Renaissance man escapes to his dream
'Makai' revels in culture of Renaissance fests that captivated him as a 10-year-old
By Bill Gallo, Special to the Rocky
Published July 25, 2008 at 3 p.m.
Photo by Brian Lehmann
Makai, 29, and fellow "rennie" Lynn, 34, travel the country working at Renaissance fairs. The Colorado Renaissance Festival, based in the period of Henry VIII, continues weekends through Aug. 3 in Larkspur.
Once upon a time, the artist formerly known as Matthew Tiffenbach went with his parents to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. At age 10, the boy was already a regular: He'd seen his first Fair from the seat of a stroller.
But this time was different; this time the lights went on. A dreamy, inventive child, he'd been fooling around with different voices and accents. When, a bit meekly, he tried out his small English voice on a Fair worker selling black and green banners emblazoned with fierce silver dragons, an amazing thing happened.
The salesman, who was wearing Elizabethan garb, took the 10-year-old seriously. As a real person. He answered Matthew in kind, even addressed him as "young master."
Nineteen years later, Matthew Tiffenbach no longer exists - at least for now. The self-described "semi-transcendental, free-thinking, right-brained artist" he has become through his own personal renaissance now goes by "Makai," a fusion of the first syllable of his given name and the Hawaiian word "kai," which translates as "ocean" or "of the sea."
"I flow like water and move with the wind," he declares. "I am a water creature."
Five years ago, Makai came Out Here for real. Arrived in what the insiders call Zion. He joined the tight-knit community of itinerant Renaissance Fair workers, several thousand of them, known as rennies, who travel an ever-expanding event circuit that now encompasses the country. Despite radical changes in Renfair style over the years, the world of rennies remains much the same: a happy, hardscrabble life in which the disdain for most things modern and everything nine-to-five is tempered by communal mysticism, and utopian dreams are constantly drenched by bad weather.
It's a life in which pride of purpose sets the citizens of Zion apart from the benighted outsiders back in the place they call Babylon. They subsist on low wages and often find themselves subject to the whims of management. But they have integrity, Makai says, and they trust each other profoundly.
The rennies have their own weekly newsletter (Up Roots), write blogs and have developed their own self-mocking humor: "What do a rennie breakup and a Texas tornado have it common? Either way, someone's losing a trailer."
They embrace the past as a blueprint for the future. They gaze at the stars. They romanticize the road.
"I carry my home on my back, like a turtle," Makai says. "Out Here we are always ready to move on. We are the new gypsies."
The new Renaissance
The rennie life, steeped in tribal rituals, goes back four decades. The first re-creations of 16th-century English villages cropped up in Southern California in the 1960s as an antidote to the horrors of the Vietnam war and an expression of hippie whimsy.
The idea spread in many forms. Today there are more than 130 annual Renfairs or Renfests in the U.S. - 38 in California alone, 14 in Florida - most still full of bawdy spirit and escapist sass, but probably less "period-correct" than ever.
In the throes of Disneyfication, most Fairs now embrace not just traditional leatherworking and "ladies faire" spilling up and out of their chemises and theatrical swordplay, but mass invasions by assorted trolls and winged fairies, the Pirates of the Caribbean, even the occasional Dr. Spock, Darth Vader or Ali Baba. Sales are brisk these days in everything from "Leonardo DaVinci meatball sandwiches" to glass trinkets depicting Harley choppers.
For better or worse on the Fair circuit, the flea merchant now competes with the history buff, the clueless gawker with the committed fantasist. But even members of a secret society can acknowledge a little cross-pollination. Colleen, a 22- year-old rennie from Plano, Texas, who has been close to Makai for several months, shrugs: "There's a bit of Babylon in Zion, and some Zion in Babylon."
The life Out Here
The Colorado Renaissance Festival and Artisan Marketplace, now unfurling its 32nd year in the town of Larkspur, ends Aug. 3 after eight weekends of period frolic, Steak-on-a-Stake and some friction between management and rennies who insist on their own look.
The theatrical conceit of the state's largest Renfair? It is "hosted" by "Good King Henry." You know. Henry VIII. Never mind all those decapitated wives. Forget that little dustup with the Pope. At Larkspur in midsummer, Hank 8 is and shall forever be Good King Henry, through whose generous spirit Fair patrons array themselves in costume, happily gnaw on roast turkey "legges" and swill ale, watch jugglers in tricorn hats toss colored balls into the air and exchange florid banter with the well-practiced rennies.
