How would you rate your own authenticity?

[paulcalloway]

A few years ago we ran a poll and asked the visitors to the AC to rate their own authenticity. I'm curious how that poll would look today.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

There's still no good designation for those who have a progressive mindset, are determined not to cave to modern thought, and get called "stitch counting thread nazi" on a regular basis... but perhaps that's as it should be. (I just delete those emails, anyhow.)

:)

[KarinTimour]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

Rating your authenticity seems to me to be a sort of multi-faceted issue -- there's the quality of your main impression, where you might have the gear and the mindset nailed. But what about secondary impressions?

To my mind, in terms of my gear, most of it is fine at this point -- for a lower class impression I'm ok, better in a Southern impression than a Northern one. Middle class is a stretch for me -- but I can manage shabby genteel pretty well. Upper class at this point is completely out of the question.

My knowledge of material culture is pretty sound, but I sometimes have difficulty operationalizing it. I can babble with conviction on a lot of topics.

In the abstract, I understand the Southern concept of "being a mannerly person means that you never back someone into a corner where they are embarrassed -- always give them a graceful out." But my Northern directness tends to trip me up in moments of stress, and I'll speak when sometimes I should just smile and nod.

I also don't have the period farming skills that should go with my impression -- I can't hitch or saddle a horse, drive one, or plow. I need to learn how to load and care for a gun -- though my aim is pretty good if someone else loads. I can milk a cow, though I've not done so for quite a while, and I've never attempted milking a goat. I've never been to a hog butchering, salted or smoked meat or made sausage. I'm learning to spin (thank you Terre Lawson!), but the current results are uneven. My sewing is very basic, patching and darning are pretty good. My crochet and tatting nonexistant. I'm pretty good at making a fire, but if it's a small stove I sometimes have difficulty keeping it going once I've gotten started -- I get too distracted with cooking and forget to keep stoking it. I'm a pretty fair cook and baker.

I need to know more about farming, especially tobacco, cotton, indigo, rice the main crops of the South. I especially need to know how these would be done on a small scale, since I don't suspect that I'll ever develop a plantation mistress impression.

I need better luggage and a means to keep the equipment I've got with me in the field more organized. I want to learn more words to songs, especially hymns. I need to read and know my Bible more. I want to learn Spencerian script and I'd love to learn the banjo.

I guess in terms of structuring a poll, are they always only one question? What about one that had a line for rating your gear, another for material culture (however you define that), a third on how developed your persona before the war is, and a fourth on ability to operationalize all that in the field?

Since this is a poll on the authentic campaigner board, what about moving from the "hardcore/progressive/farb" rating scale and going to a number rating. Say a 1-10 rating where 1 was most thorough, don't need to work on this much at all" and 1 was "starting out and trying to get a handle on what I need to know to make some better decisions this time around."

Food for thought,
Karin Timour
Atlantic Guard Soldiers Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[marlin teat]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

The more I learn, the more I realize how much more I have yet to learn. Humility is essential to knowledge. Therefore I always refer to myself as still in the progressive stage.

[dusty27]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

Not to be crude, but this question reminds me of why Americans don't size their male birth control items. Who is going to buy the small size?

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

Uhhh well...

All my uniforms and equipent are based on surviving examples, and are made from the best the period materials and construction methods I can find. In the field or in garrison, I do my best to live in the manner that I feel the common soldier would have, through manerisms, speech, and lifestyle. So I imagine that you could lable me as a "Hardcore".

However I am always finding out more about 19th century folkways, material culture, and general history, which leads me to constantly change and upgrade my physical and first person impression. Not to mention trying to keep the beer belly, modern sayings, ideologys, and slang at bay.

So I feel I am a "Progressive".

[poncho]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

It's tough to say, it depends on whose standards you are using. To a farb, I'm ultra hardcore, but to someone else I might be considered mainstream. I make every effort to have the most accurate clothing and traps I can afford. Regardless of what anyone says, it is very expensive to accquire well made, accurate equipment. What I find myself doing is buying the best I can afford and then modifying it to best resemble accuracy. Whenever I think I 'm up to par, I see someone that totally blows me away. Bottom line is that you can always improve, and making the effort to do so is what you should be judged on. In this case, I see myself as progressive, looking to break through to hardcore.

Pierre, you need to sign all of your posts with your full name - Mike Chapman

[2RIVB]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

I personally would rate myself as progressive. I do the research. I buy the right gear. I have the right attitude. BUT, I go to all mainstream events, belong to a mainstream unit, and camp it with my girl.
Now the whys:
I go to mainstream events because I be long to a mainstream unit.

I belong to a mainstream unit because it is the unit I started with, and these guys are the best friends a person could ask for. I put loyalty above all else. These guys are like family to me, and I would never walk away from family. They may not be the most authentic guys, but I would put one of them up against 1,000,000,000 hardcores anyday.

Camping it with the girl; "If they had it back in 186X, they would have used it." (joking)

I personally believe in changing things from with in. I don't see need to force peoples hands. In my unit, I started buying more authentic items, and the guys would say to me, "THats really nice, where did you get that?" I would tell them, and then authenticity killer number 1 would come out, "How much did that set you back?" This is the first thing that puts mainstreamers away from authenticity. They hear cost. I know what your going to say, that it costs abbout the same, if not more to be mainstream, and this is true, but; item to item the cost scares them, here is an example:
Mainstreamer: "Nice frock coat."
Progressive: "Thanks!"
M: "Where did you get it?"
P: "I got it from CB Skillethead."
M: "Not to intrude, but how much did that set you back"
P: "About $500."
M: "$500!!!!" [Mainstreamer thinks to himself, I only paid $150 for mine from C&D Regimental, and it's close enough]

After a while you get some of them past the cost, because they really start to notice the difference in your gear vs. their, and how much better the quality is. (In my case, I finally got an authentic vendor to come to our local event) They see and feel the sack coat, and buy it, next thing you know, they have just bought an entire authentic uniform.

