Data Crunch Fever

[threadwalker]

I suspect Darth Director is snapping out orders to his direct reports because that thing about stuff rolling down hill? ... My boss swooped in exhibiting classic symptoms of a near brush with Darth Bruce and our team is Crack-a-Lackin' to crunch numbers and summarize stuff.

Boring.

But my brain wanders free to a theme I've been percolating on.

Service vs. Art and how I use my time.

I'm still very angry about the decision to cancel 1 collegium a year and to muck around with the Poppy. Very angry. I ask myself, "So shut-up or put-up, right?"

But I'm in a place where I am working on my arts. I have a lot of exciting ideas (exciting to ME anyway) and I don't have enough bandwidth to pursue both my artistic endeavors and take the lead on organizing anything big. I can take on small pieces and brainstorm, so I can happily help someone else, but be in charge? I can't go super-nova with my passions in two different directions at once. And since "super-nova" is the only way I know how to dial myself in, I'm going to have to continue to fume. And wait for someone else to jump in so that I can volunteer to help.

Fuming... fuming... Like a gassy volcano occasionally spewing off fumes and soot.

And about the Golden Poppy... grr.... Since Merlin and Lee have decided the Kingdom no longer needs a Mt Everest for the artists, I've been thinking about hosting my own endeavor. I think it would be fun if I could get 3-4 (or more!) other artisans to host an arts marathon. We could choose 4 events in the year and invite fellow artisans to do an indepth project in a field that we know something of. It could even become kind of a mentoring thing where there's a kick-off meeting wherein sponsors (such as myself) present enough research to get people started, where everyone could meet, and where projects could be schemed. So instead of encouraging people to lower their expectations, they could raise them. I'm just noodling around with the thought.

Ironically, it's she who was banished for being unladylike that inspired the idea of setting up a meeting point.

ugh... people keep interupting my lunch break. I need to skeedaddle if I'm going to get down time. BUT if anyone is intersted in exploring the concept of a co-hosted projecty thing where you work with others and have some sort of display of hard work/efforts... it probably feels a lot more like the Queen's Artisans without the requirement of involving the Queen in the selection process.

gotta run. Lots of ideas. Looking for other ideas and cohorts.

Comments

[fighter-chick.livejournal.com]

I've been silent on this so far, because I'm sick of committing to things and then flaking on them. But I love the idea of creating something like this--an artist's studio/salon/whatever, where expectations, research, and results keep rising and rising.

I'm hoping that my health will permit me to participate as a student. Student first, perhaps Laurel's Assistant...teacher later if my level of skill and knowledge improves appropriately.

Well, I do need a hobby...

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

Wait, they got rid of the Poppy? Weren't there like a bunch of people competing for it this year? I mean, it's not something I would ever attempt, but like you said, it's the Mt. Everest!

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed to lose that 2nd collegium too. I learned so much at them and now half that opportunity is gone.

I am not equipped to be a leader in your plan, but I'd be pleased to be involved in the grunt work in some way.

[xrian.livejournal.com]

Well the theory was that the Kingdom A&S Tourney was the "third collegium," so in theory they have only abolished one of _three_ (or so they may have been thinking).

It's been kind of a peculiar setup; the Collegium staff have put on Fall and Spring Collegium and the Kingdom A&S Ministers put on the A&S Tourney, which makes very little logical sense to me. The main difference I can see is that A&S Tourney is a camping event, and it's outdoors, which has advantages for people who want to teach stuff that is messy, needs a lot of room to do, or uses equipment that needs space around it such as blowtorches or forges ;) OTOH, indoors is better for things that need to be kept dry, clean or out of drafts.

Collegiums over the last 15 years or so been camping or non-camping, high attendance to low attendance, one to two days, et cetera. So far no one seems to have a "magic formula" that will produce guaranteed big audiences for the teachers, but not for lack of trying.

(Of course I have my own ideas about what would work, but they would also involve Collegium staff staying the same for more than two years, and I don't have the time or energy to do that right now either...)

I believe Caid may have recently also cut down from two Collegiums to one? Perhaps it's a fad...

[xrian.livejournal.com]

As I understand it (and I don't hang out in Gossip Central): no, not quite. The Poppy had a low profile for several years, and then two years ago a Certain Very Tall and Rather Short pair of Monarchs invented a Royal Championship -- perhaps under the impression that there wasn't an arts championship in the West, or that if there was one it was long dead. IIRC this was an idea from before the reign actually began, so I'd prefer to think they were simply unfamiliar with the Poppy and its history, including the fact that it *had* been won fairly recently.

