Keys To the Castle - by Midair MacCormaic. July, 1998.

Around five years ago someone, I believe it was Baron Daibhid, wrote a request for information in the form of 20 questions. There were really only 9, but it was a fine idea. Since every so often it is good to reflect on who you are and what you want and why you do what you do, I thought I would ask this question again.

I am hoping that people will not only think of what their answers are, but that they will share it with the group in the form of Citadel articles. I'd love to hear from each and every one of you (yes, you!) and learn more about you. I'll list the questions first, then answer them with a reference to what I wrote five years ago.

And without further ado, the questions:

1. What is your 20th Century name?
2. What is your SCA name?
3. What is your occupation in the 20th Century?
4. What brought you to the SCA?
5. What is your favorite medieval-fantasy related movie?
6. What is your favorite medieval-fantasy related book?
7. What is your favorite aspect of the SCA?
8. What part of the SCA would you most like to see improved?
9. What is your most pressing SCA project?

I think I'll add a tenth:
10. What should the Barony's next project/goal be?

Here are my answers.

  1. My name is Charles J. Cohen. It is the same as it was five years ago, except now I get to add the initials "Ph.D." after my name.
  2. My name is Midair MacCormaic. Five years ago it was just Midair.
  3. I am the Research Director at Cybernet System's Corporation in Ann Arbor. Five years ago I was a graduate student.
  4. This answer hasn't changed. Back in Philadelphia, an acquaintance of mine told me that I was perfect for the SCA. I was one of those people who wasn't a member but that any SCA person who met me would think that I was one already. When I came to Ann Arbor for graduate school, I wanted to become a much better juggler (at the time I could only do a very few three ball tricks), and remembering what was told to me a few years ago, I checked out the SCA during a Festifall demo. I was hooked from then on.
  5. This answer also hasn't changed. My favorite medieval-fantasy related movie is easily Danny Kaye's "The Court Jester," for reasons obvious to anyone who has seen the movie in its entirety.
  6. My favorite fantasy series is still "The Guardian's of the Flame" by Joel Rosenberg.
  7. Before I said: "My favorite aspect of the SCA is trust. For some reason, I have found that I can trust just about everyone I have met in the SCA, and I feel safe around them, more so than any other social or professional group I have been with. I like being at events knowing that I don't have to be on my guard, and that if someone has a problem others will go out of their way to help. That sort of thing. Trust might not be the exact word I'm looking for, but it is close." This still holds true, for the most part, though I now don't trust everyone I know or just meet. I'm getting a bit jaded in my old age. If pressed, I would say my favorite aspect of the SCA are all the people I've met and the good friends I've made.
  8. Five years ago, I said: "… is for there to be in the SCA a way for a person to actually role-play at being a Knight without having to learn how to fight with wooden swords, or role-play being a Robin Hood type of person, or a Baron of some sort. Perhaps that is not what the SCA is all about, but I do fear that I will never be able to play at being a 'Prince' because I don't have the time to devote to the fighting arts." Today, I want to see a split in how we do things, a separation of church and state. I'd like all our ceremonial aspects to be handled by the Royalty, and all the legal aspects handled by officers, with as little interaction as possible.
  9. My most pressing SCA project is to get all my research together on Early Automata and mathematics. I want to write a bunch of articles, and I want to write them now!
  10. I feel the Barony should have more small local revels so we can get together, know each other better, and just have some simple and easy fun together. I only see most Barony members at meetings, and rarely at events (I see some members at events).

So, there are my answers. What are yours?

 

Last Updated: 4 July 98
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