In the old English village of sheer imagination, after all, it doesn't do to simply bark: "You are fat." To capture the spirit of the thing, better to say: "By my trowth, thou dost make the millstone seem as a feather what widst thy lard-bloated footfall."
For Makai and the dozens of rennies he calls his family, Out Here (at least for another week) is their self-guarded campground at the foot of Monkey Face Mountain, hard by the festival site in Larkspur. Living in campers and trailers, closely clustered tents or festival booths, some 200 Fair workers cook pots of ramen on gas-fueled stoves and make peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. They tend and teach their children. They work up classes in everything from yoga to martial arts to the I Ching.
On rare nights out, they go for sushi at the Mt. Fuji in Castle Rock, or grab a beer at the Spur of the Moment, just down the hill - rennie-approved retreats in a wider world that sometimes scorns them.
On Mondays they do "Smite Club" - mock battles with wooden swords. They stand in drum circles. One night a week a sympathetic local church brings them a picnic from its food bank.
Meanwhile, the rennies get ready for the weekends, when they slip into their jerkens and billowing double-skirts, their mushroom hats and turbans, and reinvent themselves as jousters, hawkers and saucy wenches, as purveyors of chain mail and rickshaw-pullers, as pre-Shakespearean wits and scarred vagabonds just returned from misadventure in the bloody streets of the 16th century.
To an outsider, rennie life seems to unfold in several time frames. Here we are in 2008, but behind the scenes at the Renfest, the re-creation of an idealized 1568 also recalls the dreams and furies of, say, 1968.
"In the world we are living in, with the way politicians are and government runs," Makai says, "the Renaissance Fair is the one place where people can come and be themselves - or to be a character and forget what's happening out there.
"It's all about the rebirth of the individual, the rebirth of the spirit. And if the whole thing runs on hippie time, so much the better. We're still allowed to think for ourselves Out Here."
Answering the call
The rennies' dropout credentials can be impressive. Young runaways and wide-eyed seekers of the true self break bread with lapsed engineers and fed-up lawyers, a flock of Ph.D.s, and the former head of thoracic surgery at a Houston hospital.
Twenty-three-year-old Juan Vazquez, from Charlotte, N.C., says he wants to quit the road for a while to study diesel mechanics. His companion, Sheila, a former foster child whose mother was mentally retarded and whose father was an alcoholic, wants to finish up her education degree, then return to beef up the rennie family's Montessori-based school program.
Makai yearns to continue life as "a modern-primitive urban aborigine." That life was always inside him, he says, even before he became the "free radical" in his middle-class family. At Highlands Ranch High School, he remembers, he had a theatrical bent, but more popular boys won the leads in school plays. At Mesa State College, he took philosophy, film, psychology and honors English, but found himself "studying life more than my classes."
Married at 20 and a father at 23, he struggled through a series of dead-end jobs within the walls of Babylon: coffee shop clerk, marble-sink-and-fixture man, Dishnet techie on the graveyard shift.
The last thing Matthew Tiffenbach wanted was to become a banker, like his dad.
"I was stressed. I was dying," he remembers. "I said: 'Life: throw me something. I need something.' "
That's when he spotted a help-wanted ad for temporary Renaissance Fair workers in Larkspur. The vision that first struck him at age 10 was now a full-blooded calling. He signed up.
At his "homeshow" in Larkspur, the reborn "Makai" started with bow-and-arrow, then crossbow. After all, he had a Boy Scout merit badge in archery.
He worked the gigantic rocking horse and the sliding joust, where, astride a horse-on-a-cable, the patron tries to catch the brass ring. He wrangled the muscle-powered carousel they call the DaVinci Flying Machine. He sold the didgeridoo, an aboriginal drone pipe that is said to be the world's oldest wind instrument.
For a year and a half, he had his little daughter, Shannon, Out Here with him. But his leaky trailer is no longer road-worthy - it's now parked near Houston - and Shannon is living under a roof with her mother in Aurora.
