Society for Creative Anachronisms

I first joined the Society of Creative Anachronisms sometime in 1998-1999. My initial interest was in the armored combat. Initially this began with local fighter practices in the Barony of Three Rivers (St. Louis, MO) in the Kingdom of Calontir. However, some of the most anticipated events are the large scale wars various kingdoms host.

As I became able to attend these larger events, it became necessary to begin engaging with other aspects, beginning with creating more appropriate garb. However, in order to do so, I needed to settle on a particular time period since the SCA spans over 1,000 years of history. Eventually, I settled on a late period English persona in the mid to late 1500s between the Tudor era and the Renaissance.

My persona name comes from the fact that, when I first began in the SCA, I painted my shield black with a gold wedge of cheese. For over 15 years, I did not choose a persona name and as if often the case, if one is not chosen intentionally, it will get chosen for you. As such, I became "Cheesey Jon". I grew quite fond of this name, and when officially registering a name, I decided to keep this as close as I could. With the assistance of Konstantia, we were able to document both "Jon" and "Chesey" as names used in the 16th century and so the name was passed in 2017. At the same time, I also redsigned my arms to the one pictured above to also include my love for Astronomy.

More recently, I have also had a growing interest in heraldry as in December of 2016, I stepped up as the herald for Three Rivers. Within the field of heraldry, my interest has tended towards helping to create devices or coats of arms. To that end, I have begun a long term project to assist other heralds by recreating the various charges found as more easily usable vector images.

One of the things that Calontir is known for is being "the kingdom that sings." When our warriors march to the field at the various wars we attend, it is always done to cherished songs, albeit in the "key of army." At our home war, the War of the Lilies, it is common to fall asleep with a nearby bardic circle singing until late into the night. Due to this rich tradition and my wish to best represent it when away from home, I have also been working to learn my kingdom's bardic traditions. A list of the songs I have learned is kept here.