Category: SCA

Last Saturday, I got to participate in the SCA in a way that I had never done before: running a full-day event. As Concordia’s Baronial Bard, I had the privilege of serving as event steward (or, as some say, “autocrat”) for the Winter Nights competition. The event, which had been a Concordian event for several years, recently changed to a three-year rotation between East Kingdom’s Northern, Southern, and Central regions. This is the first time it has come back to Concordia, and so it was a stroke of luck that it happened during my term as champion. While for many people, running an event is a key part of growing and evolving in the SCA, I have never yearned to have that responsibility. Given my ADHD (and my ego’s exhibitionist streak), the thought has been one I have long shied away from.

With one important exception. I have always dreamed of running Winter Nights.

This all-day bardic competition was my introduction to the bardic community five years ago. Winning it two years back was one of the most delightful surprises I’ve had as a bard. This event taught me about camaraderie, about improvisation, about the breadth of talent and skills and generosity that this kingdom’s bards (and not just this kingdom’s) have to offer. In many ways, it is as much home to me as Pennsic is. (Not for nothing did I slip a name-check into my East Kingdom anthem.)

I have now posted a song page for “Concordian Soil”, the new piece I debuted a week ago at Wars of the Roses.

Reminder: Bardic at Wars of the Roses this weekend will be held at the same time and place as last year, Saturday 8:30 pm at the Bardic area. The theme of the competition is legitimacy to rule. See you there.

In service, Drake

1. I managed to hand off my Winter Nights Champion armband to Sabine, who is coordinating Winter Nights South in Bhakail next weekend. (I am sadly unable to attend.)
2. I adore my Baron and Baroness.
3. Combining King’s and Queen’s Bardic Champions with A&S Champions, from where I was sitting, worked overall as an event. It merged two well-attended events into something more on a Coronation scale. If people had to divide their attention between the two competitions, they nonetheless were both seen by a somewhat broader audience, and people came from all over the kingdom to a degree I don’t normally see.
4. I adore my (adopted) barony.
5. A year after being taken as Zsof’s apprentice, I finally managed at the same time to have her green apprentice belt (specially made for me) in my custody, have belt holes in it, and wear it at an event.
6. My kingdom is amazeballs. (And there is no such thing as a bad opportunity to sing about how wonderful it is.)
7. Helping to open doors and make connections for newer bards is a particular pleasure I don’t think I will ever tire of.
8. I am staring at a secret piece of art that was crafted with insane loving care and eye-popping color. Katrusha Skomorokh is a goddess. And a genius. And when she told me she was going to pour as much heart and beauty into this cover as was going into the music it would contain, I cannot argue with her.
9. I finally found my favorite Elizabethan flat cap (stuck in the garb box where I didn’t see it all these months).

That is all.