In 2023, I got involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism and gained a new reference point for what “finding your tribe” means. I play in the East Kingdom under the name Amalberga de Scriver, a woman in the Burgundian Netherlands circa roughly 1480.

The interest in the past wasn’t new: my mom, observing my childhood fascination with colonial times and pioneer days, joked about me being born in the wrong century, and when it came to writing fiction, more than half of the “fun part” for me was doing the research to figure out how the world I was building would need to work. I’d heard of the SCA before, through a college friend that moved away, and apparently my aunt had once dated a SCAdian. From their tales, I don’t know if the SCA of 20 years ago would have been a place I’d have been comfortable. But in 2023, coming out of the enforced social distancing of the COVID-19 pandemic, burnt out on virtual gatherings, and coming to a place of acceptance with my particular flavor of neurodiversity, finding my local SCA group (and associated online hangouts) turned out to be exactly the sort of connection I was starving for.

My favorite joke to tell new SCAdians is “Welcome to the SCA: How many new hobbies would you like to have?” Accordingly, the things I post here will be varied. My current driving interest is historical cooking; I have also been exploring the bardic arts, learning to run events and dipping my toe into way too many crafts.

Handouts for Classes I’ve Taught:

• Knife Skills 101 – PDF