Welcome to another unfun grief-addled post here at Anna’s New Rome! Setting: I just returned from Jeff’s storage unit in Virginia. Warning: Strong language, marital issues. Okay folks in the SCA, 501st, cosplay, military, and everything in between: We need to have a Very Serious Chat. I am putting on no airs here: I own a lot of stuff, but I’ve also made a conscious effort to cull this stuff significantly in the last few years when I realized it was not sustainable anymore. Us who craft, especially in any form of reenactment or living history, have to juggle owning things for multiple people ..read more

The Arms of Gieffrei de Toesni, memorialized by the Memorial Shield Project This post has been in the wings for a bit. It was not easy for me to write and I kept putting it off. Oh March 18th, 2023, The Honorable Lord Gieffrei de Toesni, known as Jeff the Moneyer, Order of the Maunche and Order of the Silver Crescent of the East Kingdom, beloved populace of Trimaris and former populace of Caid and Atlantia, passed from this mortal coil after a short but fiery war with a rare, aggressive form of cancer found only 8 months prior. He was two weeks sky of turning 42 years old. I was by this side ..read more

Marie Antoinette is out of the SCA period. She also never said this, but the myth is larger than the truth. Unfortunately, we have officials in the SCA who think they’re untouchable, and as a peer of the realm it is imperative that I call a spade a spade. Leslie is the current secretary of the SCA, she is also the wife of John Fulton, known as John the Bearkiller, the Society President. Because N E P O T I S M is period. This is in response to the recent brouhaha which isn’t worth repeating here because if you aren’t following the latest political upheaval that has absolutely NOTHING to do ..read more

Or are we gonna to continue to ignore the elephant in the room like y’all ignored the glaring, “Hey this is white supremacist” content in my viral blog post about crown tournament variances last month? There is a reason _WHY_ I called out the issues of glaring white supremacy. Even if you, reading this, good person, are not bigoted, or racist, you benefit from a society that has it ingrained in its core. Read Gianna/Gigi’s post here: https://fleurtyherald.wordpress.com/2022/12/23/equity-inclusion-and-the-sca/ And read Zahra/Jessica’s Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/jess.vanhatte ..read more

Switching from the overly volatile current SCA zeitgeist, I received from questions from folks interested in my porter idea. Here goes. A few weeks ago on FB, I posted this: “Accessibility porters need to be a more common thing at SCA events. While there are always good gentles that will help folks carry things, having it as a regular fixture for those that need assistance setting up/tearing down would really help make in-person events more appealing to members of the populace that have mobility constraints, age-related or otherwise. A lot of folks, me included, like to pretend like we’re s ..read more

Sorry about the delay in getting this last piece up. I relocated from Trimaris to Atlantia for yet another military PCS, and we’re still trying to decompress having done this just before the Holidays. The morning of my elevation, still weary from my vigil, I got up relatively early with a plan. As my area of SCA focus isn’t just Byzantium, I felt the need to go back a thousand years and change to pay homage to the old gods in a way that would best suit them, and myself. I chose October 17th for a reason, it is the Festival of the Khalkeia in the Hellenic faith. It honored both Athena and Hepha ..read more

I’m pretty sure the entire SCA knows at this point, but THL Gieffrei was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer this summer known as Neuroendocrine tumor (NET). It is metastatic. We are doing our best to get it under control, and he has been transferred to a major cancer center here in Trimaris for his best odds, and so far, so good. As a result, we will probably not be showing up at any major events anytime soon, not that folks have been asking or anything. With the new lack of COVID Protocols thanks to a BOD who is more eager to get back to “normal” than protect their club members, we’d prefe ..read more

I’m going to make this succinct and blunt. Nobody, not even your SCA bestie, or any academic, has to fork over their research to you for the asking. Putting your research out there for free comes with risks of plagiarism and those potentially capitalizing off of your hard work. While plagiarism is, of course, abhorrent, and anybody who outright steals information, images, and other research to make a buck off of it is just fucking shitty, SCAdians and other reenactors are by far the biggest culprits out there and I am not afraid to throw you all under the goddamn bus about it. “But you have t ..read more

The short answer is “YES!” I am okay! I never really settled into living in Atlantia. In fact, I generally hated the region of Hampton Roads. Nothing against the people of the Barony of Marinus, who were awesome for the short time I was there, but after getting turned out for a ton of jobs, I decided that it was time to do something for myself. I am back in Trimaris. I am in the Barony of Wyvernwoode, my ancient and venerable stomping grounds, and have embarked on my PhD at the University of South Florida in Tampa. THLord Gieffrei is remaining in Norfolk to finish his naval career, and I will ..read more

This is more of a cautionary tale than an actual report of what went down. Long story short: when you’re a very popular person in the SCA, there’s a good chance that not everybody who wants to get into your vigil tent is going to get in. This is at least thwarted with the usual in-person festivities of a party-like setting with snacks and drinks to sate visitors while they wait. You get no such thing when your vigil is online. This can make some people a bit cranky that they have to sit around in a Zoom waiting room. I received no major complaints in my direction, other than Facebook messages ..read more