Cornelius Oakson

I joined the SCA in the Barony of Adiantum. I had been walking through the park and saw some people dressed in colorful clothes. I decided to see what they were doing, as I really didn't have a lot going on that day. As I got closer, I saw that they were oddly dressed. At this point, i swloed down a bit, as two gentleman were picking up sticks and helmets. They squared off with each other. Then they actually started hitting each other!

I was (and still am, to some extent) a rather timid soul. The closest I had ever been to organized mayhem was the manadatory football and softball required in high school in the midwest. Most people in the midwest take their football very religiously. Brad was never good at dealing with the pecking order required of participation, or for that matter even just watching these games on TV.

The concept of people organizing to re-create fighting, warfare, archery, not to mention arts and sciences in an era that was so totally out of the realm of what I grew up to was absolutely fantastic. I was hooked from that day on.

It took a while before I started to get involved. Six months of going to events and pitching in once in a while. When I finally did, I went out for the fighting, for the service, for the arts, and for just about everything SCA.

When I was told I should choose a name, I didn't really know how to find a name. I was told it had to be a "period" name. However, research is one area that I was still not into. I fell back on to a former religious background and came up with the name "Cornelius". Cornelious was the first gentile that was brought into the Christian faith. The name is listed in the bible, so I thought this had to make it old enough! I chose Oakson because I loved the viking era from around 850 to 1100. It helped that the Baron of Adiantum Ulfheddinn had a viking persona to help me get started <smile>. I even came up with a story of how my father had "gone a viking" to the very northern part of roman territory and purchased a roman slave who became my mother to account for the name Cornelius.

Cornelius was very active in the SCA in Adiantum from around 1980 to 1983, then again in the Barony of Madrone in the late 80's and early 90's. Due to a new marriage and work pressures, I dropped out of the SCA around 1994.

I am hoping to rekindle interest in the SCA for my familty and kids.