[MR] In defense of inauthenticity

[gormofberra at direcway.com]

No, it's called "being realistic"

Let's consider a mildly better than minimal set of kit for someone planning to come and fight in a low-level all-day event...

You need your armor, shield, and sword, including footwear.
You need someplace to sit.  The ground isn't always a viable option
You need something to drink and something to drink from.  
You need shade, so you don't bake your brains out
You need some way to carry all of this stuff to and from the field
You need some food, unless the event has a lunch (not all do, and not everyone can eat it)

So, your options are either a> learn how to make period armor, chairs, dayshades, carts, food, and glassware, b> Purchase some or all of these items (if they are findable...period footwear that is also sturdy enough to fight in safely is a relative rarity in my experience), or c> accept the fact that some aspects of your day are going to be less than perfectly period, buy what you can get your hands on, and focus on those things that you can make well.

C used to be acceptible, now it is being made not so much.  It's a dramatic change in the way we've done business, and it should have a better reason than "I thought the fighting field looked like a slum, so I fixed it".

----- Original Message -----
From: Greg Lindahl <lindahl at pbm.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 11:54 am
Subject: Re: [MR] In defense of inauthenticity

> On Tue, Oct 28, 2003 at 09:55:24AM -0500, gormofberra at direcway.com 
> wrote:
> > I'd love to have a million dollars and adequate time to study 
> all of
> > the aspects of perfect medievalism and have the "perfect" kit.
> 
> This is known as "making perfection the enemy of the good."