Thoughts of Leith (ep 29) – Fiction and the Two Johns Sci-Fi podcast

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I discuss the 20th episode of the Two Johns Scifi podcast and the dynamic between genre and political #message, including other genres of fiction: fantasy, detective fiction, thrillers.

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Category: Thoughts of Leith

Thoughts of Leith (ep 28) – Colonial history, EPIC bars, and being black in Nazi Germany

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Oh this unboxing! I add to my colonial history read-pile for my upcoming Easter vacation, plus a remarkable book about a black guy growing up in Nazi Germany and some meat bars for my quasi-keto diet.

Category: Thoughts of Leith

Elevator Pitch – Toto cover album

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Toto has recently been enjoying renewed interest, probably part of a general 1980s nostalgia trend. Weezer releasing “Rosanna” after fans kept pestering them to remake “Africa” (a genius counter-troll), before then releasing “Africa” itself, brought Toto to the national fanfore in a way nostalgia alone never could.

And, to be honest, I think “Rosanna” is the better song. If you don’t believe me, listen to this guy. I love “Africa” (and, MF, I can sing it!) but Rosanna is musically superior, even though “Africa” is a tough competitor and has a better backstory.

Continue reading

Category: Elevator Pitch, Music

Musical Memery

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Oh, the memes I post. They’re about all sorts of things, but music is one of the themes. The meme themes = s + (the * 2) + (me * 3)

Category: Odd Thoughts

Elevator Pitch : Tripworld – A Classic Rock Video Game

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When you’re a creative type, you usually find yourself with far more ideas than you have the time or resources to develop. This blog is filled with stuff like that, not only elevator pitches for films and television shows, but also: a more expansive National Zoo; an archaism park for Renaissance Faire enthusiasts, steampunkers, and historical reenactors; a Jazz Age-themed site; an improved DC Metro system; and an improved nationwide rail system. Not currently having the means to accomplish these dreams doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dream! It keeps the neurons in good health.

So, when I recently had an intriguing idea for a video game, I decided to flesh it out a bit für Scheiße und Kichern. And, I hope the folks who own the images I use understand I’m just proposing something that could make them lots and lots of moolah. Forgive me. And, if you’re reading this, considering those images ads and go buy some classic music. Continue reading

Category: Elevator Pitch, Gaming

Font Memes!

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I make a lot of memes. And, when you make a lot of memes, most of them are going to be gar-BAZH. Not sure where these fit in.

Category: Odd Thoughts

Thoughts of Leith – National Museum of Sail

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You may remember my Elevator Pitch for a National Museum of Sail. I decided to do a Thoughts of Leith episode on it!

Apologies for the video editing weirdness at the beginning. To be honest, I just wanted to see if I could speak backward phonetically in a way that would be understandable when reversed.

Enjoy the podcast!

Category: Thoughts of Leith

Called It : Rockstar Games did Something Incredible

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Back in 2013, as part of an elevator pitch about how to improve open-world video games, among other things I suggested expanding wilderness areas:

Certain types of game terrain benefit from a sense of scale. Specifically, wilderness types of terrain. When traveling through woods and seas and deserts and plains, the repetition and vastness add to the ambiance. But, game designers seem to like cramming theirSo, now that we have all this extra computing power, how about stretching the outside of new game worlds only in wilderness areas where repetition is a virtue? … Acre after acre of trees in the Wyrmwood? Yes, thank you. Stretches of open sea where you can’t sight land? Of course. wilderness areas with frustratingly dense settlement patterns, so that you can hardly get a sense of not being right outside of town. And, that’s because you typically are right outside of town.

I reiterated this in regard to Assassin’s Creed : Black Flag in regard to the cramped feeling of the virtual sea.

Well, a prominent YouTube video game channel has noticed something I had also noticed while playing Red Dead Redemption 2: the open-world seemed remarkably uncramped. But this guy, Luke Stephens, took it one step further by actually gathering data on various open-world games and comparing them to RDR2. He discovered that Rockstar Games actually doubled the effective size of the game’s wilderness areas compared to similar games.

