By Ellie Daghlian

 

Thank you to all the crits who came before. 

 

Term two is heating up, we’re about to begin New Blood, and as you might have gathered from my previous scab, some of us are beginning to lose the plot a little. 

 

Amidst all of this crazy, I’ve realised seeing super smart people outside of the SCA bubble is essential for perspective, and remembering why we’re all doing to this ourselves in the first place. 

 

So I wanted to go through and say thank you to everyone I’ve seen so far, and recommend them to my fellow Krak-heads, who probably also need an excuse to leave the Church of Doom. 

 

Jem:

 

Yes, that’s Jem from Jem’s gems, who’s infamous video has trained us all to flinch at klaxons everywhere. She’s the legend behind Get Britain Talking, who got hired before portfolio day even came around, and who rocks a whole range of sick tattoos.

 

Jem was our first crit, and oh so gentle with our ugly, ugly, babies. She nurtured a child nobody else wanted to survive, was full of brilliant ideas for those bits that weren’t quite working, and gave us some top tips for the general shape of what an Uncommon book might look like. 

 

Best of all, when we realised we were going to be late for school, she emailed Marc banning him from making us dance. 

 

Jem, you are a gem. Hope to see you soon. 

 

Susie and Helena:

 

These are the genius minds behind Steel Warriors. – https://www.steelwarriors.co.uk  – The project melting down knives and turning them into outdoor gyms. 

 

After a slight misadventure where we tried to meet them in Lucky General’s, but instead got locked inside the building, we managed to find our way to the local Veggie Pret. 

 

There we had an amazing half hour or so chatting to two genuinely lovely people. They made it the whole way through the SCA maze, lived to tell the tale, and landed themselves some amazing jobs in the process. 

 

So top advice, which we plan to go and get more of very soon. 

 

Rosie Arnold:

 

Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. I’m not going to list the things she’s done because we’d be here too long and presumably everybody knows everything anyway. 

 

I think it was the first time I felt genuinely nervous going into a crit. And yet I shouldn’t have been because despite her brilliance and experience, Rosie Arnold treated our ugly babies with love and respect they did not deserve. 

 

Really, nobody’s been that mean yet, I wonder if they’re saving it till we’re a little older and stronger. 

 

Oh, and she squeezed us in before her pilates class, barely a week after our email. Incredible. 

 

Sophie and James:

 

Sophie and James. They have this very laidback-cool-vibe which is a little bit intimidating but which fits in completely with Mother’s office. Easy to see why they got hired htere. 

 

I met these guys before I started SCA and they’re so generous with their time. I’m pretty sure they’re working day and night but they never give the impression they have anywhere else to be. 

 

My impression is a Mother book looks quite different from a lot of other places, and they have some brilliant advice for how to build that sort of book. And, if you’re interested, their student book is still online. Gold dust.