IMHO, the best thing to do would have been to say, "Oops, we already had one" and promote the heck out of the Poppy. But that would apparently have been far too simple. You know the West: once instituted, never abolished.

Also, the originators of the Royal Championship are apparently very attached to it and won't hear of changing it. Somehow being a "royal champion" is More Speshul, don't ask me why. I don't know whether anyone suggested adding "Royal" to the Poppy, but I suspect that would not have gone over well either, perhaps because it still implies that Royals Made An Oops. [sarcasm] And of course we can never do *that* [/sarcasm].

A complication is that some people-with-influence see the Poppy as being "too much work" and "too difficult," assuming that that's why "so few" people try it. That's one reason several people decided to compete for the Poppy this year -- to demonstrate that it's quite do-able. From what I hear, she who was banished for being unladylike was one of them, but of course her being banished had the side effect of wrecking *that* idea.

A lot of Poppies and Laurels have been variously angry, furious and nigh-on apoplectic about the proposed changes. Lots of people have put forth ideas for "reforming" the system and/or abolishing everything and setting up a completely new set of things to strive for in A&S, but as far as I know, no one idea has much support beyond its author and no two ideas are compatible with each other. Making grand proposals and picking on each other's seem to be about equally popular pursuits.

I, at least, haven't heard the most recent set(s) of rumors, so I don't know what's likely to happen, but whatever it is will no doubt make quite a few people unhappy.

[duchessletitia.livejournal.com]

Edited because I did not like the first one.

A&S has a very specific history. It happened while I was Kingdom Seneschal. Catch me at an event sometime and I will give you the story.

As for the Poppy as far as I know any changes to the Poppy will keep the bar high. What I have heard is that people want the bar to stay high while making it more attractive to enter. I think it will be interesting to see what happens.

Collegium was originally two times a year so that each Principality had its own. However, attendance is way down. I think it is a good to drop down to one a year and see what we can do to make Collegium a viable event. Right now the attendance is so low it is not paying for itself.

[ysabella-dolfin.livejournal.com]

Do you know what changes have been made to the Poppy? I was going to attempt to do it again next year (my attempt this year was... curtailed LOL) and would likely try to get started shortly after the categories are announced at 12th Night, but I won't be at 12th Night (my An Tiran friends have raised the funds for Brion and I to attend theirs and for some reason this year they conflict) or any other event till probably March Crown.

[duchessletitia.livejournal.com]

I think they are still working out the details. I am sure the final decision will be published as soon as they are done.

[j-i-m-r.livejournal.com]

It might be nice if those working on the details talked to a) the current crop of folks trying for the Poppy and b) all the former winners of the Kingdom A&S Championship. I'm in both those sets and have heard nothing.

[duchessletitia.livejournal.com]

Based on your qualifications I am sure they would be glad to let you know.

[ysabella-dolfin.livejournal.com]

Er.... are there "qualifications" people need to have before they get disclosure on the Poppy?

[ysabella-dolfin.livejournal.com]

I would be willing to do the autocrat side of a Collegium-style event. We could run it like a local Teufelberg event and use the school you used for the first one I made the lunches for? We are doing multiple A&S class tracts at West/An Tir this year. I know not everyone will be able to make the long drive, but it was so well received last year. I probably had 12-15 people at my medieval preserved foods class. Maybe as one thing goes away, the trick is to create other opportunities? That said, I would be willing to do the web page and autocrat if someone else would run the A&S classes and organize the class tracts and rooms. I am sure I could wrangle a feastocrat and do some box lunches.

The latest word on the Golden Poppy

[broider-barones.livejournal.com]

Talked with Her Maj at Boars Hunt. They are doing nothing to the GP. The Heirs have no change in mind. The Kingdom Arts Officer has a list of competitions set up for next year. I haven't seen it, but it apparently is more "open" for people to do their own thing.
There will be a GP inducted at 12th Night. We should all plan to be there for it.

Re: The latest word on the Golden Poppy

[syele.livejournal.com]

Do we get to know who it is? I was not planning on attending much court, personally...a time-frame would be nice, if we could get one. :)

Re: The latest word on the Golden Poppy

[broider-barones.livejournal.com]

it is coming down to the wire - my guess is toward the end of the last court

"show your work"?

[hunrvogt.livejournal.com]

So I get that you are up set about Collegium and the Royal Artisan/Poppy thing, but what I'm missing as your faithful reader is the critical examination of the problems with each. Cuz even if there aren't any real problems at the very least there is a public relations problem...

I know you have the ability to run Collegium...I know you have friends with the same ability, but I keep thinking that some critical evaluation of the problem might lead to a more stable, re-invented wheel.

