.

Tapestry weaving started

I wove in some doubled yarns to try and firm up the sett spacing, then twined the warps.  They are even-ish, not really dead on.  I'm not sure if that's expected variation or not.

Then I started weaving.  For a proper Overhogdal-style tapestry, the ground should be fairly even weave.  (Looking at pictures of the tapestries, I think it's slightly weft biased, but you can still see warp threads.)  I think my warps are too far apart, because mine is totally weft-faced.  I wove a good 1.5"-2" or so last night, and now I'm wondering if I should just go with it, or if I should try and squosh the warps closer together and get an even weave.  (Or even if warp spacing isn't the problem and I'm just beating too hard?)

In the meantime, I thought I should find some appropriate designs charted out.  Lo and behold, the wonderful person at Southwark Stitches has several period Norse design elements from Oseberg and Overhogdal charted:

Charted Norse Motifs
Norse Motifs IIOseberg Motifs
Sleipnir
Overhogdal Motifs

I've adapted the Yggdrasil in 'Charted Norse Motifs' to fit on my number of warps.  Excited!

 

Warped up

The tapestry loom uses a continuous warp.  It's hard to maintain tension while putting it on, and it was really frustrating trying to figure out how to tighten it up. For future reference, a note to myself:

From the start, you go 1) over the top, 2) down the back under the warping rod, 3) up the back, 4) down the front, 5) make the W.  Pull down on 2) and up on the first part of the W.

Then I made a bunch of string heddles.  I wonder what a good way to store them so they don't get tangled and knotted is?

I set up for tabby (34 warp ends) so I can do some tapestry.  The warp is a kind of thick crochet cotton - we were cleaning out Grandma's stash, and I grabbed a bunch to experiment with.

Ready to go!

I'll use the same for the weft, and my sport yarn for the soumak.  I need to find a pattern; this probably won't go well if I try to freehand it.

It sits nicely on my knees if I sit facing a wall to lean it against.  Hopefully it'll be okay to do the actual weaving like that.

Also, note to self: In the future, when you hear "24 inches," don't think "only two feet."  Think "almost half your height."

Schacht 25" Tapestry Loom

Got me some belated birthday loot:

Schacht Tapestry Loom, with A-frame stand

The Woolery sells through Amazon.com, and I had Amazon gift certificates from my birthday, soooo...

I didn't get the stand, shown, because I ran out of gift certificate, but I may circle back around and get it when I've saved up.  The last tapestry I did was tiny, and I could hold it on my lap, propped on the edge of the table.  A 27" frame (for 25" of weaving) is a bit bigger!  Still, I'll see how it goes without a holder first.

It came with four heddles, so I can do four-shed weaving (2/2 twills, diamond twills) too.  I'm torn on whether I want to try Overhogdal-style soumak or a twill first...

Beowulf rap?

Like many Middle Aged White Folks, there are two (three, actually) rap songs I can generally remember: Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" and the theme from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."  (Also, "Cicada Serenade," but that's geek rap, so I'm not sure it counts.)  So I'm not speaking from a place of deep expertise, here.
  But both pieces have a definite, regular rhythm of strong beats, with varying numbers of unstressed beats used in the spaces between.  Kind of like Old English poetry.  Rap uses rhyme, too, but that's not my interest.

There's a definite couplet structure - lines seem to favor ending on stresses, for masculine rhyme, but you can get "wearing/staring", for instance in "Baby Got Back."  Most interesting might be in "Fresh Prince":

When a COUple of GUYS who were UP to no GOOD
STARTed making TROUble in my NEIGHborhood

That second line is so different from everything else in the song.  It starts with a stress (which only happens one or two other times in the song) but it totally lacks a fourth stress. Metrically, if you clap along with a performance, you clap on a silence after "hood" but before the next line starts.  AND YET, it works in performance.  You can feel the shift in the rhythms there, but it doesn't feel wrong.