Take a look at the analysis. It’s fascinating.

Elevator Pitch – Multiple

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Get this: When WW3 breaks out, it involves several parallel Earths discovered by many-worlds technology.

What is it? A television drama in which our universe is visited by scientists from another Earth using technology that exploits the many-worlds theory of quantum physics. Soon, two other parallel Earths are accessed, one of which is ruled by an authoritarian dictatorship. Alpha, Beta, and Delta Earth join in an Alliance to fend off attacks from Gamma Earth. The plot follows three groups: a joint team of Allied commandos; a team of Allied engineers who are working with both the military and business to manage access between worlds and thwart the Gammans; and a loose collection of Allied politicians, diplomats, and generals trying to hold together their tense Alliance, defeat the Gammans, and contend for the end-game of the War. There is also an wily Alphan businessman profiting from the war and a gifted Gamman warleader who is a threat both to the Alliance and her own colleagues.

Working title: MULTIPLE

Storyrunner details: The “bible” of this drama would involve four basic factors. First, a description of the alternate Earths, their cultures, histories, and politics. Second, a sketch of the main characters and the secondary characters surrounding them. Third, a brief synopsis of the ongoing plotlines. Fourth, guidelines on the technologies used by the Alliance and their Gamman foes.

THE FOUR WORLDS (& FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS)

The culture of the setting is divided by the four parallel realities. Beta Earth is our world in the near future, with very similar technology to today. Alpha Earth, which developed the many-worlds tech, is very similar to ours wherein most of the politics, technology, and culture are the same, with minor differences, mostly in terminology, a fact that can be used as a running joke driven misunderstandings between characters. For example, imagine an Alphan commando asking for an “MPT” only to meet confused silence, then an in-the-know teammate explaining that “MPT” stands for “multi-purpose tool” which Betans and Deltans just call a multi-tool.

Alpha is slightly more advanced technologically, primarily in the physics that allows accessing parallel worlds. Alphans also have advance AI, something explained later in the discussion on Deltans. Betans are somewhat ahead in genetics, giving them an advantage in curing diseases and providing soldiers immunity to chemical and biological attacks.

The lead Betan character is Commander Kim Rugby, a Korean-American Navy Special Forces demolitions specialist with doubts about his ability to lead the team of Allied commandos infiltrating Gamma Earth. The lead Alphan is Lesley Chambers, an Australian entrepreneur who wants to exploit Betan and Deltan resources for profit, but under the guise of promoting the Alliance. They form mirror characters, Rugby being a humble, upright character who learns to trust his abilities while Lesley is a confident, corrupted character who begins to recognize his moral flaws.

A strong rivalry between Alpha and Beta (our Earth) would be central to the story. There would be a sense of “why weren’t we first?” among many Betans, and a paternalistic attitude of assumed superiority among some Alphans. Betans resent being designated Beta, and feel like the baby siblings who never quite measure up. It makes Beta characters try too hard and take too many risks.

Despite their differences, both Alphans and Betans have an optimistic attitude about the Alliance against the Gammans, something the Deltans (described below) do not share.

Gamma Earth is an authoritarian dictatorship based loosely on Orwell’s IngSoc. The supreme leader is a quasi-mythical woman, Babi Shen, often referred to as Abuelita, Spanish for “little grandma.” She is served by five regional dictators known as the Fosters. The ruling party, the Aequitat, is a play on the Latin words aequitas/equitas meaning “equality” and equitatus meaning “riding” in reference to the horse-riding warrior class. It is unclear (at first) whether Abuelita is a real person, or was a real person who has been dead for a while, her role having been replaced by the Fosters acting in committee.

The Aequitat operates on a model of purported “equality” in service to Global Justice, meaning all people having the same obligations and privileges. How this plays out is that everyone has the same obligation to work for the Aequitat—as dictated by Abuelita and the Fosters—and is “privileged” to the same basic sustenance, something that exists more in theory than practice. Dissenters are sent to Redemption Camps, where they are tortured into apologies or executed. Most citizens live in a state of deprivation and near-starvation.

