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Re: [EK] Operation Renaissance Persona...yet another angle




Poster: hank harwell <web7989@charweb.org>

On Wed, 17 Dec 1997, Tom Rettie wrote:

> 
> Poster: Tom Rettie <tom@his.com>
> 
> My own reservation over "personas" are that they are so rarely medieval.
> It's like there's a Star Trek Universal Translator that converts everyone's
> speech into Elizabethean Movie Dialog.  It's nice for atmosphere, but it's
> not how most non-English, non-later-period folks would speak.  Is it really
> less jarring for an 11th century Norseman to speak like a 16th century
> Englishman than like a 20th century American?  I myself gave up the fake
> Scottish accent shortly after joining (many, many moons ago).  It wasn't
> medieval, it was just embarrasing.
> 

While I am probably not the right person to address this issue, as I 
myself have had trouble remaining "in persona" at events, I don't think 
being in persona means that we *must* use fake accents.  As I see it, 
being in persona means putting the research you've done on a particular 
time period or culture to work in your interaction with others.

A (non-Scadian) friend of mine who enjoys attending events periodically 
enjoys using Susan B. Anthony dollar coins and half-dollar coin to pay 
his site fees and when purchasing items from merchants.  He does this, 
not because these particular coins are "period" but because the whole 
concept of paper money is jarring to him as he tries in his own small way 
to establish an atmosphere.

In Stefan's Florilegium, there are several wonderful essays on how to 
establish and interact in persona at events, and using these suggestions, 
I am planning to redouble my efforts at my next event....

Just my thoughts, if you agree, great, if not, then chalk me up as 
another crackpot who deserves to be ignored.

Cleireac of Inisliath
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