For five years, Makai has been able to indulge his rich fantasy life. Depending on which day you meet him at Fair (and which of his garb is clean) you might encounter the winged fairy-prankster he calls "Uh-Oh," who juggles a magical sphere to the delight of the kids, or Racewind the Water Gypsy, a vain warrior "who knows his way around a blade, has an eye for the ladies and a taste for good food and wine."
There's also "Kai MacKai," a kilted Scotsman who speaks in a thick burr and has a powerful sense of justice, like William Wallace. And the Mystery Character, about whom Makai says little except that "he is the one closest to myself."
The rennie family
These magic spirits percolate inside their host as he makes the treks from Larkspur to Apache Junction, Ariz., from the Renfest in Norman, Okla., to the big one at Magnolia, Texas, and Fairs in Louisiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Carrying his home on his back, he has grown out his beard, let his hair bloom into extravagant blond dreadlocks, pierced his nose and punctured both earlobes so definitively that thick, black-and-white striped candy-cane earrings can now dangle there by their crooks.
Makai has decorated his body with an array of tattoos freighted with mystical messages. The length of his throat is covered with a self-designed mandala that says peace and love, his left forearm with a stark black "meditation piece" whose spiked runes remind him of the warrior's dual purpose - killer in battle, healer at rest.
At some Renfairs, though, his look doesn't go over with management, which still gives lip-service to "historical accuracy."
No stranger to history himself, Makai sharply questions that. Why not represent the barbarian class of yore? Why not re-imagine a fugitive branded as a scoundrel and a criminal by King and Country, banished to Australia and newly returned via many exotic ports? Are not these markings upon my body the true measure of adventure?
Why not that scenario? Especially in 21st-century Texas, where a weekender working the Fair is likely to greet patrons thusly: "Howdy. How y'all doin' today, m'lord? N' how y'all, m'lady?"
In Texas and Colorado, Makai was told to cover his tattoos and tuck away his dreads, or be gone. He partially covered up; but he's not gone. He has no plans to be. At 29, Zion is his place. Like all gypsies, he was meant for skies, not ceilings.
Jim Paradise Jr., an organizer of the Larkspur event, says he barely knows Makai and has no plans to exclude him, although he says the festival has taken an image hit in recent years because of the radical look and behavior of some rennies.
"For me, the festival is not about a lifestyle," Paradise said. "It's our livelihood, and entertainment is our goal. So the perceptions of our visitors are important to us. We're cleaning up the festival."
Dreadlocks swinging, Makai muses on the future: "My parents still ask, 'When are you going to settle down?' But the fondest wish every parent has for a child is happiness. 'Are you happy?' And I am. I love my parents deeply, but my rennies are my family. This life is not for everyone, but it's for me. You can't really express the feeling in words. It's a thing of the spirit."
Next week, Makai will pull up stakes, lash his tent to his back and return to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival at Shakopee, his fourth annual encampment there since becoming a member of the tribe.
He's looking forward to eating at his favorite rennie-approved breakfast place, Wampach's. And hooking up again with friends who've been working other shows while he's been in Larkspur.
Most important, he'll revisit his spiritual roots. For it was in Shakopee, when he was 10, that the gypsy urge first tugged at him, where he first imagined "renaissance" in its purest, most personal form - as a fairy tale of the self. It is the place where he glimpsed how beautiful and free and creative life really could be Out Here, far from Babylon.
Colorado Renaissance Festival
* When: 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays (through Aug. 3)
* Where: 650 W. Perry Park Ave., Larkspur
* Tickets: $17.95 (adults), $8 (ages 5-12), free under 5; free parking
* Information: coloradorenaissance.com
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July 26, 2008
10:01 a.m.
Suggest removal
GetReal writes:
Christ,
Grow up already and get a real job.
July 26, 2008
12:36 p.m.
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roadstar writes:
While this lifestyle is not for me, isn't it wonderful that in the United States you have the freedom to choose what lifestyle and work you want to do (as long as it isn't illegal, of course)?
July 26, 2008
3:56 p.m.
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Staalhjerte writes:
Who are these people complaining about the rennies? I used to go just about every year to the Festival...and I'll say this much...it's the "rennies" who really bring the flavor to the festival, the "actors" barely interact with anyone.
Are people confusing fans who show up dressed as whatever who then proceed to getting drunk, disorderly and idiotic with the Rennies who show up there to do a generally very good job?
