The Official Froog Manifesto

        UPDATED! (Finally!)

The Basics:

Froog, otherwise known as Sara, Kersten (the SCA name I finally decided on), and many other things as well, is a 22-year-old woman living in central Arkansas as a punishment for some horrible thing she did in a past life.  Froog graduated from Lyon College in Batesville last May, with degrees in English and Religion/Philosophy.  She is an odd creature (by some accounts not even  human!) who often talks about herself in the third person.  She at the moment painfully single, but (contrary to popular opinion) is *not* a lesbian.  Read that last sentence again in case ye didn't catch it.  She *is* a poet, artist, philosopher, musician, medievalist, hippie, and general all-around groovy person with cool wings.

Latest news…As of March 19, 2003.   Just got back from Gulf Wars…a giant SCA event, for you heathens who don’t know already.  Had some great parties, got some spiffy new stuff, and met a really cool guy…..who lives horrendously far away.  It bloody figures.  Anyways, now that I’’ve got regular ‘net access again, I should be able to update on at least a semi-regular basis.  Okay, carry on.

So, on to the Manifesto:

The way I see it, there's not enough magic in the world anymore.  That's why I'm here...to try and bring it back, day by day, a little at a time.  What do I mean by magic?  I'm not talking about sleight-of-hand tricks (there's certainly no shortage there), or even ritual magick (though that has its place too).  I'm talking about the magic in everyday life...the simple pleasure that beauty can give people when they stop to look at it.  And I don't just mean beauty in the conventional sense either.  Almost anything can be beautiful if you give it half a chance.  Don't believe me?  Look around.  What are you not noticing?  Find it.  Look at it...for hours if you have to.  However long it takes.  You'll see the beauty and magic in it and wonder why you never noticed it before.  That beauty is the reason we're alive.

But if I believe one of my purposes in life is to help people see that magic, I'm have to do more than just talk  about it.  I try to make it as noticeable as I can.  There are lots of ways to do this...just ask your favorite Discordian or Cacophonist.  I also use the more conventional methods of expression...art, poetry, theatre and music.  Anyone who says that those four things aren't "real" or "important" hasn't ever really experienced them.

But unfortunately, those people are in the majority.  Where does that leave me, and people like me?  We're fighting an uphill battle, outnumbered hundreds to one.  Some people are broken by that prospect and give up.  Others become bitter.  I try instead to live as an example....an example of a person who is unusual, eccentric, even downright crazy sometimes....who does, thinks, and believes things that society at large can't (or won't) understand....who does all this...and is still a decent, moral, compassionate person.  It's a nearly impossible standard, and I don't always live up to it, but I try.  Maybe eventually there will be enough people like me that the world will start changing.  If I make just one person think twice about their preconceptions, it's worth all the trouble.

So where am I going with this?  Eventually, my dream....at least, the one I've decided on....is to found a hermitage in Oregon, or some other suitable place, where people can come (free of charge) to learn and teach and live in and with nature.  Untouched nature is easily the best place to grow into touch with beauty.

I want to go back to shaping my own life, without money or television or advertisments.  I want to build my own house, make my own clothes, grow my own food, in short, regrow all the connections between human and nature that we've severed over the past few centuries.  That will be, in my opinion, the ultimate art.