Becoming a Student in the SCA

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I officially became a student of Mu'allima Halima al-Rakkasa last weekend at an event hosted by the Shire of Hartwood. This marks the end of a long process, and the start of a new journey.

In the SCA, a "student" is someone engaged in a structured learning relationship with a teacher, who may or may not be a Laurel, for mentorship. It allows for teaching with expectation of feedback to promote the growth of the student.

When I joined the SCA, I wanted to learn the art of språng. I found someone selling pre-warp språng frames at an event, although the person who created the frames wasn't at the booth. It wasn't until a later event that I meant that person, Halima, who took time to walk me through pretty much every item on her table as I asked question after question about the nalbound and språng items she had created. She was the person who challenged me to create anything, didn't matter what it was, but create it and sent her a picture by December 31st. I made my first lumpy bag, and I sent her the photo. She was very encouraging, and from that time on included me with her online group of språng artists. 

At that point, I began very quietly finding out more about her. The idea of becoming a student for learning more specific things about språng was forming. Everyone I talked to had wonderful things to say about her - her intelligence, her wit, her manner, her spirit. After an initial talk about whether she would be open to taking a student, she ended up being recognized with the honour of joining the Order of the Laurel. The polite thing to do was to allow a year for her to settle into her peerage. The timing worked out, as prep for a different competition was consuming most of my attention.

I approached her again, probably not quite a full year after, and we had a couple of meetings. I wrote up a very HR Heidi document, and we made it more "forsoothly". We decided to create an "indenture" for a year and a day, which was cut after signing. 

I am very excited to see what this year will bring. For my part, I would like to create some hats and bags with consistent finishing techniques. I am also excited about learning more lace techniques and creating some window frames. There's a lifetime of learning ahead!

Yours in Service,
AW


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