*Cheers Makai* You do a better job than those who want you to hide your dreadlocks.
July 26, 2008
8:42 p.m.
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me2 writes:
Goddess bless a society that shelters gypsies.
July 26, 2008
10:03 p.m.
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farsidefan writes:
I think Christ was grown up, not sure about the real job though. A bit more of a spiritual type of job.
July 28, 2008
9:08 a.m.
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pktaxwench writes:
Since I've been included in this article by association (I'm the Lady holding the butterscotch parasol in the photo section) I feel I should contribute to this discussion. Besides, this article was the talk of the Faire campground this weekend, as it was universally mocked by the Rennies who live there.
First off, such a lifestyle is to be reviled because of the irresponsibility. Anyone who abandons his child and his mother to live like a gypsy working jobs where there is no child support enforcement deserves their own level of hell. It's people like this that will draw Social Security and Medicare that the rest of us pay for when they're too old to work the circut. Taxes are not probably not withheld on his wages. I know that they aren't in my check I recieve from the festival; I pay the taxes due in April when I file my 1040.
July 28, 2008
9:09 a.m.
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pktaxwench writes:
Part two... darn character limits...
Secondly, only in the dreams of a pothead is such a pecking order existant. As I've been around Rennies in Florida, Georgia, and now Colorado since 1998, I'm probably not wrong with this opinion. There is no 'pecking order' because entertainment is a group effort. If anything, it is the paying patrons of the festival who are on top. Without them, there'd be no festival at all. it is their money that keeps the festival going.
I'd like to repeat that. Without the paying patrons, there'd be no Renaissance Festival.
Playtrons would be next, because they, without any compensation - they pay for the priviledge of pretending they work there - they bring an extra flavor to the show. Many do end up auditioning and joining the cast.
90% of the performance cast are locals, or, as the road rennies refer to us, "weekenders" because we hold full time jobs and perform during the weekends. Many of us camp on site Saturday nights both to save gas (it's a two hour plus drive for many of us) and to enjoy the camraderie. For eight weeks of the year, we are effectively working 7 days a week. Effectively, because our compensation isn't nearly what we make at our real jobs. We perform for the love of theatre, the renaissance, and the patrons that come out to the festival. During the week, I'm a tax accountant. On weekends, I'm a resident of "Larkspurshire". Because I'm an actress, you'd never know. We consider ourselves "Rennies" because most of us have performed for multiple years at Festivals. It's not a term just for the gypsies.
The majority of the Rennies on the road are people who work for various crafters, or are the crafters themselves. They are not at the Festival solely for the art or performance. That is their livelihoods, and I salute them for eeking out an existance in a lifestyle I would not choose for myself or my family. Most of them are not performers. Without the local cast that ads the majority of the atmosphere, the Festival would be a Renaissance themed flea market. That is what this guy either has forgotten, or never realized in the first place.
Many Rennies are wonderful hardworking people. There's a handful that have been trouble makers and full of drama - these are the ones that the Festival has been trying to police to clean up it's image - but overall they are good people. It's those like this "Makai" who have to hide their tattoos, piercings, and non-period dredlocks. Such body adornments did not exist in the 16th Century. 21st Century hippie does not equal resident of the Renaissance. And that is what many people forget.
But what the hell do I know... I'm just a boring mudane who works 9 to 5, lives in a house with a roof and plumbing, and haven't seen the light and come to Zion.....
July 28, 2008
5:07 p.m.
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aVeteranRennie writes:
I've been a rennie for a long time and I'd like to clarify a few things.
No one refers to the festivals as "Zion" and the non-festival world as "Babylon".
16th century europeans did not have large gauge piercings, dreadlocks or tattoos. Our grown-up rennies know this and don't mind covering up at work. And no one was exiled to Australia until 1788 (about 200 years after the Renaissance).
Most rennies are not out here to flee The Man. Whether the man is the government or their own father, those who come out here for reasons like that usually don't last.
Most of us are not avoiding the real world or living some fictional neo-tribal lifestyle. We are professional artists and entertainers who have found a rewarding way to make a living doing what we love.
By refering to some of our customers as "sheeple" and implying that we all do that, Kai has instantly made himself very unpopular "Out Here".
July 28, 2008
5:29 p.m.