I'm also not sure, because I've been working off memories of the songs instead of recordings, but it seems to me that sometimes the verbal stress (mostly on that fourth stress) leads or lags the metrical, musical stress by about an eighth note or so.  Interesting feature.

Rap is also well-known for it's 'spoken' characteristic.  It's not - there's a tune under both of these pieces - but my impression is that it's a narrow range (gee, maybe a fifth or a sixth?), and there are many measures with little or no melodic movement. 

I don't think I ought to be performing Old English poetry as rap.  However, it may be a healthy antidote to too much Gregorian chant.  Gregorian chant is for Latin, where each syllable gets an equal temporal weight.  That gives us the Solesmses' chant reconstruction with its droning quality (which some scholars dispute).  Rap is an English form that makes free use of our ability to cram unaccented syllables into any available space - it's a counter-example, a different way to chant, that I could keep in mind to keep from sounding too Catholic Church-y.  It's obviously influenced by later regular poetry forms, but much less so than, say, pop.  I particularly want to look at how the music changes/doesn't change between the verses, when the syllabification (is that a word?) changes - sometimes dramatically.  And I think I mean look - my ear isn't good enough.  I need to get some copies of sheet music.

 

Pyramid Tent

Upon reflection...

I have a savings account for my "mad money."  I have saved up a good bit of it.  Rather than spent $60-$100  and who-knows how many hours on turning painters' drop cloths (6 oz canvas, unknown quality for tentage, not waterproofed nor fire-resistant) into a tent, and rather than spending $150-$200 to buy treated Sunforger and spending, again, many hours to do the same...

How about I just buy a Panther Hunter tent?  It says it's for fur trade re-enactment, but put a gold ball on top and it looks just like the ones in the Utrecht Psalter, I think.  There should be a zone about 3' around the center pole of the 10' x 10' x 8' model that's 5'5" and higher, which is enough to stand comfortably and get dressed.  Storage boxes of a reasonable size can get to within a foot or so of the perimeter, making good use of that space.  It goes up fast, can be set up by one person, and is overall looking pretty awesome.

I wonder if they'd make the 8' upright into a split pair of 4'ers?  That'd help with packing.  Although it shouldn't be too bad to tie the sucker down to the roof of the car.

Awards in the SCA - Part 3

In Part One, I suggested that awards in the SCA serve three purposes: to support our shared values, to recognize volunteers, and to inspire the populace to move toward lived expressions of the shared values.  In Part Two, I asserted that, given these purposes, it was entirely reasonable for people to aspire to be worthy of - or, colloquially, "to want" - these awards.  In Part Three, I'll talk about why that may not be the best idea (despite being reasonable and not dishonorable) and what you might do instead, to ensure greater sanity and happiness.

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
--"The Enchiridion," Epictetus, c. 135 CE.

The Awards Process Is Imperfect

The SCA awards process does not work like, say, academia.  In the ivory tower, you proceed through a series of well-defined (and sometimes accredited) courses; you take exams to prove that you understand the content; then, when you have done this enough times, you are awarded a degree.  There are many records, and an entire infrastructure (e.g., the registrar) set up to handle them and to ensure compliance.

There is no way we could implement such a system in the SCA, not without greatly changing the character of the Society.  Some of our great strengths, in my opinion, are our "big tent" nature and our "just enough" organizational structure.  Trying to shoehorn everything we do and everything we love into quantifiable categories would not turn out well.  And I say this as a big fan of shoving things into categories.

We are left with a process that is inherently subjective, and which relies upon people to happen to notice others' good works.  What's more, as we have grown larger and larger, it gets harder and harder to know who has already been recognized for what.  Sure, that information is online in the Order of Precedence, but you have to think to check that.  People assume that, because someone has been doing something for a long time, of course they've been recognized for it. 

There is nothing malicious in this.  I want to stress that.  I'm not talking about Dark Whispered Conspiracies to keep awards away from people.  I'm talking about the natural, entirely understandable problems in our current system, mostly resulting from assumption and inertia.  We are all very busy people, inside the SCA and out of it, with many obligations much more pressing than worrying about the status of other people's awards.

