Many people cannot go to Pennsic for a variety of reasons: money, time, distance, or logistics. Missing Pennsic for any reason is a bummer, especially when the greatest of all A&S gatherings in the Known World takes place on the middle weekend. The Pennsic A&S display lets artists with that special brand of dedication and crazy show off their works of art to the populace. The A&S display is my favorite activity at Pennsic.
This year, I registered for the display space and then determined that my schedule would only allow for an overnight visit to Pennsic. It would be a five hour drive to the event on Saturday, an overnight in a hotel on Saturday night, the display on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and then a five hour drive home on Sunday night. Back to work on Monday feeling worn-out.
It got me to thinking…perhaps the time would be better spent participating in another way. My idea is simple. Instead of spending 10 hours on the road, $140 in gas money, $145 for a hotel room, and $260 gate fees, I could spend that time updating my blog to document the items that I would have brought to the event.
But wait, I could go one better. What if I spend that time updating my blog before Pennsic with the goal of having my blog updated so people could read about my projects on August 3rd just as if I was at Pennsic A&S?
If even 20 non-Pennsic SCAdians made a dedicated effort to upload our A&S photos and text before the A&S display, maybe we could spend those unused Pennsic hours on August 3rd perusing everyone else’s new materials online. Think of it as a virtual A&S Display! (Heck, I could even use that $545 to throw a website viewing party!)
How do we make this happen? Give me the URL of your blog or website and I will post it to the Atlantian Facebook group, Atlantian Announcements list and the Merry Rose at 11:59 p.m. on August 2nd to let people know who’s got new a fabulous stuff to look at on August 3rd.
I have a much-neglected blog; this sounds like the perfect excuse to fire it back up and show people what I’ve been working on…
http://tudorcat.blogspot.com/
http://itsalllissasfault.wordpress.com (I’ll be at Pennsic, but I’m putting it on my calendar to post before I leave.)
blimey! I hadn’t realised you paid to go to events in the states! I mean, I do quite a few for fun and don’t get paid to attend, but that’s more than made up for events I get good money for. It’s really expensive as well. I think this is yet another reason the SCa will never catch on in any big way in england, we’d never pay that kind of money
Pennsic is the most expensive event for the year. Most events range from $8-$10 and are day trips. Most events are cheaper than going to the movies and they last all day.
I’m Lord Jaume de Monçó, I blog at http://folkhistory.blogspot.com/, and I hereby pledge to post a nifty (at least to me) project right around the start of August.
My blog is mostly me info-dumping the basics about a variety of bits here and there that I feel like we should all know, almost all of it around period folk culture. (And some out-of-period, too; my historical interests also encompass things a little later than the year 1600.) But it’s also where I sporadically post about my real research projects within that subject area, like the time I reconstructed the rules for a late-period form of tennis I found described in an obscure Latin dialogue, and the Spanish broadside ballads I translate.