Castles and Titles

This weekend had several interesting events in Southern California. I started out by a visit to a Chapter that must have the shortest meetings I have ever seen in my life. Of course, they had no business to discuss and no topics of discussion in the meeting room, so it may have been shorter than usual, but they sure did go quick for the business part of the meeting. However, they also do a dinner each night and then have discussions in the dining room, so the total overall time for the "evening" is not any shorter than any other Chapter, but it is distributed differently. Because there is less time in the Chapter room, there is more time for social activities and I like that different ratio a lot. I wonder if other Chapters might give that model a shot just for maybe a meeting or two during the year rather than all meetings. Many Chapters used to have dinners three or four times a year and less of them do now because of the work involved in doing all the cooking and cleaning and such, but in a lot of areas there are some reasonably priced caterers who could come do the meal too. Doing one every meeting like this Chapter I visited does may be too expensive for some of our members, but an occasional meeting with dinner and more social time might be a great change of pace. Then on Saturday was an Association event and a Grand Officer reception. The Association event was held at Benedict's Castle in Riverside, and in addition to providing us with a great meal and lovely entertainment, holding it there benefitted Teen Challenge, a program that helps teens from troubled situations. It is always nice when our events can also do some good in the community. The dinner on Friday did that also. The theme of the afternoon event was medieval and of course pretty much everyone knows that when I am not doing Star, I do medieval re-creation in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), so my girls in the area were looking forward to seeing me in one of my fancy outfits and here I was in our red travel suit for the year. I understand that the Worthy Grand Matron probably wanted all the Grand Officers in their travel suits so that no one would feel left out if some people had medieval clothes and some did not, so I don't fault her decision on that. But in my medieval group, when someone shows up to an event in modern clothes, some people call that wandering around naked and it made for some very funny comments when I arrived. The medieval culture shock continued into the evening because when I arrived at the Saturday evening reception, one of the Associate Patrons from that area walked up to me and said hello and then said that he had just found out that he had been addressing me incorrectly. For a moment I was puzzled, thinking maybe he was trying to verify my title was Associate Grand Conductress and not some other Grand Office. But no, that wasn't it. I found out what he was talking about when the next thing he said to me was, "I hope you will forgive me, Your Excellency," which is my correct title in our medieval group, but one that I never expected to hear at an Eastern Star reception. The look on my face was probably most amusing. The kind gentleman, whose proper medieval title would have been Honorable Lord by the way, proceeded to tell me about his activities in the SCA and called over three other people in the room who are also SCA folk and proceeded to introduce them and had me tell them about my SCA activities, which are of course mostly on hold right now and for the next three or four years. This kind person and I had a lovely discussion about the amount of cross-over we have found between the Masonic Fraternity and our SCA folk. I have two friends that recently joined the Lodge and then Star who I have known for decades in SCA also and he knew several more than he had introduced to me. I can appreciate the cross-over because it is the result of shared values. In SCA, we value courtesy, chivalry and service. My SCA motto, in English since its on my banners in Latin, is Honor above all Else and the motto of my household is From each according to their Ability, To each according to their Need. (No, it wasn't a communist household, but everyone was expected to do whatever they could and cover for others where needed. :-) The Masonic ideals parallel these values very much. At an SCA event, I can set up an encampment, leave my stuff lying around, go do other things and know that nothing of mine will be touched or missing when I return. Honor would not permit otherwise. At an Eastern Star function, I find out which seat is mine, dump my purse and tote bag there and go talk to people without any thought or fear that anything of mine will be missing, (although it may be moved over if I've guessed the wrong seat. :-) Where else in this world can I safely do that? So that same sense of comfort that comes from being surrounded by honorable people is present in both of these worlds to which I have given many, many hours, (and many, many dollars, too. :-) What is also amusing and interesting is that in many ways, my current journey up the Grand Line is a parallel to the journey I made fourteen years ago to the throne of the Principality of the Mists in the Kingdom of the West and the Viscountess title I hold in the SCA. (I was already excellent before that, having been made a Court Baroness some years before and some people value my other peerage, the Order of the Pelican, which I earned for service, more that the title I got for reigning but those are ongoing debates in the SCA which are fun, but not relevant. :-) In both cases, I was given the opportunity to serve by the hand of another, in Star by my selection as Grand Marshal and in SCA by the victory over the Coronet Lists by my fighter. Having gained the opportunity, it was and is my responsibility to use it well and earn by my own hand the title and honors that go with the job. In both cases, you serve with a partner of the opposite sex who is your co-leader and co-decision maker who you have chosen as the person with whom to share this experience. Both cases have a ramp up period where you are next in line but not in the office yet, to give you a chance to make plans, ask people to serve with you, chart out a calendar, decide on colors and emblems and clothing styles and such. Of course in SCA, we had eight weeks of ramp up before a six month term and Star gives us three years before a one year term, but in both cases, there is never enough time and you scramble to get everything done, find all your people and curse the calendar that just doesn't have enough weekends in it! Both cases require you to make decisions on matters that are good and those that are not so fun, to uphold the dignity of the position and the office, to serve the members even while in charge of them by bending your wishes to the needs of your people, and to remember that honor is accorded to you automatically by virtue of your office while you hold it, but that when your time is over and you hand the titles and honors over to the next person, how you will be remembered and if you will be respected depend greatly on the job you did and not just that you did it. (And every person who did it before you has their own ideas of how it should be done and hope you do it the way they did it. :-) I must say though, that being Princess is probably easier. When your word is Law, you give everyone a chance to voice their opinion, then you make a decision, then you announce your decision and everyone says, "Yes, Your Highness" and there's no more arguing after that. Of course, if what you've decided to do is have latrines dug in the middle of the fighting field, no one may able to find the shovels for six months so they just don't get around to doing the digging until after you step down and then it's too late, but at least there's no arguing. :-) I had a wonderful time as Princess back in 96-97 and I am told that on the one to ten scale, my reign with my Prince scored an eight, which is just about as good as it gets. I hope I can do as well in my current role and I am keeping my fingers crossed on it. I think that a lot of the experience of it will actually cross over well, at least it has so far. Next weekend, I am not able to go to Bishop and Mammoth, so next week I will write about the final event we had this past weekend, the Grand Marshal's reception.