Sorry, Folks ---
I tended to get stuck there ( a bit like a scratched celluoid record ) on my long-winded tale of the Renn Faire experience, when I had originally set out to explain how, although at times in my life I stood near the brink of Geekdom, I never fell in completely - as with many other things in life, I tended to be more of an observer than an active participant ---
And, I also always tended to be a little "behind the times" on everything, and although, like any other "normal, red-blooded, American kid" had an appreciation for things commercial and "cool", ( like Marvel Comic Books ) I also tended to have my own, more obscure,
"specialized" interests - Also, unlike some of my friends and acquaintances, I never had the opportunity to amass any large collections, ( like comic books or trading cards or action figures or what have you ), so I was never going "full-out" with any fads or manias that might have appealed to me at the time...
In junior high, for instance, I had some friends who knew exactly what the Big Deal was when Marvel Comics published "Conan The Barbarian #1", and who raved about the artwork of Barry Smith, and brought their copies to school wrapped up in a plastic baggie for protection, & had the intention of someday selling this item for big bucks ...
Now, it's not that all this was all foriegn and incomphrensible to me - I understood what it was all about and all that, but at home, I was still nursing my small collection of less than a dozen comic books, which included titles such as "Little Lulu", "Sugar & Spike", "Walt Disney's Comics & Stories" - & some "Classics Illustrated"...
Later on, one of these same childhood friends went into the "Society For Creative Anachronisms", & took an active role there ( whereas, this was something I would just read about, in my Tolkien "Fanzines" ) ---
He took part in a small demonstration of the Art of Broadsword Fighting on the plaza at our high school, along with his opponent, who had on their costumes and carried their round wooden shields & whacked furiously at each other's shields with their respective wooden
"broadswords" for a few minutes ---
I have to confess, the whole bit seemed to be almost embarrassing to watch - as if the whole idea, when actually acted out, seemed somehow to be silly and slightly "juvenile"-
(even for us juveniles! ) ---
Looking back on it, though, I have to laud my childhood friend for being a "man of action", & for being willing to put himself "out there", in the performance of his geeky duties -----
"Middle-earth Is A State Of Mind"
^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^
Ardo Whortleberry