After being discovered by Alpha, the Aequitat develops a many-worlds narrative that the anti-Justice alternate realities are “drawing quantum energy” from Gamma, thus causing the famine and starvation that is, in reality, the result of Aequitat policies. According to the narrative, only if the Aequitat controls all alternate Earths can true Equality and Justice be achieved. This narrative precipitates the invasion of Alpha and Beta by the Gammans.

The lead Gamman character is Amber Desta, Foster of Pan-Africa, whose efforts to infiltrate the other worlds is most effective. She is trying to subordinate the other Fosters, and may be trying to usurp the power of Abuelita herself.

The Gammans’ primary technological advantage is in chemical and biological agents that instill various neurological states, like fear or confusion, which they deploy freely on the battlefield. Betans’ genetic tech, rewriting the code of soldiers, is the primary defense against these weapons.

Delta Earth was discovered as tensions between Alpha, Beta, and Gamma were ramping up to war. Delta Earth had recently suffered severe famines and wars driven by politics similar to that represented by the Aequitat Gammans. This fallen global government, called the Equity Coalition, was defeated by local resistance movements fifteen years before Delta was accessed. During this devastating war, the local movements joined in a loose and tension-riddled coalition first known as the Nationalist League, but renamed the Delta League after the Alphans brought Delta into the Alliance.

Deltans have very primitive technology and poorly developed resources, but are highly zealous against the Aequitat. Their multi-regional coalition struggles against racial and religious supremacists factions, but generally holds together against the Aequitat’s ideology of Global Justice. Deltans generally feel that different groups are always in competition and thus all alliances are built on tension, an attitude that Alphans and Betans find brutal and pessimistic.

Deltans, like Alphans, have an advanced AI technology. But, whereas the Alphans have focused on heavily user-dependent AI that serves only to augment tactical soldiers, the Deltans created independent robotic AIs in their resistance to the Equity Coalition. On Delta Earth, these robots continue to keep the peace, perform manual labor, suppress pirates and terrorists, and settle regional conflicts. Alphans, having endured a bad experience with independent robotic AIs, have banned Deltan robots from the Alliance.

The lead Deltan character is Eli Pahl, the general who struggles to hold together his world’s military league while wrestling with his Alphan and Betan counterparts to get crucial resources to his devastated home. Despite his weak position among the Allied diplomats, he is a military virtuoso, a perfect counterpoint to Amber Desta.

CHARACTERS

As mentioned above, the story primarily follows three sets of characters: a joint commando team consisting of Alphan, Betan, and Deltan warfighters; a team of Allied engineers managing business and military clients who need access to the various worlds; and a circle of politicians, diplomats, and military officers managing the Alliance. There are also Gamman enemy characters focused on Foster Amber Desta and a prominent Allied businessman, Lesley Chambers.

The commando team is assigned to infiltrate Gamma Earth and destroy sites devoted to accessing the other worlds. The team is led by Betan Commander Kim Rugby, a Korean-American Navy Special Forces demolitions specialist with doubts about his ability to lead. His second-in-command is Alphan Lieutenant Roma Erb, a Prussian Army cyber officer with a thorough education in military theory. In the Alpha universe, Prussia was reconstituted in the aftermath of World War 2 in a joint Soviet-Allied effort to break up Germany into smaller states. As the tactical AI the team uses is based on Alphan cyber technology, Erb has a bit of an advantage on her commanding officer.

Also on the commando team are: Mary “Wormy” Saint-Paul, an East American sniper from Delta Earth with a vendetta against the Aequitat based on the Deltan Equity Coalition’s murder of her family; Diana Vachon, a Betan Canadian intelligence officer who knows multiple languages and is key to the team’s infiltration of Gamma Earth; and Agamemnon “Aggie” Lynch, an Alphan Australian medic. There are also four other “red shirt” riflemen to fill out the team: Jamie, Kani, David, and Diego.