Suggest removal
renartist writes:
I am a rennie who has been on the road for over 10 years. This article does not come close to encompassing the views of the majority. I would hate to think of anyone basing an opinion about our community after reading this article. As an artist with a substantial investment in my shows, this is not what I want people to believe. I have a Masters Degree, own my own business, pay my taxes, and love my lifestyle. Where in the world can an artist have a retail location with the traffic volume we have "Out Here"? I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunities that the Faire provides. Dirt hippies like Kai think that they have a right to behave however they want because they are "Out Here". But all they are really doing is making life difficult for the rest of us.
July 28, 2008
5:49 p.m.
Suggest removal
renniewomyn writes:
To GetReal:
I have a real job! My job is great, and I've made more money out here on the road than back home in Michigan where there is the highest unemployment in the nation. And I have a bachelor's! Many of us hold degrees yet choose this lifestyle for our own reasons.
Rennie life has its own merits.
And for the record, one and all: RENNIES PAY FLIPPIN' TAXES!!! I'm sick of the insinuation we don't. Some weekenders might not, but rennies have to, and often our taxes end up being higher than if we had a house. Let me tell you something about my taxes...because of the way I'm paid, I pay a much higher percentage because it falls under self-employment tax. They take A LOT out of me, fools! And it's the same for most of us on the road! WE PAY into social security and all of that. You insult me by saying when I'm too old you'll be paying for me. You're ignorant of the truth and talking out of turn.
July 28, 2008
6:02 p.m.
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renniewomyn writes:
I believe this article is making everyone very upset because Bill Gallo presents a romanticized and inaccurate image of rennie life. Right after the anecdote, he refers to "insiders" calling it "Zion", and it was established above that that is just plain ignorant, because no one has ever called it that except for Kai. He was trying to make an analogy that people would understand to convey how he feels about rennie life. Gallo ran with it, and flat out lied by presenting inaccurate information. I think that many of the word choices, such as "rennie life is steeped in tribal ritual", shouldn't be blamed on Kai, but Gallo. I am offended by some of what he wrote, but some of it also made me laugh.
Mainly I think that rennies need to CALM DOWN. Most of you were upset BEFORE you read the article because of what somebody else said. Try to be neutral when you read. Try not to fly off the handle and LOOK FOR THE BAD when you've been given misinformation. This is the worst thing about rennie culture: your big fat mouths.
July 29, 2008
1:22 a.m.
Suggest removal
Skitz writes:
I'm appauled by all of this and I'm a 26 year old renny who was born and raised on the road , and so were my parents and grandparents.
First off GetReal we're going to settle this... you tell our kind to grow up while you sit at a computer desk in a box in the middle of nowhere living a nine to five job and going nowhere in your life while we travel tons and live out our lives to the fullest.
Alot of us make alot of money , remember the fairs haven't been going on for 35 years and charging so much for no reason , that cash goes places pal right?
Whats appauling to me also is how this reporter just blatantly exagerated what one person told him and took that one person's word and wrote and entire article about a majority of a communitty's lifestyle. What if he said we rode camels and wore socks on our heads would you believe that?
I'd certainly hope not.
I know Kai and he's a good person , a bit whacky and out there but a decent person who absolutely loves the people he's with, since he's been on the road like myself for a great number of years, however he doesn't seem to understand the responsible part of it yet.
We travel a great deal to put on a awesome show for you guys , we interact with your children, we sell you beer , we cook your food, we even "Wrestle the Da Vinci" and listen to your kids when they tell us to push them faster. We hand make all the crafts and arts you see out there, not one of them is made by some 12 year old in taiwan.
You have no idea how much work goes on behind the scenes to make this celebration take place.
So you say get a job, I say get an open mind and appreciate what these people do, we put our blood sweat and tears into making you laugh and have a good time.
Life on the road is an adventure and it isn't for the weak of heart, you face terrible road blocks in life all the time that you always seem to climb over at the last minute, you share a bond with everyone you work with like a gigantic family.
Why ?
Because we're all in this together, all to make the show go on...
I work Extremely Hard to make a lifestyle out here, I PAY TAXES, just like everyone else, and I most likely pay more then some W-4 form you fill out GETREAL ...
You know that rule how the ignorant will be the ones to be on the news?
