A letter to my local library director

Note: I am using today as a writing day, and I will share some of it with you.

I am wicked upset about this:

Dear [Library Director];                     ;

I am writing to express my serious concern about a policy that I am told you have recently put into place.

When I go to the Crandall, and I do quite often, because it’s an excellent library, I always ask a librarian to check out my books. I enjoy the interaction, sometimes I find out things I did not know, and I am able to experience excellent customer service.

Friday, I went to check out my books and was asked, “May I show you how to do it?: I said no, I knew how to do it. I prefer to work with you. She was very polite and said she’d check them out for me on the self-checkout machine.

I have to admit, I was a little upset, and the more I think about it, the more I think you are making a serious mistake. I understand your reasoning behind it, but more and more I feel as though there is less human connection at the new library.

I do not live in the tax district, but last year I lobbied my friends hard to get them to support the tax increase. I think you are making a mistake to cut services (that’s how I see it) and still ask for an increase. We will likely be moving into the district in the next couple of month. I would like to be a vocal supporter of the library. I cannot do this under the current policy.

I would urge you again to re-consider this policy and allow your staff members to properly serve the public.

Thank you,

Etc.

Thoughts on the photo of the dying Marine in Afghanistan

Many of you know that the Associated Press distributed a story and photo package about a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan.

Among the many photos was one of him being tended to by two other Marines after he was hurt. He subsequently died.

Both his family and the Department of Defense said they did not want the photo run, but under "embed" rules, AP had the right to make it available to their newspapers.

And *that's* the critical point. They included it with a number of other photos, and it was up tot he newspapers to choose whether to run it.

Very few did. It's not a great picture, partly because it's hard to see what's going on.

There were other, much better pictures, which folks ran instead. It was an excellent package.
From my point of view, it's the job of the press to act as the reader's eyes and ears. Unfortunately, some people may ascribe a political motive (let's get out of Afghanistan because people are dying). I would also argue that there are some positive stories not getting published.

Same goes for the coffin photos. For a long time, the military would not allow them. Now, they can be photographed, in this case with family permission.

The Daily Mail has a long story on it that includes the picture and many others that were available. I don't necessarily agree with some if the story's sentiments, but it's a good summary.

I am writing this, knowing I have friends going over there.

I am going to start with the positive

I have recently discovered a link to the SCA Media policies.

Not surprisingly, I disagree with a lot of them.

But, I am going to start with part I pretty much agree with -- vocabulary. Personally, there are a lot of these words I would like to have all of us use every day instead of the SCA equivalent. But then, I am Mr. "It's Gate, dammit!"

This from the official document.

Please do me a favor on this thread and hold comment on the other rules. I wanna blast them first.

SCA Jargon/
Comprehensible Modern English

 

Autocrat
Event Manager, Coordinator or Steward

 

Chirurgeon
First Aid

 

Eric
Field, fighting field, field of honor, list field

 

Exchequer
Treasurer

 

Feastocrat
Cook

 

Kingdom
Region, Regional Chapter

 

Medieval
Middle Ages, Gothic era, SCA period, etc.

 

Mundane
Modern era, contemporary, real world, non-members, etc.

 

Newbie
New member, newcomer

 

Populace
Membership

Seneschal
Regional, chapter or local president

Sheriff/Constable
“The Watch”

This one's mostly a translation guide. Me, I would use kingdom/seneschal, then define it in those terms anove.

There's only one word I hate more than feastocrat (no, not "pirate," it's "troll.").

I like Event Steward.

OK, for this Easterner, Eric and Sheriff/Constable don't exist.

I understand why they don't want us to use the word mundane, but I certainly use it in SCA context.

 

Always call modern items by their proper names:

Boom Box                              
not - bard in a Box

 

Broadsword & shield 
not- sword & board or hardsuit

 

Car 
not - dragon or firewagon

 

Children or Youth  
not - smalls

 

Computer
not- magic box, philosopher’s stone, scribe machine etc.

 

Costume, Period Dress, or Historical Clothing
not- garb

 

Event Registration, Check-in or Gate
not troll

 

Fighter or man-at-arms
not-stick jock

 

Norseman, Norsewoman or Scandanavian
not- Viking (Viking is a verb)

 

Telephone
not-  farspeaker

 

Voice Mail
not- mechanical Scribe

I think a lot of those, like farspeaker and dragon  are pretty much gone, and thank goodness so is smalls. I never use the word "stick jock" anyway, unless I am trying to disparage a certain type of person, and I try not to do that so much.

 

Note: On further review, this document may be Atenveldt-specific. The SCA policy is appended to it.

Either way, I think that besides the vocabulary stuff, it has some serious issues.

I am dying of teh cute!

A 4-year-old does the Curt Russell/Herb Brooks motivational speech.

Just wait for him to say, "Screw 'em."

The Atenveldt media policy -- Part The First

 

OK, so it’s probably a good thing I do not live in Atenveldt. Heck, I am all wound up from 2000 miles away.

As we discovered in a previous post, the Atenveldt kingdom media officer has developed a media policy.

That is stricter, more specific and in my opinion, crazier, than the Society policies (which are included in that link.

