The renaissance fair is a trippy place because all of these people that are so into the Middle Ages come out dressed in old fashioned clothing and try their best to reenact that time. It reminds me so much of an anime convention because it's the same concept: People trying to escape their everyday lives and completely disconnect by living vicariously through something else. In anime conventions and renaissance fairs, the diehard cosplayers will not only dress as the character but almost put on an act where they completely envelope their character as their own. So essentially, renaissance fairs, star trek conventions, gaming conventions and anime conventions are all under the same category of nerdiness... super, super nerdy. Which is how I like it.
Though I do not go to the extent that I act out the character at anime conventions. Most people don't, unless they are doing a skit of some kind. I guess that's how it is at the renaissance fair but some of the people that have shops have to maintain that same act the entire two days.
Me and Glenn. Glenn only lives a block away from where the fair is, so he walked over while we were out to eat at Subs n Jeans.
I took a lot of pictures, even if I didn't have my camera. I used Michael's, and also tried to create a lot of photo ops. Reason being, I just started my new albums for the new year and they're quite bare. haha
The group that I met up with. Tomas, leah and Michael.
My thighs look so fat in all these. I think I lose weight and then I see this and I'm like, WOW.
For some reason, I feel pretty unmotivated to tell the entire story on today. It was a really good day, we explored around the fair, I bought a cute pair of earrings.. pretty typical sance fair. There really wasn't anything there in particular that was any different from previous years. I really liked the stand that I got my earrings from because they were only $5. I mean, she probably got them bulk mass produced in China but they are still darn cute sort of gypsy-looking earrings. I'm wearing them in the first picture.
Yeah I know this picture is corny but I still think this picture is freakin cute and I don't care.
We got some sushi, after walking around for about 20 minutes in the hot sun to find one of Leah's friends. We ended up running into a friend of Tomas's, and her boyfriend. They were pretty funny. We went in and for some reason I felt hella awkward because it took them a long time to figure out what they wanted and the lady at the cash register was just standing there ready to take their orders. Is that weird for me to be embarrassed about? I mean I don't REALLY care but it just made me feel awkward for some reason.
I got a really good spicy salmon roll, even if I felt a little sick this evening and I can't help but blame either the sushi or the latte I got at the fair. The latte tasted pretty fresh so I blame it on the raw fish. Seems a little more likely. But maybe it wasn't that at all. Maybe it was just from being out in the heat all day.
So at lunch this girl that is Tomas and Leah's friend was telling us about how she does her boyfriend's laundry. That wasn't the main key in the story, she was talking about why her boyfriend almost always wears the same shirt. In that Tomas asked, "You do your boyfriend's laundry?" and she replied, "Yes?" And somehow we got onto Tomas saying... "I just don't like that idea that girls should cook and clean." Like, trying to stand up for women or something. His friend responds, 'Well, if I just wash my clothes the loads aren't big enough..." and then we start some conversation on girls doing stay-at-home-Mom stuff.
So I've been thinking about this. Sexism. Feminism. Whatever.
WARNING, VERY LONG COMPLETELY UNRELATED RANT AHEAD.
Though I appreciate Tomas having the more liberated point of view on women cooking and cleaning, but I can't help but think... Why is cooking and cleaning such a discriminated thing to do? Consider that since the beginning of time for human kind, the mother instinctively takes care of children until they are old enough to fend for themselves, and the man instinctively goes out and does the dirty work. I feel like though we can become very liberated in equality between women and men, I don't think there is anything wrong with looking at a women that does potentially all the cooking and cleaning and think she's "serving her man." In most, but not all, families the woman is generally better at cooking, so wouldn't it make sense that she'd make dinner most of the time?
...I don't know. I can definitely see both perspectives. If women and men were completely equal, men wouldn't open doors for women. Boyfriends wouldn't feel an obligation to pick up their girlfriends for a date because they wouldn't care about sitting in the passenger seat. Hell, they wouldn't buy dinner on the date either or movie tickets or whatever. He would purchase his own. His girlfriend would purchase her own. Because that truly is equality between genders. Yes, there would be upsides to this equality in the fact that being equal would effect EVERYTHING. Women would be paid equal wages as men in the same profession. Women would be more prominent in the United states government. Hell, though this isn't good, women would rob banks and commit homicides (okay, that is rather sexist against men, but how many women do you see out robbing banks and killing people on the news? Try to think of just one!). There would be more female construction workers and more male nurses.
Personally, if that is the way our culture would be completely equal, or if women and men were treated completely equally in our upbringing and lives, I would not want to live in that. But if it's being weak or submissive to be sort of complimented if a guy opens the door for you, then I suppose I'm fine with it.
That's all I really had to say.
yours,
Emily
I read a book in English 102 at CBC that kinda dealt with that. Basically, the point of the book was about marriage and how its practice (and non-practice) have created a caste system in America. More educated people who live in the suburbs are more likely to a) be older when they marry and have kids and b) stay married. Lower income and less educated folks in the inner city are more likely to be teenage mothers and fathers without being married, which just creates a destructive cycle since that's all the kid sees in their life: boyfriends coming and going and young mothers everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe book also goes into how more Millenials (our generation) are reverting to that "Leave to Beaver" style family, not because we want to "serve our man" or because we feel like we have to, but because we just want to. It's in our nature, and that's just what some women want to do. It's more important to have the choice--high-powered career woman, or homemaker. It's the choice that's the most equal (men can choose too), rather than societal/cultural pressure to do one or the other.
The book is pretty interesting, it's called "Marriage and the Caste System in America" by Kay Hymowitz.