Thats pretty much how it is here.
If you don't like the Renfest , then why don't you dislike Ringling brothers? Or the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo Colorado ? Which has more immigrants in it then Taco bell ...
One More thing GETREAL, if you say get a job, I'm going to tell you to carve a gargoyle out of granite, because thats what I do during the week, and I'll do your job, and at the end of the week , we'll see who's job is harder ok?
July 29, 2008
9:56 p.m.
Suggest removal
RomBaro writes:
I've been a member of the Ren community for over ten years, first as a playtron, then as a performer, then for 6 years working in a booth doing sales and producing the things we sold. I've friends who work every aspect of the Faire, from Food Booths to Front Gate to Shops and Cast. I also travel to enjoy weekends at other Faires such as Minnesota and Arizona.
Having said that, I just want to make a few points. In all my time, I have never heard anyone use the term Zion to refer to those "inside" the RenFaire, nor refer to the outside world as Babylon. This in and of itself creates an unpleasant Us vs Them atmosphere, which I would like to think most Rennies avoid. This is perhaps a creation of Makai and a small knot of Rennies who view it that way, but is is not in any way prevelant among the majority of Faire Folk.
I have never heard anyone at the faire refered to as Sheople. Again, we come to the Us vs Them attitude. And as to the Pecking Order of the Faire, sure, different groups have different attitudes towards the people who work in the different areas of faire, but if you ask a Road Rennie their view of the pecking order, you will get a different response than what you get from a Weekender Booth Worker, or a member of Cast, or someone who works a Food Booth.
In my opinion (which is just that, my opinion to which I am entitled) this article is narrowly written, with no effort made to interview a small knot of people, most of whom seem to all be friends. The only outsider interview was Jim Jr. No attempt was mad to talk to Cast, or Weekenders, or even other Road Rennies who are not part of Makai's little band of friends. It reflects poorly on the RenFaire community.
July 30, 2008
10:11 a.m.
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kaius writes:
Wow, I did not realize that a human intrest piece could offend so many people. Let me give some perspective to this issue. When I was first approached with the concept of doing an article on rennie life, I was simultaniously excited and intimidated. This began as a concept for Bill (as he told me) last year, and, as I am a friend of his son, I was his simplest choice for who to speak to. The approach came around first weekend when the heated and hurt feelings over management's banning-without-good-reason of two pillar personalities in our community were still fresh, and the ability for some of us to make our livelyhoods was being threatened; not to mention being told how we were supposed to look even on non-fair days including while in the campground (at least that's where I was at, seeing as I have "no right" to speak for anyone other than myself). Heck yeah, I saw a way to loudly proclaim that an important chunk of our community was being treated unfairly (once again, only speaking from my point of view). I initially wanted to see the article that Jim and Jim Jr. feared this article to be: a gripe piece about dreads, tattoos, and piercings. At least that was what Jim Jr. made it sound like to me between cutting me off from explaining my take on this article and calling my actions "gutless" on the saturday before the article even came out. I saw a way to speak out against what I felt was wrong.
July 30, 2008
10:13 a.m.
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kaius writes:
part 2:
I also felt that this would be an opportunity to present an insight to what I feel is one of the most amazing subcultures in existence. We are to today's society what the players of Shakespear's time were to theirs, a break from the realities of day to day life. For a limited time only in each of the places we travel to, we have the joy of giving people a bit of fantasy and out of the ordinary fun. We live extrodinary lives, and as such, we are looked at with curiosity. Inquiring minds want to know. This is where I found myself intimidated by the situation. Who am I to speak for a culture that has existed for about three and a half generations? This by the way has been the most frequent complaint to me personally, "How dare you classify my life!?" As I realized that this was not to be the outcry article I had first envisioned it to potentially be, I started asking friends who they thought would be good representatives, I was looking for people outside of my "little band of friends" that would be able to offer a more complete idea of traveling rennie life. Alas, when it came right down to it, the only people willing, able, and/or reachable for participation were friends who believed in me and were willing to take a risk. One individual told me that if it were any other faire they would be willing, but because of the demeanor of the faire management they felt that they could not for fear of losing their job. Aparently, rightly so, as I have been told by Jim Sr. that I would "most likely not be welcome back after this" (that coming right after being called "ball-less" by Sr.).
