Stupid Questions

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Stupid Questions

I finally did figure out the "real fire" question--the inquirer wanted to know was it going to be used, or was it just "for show?"

Coming at this from a citizen's perspective allows for a different range of activities and questions--like the "foot sweater" and the "no period pasta" discussions. Some of the more interesting interactions I've had have been related to making bread by hand in a summer kitchen, and sitting on a porch (in the shade) adding a bit of embroidery to my son's baby sacque... it was very easy to engage the Moms and Grandmas.

One strong argument for a woman wearing correct clothing from the skin out is the inquisitive 4yo (boy or girl) who wants to know if you have legs--and lifts your dress to find out.

Keeping a careful eye on the spectators at non-immersion events will give some good clues to drawing people in. I love open, easy-third/first events for that very reason! It's enjoyable to see a little girl hiding behind her mother's legs, seeing the desperate curiousity on her face warring with her shyness, and then drawing her out by complimenting something she's wearing, and inviting her to ask questions about what I'm wearing. It's a different set-up than that at a first-person, immersive event, but both have their places in educating others.

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Stupid Questions?

as well as the semi-confrontational "guru" who informed me that the egg noodles I was rolling out in the kitchen were not accurate, as pasta had not yet been invented. (Oooookay.)

.

Hmmm. I do think that "the Methodical Cook" (1830s) has a recipe calling for Macaroni, so I would highly suspect that it had been invented by that time. I love those types.

[srmitchell]

Re: Stupid Questions

Y'all,
One of the most amusing questions I ever fielded came last fall at an event in south Houston. On Friday, my brother and I were putting the finishing touches on our winter quarters, and a group of young school kids came up and began asking us the prepared questions they were supposed to ask.
We invited them in to our hut a few at a time and explained to them what they were seeing, how many soldiers would live in the hut etc. Finally one girl looked at us skeptically and asked "Do y'all live here?"
When we told her that we were indeed staying there, her suspicion deepend and she countered with "Are y'all really poor?"
It only took a second for my brother and I to reply with an emphatic... "YES!"

[markmason]

Re: Stupid Questions

#1 one on my priority list is to engage spectators with questions, and also to interact with the public as much as possible. This is probably my first and foremost reason for involving myself with the hobby.

Tacticals and total immersion events are added bonuses, something I do that helps me to better understand the civil war, with the goal to learn a little more each time I particpate.

[rebyank]

Re: Stupid Questions

During an event in October, I was playing with a local CS unit, as my normal group was not there. I still knew almost everyone in the unit. anyway, lots, and I mean lots of school kids came up with pre-prepared questions for us. One of the Q's had to do with why we were fighting for the confederacy. our Capt. explained that we were fighting for our rights, mostly to students that had no idea what he was talking about. After the 6th visit from cluless students, most of whom kept arguing about slaves, our captain stormed throught the camp growling,"Next time, just tell em you're fighting to keep your niggers" before "slamming" his tent flap. We all laughed for about a half an hour about that.

[OleMissRebel]

Re: Stupid Questions

Ryan,

Actually, there were several Germans involved in the Siege of Vicksburg. The 22d Kentucky, under Lieut. Col. George W. Monroe, had a whole company of Germans (company K) and several scattered throughout different companies (A,E & G) in his ranks. That is just one occurence!

The public has a tendancy to know more about the Civil War than we give them credit for.

I realize there were tens of thousands of germans who fought in the WBTS. However, this guy was clearly not thinking of German companies, rather the German Army i.e. Nazi's and all that jazz.

[KentuckyReb]

Re: Stupid Questions

Had a guy ask me where the Indians were camped once. I tell you though, one good way to engage people? Sit somewhere visible and start patching your kit. Socks, hole in the haversack, shirt, whatever. It seems to make people stop, catches their eye, just a guy sitting there sewing. Is that really so uncommon, a guy who can sew? They act like you just dropped out of the sky or something.

[MuleyGil]

Re: Stupid Questions

My unit at the time, the 58th Ala Inf, CSA, was set a living history at a private country festival in North Alabama. We had our campfire burning, our tents were pitched, our battle flag was flying and we were wearing grey and butternut uniforms. A middle aged woman walked up, looked us over once or twice, screwed up her face, and asked, " Are you gypsies?"

About an hour later, another woman came up & asked , "What war are y'all doing?" I wanted to reply " The Franco-Prussian War of Gay Liberation", but nicely replied, "The War Between The States".

Gil Tercenio

[KarinTimour]

Re: Stupid Questions

Dear Cpl. Hawkins:

With the decline of ANY sewing at home, most people, especially children don't recognize what it is you are doing. I've had people, even adults come up to me while I was sewing and ask what I was doing. "So that's what sewing looks like without a machine? How do you get the string in the metal thing? Or does it come that way from the store? (translation: Are needles bought already threaded?). If it's unique to see a woman sewing, I suspect that for many to see a man sewing is evidence that he's got Advanced Functions installed.