Then the 50% who didn't go authentic speak up. "I was at Event X, and the mainstream guys never said hello to us, and ignored us. What a bunch of @!*$#! Do you want to be like them?" I hate to say it guys, but, a lot of the supposed "c/p/h" guys I have run into have been real @$^!*. Whether these guys are authentics or not, they really represent a poor image on the entire c/p/h community. They sit back an laugh it up at the mainstream units. The talk down to the mainstream guys, on the rare occassions they acknowledge their presence. I have to say, they are the reason I shyed away from moving to progressive for a while. Then I ran into a few decent guys, who did right by me. They told me what authentic was, and not once did they knock me for not being c/p/h. They answered my questions the best they could, and sent me in the right direction to begin my research. But, alas, these type of people seem a rareity around here.

Then I found this web site, and I was impressed by the knowledge some have on here. But, I also found, a lot (before we have a hissy fit, I didn't say ALL) of guys on here who are or pose as c/p/h make down right insulting comments to newbies, and it drives them away. example:
M: "I think C&D Regimental is the best sutler ever, and really nice to deal with."
P: "You have got to be kidding, they haven't been cool since 1985, CB Skillethead is the place to go."
What a put off statements like this are. Now if this progressive had sent a private messege to this new guy, or an e-mail, and politely todl him why this was a mainstream vendor, and told him of better places to shop, and why they were better, this new guy might have been quite thankful, instead of leaving pissed off, and thinking, "c/p/h guys are a bunch of #@$*%." It's the few guys like this that ruin it for all. This story I told was adapted from a post that is still p on the boards. I generously made my response known in this gentleman's reputation, on this board. He is one of many of the guys who shouts his crap the loudest, and is the first one all the newbis hear. The guys out there that are decent need to be louder, so the mainstream crowd can see that the jerks are the minority. Paul's method seems to be the best approach, but if you wonder why mainstream event organizers feel shakey about letting c/p/h groups into mainstream events, it's because of the jerks who shout the loudest. My group has finally gotten a taste of authenticity, towards the end of last season, after all the mega events were over. I hope this season we avoid the jerks ou there long enough to keep them from losing their motivation. I also hope we run into some of those decent guys again, so we can exchange more ideas.

[MissMaggie]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

I think a lot of where you rate also depends on where you live. Compared to the majority of Wisconsin females I'm hovering somewhere around progressive/hardcore. When I compare what I know and my general impression to those that live and attend events out east I feel like a total farb most of the time.

[theknapsack]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

More or less, I belong to a "mainstream" unit only because I really haven't found any "progressive" or "harcore" units to join. There is one old Hardcore in my unit and he's the reason I got into Being Authentic, him being a very early Mudsil. I try my best and think I would put myself at progressive.

[mark11]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

Being relatively new to the c/p/h movement I would say I am "progressing" to be as authentic as I can possibly be, without the dysentary and lice etc. I guess that makes me a progressive. I can only aspire to some day be called a hardcore.

[SCTiger]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

Everyone:

If you rate yourself as a "progressive" or a "hardcore" but, people treat you like a farb, then it doesn't matter how good one thinks they are.

It's really a peer rating system. The farb is one that will rate themselves, regardless of the opinions of everyone else. If your self rating is derived from the honest opinions of others, then you have it. The farb is the one that doesn't listen and believes that carrying 14 spare Remington cylinders in a haversack is an accurate impression, even if every expert-historian told him/her that it was plain wrong, they won't improve because it's authentic to their mind.

One could be hardcore in mind, but seldom in practice. I am interested in hearing from anyone that rated themselves hardcore. What did you do to earn that ? Not being sarcastic, just want to know what is hardcore? Sleeping in the rain? (done that) Eating half-cooked bacon? (yes), Marching 14 miles in June in Georgia in full gear (oh yeah)? Is it buying the right gear? Reading tons of research material? Leaving the cooler at home ? Or is the type of events attended? If there are hardcore people then what are the hardcore events? Maybe the real hardcores never call themselves "hardcore."
They are just recognized as such.

I rated myself progressive, just in case you were wondering.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

Hallo Kameraden!

Hmmmmmm.
An impression/persona is what the person thinks it to be, what others think it to be, and what it really is...

For me, there is ONLY the pursuit of the elusive and ultimately unattainable "perfection" (Time Machine Test).
(Read as: some do not even have that goal or Mental Picture, and some are closer while others are further away).

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

I'll go ahead and be blunt with my answer... (not trying to have an ego trip either :wink_smil )

I rated myself as a hardcore simply because: Groups I belong to, uniforms/gear, events I attend, mindset/attitude, networking knowledge, portraying both US & CS eastern & western theaters, early, mid, and late war impressions.

I would have to say, I started progressing in the early 90's right out of high school. By 1993 I became hardcore (super authentic) right before I joined the mudsills Inc, which was the best move I ever made!

Feel free to check out my profile.... :baring_te

[2ndNHDOC]

Re: How would you rate your own authenticity?

How would you call someone starting into the more authentic crowd?
Progressive?

Brian Schwatka
Out of the Loop Mess :)