msmemory_archive | (no subject)

(no subject)

Edward and Marguerite just held their first staff meeting. I'm so excited to be able to be part of their reign!!

OK, I will help you make connections to try some heraldry. Lists, court, or both?

Oh, I'd give both a go. I helped Ernie a little on D&A's reign with back-end Court stuff (mostly stacking scrolls and making sure we had legible prints and making sure everything was in the right order) and enjoyed that.

V, you'll find that every Court Herald has a different take on that. What takes Ernie a staff of people and a computer, for example, may take me one person and a stack of index cards. It's just a difference.

Indeed, that is very much a matter of individual style and taste. The "Kitzingen School" is very preparation-oriented and technological, getting every detail just so. That's not criticism: if it's a value judgment at all, it's a compliment, and it works very well indeed if you are naturally organized. Me, I'm rather more zen. For example, I read directly from the scroll and so study the calligraphic hands so I can do so. It's a matter of taste and innate nature.

Oh, and sorry to shout, you know this but there seems to be a misconception: I have never retired as a court herald, and always have my tabard and baton with me. If I'm at the event, I'm available.

And, good Master Steffan, I believe you've heralded both Tourneys and Courts I've been involved in. And I appreciate it. :-)

Thank you for saying so. Tourneys, a few. Courts, not so much.

Let me say this, just to add some historical data points to the issue. First, the idea of a "pocket herald" is not new: the concept has been around at least from my earliest days, when

baron_elric of Erewhon frequently acted as such. Back then, doing royal courts was very much Brigantia's bailiwick -- Brigania was "the king's herald" -- so this was controversial, but

baron_elric was so darned good no one really complained. So good, indeed, that I appointed him Jellinge Herald, which was an institutionalization of his "pocket herald" role. Yes, I later abolished the office. It wasn't personal, and I regret the unintended slight to this day. But that was almost 30 years ago.....

Now, OTOH, despite being perhaps the most experienced court herald in the entire realm, with several spiffy awards for court heraldry, I haven't been able to buy or steal a gig since Lucan III, and then only because my lady was queen. That's a datum, not a complaint. I'm trying not to whine, but it does show that (a) there is something, perceptually if not functionally, broken in the current state of affairs, and that (b) whatever that state of affairs is, it isn't new, but has perhaps gotten increasingly broken over the past 3 decades. To the point, IMO, where people are finally starting to notice.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only