The engineer team provides the exposition on the many-worlds technology, in the context of providing the military with means to detect and thwart Gamman infiltrations and providing businessmen ways to spur Alliance commerce. The team is led by Dr. Steven Rivers, a middle-aged Alphan physicist who was part of the original team who discovered the technique for accessing alternate worlds. His two deputies are: autistic genius John Oballa, Betan Nigerian-British engineer who handles the technical aspects of many-worlds access; and socially adept Muriel Jefferson, Deltan West American partner relations expert who manages the team’s contracts. Oballa and Jefferson are, in a sense, mirror characters who are constantly feeding Rivers conflicting advice.

The engineer team also includes: Jimmy Landing, Alphan Scandinavian coder, who works heavily with Rivers and Oballa on access issues; Hawk Brewer, Deltan South African security consultant, who frets about business interests distracting from the war effort, and particularly concerned by the Gamman invasion of Delta Africa; and Gardner Perry, Betan American counter-intelligence expert, somewhat paranoid about the threat of Gamman infiltrators.

The Alied political circle is led by the Secretary General of the Alpha Military Confederacy, Tolga Washington, a Turkish-American diplomat who nominally manages the Alliance against the Gammans. He interacts with Susan Colberg, the Betan president of the United States, who leads the Betan Coalition, and Eli Pahl, the general who heads the Deltan League. Susan is obsessed with bringing Betan technology up to Alphan standards, and contests with Washington over technology sharing agreements. Eli seeks to gain access to Alphan and Betan resources for the deprived people of Delta Earth.

Washington interacts intimately with Dr. Rivers and Commander Kim’s second-in-command Lieutenant Erb, promoting Alphan interests in the access to alternate worlds. Colberg interacts with Kim, seeking behind-the-scenes information on the war effort, and with physicist John Oballa to learn about the latest developments in many-worlds tech. Pahl interacts with Wormy, seeking intelligence on Gamman many-worlds technology and ways to reroute resources to Delta Earth.

A primary character outside of these factions is Lesley Chambers, an Alphan Australian entrepreneur who wants to exploit Betan and Deltan resources for profit, but under the guise of promoting the Alliance. He is a rich, entitled playboy who has never had to confront the consequences of his ambition. But, the unfolding storyline forces him to face those consequences.

A final primary character is Gamman Amber Desta, Foster of Pan-Africa, whose efforts to infiltrate the other worlds is most effective. She treats Foster Craig of Europe and Foster Joya of North America as lieutenants, and actively strives to subordinate the other Fosters. She is an ambitious military and political leader.

STORYLINES

The primary storyline focuses on Gamman intrusions on the other worlds, and how the Alliance can thwart this. Gammans have used many-worlds technology to invade Africa and North America on Delta Earth, Asia and Australia on Beta Earth, and Europe and South America on Alpha Earth.

The commando team led by Commander Kim Rugby is devoted to destroying Gamman infiltration sites, so this is core to their storyline. At the same time, there is tension in the topic of inter-world infiltration, something that involves their communication with both the scientist and diplomatic groups. The scientist team wants to thwart the Gammans while also providing greater access to commerce. The diplomatic characters are focused on increasing access points for their own ends, Deltans seeking to alleviate the poverty of their world, Betans seeking scientific advances to bring themselves up to Alphan standards, and Alphans seeking to solidify their dominance over the Alliance.

This brings in a secondary focus, the need for greater economic accesses among the Alliance. The Alphans and Betans are trying to avoid accesses that favor Deltan interests, worried that this would drain the Alliance’s resources, while Deltans (Pahl and Jefferson) want more resources to flow into Delta Earth. Chambers plays the role of quasi-villain in this dynamic, manipulating Dr. Rivers and Secretary General Washington for his own ends.

A third focus is the efforts by Foster Desta to recruit members of the Alliance to betray them for the Aequitat. Her primary targets are Aggie Lynch, Hawk Brewer, and Chambers, whom Desta promises a prominent place among the planners of the post-war economy. Her agents are: John Frink, a Gamman who poses as a resistance fighter to infiltrate the commando team; Anna Meer, a Gamman infiltrator who tempts Hawk with a sexual relationship; and, Yvonne Rojas, a Gamma-sympathetic Alphan actress who seduces Lesley Chambers.

