Perhaps the first person who has an account that can read this email and also share it to the list will do so. I would be most grateful. Unfortunately this email problem has been quite the deterrent to me posting because some people get my post and then respond and others get upset that they didn't...I am on several facebook page lists as Jane mentions. In fact, I am the editor of the International Organization of Lace's facebook page. (IOLI members, please send me news of your group with pictures!) One thought is that the medium is the message, and the facebook pages with their lavish picture possibilities become very visual, as in "look what I am making", whereas, Arachne where it is considerably harder to share pictures has been the discussion site of the philosophers of the lace world, tackling the important intellectual issues that confront us.
For instance, I was dying to respond to the posts about the Celtic demonstration. I, too, favor making a Celtic design. In addition, I think that if someone were to ask too many questions, one could divert into a discussion of linen production in the Celtic areas that would suffice until the person lost interest and walked away. And yet, later, I know that someone will be at a cocktail party and hear another guest expounding on how important bobbin lace making is in the Celtic culture because they have absorbed that lesson from the Celtic festival. Hibernian societies will be puzzled when they are contacted with questions about bobbin lace making and it will be our fault. So, Clay's point that people demonstrating lace at Civil War battle re-enactments does not serve the interests of education is well taken. It is a matter of pride with me that I can think of some kind of relationship to almost any theme of a public gathering that would justify a demonstration since we are so eager to demonstrate. But, I suppose a more realistic scenario would be to show Civil War women at home making lace to while away the hours until their husbands returned, or didn't. I think it is quite likely that there were people doing this at home, as a pass time, although, not at the battlefield as Clay points out. But, the activities of women are often in the home and as a result, do not make such good outdoor festival subject matter. Also, how are the women supposed to enjoy battlefield recreations? People in Gettysburg have them yearly, and I am sure many couples would like to go together. But roles for women are very limited. There were some women who joined the army under the pretext of being men back in the day before routine physical examination was part of the intake process. Apart from that, Laundress and Prostitute come to mind. But, they were probably rather far from the actual battle themselves, and their activities would probably only reach full swing after the battle were over. One question is whether such battlefield recreations, or Celtic fairs, are primarily educational, or just a good excuse to get the kids out of the house. I am inclined to think that the organizers of such events are quite eager to have some form of display/entertainment that doesn't involve selling something. Many people do not don sun screen and costume to assemble in a field unless there is a specific economic incentive. We lacers are a happy exception to that rule. Another interesting question is how educationally accurate any of these events are, since members of the public do not flock to scholarly slide shows, but prefer a little more entertainment with their scholarship. In fact, even museums are under pressure to provide a lot of entertainment with their exhibits. Not long ago I went to a Genghis Kahn exhibit that was so weapons oriented that at least half the attendees were teen age boys, a group not usually well represented among museum goers. One response to the moral quandary of lace demonstration at a Celtic festival would be to make Irish crochet, if one had that additional skill set. Devon - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
