The Secret to Dieting at Reenactments

Dieting is hard. Reenacting is hard. Doing both at the same time, nearly impossible. Right? As I prepare to head to Conneaut for D-day Ohio this weekend, I’ve started thinking about how I am going to handle following a dairy free, nut free, keto diet while living in a tent for nearly a week. My…

Thoughts on Female Authenticity

Just a quick video expressing some thoughts and ideas about female authenticity standards. Let me know what you think & be sure to follow both my YouTube & Facebook for more quickies like this. Especially since they are all I’ve got time for these days!

Why New Reenactors Should Try First-Person

There seems to be a misconception among reenactors, especially new reenactors, that first person interpretation is for more “experienced” participants. First person has become a goal. Only those who have exhausted their interest in material culture and building the physical materials of an impression, reach for it. But the truth is, for new reenactors, first…

4 Reason Women Should Not Portray Men

It seems like every year there is an article highlighting some battle that ends up, instead, focusing on women who dress as male soldiers. As a woman, and a reenactor, I cringe every time this subject comes up. Partly because the topic inevitably brings out the fringe “he-man woman haters” among reenactors & frankly, I…

How to do, something new.

In 2015, I experienced the dreaded “B” word of reenacting: burnout. As any reenactor knows, it’s easy to dedicate a lot of time, effort & research into this hobby. But after nearly 9 years of focusing on the 18th century & the coffeehouse, things began to change. My demonstration had grown to the point of…

How-to Attend Your First, First-Person Event

I have written a lot in the past few years about how to effectively do first person interpretation, finding your comfort zone and ways to be convincingly historical without forgetting who you are in the modern world. However, during all this time, I have had the advantage of speaking from the perspective of someone who…

The Secret to Eating Vegetarian at Events

For some people experimenting with historic recipes, exploring unique ingredients and testing batches of odd looking results is the fun part of living history. For others, especially those who follow restricted diets, it’s hard enough to find something to eat in the modern world, much less a historic recipe. However, it’s not actually as hard…

How-to Fake Speaking a Foreign Language

As anyone who has been reading this blog, or visiting with me at events over the past several years knows, I am a huge proponent of first person interpretation. During the course of my time presenting & interacting not only with the public but with other reenactors in this manner I have run across several…

Create an Easy First-Person Persona

“I’d love to participate but I don’t have a character.” I’ve heard this a lot since beginning First Person Interpretations Day at the C. Black Coffeehouse back in 2010 and feel the need to address what I think is a common misconception. There is this idea that you have to have a “character” in order…

5 Tips to Speaking Historically

The most intimidating part of first person interpretation is speech. However, speaking in a historic manner does not need to be a overwhelming, uncomfortable task. There are a few small things that can be done to our regular speech patterns that will make us sound more historical to the public & will add an element…