Musing on psychic influences

[jducoeur]

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...

Comments

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much of the reluctance to go off-campus is a by-product of being part of a generation that grew up micro-managed and hyper-protected by their parents....

[jducoeur]

Yeah, that came up as well. I resisted the strong temptation of a rant about The Nanny State...

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

College kids haven't really interacted with The Nanny State that much; they're still formed by the ultimate Nanny State: their parents. And the oversight that a parent gives is then attempted by the college, because the parent is entrusting their kids to the college. Loco Parents and all that. ;)

So while your Nanny State rant may be valid, I'm not sure it applies to college kids, or at least not their first year or so.

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

College kids haven't really interacted with The Nanny State that much; they're still formed by the ultimate Nanny State: their parents.

Many of whom, if the news media are to be believed, continue to micro-manage (or at least try to) the offspring's lives during college, as well (the NYT has run several articles about this phenomenon in recent years; check their archives for further info). My spouse-the-prof has had parents show up at their child's course advising appointments, choose the child's classes, and not let the child get in a word edgewise.

Dr. Science's university also held a faculty workshop about College Kids Today (and how they differ from college kids of a generation ago), which pointed out (among other things) that these "young adults" have grown up (as said above) micro-managed and hyper-protected by their parents. If they've spent their lives-to-date chauffeured to and from extracurriculars and play-dates in controlled environments, and have never played unsupervised in the back yard or gone exploring after school because Something Bad Might Happen, then it shouldn't come as a surprise that they would be reluctant to leave campus (or let their parents choose their classes, or agree to phone home twice daily, or...).

In the Midrealm in the Eighties, the biggest, most vital, and best-traveled groups were the ones based on university campuses. (I haven't played in the Midrealm for ten years, so I don't know whether that's still the case.)

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

if the news media are to be believed

That's a fairly big "if," I think. I believe your examples, but I'd hesitate to see it as representative. I'd want to see stats before basing a Plan on it.

[jducoeur]

I think you're thinking of a different rant. *My* Nanny State rant is all about the way that our society has developed a pervasive sense that life is supposed to be Safe and Fair, that it's terrible and scary when it isn't, and that the way to obtain such Safety is to trust Authority, do what it says, and don't trust the Outside.

Yes, all of this has been true to *some* degree forever, but IMO it's become much more institutionalized and pervasive in recent decades, due at least to political and media trends. And many current college students grew up immersed in that memeset, in part promulgated *by* overprotective parents...