Chivalry isn't dead

With their armor and weaponry, 16th-century knights are invading Bloomington. People are having a good time dancing and playing Renaissance music, everyone is more than congenial and chivalry abounds.\nThis is what the Society for Creative Anachronism is all about.\nThe SCA is an international organization that strives to educate people about the Middle Ages in an enjoyable manner. Founded in 1976, Bloomington's local chapter, The Shire of Mynydd Seren, is located in the SCA's Midrealm. The Midrealm (formally referred to as the Middle Kingdom) is the third oldest of 16 kingdoms within the SCA. Its area stretches across Ohio to the Mississippi, runs from Minnesota to Kentucky and also includes parts of the Dakotas.\nShire has activities for everyone. With armoring, fighting, dancing, costuming, sewing and much more, so just about anyone can find something they're interested in. The organization emphasizes that people can take their modern-day interests and apply them to medieval practices. \n"It's all purely unusual, but it's also educational," senior Elly Romer says. Romer has been participating in Shire activities since she was a freshman.\n"You can do just about anything here and be around good people," she adds.\nRomer originally became interested in medieval times when she was younger. She frequently attended Renaissance festivals and began getting into the arts and enjoyed the historical reenactments. Her main SCA activity, dance, wasn't something she originally thought she'd get into.\n"This type of dancing I can do, even though I have two left feet," she says. \nShire has been highly noted for its dancing talent, specifically on techniques in European and Near Eastern dance. Currently, Shire's dancers are working vigorously to perfect a performance for the Midrealm's Crown Tournament. The local chapter has been given the honor of holding this event in Bloomington at the end of May, and SCA members throughout the Midwest will come to participate in various medieval events and witness the crowning of the Middle Kingdom's new king and queen. \nAnother characteristic of SCA activities is the playing of personas. Members adopt names and belong to families within the group. Romer's persona, Elisheva Von Metten, is part of a Viking and German family with a heavy Irish influence.\n"It's the magic of stepping backward in time and being able to be someone else… it's also about kinship," she says. "It's an incredibly friendly place and you can do just about anything."\nRomer's SCA "mother" is her friend and roommate, junior Sarah Kornblith, whose persona is Thora Von Metten. Kornblith was responsible for getting Romer involved with the SCA.\nInterested in dancing and costuming, Kornblith found Shire just before she came to IU.\n"I was always interested in books and fairy tales when I was younger," she says of her interest in medieval times. \n"Before I came to school here, I searched on the Internet and ran across Shire's Web site, and I've been involved ever since."\nAfter graduation, she plans on moving and studying ethnography (a branch of anthropology that studies individual human societies), but plans on continuing her involvement with the SCA after leaving Bloomington. Within the next five years, she hopes her passion for the Middle Ages will carry her to Ireland where she wants to visit castles, museums and historic battle sites. \nMembers of Shire participate in various events where people reenact moments in medieval periods.\nFor those who are more interested in the fighting aspect of medieval times, the SCA offers classes on armoring and combat. Though members wear real metal armor, weapons are made of wood to prevent injury.\n"To me, it's a sport," says Michael Squires, who teaches classes on armoring. Involved with Shire since 1978, Squires says he has always been interested in what it would have been like to be a Viking centuries ago.\n"We do this to see what it would feel like to fight during the 16th century (while) Europeans just want to replay 'cowboys and indians'…this gives people an opportunity to go out and play with other people even if they aren't very athletic," Squires says.\nWhen Shire's current Seneschal (the head of the local chapter), Dave Lankford, originally became involved with the SCA, he thought it would be like the medieval fantasies he read about in books. Having belonged to chapters in both Ohio and Indiana, the reality of what the SCA was about hasn't disappointed him a bit. \n"A lot of people say our reenactments of the Middle Ages are not how it actually was, but how it should have been," Lankford explains. \n"There's no plagues, no dirty floors… for instance, many of our fight demos take place in high school gyms. But there's times when someone will say just the right thing, and you really feel like you're living in the moment."\nLankford, also known within Shire as Dafydd Arth (Welsh for "big bear"), encourages people to stop in to either pick up pamphlets about the SCA or to talk with people who belong to the organization.\nShire puts on many dancing and fighting demos on campus throughout the year to attract passersby and to answer any questions students and locals might have about its activities. Past displays have been in Dunn Meadow, Collins Living-Learning Center and various activities take place in the Indiana Memorial Union throughout the week.\nBecause the SCA is a non-profit organization, membership is free. However, there are a few perks offered to those who choose to pay for membership. Full membership is required for SCA members who wish to hold office and they are granted voting privileges within their local chapter. In addition, members are granted discounts at SCA events and also receive various organization publications.\nThere are also some basic rules to keep in mind when participating in SCA activities. Participants need to make an attempt at pre-1600s dress, treat everyone with the utmost politeness and chivalry and enjoy themselves as much as possible. \n"There's almost something for everyone. You can sew, cook, learn to make beer or wine, dance and fight," Lankford says. "No matter what your interests are, you're likely to find something"