The Living Steampunk World

[TimeTinker]

I am pleased to say it already exists in the UK.  Lady Elsie and I even met with the UK Foreign Secretary and talked steampunk and how he could support what we are doing last year.  (This was to do with a major education project for thousands of UK school children).  In the coming weeks I will be doing a range of things in this vein from giving a radio interview with the BBC  to meeting with the traders organisation in the city where we run the UK National Steampunk Festival.

Best of luck in your endeavours in the US.

[BaronPablo]

We should definitely stay in contact, as our growing movement has much to learn from the successes of our British cousins!

Could you do me a favour and send me a message/email with tips and hints on getting such a movement going? Perhaps when we both grow to a large size, we can do Trans-Atlantic activities and the like.

[Vagabond GentleMan]

You know, I'm with Johnny Payphone.  Always have been.  He does seem a little intolerant sometimes, but so what?  I like him.

You know, I'm with the Tinker as well.  The cove is always full of wisdom, his posts are always insightful.  I like him, too.

And when I first got on this forum, I was hell-bent on "F*ck mass production, we all should be making and living steampunk, cosplay is lame, ROAR!"

But it just ain't that way.

You know, I'm blessed.  I've worked hard my whole adult life to put myself in a position where I was able to live Steampunk, to a greater degree.  But, I'm blessed.  Not everyone has the capacity to do that.  We all gotta eat.  Some of us have different psychological needs preventing us from being full-timers.  Some Brass Gogglers are still just youngsters who ain't even out making their fortunes in the world yet.  There are any number of reasons why folks just can't be 'more like Johnny' or 'more like 'Vagabond GentleMan' or 'more like Utini' or 'more like Thistlewaite' or any of the other full-timers/makers/etc.  And we shouldn't be asking them to anyway, because it's, well, a little pompous and arrogant.

We can't bend everyone into being hard-core.  Let the fans be fans, you know?  Let Cosplayers play, let non-makers buy their gear from whomever.  Let them have their fun and fuel their passions and love what they do.  They have that right, wot?

If you wanna change the world, the best you can do is lead by example and encourage like-minded folks in their attempts as well.
But yeah, as been said before, let's try not to rain on anyone else's parade. 

[darkshines]

Vagabond, you are amazing

[Victoria The Mistress]

Vagabond, you are amazing

Seconded.

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

I for one appreciate anyone who appreciates Steampunk, in whatever capacity.
VG, whilst I certainly appreciate the Honourable Mention, I probably wouldn't encourage anyone to try and emulate yours truly....the only reasons that I get away with being me is that I live in a backwater wilderness and I have money, which means I get labeled as "eccentric" rather than " a dangerous nutcase."

Long Live Steampunk, and all who admire it!

~Thistlewaite

[JingleJoe]

" a dangerous nutcase."

Above: Acctual description someone gave of me

[Arvis]

" a dangerous nutcase."

Above: Acctual description someone gave of me

 Everyone's gotta have a hobby.

[Vagabond GentleMan]

Aw, Thistlewaite, too late!

I want what you have.
The fact that you've been able to attain it (home in the boonies, a good degree of self-sufficiency and economic stability, without having had to sacrifice integrity, 'self', or eccentricity) inspires me, personally.  If you can do it, maybe I can too!

Gimme 15-30 years, let me accomplish my economic goals and invest wisely, and with some grit and some luck, maybe I'll buy up the land neighboring yours and retire with a couple of wives.  I'll fly me pedal-powered airplane over to visit on weekends for tea and tinkering, if you're game...   

Anyway, long story short, you ARE one of my role-models, because you led by example.

So hats off to you, and thanks for, well, just being who you are.   

[MechanicalMouse]

"Two centuries ago, our forebears would have known the precise history and source of almost every one of the limited number of things they ate and owned. They would have been familiar with the pig, the carpenter, the weaver, the loom and the dairymaid. The range of items available for purchase may have grown exponentially since then, but our understanding of their genesis has grown ever more obscure. We are now as imaginatively disconnected from the production and distribution of our goods as we are practically in reach of them, a process of alienation which has stripped us of opportunities for wonder, gratitude and guilt."

[/i]

While I am drawn to the romantic nature of this statement, there are certain realities that make this impractical as a wide spread ethos. For furnishings and clothes it is a possibility, though the financial shift from mass produced to bespoke would come as a shock to most save those with hardened wallets. But you get what you pay for and bespoke items will in most cases last longer.

Food is easier, and most likely a lot healthier. Home grown or locally produced.

However, move beyond these and look at base level of technology behind our daily lives. It can only exist through a specialist modular design approach.

One person, not even one localised team of people, could build design and build a modern computer, TV, medicine, car and so on.

All rely on either prior advancements and research, 1000's of man years of work; or parts that are so complex that they require their own specialist team to design and build. Or a collection of both.

I'm not saying you couldn't build a simple car from scratch even to the point of moulding you own tyres. Same for computers (though you'd need imported components) or complimentary/herbal/refined medicine. In fact I have high admiration to those that can and do, but there is a point at which further advancement requires specialisation.