My life: not so pritty.

Okay, I'll save you all the drama for another time, but suffice it to say that the past three or four weeks have been amongst the worst in my adult life. Things in the SCA have seen better days, things at work are lousy and the cost of gas if fast becoming its own category in my life ($3.72 a gallon yesterday). if you're at all interested in the messy details, feel free to ask. The summary goes like this:

1) I am in the middle of a relapse of a dangerous medical condition that the Doctors are still scratching their heads over as to the cause. (Don't worry, treatment isn't a problem, just a headache that I actually respond well to)

2) Last week I spent 4 days working at one of my Company's instillation sights, and hated every minute of it. Normally, I have a desk job, and the boss decided that some field time would help me understand what people have to go through installing my designs. Its not just construction, but I was lifting so much weight, and working so hard without any acclimation time, that I cried myself to sleep all four nights from the pain I was in. It was so bad the last day that when the day was over the leg cramps prevented me from driving my car for about ten minutes. Even after taking a lot more ibuprofen than I probably should have, my back and chest still hurt for several days.

3) Rumors... Got to love them. I can't really say too much, one of the authors might be reading this, and I have been told that... well, you know... don't loose any sleep over it, its only words, getting mad at him won't change anything.... you know... the usual.

Bottom line, I've got a few floating around about me, some are exaggerations and some are total falsehoods. Where did they come from... I don't know, but I have had people ask me about them from Namron, Northkeep and Mooneschadowe so far. So I think its fare to say that they are well traveled.

I have been told by a few people that I am too easily angered and too defensive, ergo its hard to talk to me about conflict, concerns and rumors.

In retrospect, I can't deny any of those charges. A lot of the time I'm egotistical, arrogant, loud, overbearing... what was it a friend of mine said?... oh yes... I have a chronic need to be right all the time.

I have my faults, and I can't deny them, and I am taking actions to correct them...

Sigh... Time and time alone will show if I am sincere about making a change, or just showing off for the crowd. I know what's in my heart, but I will never ask someone to trust my word when tangible evidence is, or will be available.

But!

Lets not forget something. Remember that old adage, "two wrongs don't make a right"? Guess what, telling a third party something that you wont or can't say to the subject's face isn't exactly solving the problem either.

You might say I am hard to talk to, or even intimidating. "Unapproachable" was a common vocab word in a recent conversation. And again, I can not deny it, doing so would require me to call a lot of good people lairs, and I am not ready to cross that line.

But what on earth is accomplished by telling someone else whatever it is you have to say? Even if what you say is 100% true, what do you think its going to sound like after half of the northern region is done playing "telephone" with it?

Bottom line: If you can't say something to someone's face, than get creative and find a way to at least try and get them the message, or just don't say anything.

Alright... I'm done venting on that one. Sorry for the rant, but I had to get it out of my system.

4) Money... or more specifically Gas money. At the moment its $3.74 a gallon, and I'm scheduled to teach at a central and a southern event over the next month.

Enough said on that.

I don't know, I guess that about covers it for the moment. I would like to offer some stoic, hard-nosed, optimistic closing note, but honestly, life right now just stinks. Does it have its good points? Absolutely. No mater how bad things get I still cherish every time my 2 and a half year old son jump up off the couch and shouts "daddy's home!" when I walk in the door.

But overall, yeah, life stinks right about now.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Opening and Closings

Well, this past weekend was rather eventful. Mundanely, my parents payed for myself, my wife and son to fly out to Virginia and see my sister's graduation. I got back on a Monday I don't think I was off of the airplane in Tulsa more than an hour when My wife walked up to me and said "Honey, did you know that Northkeep's populace meeting is tonight?"

Somewhere between the string of profanities and unintelligible utterance, I decided that I was already in Tulsa, so attending was a forgone conclusion. Though I was so tired, and so spent from the trip and the flight back that I just decided to go in mundanes and not bother with garb of any kind.

Something important did happen at the meeting, however. Lord Talbot handled the Heralding for the meeting, and did a speculator job of it. Kevin was standing next to him the whole time, and I can only guess what specific items they spoke about, but I must say that Talbot handled himself well, and I see more than enough skill there to learn and master the ropes of court heraldry.

At the end of the meeting, I spoke with Her Excellency Kalandra, as well as Talbot and Kevin. Their was nothing official said, and nothing as formal was ever expressed by anyone. But I told them all that It looks like Northkeep has someone from their own ranks who not only wants to herald, but wants to learn the ropes.

Its probably time for me to step back and help where I can, but also let Northkeep build up its own heraldry corps again.

Northkeep is part of the triad that has helped to make me a regional player, and my work with them is far, far from over. I'll be there for them if they need, but part of being a herald is stepping back and letting the less experienced learn from the jobs you already know how to do.

In other avenues, I got word today that several people from up here in the north want to attend my heralding classes, but can't make it to either Texas Event that I'll be teaching at.

Other options appear, and more opportunities present themselves.

This is what I wanted, and this is what I am working for.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Playing with the big boys

This will be another short post, most of what needs to be said will probably be said in more and better detail in the future.

Yesterday I managed to speak with the Autocrat for my group's event, Mooneschadowe's Triumph of the Eclipse. For years I have been the primary site herald for the event, but this year, I decided to try my hand at the other end of the game.

I am now officially the lead herald for the event, meaning that I get to do everything OTHER than be loud.

Time to see if I have grown up any since my less than stellar performances as a leader some years ago.


Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

The cost of doing business

This wont be a long post, but that doesn't make it easy for me.

Between the time I spend being a herald, the price of gas ($3.57 in places today) and my personal financial situation, I have concluded that I will likely not be able to armor up in the SCA for a while. The way things are going now, even though Gulf Wars will overlap Spring break this year, this just isn't any way for me afford the trip.

I joined the SCA for the fighting, and I guess I have held on to the hope that I would be able to fight again, but between Life, SCA and my other personal objectives, I guess its less painful if I just admit that armoring up is a luxury I can no longer afford.

Sigh...

I guess I can just call it the cost of doing business.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Round two...

Okay, I got some good result from when I posted my class notes for my list heraldry class. So, I decided to see how far I could press my luck.


Here you will find my notes for SCA road (site) heraldry. They are not polished, and they are not spell checked. But worst of all, they are really, really long...like 21 pages long.

However, I am going to teach this class as well at King's college in a few weeks, so for those of you brave enough to wade through my unfiltered mental ramblings, I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions.

And before anyone tells me the class is too long, please tell me what you think can be omitted or cut down.


Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Some Perspective

I guess its important to write down the "why"s as much as it is the "what"s of my Heraldic quest. Not just the here and now, but some of the major events that directed me down the path I am on.

I haven't always wanted to be a crown level herald, and this isn't one specific moment where it just hit me that I should try for that level of Heraldry. But it was more a gradual shift as I got better and better at the local populace meeting heralding heraldry that I had been doing for years.

Now, while their was no single moment of realization, their was a big one that quickly added itself to its predecessors to push me down the path that I am on. Some time last year My wife and I caught a ride down to King's college with Master Oxlade. We've both known Oxlade for years, so the trip had its bonuses from the start. We rode down and stayed with Druin and Darin, long time friends of Oxlade. Their home was still more than a few hours from site, so the morning of the event we still had a lot of time in a van together. The event itself was fun, and I attended several classes including one my Master Modius, a frequent crown herald. That afternoon we watched Druin herald for the crown. I'm sure I knew this before hand, but it only really registered for me then that Druin was the Golden Staff herald.

The trip back got started late, so most of the car was out like a light before we were on the rode more than thirty minutes. Driun was driving, and as I recall, I was just behind the front passenger seat. It wasn't long Before I asked her about court heraldry and how to get better opportunities as a court herald. And it wasn't long after that that i realized that I wasn't dealing with a typical SCAer.

Druin can best be described, in my opinion, as a force of nature, going where she will, and yielding only to forces truly more powerful than herself. Thats not to say she was a bully or a power monger, far from it. But to be sure, I have not encountered someone as self confident as her in well over a decade. Their were no ambiguities to her statements, no wavering, no hesitation. She had made it to the apex of SCA court heralding, and she had a very definite idea of what was needed to do the same for anyone else.

