Two More Updates

Because I'm on a role!

A new scroll in the style of the Black Hours inspired by this.

I would still like to do Squashed Bug some time, but I really enjoyed this, and it seemed appropriate.
Many thanks to my friend Katrusha, of this blog, for sending me to this site for inspiration. I know extremely little about Comedia dell'Arte (other than having seen some), but I have a real love for making scrolls that fit with peoples' personae and interests.
If only I'd remembered to send the silver pen with the scroll...

I will also be working to finish off two (and hopefully) more of my goals in the next few months:
I will enter my boqtaq in the Ice Dragon Pentathlon, thereby fulfilling goal of entering an A&S Competition with full documentation, and I am planning (hoping) to teach the combined Butter and Cheese class with Lidia at AEcademy, since it is super-local to me this summer. Maybe I can talk Artemius into teaching bead-making again, even though I blew his class off at 3 Ravens to finish sleeping and making my hat.

And last (but not remotely least), I have formalized my relationship with my dear friend and second mother, Mistress Sadira. She is now my Laurel, and I am her Apprentice. Yay!

For those unfamiliar with the SCA, we have four peerages (at the moment, and there is some discussion of a fifth, but that is another topic which has no real bearing here): Knights, Laurels, Pelicans, and Royal Peers (County and Duchy). These are basically the top of a chain of awards in three different areas, martial arts (knight), arts and sciences (laurel), and service (pelican).
Royal Peers are a whole other kettle of fish, also less than relevant here.

The royalty of one's kingdom decides who gets which awards, with some help from the other recipients of some of those awards, and gives them out at events.
Most people take between 10 and 20 years to attain a peerage, and many never do.
If you become a Knight, Laurel, and/or Pelican, you are encouraged to take students on formally (many want to publicize this arrangement for a number of reasons, so it is often done in court so everyone can see).

Every relationship is different: some have one at a time, some have many (my husband has five, but intends to have 9, I think); some expect specific things of their students, others are just there for advice and moral support. It is a little like gaining a family, if your peer has other students.
A Knight's students are his or her Squires, a Pelican's students are his or her Protegees, and a Laurel's students are his or her Apprentices.
They wear tokens and/or colored belts to denote their status as a student and their attachment to their peer. Typically, squires wear red belts, protegees wear yellow belts, and apprentices wear green belts.

If your peer has multiple peerages (mine, for instance, is both a Laurel and a Pelican, which is somewhat common), you may be a student of both or either discipline. I chose to be an Apprentice because the Arts are where I have the most interest, and feel like I need the most guidance.
I imagine I will learn something about service from Mistress Sadira as well, but the art was more important to me.

My attitude towards peerages is complicated. I have granted some, and so I have been privy to the conversations of the orders in my kingdom, as well as made the decisions myself (with help from my husband, and the order, of course). I have never been granted one other than the Royal kind, which is, as I said, another kettle of fish.
I tend to feel that in the SCA you should do what you love because it is what you love, and not so that you will get a fancy award and get to swan around in the regalia. However, I will not deny that I would like to be a peer someday, so it's a little hard to judge others for feeling that way.

The problem with doing something to get the award is that when you have it, you don't tend to continue doing the thing for which you were awarded. That, to me, is a failure of the award system.
Some also see the peer/student relationship as a step towards getting the peerage, because one's peer is meant to advocate for one in order meetings.

I would prefer a relationship in which my peer only talks about me if she really thinks I deserve it, and not because my advancement is her responsibility. I trust my peer in that regard, because I'm pretty sure we agree on this philosophy.

I also have not entered into this because I want the peerage, but because I know that I am a lazy-butt with my research and often with my projects, and I procrastinate horribly, and I'd like the kick in the pants.