From the other posters it sounds like nothing is changing on the Poppy front. None the less some of your mentoring ideas sound like they might boost competitor numbers and quality. Seems like climbing Everest is better with a sherpa.

Re: "show your work"?

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

Collegium... the pros, cons, challenges, and basic ingredients of a successful event have been picked over by many others. I don't really have anything to add that's new. Santiago had a long post that hit almost all the same points I would have made. The only one he did not mention (per my shakey recollection) was the time commitment. I recall Keegan saying back when she was autocrat that she'd take 2 weeks or so to recover from one Collegium and then start working on the next. I found that her approach worked for me, too. I "lived" it and spent everyday working on something for the event.

I think people want collegiums and attendance would be up if:

1. The sites were organized far enough in advance that people could plan to attend, teach and know what to expect. Get it on their calendars.
2. There were a variety of teachers from those teaching basics to those teaching advanced; new teachers creating their "brand" and veteran teachers who have great track records.
3. Fighting classes. This gets debated out of the event periodically, but classes on slow work, technique, on the period roll of a squire, etc, always have a big turn out. And it gets couples involved.
4. A&S displays and "other activities" besides just classes.
5. A feast or meal where people can sit down afterwards and break bread together.

uh oh... I'm repeating many other soap boxes. Anyway, with enough advance planning most of this will fall into place if you make it known that you will empower people to step up and volunteer to "own" a piece of it. I didn't run every aspect when I was autocrat - I handed off pieces and told people to "own" it and do as they wished.

Golden Poppy: It's supposed to be hard. It's the Mt Everest. You can't make it to the top without a plan. Just because there's years where people don't enter does not mean that it doesn't serve its function. Mt Everest and K2 will always be there to tempt people who need to explore their boundaries. And if it's too much for some, there's other challenges more suited to the time/resources/commitment for both artists and mountain climbers. If the K/Q need to announce an A&S champion so they can have a matched set of people to go with the cloaks they had created, I'm sure they can appoint one or draw from the Order of the Golden Poppy. Although I believe the October Crown championship has been created to circumvent any problems with having a champion.

Personally, I thought Ysa's approach of hosting Golden Poppy kick-off meetings and inviting past winners to come discuss documentation, etc, was a fabulous approach. I think she took something that seemed hard and she made it more accessible by sharing her own excitement and by providing a space for people to learn more about it, network, and plan. I'd love to help sponsor that in the coming year and coach if someone else wanted to take the lead on organizing the time/place stuff.

But that depends on what exactly the royals do to the Poppy. So far I've been utterly unimpressed with their policy-making.

Re: "show your work"?

[hunrvogt.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all that. I have some collegium ideas based on my experiences working with the meeting that I am program chair for... I'll detail them in my LJ later this week when I am near a larger keyboard.

Regarding the Poppy, is recognition important...ie if you do all the comps and no one but you knows have you still climbed Everest? Is it important to the achievement that their can be only one each year?

Re: "show your work"?

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

For me, the Poppy provides the structure for the challenge. I wouldn't work out as hard if I didn't have a deadline set by someone else, which are my races. Training and showing up are their own rewards, winning and recognition is secondary. Maybe tertiary. Possibly even last.

Again - for me - it's all about the challenge. Whether anyone else knows I'm doing it is irrelevant. I keep most of my most important endeavors to myself, so I'm not in it for the perceived glory. So the Poppy isn't about shouting to the world that you've won, it's about planning, bringing my best, and following through.

Re: "show your work"?

[syele.livejournal.com]

'Personally, I thought Ysa's approach of hosting Golden Poppy kick-off meetings and inviting past winners to come discuss documentation, etc, was a fabulous approach. I think she took something that seemed hard and she made it more accessible by sharing her own excitement and by providing a space for people to learn more about it, network, and plan. I'd love to help sponsor that in the coming year and coach if someone else wanted to take the lead on organizing the time/place stuff.'

YES!! It was so awesome to have our meeting at Boar's Hunt, and honestly...it was something that made the idea of the challenge so much more approachable to me. Mind you, I was bard and reigning, so the poppy run was never on the platter for me for this particular run, but I was overjoyed to be around people of a like mind who were interested in getting things going, sharing their process, etc. It made Mt. Everest look a whole lot more fun to climb! :)

Re: "show your work"?

[syele.livejournal.com]

Addendum: I would maybe do a private location meeting next time, though...some people were a bit rude to those of us in the hall who were trying to get things going.

[etaine-pommier.livejournal.com]

I am sitting *very hard* on my hands and chanting "Grad school first. Grad school first. Grad school first."