I think the first major point to surface in the conversation was that of my own group. As one of the founding members the Kingdom's only province, I knew all to well what type of drawbacks came with playing a baronial-level game without actual landed nobles in house. I don't know specifically what was on Druin's mind when she asked me about the provence, and all I recall her asking was basic questions about how we operate, what the group was like, how often people evented... basic stuff, little more than chitchat in its own substance. But to this day, I still think that she was possibly feeling me out, seeing how solid I was about my decision to go Province in the face of its most obvious drawback to myself. Do I think she was questioning our decision? No. But, I would not be surprised in the least if she was feeling me out to see how well I dealt with the consequences of my own decisions.

It was a short hop from their to the next question, how would someone overcome the limited options to court herald that are inherent to a Province (as well as a shire or canton)? Their wasn't much hesitation to this either, she told me to travel, hit every barony I could, and ask to herald, or help herald their populace meetings. The answer made sense, and while I knew that prospect could turn into a major investment in gasoline (the three closest baronies were Wiesenfuer, Namron, and Northkeep), it was not impossible, but it also wasn't something that I wanted to do without thinking it through.

In any event, that was what set me on the path to being the the herald I am today, and gave me the tools to hopefully be the herald I want to be. I was already attending the Populace meetings of Northkeep because I worked in Tulsa, but when my company folded and I found work in Oklahoma city, I decided to make the best off the situation and hot all 3 baronies each month. I'm pritty sure I started that some time in august or september, maybe as late as october, but I'm not entirely sure at this rate. It doesn't really matter, however. The point is that right now I am playing a regional game, not just a local one, I have friends and informal students in all three baronies, and I have a good relationship with all three baronies. These are not small tasks, and while I don't want to sound like I am promoting myself, but how far I have come is maked by these accomplished measured against what I was doing back when I first went to King's college; and that was heralding Local populace meetings.

To my mind, I have come a long way, but have longer still to go.


Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

From the Kingdom List

I trust this is self explanatory with respect to the Blog topic.

This is from a (really long) conversation on the list about Ansteorran history, but given the information mentioned here, I decided it was worth posting here. At the time of the post, some opinions had been stated that were not necessarily universal, prompting disagreements, and so on. This is one of the responses to a response.

Wed, May 7, 2008 at 4:28 on the Ansteorra List.
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I'm afraid I'm going to have to quibble a bit with your disagreement. While early tournament combat tended to be little better than what happened on the battlefield, by the fifteenth and sisteenth centuries, there *were* a fair number of rules about what you could and could not do in tournament combat. For example, when jousting, aiming at the horse, or the opponent's legs was frowned upon and if a fighter dropped something, it was immediately claimed by the heralds (who, in addition to their announcing duties seemed to have had a role pretty similar to SCA marshals) and the dropped weapon or armor had to be ransomed back. Or consider this book: http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/rene/renehome.html and http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=COMP-1&I=1&M=imageseule from 1460, which includes rules on what armor and weapons could be used, how the list field was to be set up, etc.

Later-period jousting was scored on how well the combatants rode, how good their targeting was and how much of their lance was broken. It's true that deaths still happened, but the fighters weren't actively trying to kill each other; those deaths were accidents, like deaths in modern car racing. Perhaps the ultimate in "sport" jousting was the German style that had specially-constructed armor that would fly into pieces if hit in the right spot. http://www.karlofgermany.com/master25.htm

-Tivar Moondragon
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Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

News of old and good friends.

Here is something some of you will appreciate.

A good and dear friend has earned herself a prize that many SCAers could only dream of.

http://spanish.ucdavis.edu/welcome/events/events08/mary

Not entirely heraldic, but Puck (Mary's Husband) was one of the people who helped get me into heralding light weapons lists. The types of information that Mary will be studying is the stuff that so many of us pay good money to read books about, and here she is going out to learn and translate it directly from the primary sources.

God Bless, and good luck!

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

List Heraldry 101 Class

Okay, I'm going to do something a little new here.

I have my notes for my List heraldry Class linked here.

