Subject: Re: *Real* fire (was: Demo)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 00:02:08 -0400

Amen to that.  One of the odd things I experience quite often at the living
history museum I demonstrate at is when people (of any age) ask me " you're
not really making something are you?" or, " is that a real tool (or whatever)
you're TRYING to make?".  Assuming these comments aren't reflective of my
smithing skills (!) it's sad to think that these folks don't realize that
this isn't Disneyland or a video game, and that they are not being conned for
once.  Sometimes I just want to grab these people by their polyester lapels,
and scream at them to turn off the idiot box and do something, anything,
REAL!

apologies for unloading.

Eric

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From: "Paul J. McMahon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 20:51:37 -0400

> and scream at them to turn off the idiot box and do something, anything,

I have just yesterday kind of come out of semi retirement re:
blacksmithing and demonstrated at a folklife festival.  One of the
onlookers asked a mildly stupid question which I dispatched readily but
it reminded me of my apprenticeship at the Farmers' Museum in
Cooperstown NY about 22 years ago.  I was at the back forge looking down
a piece that I had just straightened when I made a quick move to put it
back into the fire.  A woman in the front of the shop had just come in
and she screamed and apparently was very startled .  Her explanation was
that she thought that I was a statue! 

Paul McMahon
[email-masked]