threadwalker | Data Crunch Fever

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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.

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?

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.

'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! :)

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.

Data Crunch Fever

"show your work"?

Re: "show your work"?

Re: "show your work"?

Re: "show your work"?

Re: "show your work"?

Re: "show your work"?