Find Validation Elsewhere

What could you do with an award that you can't do today, without one?  Would it really change how you play in the SCA?

For most people, I suspect the answers are "I dunno... participate in pollings?" and "No."  Yes, there is a modicum of automatic respect given to Peers, but (at least in the places I have lived) it hardly seems game-changing.  So I think many of us are looking more for the message that what we do matters, that it was noticed, that it (and we) are good enough, rather than wanting an award for the award's sake.  The award itself doesn't do so much.

So I turn to the hoary old advice to "Do what you love and forget about awards," but coming from a different place.  When I've heard that advice before, it's had the unspoken undertone "because good and nice people don't want awards, they are selflessly giving without thought of recognition."  I've already said that I think it's entirely natural to want an award, and not at all a sign of deficient morals.  But, like my buddy Epictetus up there says, whether or not you actually get an award is out of your hands.  I say, forget about awards because wanting one and not getting it can make you unhappy or bitter.

Instead: Do what you love, and seek your validation elsewhere.  (Because, even though it's another thing we technically can't control, most of us do want validation of some kind.)  Do the people you play with - the people you actually see at events - do they thank you?  Do they appreciate what you do?  Do they find you to be honorable and trustworthy?  Courteous and valiant? Knowledgeable and wise?  Hard-working and reliable?  Then know that you are appreciated; you are valued; you are loved.

At least for myself, I have found much greater peace of mind by learning to appreciate such local, personal tokens of respect, rather than looking to the Crown.  I would not like to play in a group where I felt taken for granted, or ignored, or denigrated.  I know by the faces and voices around me that I am not.  And that is enough.

Validate Others

If you wish to hear good things about yourself, say good things to other people.  Be specific, be honest, and be genuine.  Whenever possible, go to people individually.  It is nice to hear the autocrat thank "everyone who helped today," but it makes a much firmer impression to get a concrete, individual message. 

Be generous.  Don't flatter, but don't be stingy with thanks or praise, either.  It does not diminish you to build others up.

Notice small things: the cheerful person who always brightens events with her presence, the lovely encampment you're admiring, the musicians who played for the dancing, that guy who always puts cool articles up on the baronial Facebook page.

Write Award Recommendations

Just because the award system isn't perfect, doesn't mean I think we should abandon it.  If you're already thanking others for their work, you're paying more attention.  Take the next step to confirm that they do/do not have the relevant baronial or kingdom awards, and put in a recommendation.  Resubmit as needed.

In Conclusion

It's not wrong to want an award.  But it's probably not productive, and it may make you unhappy.  Do what you enjoy, in the amount that you enjoy it, in the way that you enjoy it, and look around yourself to know that the people close to you are glad that you choose to do so.  Be warmed by that knowledge.

Post Scriptum

If no one seems to appreciate your efforts, you have either fallen in with unpleasant people, or your efforts are more harmful than helpful.  Either case is beyond the scope of this essay, but you may wish to speak to an advisor if you are uncertain about where the fault lies.

Awards in the SCA - Part 2

In Part 1, I suggested three 'noble purposes' for awards in the SCA - to state and affirm community values, to recognize and appreciate member/volunteer efforts, and to inspire other members with the example of the person given the award.  If that all sounds reasonable, let's continue with how we might expect these purposes to be achieved.

Do Awards Serve Our Purposes?

1. Statement of Community Values - Yes!

We are in the fiftieth year of a Society in which the task of organizing members is generally likened to herding cats.  Interkingdom anthropologists tell us there are considerable cultural differences between kingdoms.  And yet!  We're still here.  When we gather at large, interkingdom Wars, we seem to be generally on the same page.  And in virtually all areas, we've upped our game.  I cannot scientifically prove that the award system is mostly, or even partly, responsible for this, but my intuition is that it is a contributor.

