I posted some Pennsic pictures here. Most are from the homes tour, including several of this nifty new Tudor shower house:



I didn't take any pictures in our own camp (but have in past years and you can find them in other Picasa albums). We're planning to do some exterior work on our house this year, so look for new pictures of that next year.

This was a good year for performances. I participated in one and attended several others, including two that exceeded all my expectations.

( music and commedia )

Dear LJ brain trust, help me figure out what to feed my camp-mates at Pennsic. :-)

We take turns cooking dinner for everybody, where "everybody" is around 25 people, give or take. Cooking facilities are propane-fueled stoves and grills; it's camping, so no electricity, and our camp doesn't build a firepit (especially this year when we'll probably be packed like sardines). We do also have a small propane oven, big enough to bake a dozen muffins, but I'm not sure what role it could play in dinner for twice that many people.

My night is late this year and I don't like to leave site once I'm there, so my usual of grilled fish (and/or grilled meat) doesn't work (I wouldn't trust either in a cooler for the better part of a week). We tend to be a meat-heavy camp, more than I'm used to eating, so I personally lean toward vegetarian (or fish, if that worked). We have a couple people in camp who are lactose-intolerant.

Dry goods (or canned) can obviously be stored for the week with no problem and there is a vegetable stand on site.

I prefer to make food that is period or plausible as opposed to modern.

Any suggestions? I'm currently thinking that something with chickpeas could provide protein, and I could have rice and grilled veggies, but can I improve on this?

The interview meme is going around again, and in starting to respond to my questions from hrj I stumbled upon a way-overdue set from ichur72. Oops! And, ironically, there's some overlap. :-)

( hrj's questions )

( ichur72's questions )

The conventions ("rules" is such a strong word :-) ):

• Leave a comment asking for questions.
• I'll respond by asking you five questions to satisfy my curiosity.
• Update your journal with the answers to your questions.
• Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.

Fair warning: you might not get your questions from me until after Pennsic, so turn on that notification email or check back here.

The big new bit of stupidity -- this time not from the SCA board of directors -- is a new Pennsic rule that minors, meaning people under 18, cannot attend classes without being accompanied by an adult. I guess it's just too dangerous for a 16-year-old to learn Italian dance or a 17-year-old to learn how to spin wool, or something. This is totally bizarre, as there is not a general restriction on teenagers at Pennsic. They can go (unaccompanied) to shop (even to the blacksmiths!), or to shoot archery, or to watch the fighting, or to any private camp they choose. (Kids under 12 are more restricted.)

Sadly predictable is the reaction of many people in the face of the ensuing discussions. The original rule said minors had to be accompanied to classes by a parent or legal guardian, which is totally crazy, and in the face of much protest they "clarified" that they really meant a responsible adult, meaning any adult appointed by the parents, and not something involving legal process. And today, with that change, people are saying "oh, well that's not so bad then" and "that's reasonable" and "we can find people to take our kids to classes, then". It's as if they've forgotten that the fundamental policy itself is broken. They're saying "oh, if you're just going to take an arm rather than costing me an arm and a leg, that's ok then". Hello? And it only took a day! Amazing.

I'm not saying people need to Stand Up And Do Something Now, because I don't know what we can do. Yes, I want to fix it, but I don't know what to do today to do that. (I can think of small, tactical things to do to mitigate the damage, but that's not a solution.) It seems obvious to me that there is something deeper going on, and I'm not dialed into it. But I do know that it's a short step from "well, that's less bad" to "that's ok" (we're seeing this already) to "of course that's reasonable and you're a reckless idiot if you don't agree". We've seen this before from the SCA (mandatory membership, no wait an unjust tax instead, to point to biggest but not sole case) and it's certainly not unique to this organization. Heck, we see it in marketing too; remember New Coke?

Regardless of where it happens, its success depends on people focusing on the here-and-now and not taking the longer view. I guess hill-climbing is a popular algorithm. (For the non-geeks, this means you take an alternate path if it will directly improve on where you are, but you rule out paths that make it worse -- even if those paths then lead to something much better.)

I'm talking here mostly about process and meta-issues. As for the base question of how we treat children (of all ages), the best comment I've seen has been from Cariadoc, who wrote: "I have long held that there are two fundamental views of children: That they are pets who can talk, or that they are small people who do not yet know very much. The wrong one is winning." This non-parent says: yes, that.

Pennsic was quite good for me this year -- not for any big reasons, but for a lot of small things that went right.

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The annual post: if you're going to Pennsic, please leave a comment with the name and location of your camp, good times to find you there, and -- if there's any chance at all that I haven't connected LJ names with SCA names -- who the heck you are, please?

I'll be in Polyhymnia (sub-camp of Debatable Lands) in block N10; look for the two-story white house. I'll be arriving late in the first week, tend to be in camp in the mornings (don't come before 10) and after dark most of the time, and will be performing with the Debatable Choir Monday night at 7:30 in the performing-arts pavillion (plug, plug). I will be leaving Pennsic on the final Friday, mid-day.

I don't know when I'll get around to writing a fuller report, but here are a few bits. (Pictures will definitely have to wait until I get back from NHC.)

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The Coopers were able to move the house this morning without apparent problems, fortunately. The trailer does need some repairs -- probably one axle should be replaced, at least. One of my camp-mates spotted some writing/engraving in the middle of the axle (completely eluded me), so we now have a part number. (Also most of a serial number, though a couple digits were too hard to read, but I don't think that's useful for anything.) Someone had a good idea: ask the Coopers who services their vehicles, on the assumption that they don't drive their tracters in to Butler or Newcastle for maintenance. I need to find someone who can make a house call; the trailer is not road-legal (and probably couldn't be made so without fixing the problem for which I would want to take it somewhere... um.)

We spent all day up there doing camp set-up. Dani is now the assistant plumber (since the previous assistant has moved to another camp). We got all the camp infrastructure in place today (and most personal dwellings); we're farther ahead than we usually are on the first Sunday. I didn't think I had done anything really strenuous, but now some muscles are filing complaints. Oh well; they'll get over it.

It should be a comfortable camp this year. There's never a lot of space at Pennsic, of course, but we managed to get an optimal shape, so we have a straight path through camp and relatively few ropes in inconvenient places.

Now, home for a few days before going back up.

I finally posted my Pennsic pictures. There are a few below the cut.

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