From: tbarnes@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes)
Subject: Re: Authenticity vs. fantasy (long)
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: world, na
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:46:59 GMT

In article <1992Nov18.054535.15835@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> tip@lead.aichem.arizona.edu (Tom Perigrin) writes:
>
     
Sad story about a lot of good effort gone to waste deleted...
>
>	I am a little puzzled by this...   I didn't expect people to aclaim me
>the next King because of my prowess with chisel and mallet,  but I didn't
>expect such total apathy.   I still don't know how to explain it.  Maybe
>I should have washed my peasant garb since last year?  (joke)
>
>

You might have had a bad day. Also, at least at Middle Kingdom Crown
Tourney, the stress level runs pretty high. Everybody is fighting in
crown, or rooting for somebody who is fighting in crown, running the
event or stressing about the Kingdom A&S competion that will be held the
next day. Generally if you look like you are creating something
"important" (like a major piece of furniture with a lot of carving) and
you aren't obviously a merchant, people will assume that you're working
like crazy to get it finished in time for court in the evening. In this
case it would be discourtesy to stand around and kibitz, and people
just slink away quietly so not to disturb the artisan.
	Don't be discouraged. I for one think that it's a GREAT idea. I
hope to one day be able to emulate your high level of authenticity. I
also tend to sit around talking arts with the artisans and heraldry with
the heralds, but I've always been something of a "Laurel groupie". 

>Who says "we" can't or don't want to reproduce the less savory parts of
>Mediaeval or Rennaisance life - a few examples - 
>
Mercifully deleted...

Your remark reminds me of a fellow I saw a few years ago at Pennsic. He
had decided that the SCA had too many nobles and not enough peasants, so
he decided to be a beggar. He wore beggar' rags (made out of coarse
brown cloth and sacking) didn't wear shoes (except when forced to do so)
and refused to bathe for the entire week of Pennsic. He appearantly also
begged for food and money (discretely) during the week. I don't know
what he did for shelter. By the end of the week he was REALLY grubby and
smelly.

I have thought about doing an alternate persona at events, of Tom the
Barber. He would be unshaven, unshorn, unwashed, and have an unpleasant
tic of his razor-holding hand. He would go about offering to shave,
bleed or barber people, or possibly pull teeth. The sight of his
instruments (and the way he nonchalantly spat on them to get some of the
grime off and then wipe the spit off on his sleeve) would discourage
virtually anyone familiar with modern sanitation from using his
services. Outside of the "Tom O Bedlam" routine, he would actually be
familiar with most of the principles of Galenic medicine. ("Sickness
caused by tiny animicules you say! Nonsense, it is miasma, ill-positions
of the spheres, and an imbalance of the sanguine humor! If you'll not
have bleeding, at least allow me to create a phylactery in the style of
the Doctors of Padua, for you. If you would bind it against your forearm
for a fortnight, it will protect you against imbalances of the blood!")
	If you read it, medieval medicine has as much internal logic
based on naked-eye observations, as modern medicine. A "character" would
be a good way of teaching people about the way people used to think
about health, medicine and nutrition.

Lothar \|/
        0

>Yours in bepuzzlement
>Thomas Ignatius Perigrinus (AoL)


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca