About Me

Well.  I give up.  I've tried to stay off the blogosphere and I find that I just can't any longer.  

I'm a long time member of a medieval reenactment group called the Society for Creative Anachronism. You can check them out here.  The Society for Creative Anachronism is an organization which researches and practices the skills of medieval Europe from 600 to 1600 A.D.  The "known world" consists of 20 different kingdoms with over 30,000 paid members.  We hold events featuring tournaments, battles, courts, feasts, dancing, cooking, classes and workshops and so much more.  My kingdom covers the state of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and the northwest corner of Arkansas.  We are known as the Kingdom of Calontir.

This group has two hierarchies:  one based on whether or not you have been the king and queen (dukes, duchesses, counts,and countesses), and another based on fighting, service/administration, and arts - which are represented by the knights, the pelicans, and the laurels.  Knights are typically referred to as sir, while pelicans and laurels are known as master or mistress.

I'm a laurel for the arts, specifically,14th century household arts.  I do a lot of projects and we are getting ready for a major event in a month...one which will require a bit of work on my part. In the photo above, I'm the one standing with my hands on my hips.    My persona is a woman of lower nobility from the City of York in 1365.  I'm known as Mistress Elianor de Morland in the society but my nickname is The Dread Mistress.

Since "the dread mistress" blog would probably lead a lot of people interested in bdsm or other strange things here, I'm going to stick with geek girl mayhem...since it's still true and I'm trying to help people learn how to wear a veil here, not tie people up with one.

I'm witnessing a lot of conversations happening on FaceBook about the political reality of peerage in the society and how many participants are frustrated and unhappy.  I don't like that, the SCA needs people to grow and thrive and unhappy people don't stay around.  I think this blog might help some of you gain a different perspective on how the SCA works and what the expectations are for peers and those wishing to become peers someday.

I've tried having this conversation in person, but I don't feel like I'm reaching enough of the current frustration.  So stick around to learn about the nuts and bolts of 14th century clothing, cooking, and other miscellaneous topics and possibly a little about what takes to be an "important" person in this weird group of people in the Kingdom of Calontir.

Part of this blog is also a class project, so you can expect some information to leak through for that as well.  I'm following several blogs that classmates are working on as well.