Archery

Teaching opportunities come up in the most interesting places. My cousin has a couple sons who are in love with the Victorian notion of the middle ages. They want to take up archery, so my cousin invited me over for lunch and a fast tutorial on archery. I strung a couple bows and introduced her to the equipment. I learned that Siamese kittens are fascinated by bowstrings.
I suppose some might question why I would include marital arts in an A&S Challenge. I'd answer that I'm exploring the art of teaching. The subject of the teaching is less important than its means of presentation. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' with it.
After seeing my canvas quiver (made of scraps 10 years ago) she was inspired to make similar quivers for her kids -- with embroidery! Hmmm. I might have to think about that idea.

Teaching ballads

I didn't teach a class at Midrealm Bardic Madness, since I didn't want to commit to driving in Chicago in bad weather. (What a wimp!) Turns out the weather was great.
I did participate in the "Teaching ballads" challenge by writing a piece describing the signs of the zodiac and the labors of the months to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", one of our best-known teaching songs. (It was an acrostic, spelling ASTROLOGICAL!)
I'm not expecting a call from the Pulitzers for it, but it was an interesting challenge.
Can I remember the zodiac in order now? Mmmm... nope. Sigh!
Thanks to Master Cerian and the Barony of Tree-Girt-Sea for a wonderful event.

Another persona class

October 18 was the day for "Creating the Creative" in Nordskogen. It was a day intended to introduce beginners to the SCA, and to encourage oldsters to try new things. I got to saw a rock in two for the first time.
I taught "Meeting your persona" again, using PowerPoint. There were more than 30 people there, ranging in SCA experience from an hour to 25 years. The response was great, and the folks who stayed after to chat were delightful.
Now I need a new subject. Letters? Plants? Or the one that's really needed -- how to evaluate sources for your SCA research? Boo0-ring! But necessary.

Meet your persona II

Falcon's Gate, the SCA group at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point invited me to talk with them about persona development. The building at the university has electricity, so instead of lugging 30 books, I took my projector and showed pictures of the books and tools that I find useful for such research. I locked the doors so I could let my "heavy-handed teacher" persona push my research mantras: 1. Ask the right question and ask the question right; and 2. Write down where you got the information.

I wish I could say that I recite these mantras when I'm in the library doing the work. Usually I think about them when I reeeeally need to know where I got some little tidbit of information. Pulling this class together made me realize that a class on evaluating sources might be very useful. If I had a nickel for every rehashing of the old "medieval cooks used spices to hide the taste of bad meat" myth I could afford to take the time off work to develop such a class.

This class was just for UWSP folks. I put UWSP library call numbers on the bibliography, for heaven's sake. I also demonstrated WorldCat, which made that task simple. In a couple weeks I'll revise it for folks in the Twin Cities.

Fear not! I also made a big pitch (with the aid of Emelye and Amra) for the A&S 50 Challenge. What I could have done in the 13th century if I'd had a projector connected to the Internet!

Another one-on-one

It's going to be a while before my next formal class, but sometimes a teaching opportunity just comes along.
The overdress I've been wearing for [mumble] years is based on pictures in the Maciejowski Bible. It has convertible sleeves, which may be worn on the arm or off, as the weather changes. All I've had for a pattern was the picture, but I managed to get a very functional garment by simply not sewing up the front of the sleeves. (I think I can do better, but this one works well, and looks like the pictures.)
At a recent event, I was asked about the dress by a lady who'd pretty well managed the headwear. We exchanged notes, so watch for another 13th-century Northshielder in a convertible gown.

Meet your persona

Interlibrary Loan librarians, batten down your hatches and warm up your computers. Persona researchers are comin’ to town!
The class on “Meet your persona” at Warriors & Warlords drew about 17 people – some brand new and some with quite a bit of Society experience. That may not sound like many compared to a Pennsic class, but the enthusiasm level made up for the numbers. I’m so glad I made a handout, because people really wanted the books I recommended.

Have you explored Library Thing? It’s an online cataloging tool that’s been doing the public interface/community thing longer than WorldCat has. The books on my handout are tagged 'persona' in LibraryThing.
I started putting up only SCA-type books because I wanted to be able to access my catalog from any computer and maybe quit buying duplicates. (hah!) When I put up the first batch I discovered that I had books in common with a friend in Milwaukee (Hi, Merouda!) and one in LA. Some of the books have reviews (by SCA folk, not by people trying to sell you the book). I’ve tagged the ones I recommended for the class “persona”.

Of course I talked up the A&S 50 challenge. It’s just the sort of thing some were looking for – an opportunity to grow their persona.

Persona woes

The Muses are toying with me as I plan this class. This will be held at Northshield's big camping event, Warriors and Warlords. There's no library handy, no internet connection (no electricity) so I'm on my own to make persona development come alive. And since poor old Kudrun has decidedly different ideas of what "persona" means than the SCA has, it'll be Karyn who teaches this class, using Kudrun as "Exhibit A".
They don't call it the A&S 50 Challenge for nothing! 8-)