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Letter from Baron (Court) and Forester Nigel FitzMaurice and Lady Isobel Ballantyne for election to Baron and Baroness of Brendoken 
Unto all to whom this comes to, greetings:
We, Baron (Court) and Forester Nigel FitzMaurice, and Lady Isobel Ballantyne, declare our intention to apply for the positions of Landed Baron and Baroness of Brendoken. Permit us, therefore, to introduce ourselves.
Nigel (MKA Bruce R. Gordon) was born June 25, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Kent State University (BA Psychology) in 1976. He pursued a career in Human Service for a number of years, holding positions as a crisis intervention specialist, a co-administrator in a runaway shelter, an assistant teacher in special education classes (public school system), and a habilitation assistant in a sheltered workshop for handicapped adults. These experiences have been critical in developing his understanding of administration, in expanding his communication skills, and in nurturing his patience and his ability to create positive and helpful environments. In recent years, he has begun pursuing personal goals. He is now building a career as a writer, and has one sale to his credit thus far (an article on the history of the crossbow, in Primitive Archer Magazine). He supplements his income with work in construction, and the sale of antiques and collectibles. These circumstances give him maximum flexibility in structuring his schedule.
Nigel joined the Society in late 1974; he is one of the founding members of Gwyntarian. Locally, he has served as seneschal, pursuivant (twice), minister of arts and sciences, and chronicler. At the baronial level he has been seneschal and pursuivant. At the regional level he has been archery marshal, and is currently minister of arts and sciences. At the kingdom level he has been deputy earl marshal for missile weapons (archer-general) and, as such, fielded the Midrealm's first and second archery champions teams to be victorious (P 31 and 34). He is a court Baron, holds the Dragon's Heart, is a member of the Greenwood Company, a companion of the Evergreen, holds a Silver Oak, a Purple Fret, a Dragon's Barb, and an AoA. At the Baronial level, he is a co-principal of the Baroness' Order of the Heart of Brendoken, and holds a Golden Thistle.
Isobel (MKA Jennifer Coffman) was born July 29, 1987, in Akron, Ohio. She is a product of home schooling, and completed her studies in a formal sense in 2004; nevertheless, she has never ceased to expand her studies, and regards education as a journey, not a goal. She has a great deal of experience in a variety of home-making concerns - she is an accomplished seamstress and makes her own clothing and garb, a skilled cook with much additional experience in managing SCA kitchens and lunch taverns, and she has a wealth of experience at both professional and private levels in managing infants and toddlers. These experiences have been basic in establishing her patience, attention to detail, communication skills, organizational ability, and artistic sense.
Isobel joined the Society in 2004. She has provided constant service and skill in the kitchens and among the support staff at events and demos, and regularly provides assistance not only to the local group but also to neighboring groups as well. She has become well-known, both within Brendoken and beyond, as an eminently trustworthy and skilled individual who invariably leaves an event brighter and better organized than she found it. She holds an Award of Arms.
We believe we compliment each other nearly perfectly. Nigel brings deep experience and a lively sense of the traditions the SCA is rooted in. He is at his best in considering overall goals and long-term ideas. Isobel brings freshness and energy, both grounded in a very practical sense of what needs to be done, and how to accomplish it. She is at her best in sorting out the details, and organizing real-world concerns. In terms of what we would like to accomplish as Baron and Baroness, we have discovered that we both share nearly identical concerns regarding problems facing the SCA and the Barony. For both of us, a primary focus is an interest in openness and accessibility. Nigel has felt concern regarding falling attendance, both nationally and locally, in terms of rising fuel cost, an aging membership, and shifting interest levels. Isobel has noted a need at the local level to enhance and encourage guilds and special-activity groups in order to provide ways for newer members to quickly become involved in all the SCA has to offer. We both feel that Baronies are strategically critical to making the SCA as enjoyable and user-friendly as possible, inasmuch as they are a bridge between the kingdom and the local groups. That being so, the positions of Baron and Baroness are symbols of the spirit of the Barony, and magnets for the hopes and aspirations of the populace. We humbly submit that we have the skills, knowledge, and ability to fill these positions in a superior fashion.
Respectfully submitted:
Nigel FitzMaurice
Isobel Ballantyne