Gwenllyen: Why am I running for Baroness of North Woods a second time? I absolutely loved being the Baroness the first time. The populace of North Woods is the most supportive, talented, and creative group any Broness could ask for. My goal was to make sure everyone had fun in the Barony. Not only do I hope and think they had fun but they also made sure I had fun. My goal for this tenure would be to work closely with Morgaine so that everyone would choose to come back for more! (For those who have been following me on Facebook, I should be done with nursing school in March of 2023.)
Morgaine: My reason for running for Baroness of North Woods is to raise my level of service to the Barony and the Kingdom. I have been a member of the SCA for well over 30 years. In my tenure I have served in multiple positions at the local group and Baronial levels. I took on these offices in addition to being a single mom, getting a graduate degree and starting my academic career. I am finally at a place in my life where my children are grown, my weekends are free and my spare time needs to be filled. The Barony has a supportive populous which I would like to support and grow as the Baroness. I want to get back to basics and continue “the dream” that is the SCA. The SCA is my second family and it is important that we have fun together.
OUR VISION FOR THE BARONY:
One of us will be at every North Woods event. We plan to continue participation in the Pentamere Pearl, choosing champions and bestowing awards. The North Woods Stars are our favorite because the populace may bestow the award for deserving gentles. We also plan on attending Pennsic. We will continue to organize the Knowne World Baronial Rapier Champions Tourney as well as support our champions in their tourneys. Something new that we would like to add at Pennsic is North Woods sponsoring a day at Midrealm. The goal would be to have the POD, guards and all of the retaining positions for all of the Royalty covered by North Woods for the day.
We have several ideas for recruitment and retention. One of them is to nurture the on-line activities that were begun during the pandemic. This is to encourage participation at whatever level people can do.
We also plan to have two courts at each North Wood’s event. The evening court will be the traditional court of the day’s events and awards. The late morning court will be new. We would like to invite people for whom this is their first SCA event up in court and gift them with a handmade book. This serves multiple purposes: they are welcome and we would like them to jot down something they did during the day to let us know later in the day; and it lets the populace know who the new people at the event are early so they can show them what they do in the SCA. We would have liked a book at our first event to start keeping track of all the things we have done in the SCA.
SCA EXPERIENCE:
Gwenllyen
- I have been in the SCA for 32 years.
- My husband was in the Air Force so I have participated in multiple Kingdoms.
- I have been minister of arts and sciences, chatelaine, and exchequer.
- I have been the event steward for Wassail, Dancer’s Revolt, North Woods Community College, Smurf Shoot and more.
- I am a Master of the Pelican
- I was the landed Baroness of North Woods for 5 years with Maximilian der Zauberer.
- I like making pretty things out of string so I make lace, knit, embroider, and finger loop braids.
- Dancing, thrown weapons, archery, and rapier fighting in a melee are some of my favorite activities.
- My favorite subjects to teach are dancing and making bobbin lace.
Morgaine
- I attended my first SCA meeting in Dec 1985.
- Over the years I have served as Baronial seneschal, chronicler, and currently ending my tenure as Baronial exchequer.
- On the local level I have served as seneschal, exchequer, chronicler, A&S Officer, and chatelaine.
- I also have multiple times over the years served for the local group as event steward, head cook, ran lunch tavern, ran gate, and was merchant liaison.
- In the ways of the arts and sciences, most of my experience is in clothing design having made multiple tunics, trews, shirts, gowns, kilts, cloaks, and two pavilions. I also have an unhealthy obsession with a particular Irish dress (shinrone).
- Over the years I have participated as an authorized heavy weapons fighter (something I fiercely miss), shot archery, and taught classes in Medieval Philosophy and Raising Children in the SCA.
- Though I have never taught a formal SCA class on how to sew, I have spent time encouraging and teaching others to sew on a one-on-one basis. (Most memorable student was Master Alan Fairfax teaching him how to make a Viking tunic back in his early days in the Society. It took him 12 straight hours to sew a tunic that would have taken me a couple of hours. I did not know I had patience until then!)