List Heraldry 101 Class

I am hoping to teach this class at King's College and Ansteorrian Heraldic and Scribal Symposium.
This is (by far) the shorter of my two classes, both in quantity of material and time involved. As much time as I have investing in List heraldry, I know I can handle myself in any northern fighting event as a herald. However, I'm sure what I still have more to learn than not.

I invite any and all to read my notes and leave me comments on what was covered, what wasn't, what needs to be talked about, and any corrections needed.


Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"

Beltane Games

Well, for an event that is effectively billed as a kick back and relax weekend, I must say that Namron’s Beltane this year was very productive, both personally and heraldically.

As it turned out, my wife and child decided to stay at home this weekend (that was mostly due to mundane stresses and my wife deciding that it she needed a stay-at-home rest). So the total trip down consisted of myself and Master Robert Fitzmorgan and his Lady Katrine. The three of us have been friends for a long time, so I was really glad to have the chance to spend some time with them.

I offered to site herald, and as much as I intended to help Wolfgang with the task, between the event’s legendarily loose schedule, Wolfgang’s random hobbies and my own, Site heraldry was a little more ad-hoc that I think either of us was hoping for. But by all accounts it was fun for all, and aside from two relatively quick courts, the weekend was one long party.

A few items of note that I think are worth mentioning here.

First, I spoke with a good friend from the fiting circles, Lord Ashikaga (or however you spell it). We talked at length on a lot of stuff Friday night, but something specific came up that we both latched onto. In short, I floated the idea of doing the Stillwater MS walk in full armor, and Ashikaga was all about that. So, later on in the year, I’m thinking this brainstorm might become a reality.

Then, I wound up in a conversation with Robert, Katrine, and His Excellency Ian from Northkeep. I think we gabbed for close to two hours, and we had a good time just catching up with each other. Something Ian said that’s important here is that he pointed out that while I am welcome to Herald a Northkeep populace meeting, Courts at events are strictly reserved for Northkeep’s local heralds. I couldn’t agree more, and as my stated goal is to increase heraldry in the north, one way to read that is to say that I am working towards putting myself out of a job.

Honestly, I appreciate Ian’s candor and directness on the topic. The truth be told, I would love to herald a Northkeep court at an event, but I can only imagine the (well deserved) upheaval that that would elicit from Northkeep. I’m thinking that Talbot, with a little 10 minute run-through, will probably be more than able to handle the next populace meeting for them. This is, of course assuming that Kevin doesn’t want to do it.

Ian told me that he had gotten some comments about letting someone not from Northkeep herald their populace meetings. But to this he replies “and we just happen to have some positions open for local court heralds if you would like to learn how to do it for yourself.”

I’m not entirely sure if Talbot was the product of one of these conversations, but even if it were the case, I am a strong proponent of local pride, and wouldn’t fault him (or anyone) for the concern.

Honestly, with Talbot stepping up as a local court herald, Kevin on the mend, and me really starting to dig in hard with book heraldry, I can see the possibility of me paring back my involvement with Northkeep’s courts. Mind you, I’ll still go to their meetings, partly for the Blackfeather news, and partly because they are my good friends. But still, I had an objective, and I think that Talbot represents the first major success on that list.

And if you’re reading this, Talbot, no pressure….

A good portion of the event was spent in conversations with friends and some people I hadn’t met before. For me, it was a good chance to do some self evaluating and reexamine my goals and objectives. Both personally, heraldically and in the SCA as a whole.

I’m still really looking forward to teaching my classes at King’s college and Ansteorrian heraldic and Scribal Symposium. Hopefully I can get some more people to travel down with me to both… Gas prices are getting to be a real pain in the butt. (for the sake of history I point out that yesterday [Sunday, May 4^th, 2008], a gallon of regular unleaded was supposed to be going for something in the $3.39 department.)

In other news, A good Friend of mine, Lady Adalia VonderBerg was awarded the Iris of Merit for her work that includes championship level bardcraft.

Other awards were given out, but you can shoot me, I didn’t take notes. I needed a break as much as my wife, I just needed it at Beltane.

Lord Ivo Blackhawk
Province of Mooneschadowe
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"God Save the King!"