[Sca-cooks] Re: RenFaire reactions.

[Ruth Frey]

> From: "Martin G. Diehl" <mdiehl at nac.net>
> One season of the NY Renaissance Faire, I was hanging out 
> at the Moresca booth ... another Rennie came by to tell us 
> that she had overheard two patrons, "I'm so disappointed, 
> they're all nothing but actors!"  Lena Dun (owner of Moresca) 
> observed, "What on Earth did they expect, 400 Year old 
> Englishmen?"

     I've had some reeeeaaaallly weird conversations with patrons at Renaissance Faires.  A surprising number of folks seem to think that anyone involved with such an activity is a weird Luddite-Amish religous cultist or something.  I've actually been asked if I "dress like this all the time" and "live in a house with electricity."  People are actually shocked to find out that I live a "normal" life with running water and a computer, and am actually a molecular biologist in my Day Job.

     Somewhat less entertainingly, I've also had people approach combat demos and ask about how much injury we do to each other, whether we actually try to kill each other, etc.  *These* particular people never seem to get it when told, "Um, we're fighting our friends, we don't try to hurt each other . . ."  

     It really *does* beg the question of what they expect, doesn't it?  :)

                   -- Ruth