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Musing on psychic influences
So last night was the big schmooze on the subject of the Carolingian Boroughs -- a sort of combination debrief, philosophical roundtable and planning session for the fall. I thought it was quite useful, not least in that it got lots of new ideas on the table, both about why several of the boroughs have had specific issues in recent years, and things we might adjust to help.
One subject that came up repeatedly, though (and this is really the main point of this posting) was the little mismatches between implicit Carolingian assumptions and the way the typical college student thinks these days. For example:
-- The Touchy-Feely Thing. A point that was echoed by all of the younger members there was that the "hugginess" of Carolingia can be very offputting to a lot of potential members, especially female ones. On one level this isn't anything new, but it seems to be more striking now than it used to be, and a bigger problem. Many members of the Barony have spent many years internalizing a touch-oriented culture, while the student world has apparently gotten rather more conservative in this respect.
-- Getting Off Campus. When I was in college, it was pretty normal to wander afield -- Fenmere may have done so more than many social circles, but we weren't unusual in feeling that the campus was destitute of worthwhile things to do. Nowadays, though, it seems to be remarkably difficult to get students off-campus for activities like ours. A point repeated several times was that many schools are turning themselves into little arcologies, emphasizing that It's Dangerous Out There and trying to make themselves as self-sufficient as possible.
None of this is really intended to start a big Borough argument; these subtle shifts are simply things we're going to have to adapt to if we want to stay viable, and we had a useful discussion of how they might be addressed. (Hopefully with more success than some prior attempts.) But the examination of how we have to adjust to shifts in mundane culture did remind me of a speculation that's been running through my head for a while.
It would be really interesting to see how the ebbs and flows of mundane politics affect clubs on a mental level. It's hard to separate my own headspace from the larger scene, but I don't seem to be the only one who has observed that Carolingia, and perhaps the East in general, is just a little *crankier* these days than it used to be. And y'know, I'm forced to wonder how much of that is internalizing the external influences.
I mean, we are a fundamentally romantic club. Historical accuracy is a lovely goal, but the SCA was created mainly from a romanticised view of history, and most people who join do so with that sort of view in mind. But we do not live in romantic times. Certainly up here in Central Blueland, there's a certain grim tension underlying everything these days. Does that feed back into the SCA? Is it just a little harder to throw your heart into romantic notions when romanticism feels like an unaffordable luxury in mundane life?
I dunno. This is, as it says, an idle half-formed musing lurking in the back of my head, and there are so many factors in play that it's hard to separate them. But it does rather feel to me like there is some connection there...
One subject that came up repeatedly, though (and this is really the main point of this posting) was the little mismatches between implicit Carolingian assumptions and the way the typical college student thinks these days. For example:
-- The Touchy-Feely Thing. A point that was echoed by all of the younger members there was that the "hugginess" of Carolingia can be very offputting to a lot of potential members, especially female ones. On one level this isn't anything new, but it seems to be more striking now than it used to be, and a bigger problem. Many members of the Barony have spent many years internalizing a touch-oriented culture, while the student world has apparently gotten rather more conservative in this respect.
-- Getting Off Campus. When I was in college, it was pretty normal to wander afield -- Fenmere may have done so more than many social circles, but we weren't unusual in feeling that the campus was destitute of worthwhile things to do. Nowadays, though, it seems to be remarkably difficult to get students off-campus for activities like ours. A point repeated several times was that many schools are turning themselves into little arcologies, emphasizing that It's Dangerous Out There and trying to make themselves as self-sufficient as possible.
None of this is really intended to start a big Borough argument; these subtle shifts are simply things we're going to have to adapt to if we want to stay viable, and we had a useful discussion of how they might be addressed. (Hopefully with more success than some prior attempts.) But the examination of how we have to adjust to shifts in mundane culture did remind me of a speculation that's been running through my head for a while.
It would be really interesting to see how the ebbs and flows of mundane politics affect clubs on a mental level. It's hard to separate my own headspace from the larger scene, but I don't seem to be the only one who has observed that Carolingia, and perhaps the East in general, is just a little *crankier* these days than it used to be. And y'know, I'm forced to wonder how much of that is internalizing the external influences.
I mean, we are a fundamentally romantic club. Historical accuracy is a lovely goal, but the SCA was created mainly from a romanticised view of history, and most people who join do so with that sort of view in mind. But we do not live in romantic times. Certainly up here in Central Blueland, there's a certain grim tension underlying everything these days. Does that feed back into the SCA? Is it just a little harder to throw your heart into romantic notions when romanticism feels like an unaffordable luxury in mundane life?
I dunno. This is, as it says, an idle half-formed musing lurking in the back of my head, and there are so many factors in play that it's hard to separate them. But it does rather feel to me like there is some connection there...
no subject
In what way has an unwillingness to leave campus new? I ranted about it for fifteen years. OK, more like a decade ending five years ago when it became clear that it was a long lost cause.
And the touchy feely thing? It's been a more-or-less continuous complaint from Feldings for at least a decade in my experience. It's a direct result of the "lack of gateway" problem. When someone has to learn the ropes by immersion, they have no way to tell if putting up with jerks coming on to them is part of the culture or not. Welcome to the problems of implicit acculturation.
Welcome to Carolingia.
Staying on campus
Hear, hear--and not just here. When I was at Northwestern (86-90), most of us rarely went off campus for anything other than shopping. When we went so far as to go into Chicago, it was usually in groups. It wasn't that we were afraid, it was just that we weren't interested; there was too much to do on campus. I knew at least one person in the SCA at that point, but I never felt like going anywhere to try it.
Of course, very few of us had cars; I gather that's different these days at most schools. (Northwestern had very little student parking.)
Re: Staying on campus
At any rate, it's definitely true that colleges are designed to be appealing to students and to have the highest concentration of student-interesting activities right there.
So if Carolingia wants to increase the student size, then we have to bring the SCA out to the colleges, not expect the students to come to us.
Re: Staying on campus
No, you're thinking of the University of Chicago, where I went to grad school (briefly). Northwestern was nothing like that.
Re: Staying on campus
For a number of years, we did a lot of "traveling road shows", where various Guilds came out to the Boroughs to teach their activities. That seemed like a good idea at the time, but I *believe* that it sent precisely the wrong message: it made the Barony seem like an outside group that comes *to* the school, rather than making the burghers feel like *part* of the larger group.
It's quite possible that this idea can be adapted in more useful form, with some adjustments. But so far, it's been a magnificent illustration of the Law of Unintended Consequences...
no subject
As for getting off campus, maybe my Felding years were unusual, but we seemed to be fleeing campus all the time. Our main difficulty was transportation. Wellesley students pretty much all live on campus, so no one has a car. Could some of the problems with insularity be transportation issues? We seemed to do pretty well with rides, but I don't know if the atmosphere of providing rides for the carless still prevails in Carolingia.
no subject
The consensus on Monday was that this is at least a factor. There are probably a number of reasons *why* the ride-sharing thing has been less effective in recent years, and we discussed several of them, but most people felt that it was a significant consideration...
no subject
There are ZipCars on campus, but I'm not sure how cost-effective they are for weekly occurances like dance practice. Hmm...
transportation
My freshman year (83) there was Ki-lin, and me. At some point that year, there were post-dance-practice parties at this or that place, or ice cream, or whatever. But the big thing was that Raf and Aristotle were willing to drive the Feldings back home after whatever-it-was after dance.
If there wasn't a whatever-it-was, then they and whatever feldings, would hang out at the coffee-house equivalent at Wellesley after we got back on campus. For hours, discussing everything, including computer stories, which is important, because it gave *me* the vocabulary to bootstrap myself into low-level computer industry jobs!
But it was them being really outgoing with their cars that made a big difference.
Decline of ride-sharing
Traffic has gotten worse, hasn't it?
I think I see a feedback loop here, too. Older Carolingians are less likely to have time and energy to drive students around; that's more likely to be Carolingians in their 20s. So the fact that there are fewer Carolingias in their 20s means fewer rides for students, which means fewer active students, which means fewer students graduating, getting jobs, and becoming Carolingians in their 20s.