Major plot-points to be planned for include: Chambers’s ultimate decision to undermine inter-world commerce to support his place in the post-war Aequitat role as Economic Minister (promised by Desta) and his subsequent regret; Washington’s troubled decision to allow greater distribution of resources to Delta World to ease their suffering, diverting precious military resources to humanitarian ends, which alienates him from both Alphan and Betan factions; Dr. Rivers’ discovery of Hawk Brewer’s fling with the Gamman agent Anna Meer, and his internal debate on how to react to that; the commando team’s discovery that the Gammans are seeking to access new worlds to bring into their effort; the science team’s identification of Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta Earths and attempts to access them for support; and the Gammans’ deployment of nuclear weapons to annihilate entire cities in alternate worlds.

A key underlying sub-plot focuses on the status of the leader of the Gammans, Abuelita. The commando team discovers evidence that Babi Shen is alive, but has been sidelined by Foster Desta in her ambition to lead the Fosters. Secretary General Washington uses that information to promote a propaganda campaign against the Aequitat, promoting pro-Abuelita resistance against Desta. Deltans are heavily suspicious of this, including General Eli Pahl, who feels any support for an Aequitat resistance promotes the sort of politics that devastated Delta Earth. Pahl also warns Washington that this could backfire, strengthening the support for Desta, whom Pahl considers the most dangerous Gamman leader.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Key to the heavily military nature of the story is warfaring technology. The Alphans have tactical AI networks of interacting smart suits that build a virtual reality map of the surroundings incorporating visual, audial, and chemical cues that the individual soldier might have missed. Predicted threats appear on a heads-up display in the suit’s helmet, and individual location and health data is constantly processed and transmitted to leadership and medic personnel.

Alphans allow their allies to use this technology, but are very careful about sharing the underlying science, something that irks the Betans. For their part, Betans have technology much like Earth’s present tech. The one technology where they have an advantage over the Alphans is gene-editing tech, which they use to cure diseases and instill soldiers with resistance to the chemical and biological weapons of the Gammans.

The Deltans have extensive AI technology as well, but focused on robotics. Despite their poverty, much of their economy is buttressed by robots, something that ironically makes it difficult for Deltans to find work as laborers. They also have well-developed military robots, which the Alphans have banned from the Alliance due to their own strict legal standards on the use of independent AI, a policy that is the result of a proxy war between the US and China in Nigeria where robots devastated human combatants. Eli Pahl is highly resentful of the Alphan ban, because he understands that Deltans have learned to build in safeguards against the atrocities that the Alphans experienced.

The Gammans are, in terms of AI and genetics, behind the other worlds, but they have excelled at chemical and biological weapons, particularly those with neurological effects. Their biological advances were made by brutal experimentation more than genetic engineering. They have chemical and biological agents that induce fear, submission, rage, confusion, confidence, euphoria, and sexual promiscuity. Gammans have also discovered means of creating larger many-worlds access points (“gates”) which can be held open indefinitely, a great advantage in the war.

As the many-worlds access points are relatively small, they can only be used to move troops and small equipment. The Alliance can generate “gates” about 10×10 meters, restricting their incursions to infantry and small vehicles like tanks and supply trucks. Gamman “gates” are about 30×30 meters, allowing larger equipment like small aircraft. Constructing anything larger requires setting up a manufacturing facility in enemy territory. Unlike the Gammans’ indefinite access, Allied “gates” can only be held open for fifteen minutes or so six times a day, restricting movement and communications for the Alliance.

Finally, “gates” can only be established at particular points on the surface of the two Earths being linked, where geomagnetic dynamics allow. Minor differences in geological history create huge differences in these dynamics. For example, the magnetic poles on Alpha and Beta Earth are generally in-synch, while those on Gamma and Delta Earth are very different. This dynamic makes the search for potential gate sites very important to the war.

LIKE THIS IDEA?