I am going to need to do this in two posts, because there are a dozen rules. I will quote the rule, then I will comment.

1. If a reporter contacts any member about doing a story, you must contact the Media Relations Officer and notify the Seneschal. Do NOT grant an interview without their permission and instruction.

Am I to read this that as, if a reporter calls me, I have to say, I cannot talk to you now. I have to check with people?

 

Personally, been a media guy for 30+ years. No one needs to tell me what to say and what not not to.

 

2. Never contact any media outlet or reporter directly. That is the Media Officer’s job.

 

Are we assuming local groups have media reps? Or do we need to call the kingdom media rep to send a press release on a demo and follow it up with a phone call?

 

I could see this being the seneschal’s job. But I think anyone who is in charge of a demo or event oughta be able to do it.

 

3. Report contact with a reporter regarding SCA within 7 days of the contact. Do not accept any solicitation from producers, casting directors or other production company or news organization staffers to participate in any television show as a member of the SCA, without consulting the Kingdom Seneschal and Media Officer. This restriction includes participation in documentaries and “reality” shows. The Society Media Relations Officer has the final say on member participation in television, radio and other broadcast media.

 

OK, the reporter part’s a little silly. I am sorry. The “reality shows?” Yeah, I will give in on that one.

 

4. If you want to publicize an event, you must contact the Media Officer and Seneschal.

You trust me to run an event, sign contracts, pick staffers, take responsibility and count money, but I am not trustworthy enough to call a reporter and say, “Hey, we’re having this event?”

5. Notify the Media Officer and Seneschal if you become aware of media coverage regarding the SCA, be it negative or positive.

Does Master Philip really care that the local paper ran a spiffy photo of Gwenlianna one-shotting Caine? I think not.

Kayleigh gets arrested for hitting a church bell at midnight New Year’s morning, with a crossbow? I can see that. He's gonna want to know.


PS: The bolding in the rules is in the original.

Atenveldt media policies -- Part The Second

 

6. Before scheduling a demo, you must consult your local Seneschal (if you have one), or the Kingdom Seneschal. (See the SCA Demo Policy, below.)

Yep. The seneschal needs to know about demos. Who would not have a local seneschal?

7. Choose demo participants carefully and discretely.

First off, you just ain’t gonna get enough people if you blackball some folks from coming.

Second, who I am I to say, well, “I ain’t gonna invite Rhodri. He’s probably fart and burp?”

Should you talk at meeting about dealing with the press, yeah? But we are who we are. And I do not buy the old saw (even if it’s a Silverwing’s law) that reporters will gravitate to the least-dressed person. Let ‘em get a lot of Sir Geoffrey or someone in shiny stainless.

8. Use real names unless you are discussing personae.

I’d give ‘em both, and a good reporter’s gonna ask for both.

Oh, and “persona.” It ain’t plural in that usage.

9. Never discuss the following topics with the media or during demos:

Religion

Lewd behavior

Alcohol—Making, preparation, studies, distribution, sales, etc.

Households

I can buy the first two. Homebrewing is perfectly legal. Do we want to talk about drunken debauchery? Um, no.

Households? This is a remnant from somewhere. Saying we have smaller organized groups called households? Not an Eastern issue.

10. Don’t use the words mundane or medieval during a demo, with the general public, or with any media representative. As the new Media Policy says, the word mundane is often considered insulting and patronizing. Use more accurate terms such as modern-era, non-members and contemporary.

No issue with not using mundane, especially the way some of us say it.

 11. While there is nothing wrong with the word, medieval (French- middle period), ignorance is always with us and many will absorb only last two syllables and come up with evil So, awkward as it may be, refer to our era as the Middle Ages” instead.

Let’s assume everyone’s stupid? If you have taken high school history, you know what Medieval is.

12. Be certain that words unfamiliar to general public, or those that might be confused by the public, are fully explained. For instance, many people have never heard of a rapier and the least well informed might only hear the first syllable and confuse it with rape. Some people will even hear the word craft and associate it with Wicca/witchcraft, etc., or something else they’ve seen in a movie. Make absolutely certain that you give a context for these words: Everybody knows what fencing is, and you can describe metalwork, weaving, etc.

I think these two are ridiculous, though John McGuire tells a rather scary story about “rapier,” elsewhere in this journal.

Methinks some folks are paranoid and think other people are stupid.

Final thought: Much of this (and it says so in the policy) a lot of this publicity stuff comes of of the Ben The Steward case. (Many of you know I have rather strong feelings about that, which I will be happy to discuss privately).

But these rules and ideas don’t come from specific media incidents, but rather from a desire to make us look better in light of past issues.

I hate anything that seems so reactionary.

OK, this is fricking cool!

So, I have been railing about SCA policies.

I forget the good things sometimes.

Alethea gets home and reminds me of the pure spiffiness of the SCA -- and our king.

So at the event this weekend in Quebec, there were 12 places at head table and only 11 people.

So Andreas says to Alethea, "Please find the newest member of the local group here and invite him/her to sit with us."

Turns out a young lady named Paula was at her first event, and she got to spend feast talking in French/English to Alethea, who was speaking in English/French.

What a cool thing?

Hey, Freya, what's this about a hockey jersey?