I am really enjoying the thread on competitions and judging and often > wonder > why we need competitions. Do they not stem from the time where a > woman's > value was measured by her competence in the home???? What alternatives > are > there to reward people for exceptional handwork?
Competitions are hardly unique to women. Our state fairs seem to be set up to reward producing a good animal. In New Jersey they even judge hamsters. (Unfortunately, I hadn't realized this and didn't enter mine.) Dogs and horses are regularly shown and judged and I think that there are well-known and previously announced criteria for that. In the US, the Miss America pageant judges women, but not by the quality of their homemaking skills. The Olympics judges athletes. Lacewise, the competitions of the mid 19th century are thought to have encouraged excellence in the craft and many spectacular pieces were produced, usually by hand-made lace industries, also by machine industries, that would otherwise never have been produced, thus raising the standard of lacemaking all over Europe and bringing attention and prestige to lace. In the US, of course, we have so few lacemakers, and so few judges, and apparently, no set standards that we all agree upon. It is a problem. Devon **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
