As a borderline hermit, meeting and conversing with celebrities isn’t something I have a lot of experience with. So when I learned that the prodigal Dr. David West Reynolds was going to be returning to his hometown library for a screening of his film-archeology documentary “Journey to Tatouine’ and that the event was being advertised as ‘Star Wars Day’, I knew I was going to have to make an appearance.
This would be my second ‘Stars Wars at the library’ event, and since the first, I’ve had several other events with the public to help me focus and refine my approach. This time, I knew what to expect and was somewhat prepared with a rudimentary engagement hook—a thick stack of facsimiles of the Declaration of Rebellion to distribute.
Continue reading “Event Debrief: 17 March 2018”
Month: April 2018
Event debrief: 14 July 2017
When I wasn’t working at the zipline, getting merchandise and materials ready for an earthskills festival, and taking a three-day Middle-earth trek in Wisconsin, every spare minute of the first half of July 2017 was spent finishing gear for a second survival presentation at the Frazier Museum’s summer camp—after the first session, I had told my facilitator that I had a Rebel militia persona in the works, and couldn’t go back on my word!
Therefore, I spent the entire two full days (July 12&13) before the camp finishing my Pepakura RFT helmet (which, as discussed earlier, came out looking surprisingly decent considering it was my first attempt with fiberglass), converting the last of my green army dress shirts to bib-front RFT-style, and getting my DH-17 retool in mostly-presentable condition.
After staying up til 0100 for multiple nights in a row, I managed to get everything done and was finally ready to debut my Rebel partisan impression, ‘Citizen Olis’, to a group of 10-13 younglings in grades 3 through 6!
Continue reading “Event debrief: 14 July 2017”
Event Debrief: 29 June 2017
In 2017, I was very glad to be invited back to the Frazier International History Museum for a second set of summer camp presentations.
Like last year, I would give a short talk on survival needs in the Galaxy, teach cordage with raffia, and then have Q&A time. This time around, however, I would present on different days to smaller groups. For this first session, my audience were 8-10 younglings in 4th-6th grade.
A year’s worth of research and refinements meant that I had a more detailed persona (Silo the on-the-run Jedi washout), and the event was highly successful thanks largely to my commitment to the First Person approach.
Continue reading “Event Debrief: 29 June 2017”
Event debrief: 21 January 2017
Venue: Louisville, KY – The Rally to Move Forward
This was a ‘sister event’ for the Women’s March in Washington, held on post-Trump’s-inauguration day.
Myself and 3,000 other attendees braved the early morning chill to hear some inspiring speeches and music from local activists, groups, and politicians, and hobnob with other like-minded folks. Continue reading “Event debrief: 21 January 2017”
Event Debrief: 20 July 2016
As they (probably) say on Kamino, when it rains it pours! That’s right, my first two public GFFA reenacting events were back-to-back!
Venue: Frazier International History Museum‘s ‘Jedi, Wizards, and Time Lords!’ summer camp
Compared to the day before, this event was Much more to my liking. I debuted my basic (then-unnamed) Agricultural Corps persona, and presented (in First Person!) to two groups of about 15 campers each. I gave a 15-20 minute talk on contents of a basic survival kit (i.e. Dave Canterbury’s ‘10 Cs’, translated into GFFA terms), taught the reverse-ply cordage-making technique with raffia palm fibers, and then had a few minutes for Q&A.
Continue reading “Event Debrief: 20 July 2016”
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 