TrialsAndTrybulation

That would be Tommy right there. My son was a dealer at an expo where Tommy made an appearance. When my son found out, he had someone watch the booth and made a mad dash to find Tommy and found him to be endearing and charming, loving every moment of contact with his fans.

Before meeting Tommy, my son bought a poster, which Tommy was more than happy to sign and let him take a picture of them together. He then gave (gave!) him a signed football and some other smaller things he signed. My son is in his late 20s, but he giggles about it every time he talks about it.

CatieO's response is very good, but for context, I want to add that the idea of an English Renaissance faire began in 1962 in Los Angeles. It began the first year as a fund raiser for local radio station KPFK, a wholly listener funded station (not corporate funded) by Phyllis Patterson. Everyone had a great time and she loved watching her son Kevin run around in costume, so she did it the next year as an annual festival. The emphasis was on performance and historical accuracy, and for decades serious actors and musicians performed selections from Shakespeare, Marlow, Fletcher and Beaumont, and Jonson. Someone once adapted Chaucer's "Miller's Tale", which was hilarious.

There were no such fairs (or faires) of that type before that. The same non-profit, the Living History Centre, also began a harvest faire in northern California a few years later. They were also responsible for the first Dickens Festival, held as a winter event in south San Francisco.

Now we see all manner of faires, and being a veteran of many faires and general old fart, I'm glad to see them.

It was an amazing time with a confluence of events, people, mindset, and the nature of the English language all brought together an energy unlike that of western culture. New land discoveries, new technologies, middle class affluence, much wider literacy, inexpensive books and pamphlets, a mobile population, and a nation with emerging aspiration to become leader and not just a backwater led by a vital and vibrant queen who was the most popular sovereign in generations ... it really was an amazing time! The fact that Americans are the inheritors of that incredible culture has set some imaginations alight to recreate that same spirit in a closed environment. The 60s was probably the time when such a thing when an English renaissance faire could even begin.

Speaking of the 60s, there's the SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism), began in Berkeley in I think 1966, and they engage with all periods of history, but most of them seem to focus on the period of about 600-1550 AD for the most part, and with the exception of revels in the evening, there's little theater. I've seen some great performances at revels which were more or less historically accurate but they're the exception. Great folks, though. I still go to local tourneys when I'm able to see old friends.

Serious question: Why do you regard the United States as your home country, yet in the first line of your post summary you say "Jeff Sessions just rescinded DACA on behalf of y'alls cowardly orange president." How do you reconcile those two statements?

Don't you think it's inconsistent to say that because you were raised here since two that you belong in the US and should stay, yet you repudiate the president as "y'all's"?

I'm not trolling, I want to know why on the one hand you deserve to stay here because you're acclimated to US culture and identify with the US, but on the other hand you tacitly admit that you're not a citizen and have no status here by saying "your" president instead of "the" president. You lose a lot of credibility doing that.

I guarantee Reddit is a pro-migrant echo chamber. I'm an admitted law and order type right winger and support most of the right wing positions, including enforcement of immigration law. I get flame sprayed regularly by people on Reddit nearly everywhere outside of The_Donald. It bothered me at first, now it just amuses me to see how easy it is to set people off.

But for a good number of people, your statement

Just for today, I am willing to be that token undocumented person on Reddit,

was a signal of your dishonesty by using the weasel words "undocumented person". Dude, no offense, but you're an illegal alien, originally through no fault of your own, but now it's all on you, so stop pretending to be the victim. You're getting beat up here because you won't take responsibility for your own actions, and because there are a LOT of people who are really damn fed up with illegal aliens living here and you know why.