History...and a new podcast!

Hey there!

So first, I am on a bit of an 80s kick today and this happens to be the song currently on the playlist as I begin typing this post. I'm leaving it for you so that you can also listen while you read. You're welcome.

This song is very infectious and I find myself putting it on repeat anytime it's on...

As many of you that follow my blog, social media, and website likely know, history is one of my greatest passions and influences. This is one of the many reasons why I got the idea this year to start recapping my time at living history and reenacting events beyond the photos on social media. Over these last few months, I've been reflecting more on why doing this is of such great importance to me. Aside from a fascination with the idea of another time and place existing outside of my own (which also ties into my interest in Fantasy themes) and the aesthetics (ie the clothing, architecture, etc), I feel that history is among the most important subjects to be taught but sadly, over the years, the ability to see and understand its importance - along with having an interest in learning it in the first place - has been in a sad state of decline.

A great blog that I recently came across is one called Silk and Sass 1776. A young woman by the name of Eliza (who is also involved in the reenacting and living history scene...she liked one of my posts on Instagram, so I followed her and found her blog as a result) runs it and she has some excellent, thought provoking, and very entertaining posts. One post in particular, however, grabbed my attention, and that is one titled Why Do I Do this to Myself?'.

Here is the link to the article if you want to check it out:

https://silkandsass1776.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/why-do-i-do-this-to-myself/

In many of her posts, she reiterates why so many of us in the living history and reenacting worlds do what we do. In fact, it got me thinking of why I got into it four years ago. For as long as I can remember I've had an interest in history in some form or another. It was always among my favorite subjects in school and my studies in music, theater, dance, and literature fed it even more.
 When I actually got started at my first living history site, my first priority was conducting a more indepth research for my novel series, The Birthrite (since that and much of my other stories are against historical backdrops). But that very quickly evolved into becoming a large part of who I am, also producing even more opportunities in music, writing, or and being on staff at sites. I gladly accepted these because if there is one thing I enjoy, it's challenging myself. Plus, these new opportunities offered even more insight and knowledge, adding to what I was already bringing in. That's a large part of why I love doing this. You're always learning something! :)

Now one term that Eliza has used pretty frequently on her blog is 'farbsplaining', a term used to describe an individual who behaves as if he or she knows what they are talking about when they in fact do not. One book I often recommend to newbies in the reenactment/living history world is one called Death By Petticoat: American History Myths Debunked by Mary Miley Theobald, who has also done research for Colonial Williamsburg. I'm not saying that this book is a 'be all, end all,' nor am I saying that I agree 100% with every last thing she says. But what it does offer is a look into what not to say. Because I am a firm believer in that knowing what NOT to say is equally important, if not more important than, knowing what TO say. Few things bring more cringe to many a researcher and lover of history than hearing a historical myth that has been researched and debunked ten times since Sunday still being spoken of as fact. And to top it off, those listening to such farbsplainers are eating it up, completely buying into it without any questioning.

this best describes me if I find myself witness to such a thing

Or even worse. How about those clickbait articles that show up in the old social media newsfeed every so often. You know, the ones that have titles like "OMG! 18 Disgusting Facts About the 18th Century that You Won't Believe!". I will confess that I did click on one of these articles out of  mere curiosity one time. I don't recall the title of said article but I do recall that pretty much everything on their list - along with the 'explanations' - was either wrong or an embellished half truth. There might have been one or two things correct but unfortunately not properly explained as to WHY it may have been as it was.
The comments section was even more depressing, as is the amount of shares these articles get.

Seriously, they spread like the plague. The worst part is that these articles and spliced together videos are not being taken with a grain of salt or skepticism, but as the written gospel. Anytime someone does comment to correct with actual facts, they are either ignored or met with scorn from other commenters that apparently know better. They haven't researched much beyond click bait articles, but they still know better.

what my facial expression probably looks like when someone is - as Silk and Sass puts it - farbsplaining (be it online or in real life) with an air of "I'm the smartest person in the universe" and I'm having this inner struggle with whether it's even worth it to be the "well, actually..." guy

Now with that said, I am also willing to say that I'm not perfect, nor do I claim to know all there is to know about history. Have I gotten things wrong? Absolutely. But when I do, I'm willing to learn from it and correct it. It's this unwillingness to learn facts that troubles me and I think many others. Though on the flip side, much of this is due to the fact that history is often presented in a way that makes it unrelateable to the average person. Eliza explains this well in her blog post. Another reason why many don't even think to question or research is due to the fact that, well, people have lives and while the internet has many good aspects, there is a lot of information overload happening out there.
Myth busting is among my favorite things to do when I talk history with the public. I also make it a point to bring to light events that aren't often taught, or taught at all. When I do this, I find that people generally take well to it. Sure, they might have questions or look confused at first because "that is not what you typically hear" (yes, this is a phrase I hear quite often). I will also add that while the clickbaiters are typically out for, well, clicks, there are "farbsplainers" out there that do mean well and are doing the best with what they know. In fact, I can kind of understand why even some pretty knowledgeable people tend to think that some farbsplained myths are 100% fact, because a few do seem relatively plausible. As I implied earlier, there are history myths that do have kernels of truth that were embellished over time.

And this brings me to the podcast part of this blog post. :)

What many of us within the reenactment and living history communities aim for is making history real and relatable. This is also why I started doing things like taking video, a lot more photos, and even interviewing some sutlers, guests, and reenactors at events. However, i conducting a couple interviews, I've found that there are many a camera shy folk out there. Since I am not the least bit camera shy, I do sometimes forget that others are! Therefore, I got the idea of perhaps offering the option of an audio discussion for those that don't mind being interviewed but aren't too into the idea of an on camera talk. I also really liked the idea of having some of these in a sort of podcast form and have thought about just how much audio recordings can really add to this blog.

I've toyed with the idea of a podcast in the past and have off and on interviewed people for not only my blog and video channels, but also a few music and film webzines. Originally, I wanted my podcast to be based on music (preferably within the Rock, Celtic, Gothic, and Metal genres) with some film thrown in, since music is my thing. However, there are a gazillion music and film podcasts out there. With a focus on history, I can cover topics that are important to me, tell of my latest research, talk to some more awesome people in the history world, AND I can still cover bands, since many within my preferred genres are often inspired by historical themes. In fact, one topic that I intend to cover in the future are the many similarities between music of the Baroque era and heavy metal. :D

The first podcast episode will go up very soon. In fact I plan to have it out next week. The first couple episodes will be in video form as I am experimenting with the audio recorder. Once I have that all figured out, I will also do audio versions of the first couple episodes. The great thing too about the audio recorder is that it is a hand held device that I can just stash in my basket or in the pockets under my petticoats at events until I have to use it. :)
And yes, the podcast will share this blog's title and I'm excited to get started. :)

But first, coming up on the blog is a review of William P. Robertson's (one of the many awesome people I met at Fort Niagara) poetry book, Icicles and more Eddie Funkhouser product reviews in the Health and Beauty section. :)

Til then.

xo