2. Recognition or Appreciation of Members - Yes, But...

When it comes to true positives, the system works quite well.  People did good work, good work got recognized, people feel valued. Huzzah!

The system has some problems.  For any gentle, there will be a space of time from when their works first reach the level when an award is appropriate, to when this is noticed, to when this is broadly agreed upon (for polling orders), to when the award is given.  The longer this time is, the more likely the gentle will feel undervalued. 

Perhaps worse, there are certainly gentles whose presence enriches our events and our lives, yet who do not necessarily fit neatly into the usual award categories.  There may be local or kingdom awards of courtesy or excellence that can be used, if the gentle's contribution is spotted.  But if it's outside the typical things we look for, it can take an embarrassingly long time for the local population to realize that Bob the Kind-Hearted has no awards but really should.

I have turned the problem over in my mind, but personally have not found a better system.  I do have some auxiliary suggestions to amend both of these problems, which I'll discuss in Part 3.

3. Inspiration to Other Members - Yes!

If we mean for awards, and those who hold them, to inspire the populace to act in ways consistent with our community values - why do we get so upset if someone says aloud that they aspire to a High Order?

As a bard, someone for whom words are stock in trade, I recognize the difference between "I want a Peerage,"  "I want to be a Peer," and "Inspired by your example, I aspire to conduct my business in a way in accord with the Society's highest values."   However, I humbly submit that someone speaking naturally might reasonably say either of the first two while meaning the third.  (And the legendary Person Who Just Wants the Title might say the third, if they are truly the Machiavellian schemers our anxieties say that they are.)

This was all a rather long way of saying that, if awards are meant to inspire, and they inspire people to aspire in the direction of those selfsame awards, it's really quite silly to judge those people poorly. 

Or, put another way: Why is "I'm Master Thomas' apprentice" okay, but "I want to be a Laurel" isn't?

Finally, in Part 3 - Suggestions for improving happiness (your own and others') in the SCA, vis-a-vis awards, regardless of your station.

 

Awards in the SCA - Part 1

Quite a while back, I promised some thoughts on awards in the SCA - specifically, on the taboos around aspiring to them.  But  before I get to that, I think it's valuable to look at the awards themselves, and why we have them.

Noble Purposes of Awards in the SCA

1. Statement of Community Values

What we choose to single out as worthy of recognition speaks to what we value as a group: volunteerism, the right mix of scholarship and artistry, and chivalric martial prowess. These values aren't handed down from on high; they're what we've decided, over the years, that we want to recognize.  You could imagine a group that instead specifically rewards in-persona activity, meeting recruitment goals, and fundraising.  Or metahumor and the willingness to provide beer.  Those would be very different groups.  Even if all those things show up in the SCA, and are important to us to one extent or another, and some can even be recognized under some of our existing awards,  they aren't explicitly called out as the most important things you could be doing.

This is why the Master of Defense matters so much, and why the archers/thrown weapons/equestrians are already looking for their own High Order.  Recognizing these activities, at the highest level, validates the various sorts of martial prowess as important parts of the SCA community.

2. Recognition or Appreciation of Volunteers

I use the term "volunteers" loosely, to encompass all the gentles whose work makes the SCA go 'round.  That includes those whose volunteerism falls into the realm of the peaceful or warlike arts.

We are a volunteer organization.  While many of us volunteer with a glad and willing heart, nearly everybody likes to know that their efforts are appreciated.  Awards are a gesture of gratitude from the larger organization toward the individual, saying, "Thank you for helping make us what we are." 

3. Inspiration to Other Members

The High Orders, especially, are called upon to act as inspiration to others. 

Arguably, one does not need an award to act as an inspiration.  (And in fact, already being a source of inspiration seems to be frequently called out as evidence that someone is fit to join the ranks of the Peers.)  However, Order members (at the Peer or Kingdom level) are generally considered to have a responsibility for this, which is a step beyond informally having it be true.

Next, let us consider how a member of the populace might respond to these purposes.