Knitting is currently considered a hot craft among teens and college age women, but I always get astonished curiosity when working on a sock in public. Which is a terrific conversation starter -- because young children, male as well as female were often started knitting at a very young age to help keep the family supplied with socks. I used to follow up this question with a question about what they do at their house in the present day to help their family -- lay the table, clear the table, wash dishes, mow the grass, etc. The responses I've gotten to this question are sometimes surprising themselves -- a surprising number of children are being raised without having daily chores to do around the house. But those that do have chores can then relate what they do at their house to what children of their age did. Which is another great bridge if you are a soldier doing fatigue detail -- children of that age often chopped or split wood, gathered kindling, hauled water, fed stock, washed dishes, and they watched their parents cook meals, build things, repair harness or tack, mend clothing, etc. With children they often enjoy being challenged to "compare and contrast" what you are doing with how they do it at their house in the present day. Or you can contrast that with how children in our time period would have done the same function at home that you are doing in the field. "We're going to go get wood to last through the night, just like you would have been expected to do at your house -- children your age would often be told to keep the woodbox at home filled so that if wood was needed it was handy." Which then leads to a discussion of where you got the wood, what a woodbox was, etc., etc.

I terms of being careful about judging spectators by their clothing, at the Chancellorsville event several years ago I was sitting knitting when a 70ish spectator came up to me wearing one of those solar powered pith helmets, a seriously wild Hawaiian shirt, bermuda shorts worn with black socks and (I am not making this up) sock garters. I admired his sock garters and he stopped to ask some questions about civilians in the Chancellorsville area during the battle. Two sentances into the discussion it became clear that he knew a bunch about the military side of the war, but little about the civilian side. It turned out that he was a) a Civil War buff, b) retired military and c) had taught the battle for the U.S. Army War College. He learned a bit about civilians, and he went on to diagram the battle for me, and clarify quite a few things that I'd not understood in the accounts that I had read.

Sincerely,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[SparksBird]

Re: Stupid Questions

I will have to chime in and agree with the majority on this thread, there is not such thing as a stupid question. When you work in living history you get all kinds of comments and questions on a daily basis, some good and some bad. However, if you have ever read Freeman Tilden's book, Interpreting Our Heritage, which is the interpreters Bible, you will note that one of the goals on interpretation is provocation. Usually, you have to work to get visitors to even ask questions. If one asks a question willingly, that means that they have some sort of interest. So, remember that the next time that you get a strange question. On the other hand, the stupid questions don't bother me as much as the stupid comments or answers that come from some reenactors who are there to supposedly "educate" the public.
I do have one funny comment to pass along that I heard from a friend at a living history site. He was working in his tinshop on some tinware when a couple came in and started talking about what he was doing. The wife then asked "where do you get your tin from?". The tinsmith then answered, "From Wales", to which the woman replied "well which part of the whale??". At that point her husband walked out and laughed for five minutes out back before coming back in to get her. true story.

Rick Musselman
Buckeye Mess
GHTI

[KentuckyReb]

Re: Stupid Questions

D____t man, you owe me a new keyboard.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Stupid Questions

I will have to chime in and agree with the majority on this thread, there is not such thing as a stupid question. When you work in living history you get all kinds of comments and questions on a daily basis, some good and some bad. However, if you have ever read Freeman Tilden's book, Interpreting Our Heritage, which is the interpreters Bible, you will note that one of the goals on interpretation is provocation. Usually, you have to work to get visitors to even ask questions. If one asks a question willingly, that means that they have some sort of interest. So, remember that the next time that you get a strange question. On the other hand, the stupid questions don't bother me as much as the stupid comments or answers that come from some reenactors who are there to supposedly "educate" the public.
I do have one funny comment to pass along that I heard from a friend at a living history site. He was working in his tinshop on some tinware when a couple came in and started talking about what he was doing. The wife then asked "where do you get your tin from?". The tinsmith then answered, "From Wales", to which the woman replied "well which part of the whale??". At that point her husband walked out and laughed for five minutes out back before coming back in to get her. true story.

Rick Musselman
Buckeye Mess
GHTI

Rick

Were can I get a copy of this book? What kind of whale was it???? :tounge_sm

[SparksBird]

Re: Stupid Questions

Robert,
You can get it pretty much anywhere. I do have to warn you though, it is a little dry. But, none the less, I still make it a must read for staff.

Rick Musselman
Buckeye Mess
GHTI

[Alamo Guard]

Re: Stupid Questions

At the grand Perryville Event a few years ago, my wife was sitting on the shuttle bus driving to the park. Across the row from her sat a man and his young son. The discussion of the upcoming battle came up. My wife mentioned that I was a reenactor and would be fighting in the battle. The man asked what side I was on. My wife said for this event I was a rebel but at other events I was federal.
The man with a stright face replied "I know what you call men who do that, they are called crossdressers".

[texandrummer61]

Re: Stupid Questions

Andrew, I know what you're talking about with spectators thinking you are from the place you say you are:

Spectator: Where are you from?
Me: Harris County Texas ,sir.
Spectator: Really - I'm from Texas too!!

This was pretty unexpected, as I was doing a local event inOHIO .
Talk about an awkward moment. :confused_

Ian Broadhead
5th Texas A. co.
Medich Battalion