July 30, 2008
10:14 a.m.
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kaius writes:
part 3:
So I did the best I could with what I had and so did Bill. I agree with the many of you that there are things in the article that could have been left out or at the very least re-worded; however, I feel that if read with an open mind and a sence of humour, you will find that it is a well written piece that depicts ONE PERSON'S OPINION of the faire life from a still slightly fantasy-struck view, and expresses the reasons for ONE PERSON'S BEING "Out Here". This article was not intended to be all inclusive. I refer back to the statement that it was supposed to be about traveling rennies, not weekenders, cast, or management. It just happened to end up being more about me and my 'irresponsible' views than anything else.
July 30, 2008
10:52 a.m.
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kaius writes:
part 4:
As for a few of the personal notes I have recieved, I would like to point out that I am divorced, my ex and I get along fine, she has a new man in her life (they've been together for about 4 1/2 years now) they are financially stable and my daughter is in a much better living situation than I myself at this point would be able to provide. Your insinuation that I "abandoned" my daughter is at it's best insulting; at it's worst, a perfect example of the small minded thinking that is so commonly found amongst those that have trouble thinking outside the cubicle. I would truly love to have her travel with me again, however, in my present situation I am just able enough to take care of my own basic requirements, never mind paying a nanny for the weekend, or covering the cost of tuition for her school on the road and still be able to keep food in the dry storage and cover gas to the next show: oh that reminds me, that little break-up joke in the article, I may have gotten the trailer, but she owned the truck, and I don't drive, nor could I afford a vehicle right now if I did drive. It takes a lot to have a family out on the road and I have the utmost respect for those who do have their kids out here. Obviously, it is possible to make a good living within this lifestyle, there are people who do exceptionally well for themselves, I just don't happen to be one of those people yet. Which leads to the point of responsibility...I'm working on that. I have the desire to get myself to a position that I can have my daughter out here with me, I simply lack the ability to provide her with all that she needs right now and that includes the lessons that only her mother can teach. This is a situation that stems of loving sacrifice and necesity. Not just that but also I have only done a cumulative total of just over three years of shows, it takes time to build a carreer, and it's not as though I lack a craft to run with; I am an artist in multiple medias and have a bend towards entertainment. I lack funds, and stock to open a booth, and as I have been told by many entertainers, it is a long hard road to develop an act that makes a truly sustainable living. It might also help if I could just figure out what it is that I really want to be doing, henna might be a good direction.
July 30, 2008
11:24 a.m.
Suggest removal
kaius writes:
Closing:
Finally, this whole "sheople" thing, I agree with most of you, it could have been left out or at least gone with a different term. Really though, even in the suburbs and cities you can see it; the aimless wandering of people that seem to have little to no awareness of what is around them, in the cities moving as though in a herd (or a flock in this case). How many times upon seeing this has the urge to moo crept up on you? How many times has someone mooed back? How much more aware of this will you be now that it's been pointed out? When is someone going to step out of the crowd and point out that 'humans are not herd animals'? Ok so it may be a bit mean sounding, but broken down, the philosophy of comedy is simple: comedy is cruelity, unfortunately it doesn't always transfer well to written form. This was a term used in fun and was included only as a point of humor. Hey, if nothing else, maybe people will start to think for themselves a little more and pay better attention to their overall surroundings (myself included as evidenced by the reaction I've recieved for this article).
PEACE, LOVE, & KINDNESS!!! I love you all and wish only the best for each and every person in thieir life, whatever you choose to do or be ("if you're causin' no harm then you're alright with me"). True loving gratitude for all of your opinions,
--MaKai--
July 31, 2008
4:47 p.m.
Suggest removal
Requiem writes:
Greetings and well met. I know Kai, though not as well as some of the rest of you...he helped out at the boothe that I worked at for half of this year. Reading this article did admittedly raise the hairs on my neck.
To me, it seems like the author is a self-aggrandizing crap-artist who took things Kai said out of context and melded them to fit his own schema of beliefs on how Rennies live, act, and think. I'm appalled.
I became a patron at CRF 11 years ago and a playtron roughly 5 years ago. I help run a Renaissance recreation group in Denver. I also work 40 hours a week at IBM doing technical support for the United States Department of Defense. And some of you call Rennies "Dirt Hippies."