If you like this idea, first I thank you. I tend to be an “idea guy” who comes up with lots of concepts that call for investments of resources and personnel to flesh out and make reality. You can be part of this by sharing this expanded Elevator Pitch as widely as you can in social media. If you do, leave a comment with links to where you’ve shared it, and I won’t forget you.

 

Category: Elevator Pitch

Historical Park : Port Recovery

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There are many groups dedicated to maintaining East Coast North American crafts from the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries, including military reenactors, maritime/pirate enthusiasts, Native American traditionalists, and tradesmen of various skills. There are also many historical structures in danger of being lost to developments or disuse.

I have an idea that could serve these reenactment communities and save the historical structures: an historical park set somewhere on the outer shore of the Delmarva peninsula at a place accessible by tallships. Some of the buildings could be built on-site using traditional means, but there would also be a concerted effort to relocate threatened historic structures from all along the East Coast and renovate them. Essentially, it would be constructing an archaic city where traditionalists could practice their crafts, network with other enthusiasts, sell their wares to tourists, and educate visitors. It would also be a place where academics could share their expertise in preservation and history.

The cut-off in the mid-19th century would be in deference to the many other venues for Civil War history. The focus of this park would be the history of the East Coast of North America up to the events precipitating the Civil War. In honor of the park’s purpose, and playing on the names of two forts of the period (one in Ohio and one in the Virgin Islands), I would call it Port Recovery.

THE FUNDING ISSUE

Obviously, the relocation and renovation of threatened structures would make up the largest part of the budget, and would likely rely heavily on historic preservation grants. This would include whole buildings as well as bridges, walls, gates, milestones, and other threatened structures.

Another vector of funds would be educational grants and charitable donations. Key would be maintaining the academic integrity of the site, with some occasional indulgences in pure fancy for promotional and profit purposes—for example, a Pirates & Mermaids Week that would entertain more fantastical traditions. Perhaps the serious pirate and naval reenactors would have to be given their own special event, or maybe half of a shared Maritime Week.

However, the core focus of the site would be on preserving and presenting history for the general public, while providing reenactors and academics an opportunity to networks and share information.

THE BASIC LAYOUT

The structure of the park would include a central urban area for city-style buildings along the water, surrounded by small farms, Native American villages, and wilderness zones characterized by meadows, woodlands, and marshes. The exact location of the park is open, but preferably somewhere on the outer Delmarva Peninsula, perhaps Burtons Bay, Hog Island Bay, Magothy Bay, or Sinepuxent Bay just south of Ocean City.

Of course, there are viable locations elsewhere, from Georgia to New England, which would also be appropriate. Pamlico Sound is particularly promising, but it would be important to keep the park central along the East Coast to minimize the costs of relocating threatened historic structures along the East Coast from Maine to Florida.

What would be the four key sections of the park?

Click for larger view

First, the urban port to house the park’s central management, employee housing, and visitor venues, with museums to display relics and port facilities to receive historic tallships. Here, urban-style historical structures would be relocated and renovated as inns, restaurants, shops, and museums. There would, of course, also be structures built using traditional techniques to fill out the neighborhoods and provide practice for crafters. Plaques by the doors of each building would identify the provenance of each site.

Second, the reconstructed Native American villages to represent the peoples of the New World present when Europeans arrived, to practice crafts and educate visitors on native traditions. There would need to be features dedicated to the Algonquian, Iroquois, Catawban, and Muskogean cultures to various peoples all along the East Coast were represented. Reenactors could immerse themselves in traditional lifeways and visitors could observe and experience traditional skills, products, and foods. Particular attention would be made to preserving and presenting the Native American linguistic terms for the cultural artifacts being represented.

Third, the surrounding areas for relocated rural structures, to display for visitors and to practice the crafts of colonial farming traditions. This would include imported European models and adopted Native American models of agriculture. There would also be a focus on heritage breeds of farm animals and traditional modes of raising, processing, and cooking foodstuffs. This would have to include the entire spectrum from the highly organized plantation model of the South to the more individualistic farmhold model of New England.

Fourth, the wilderness areas where reenactors in the Native American and European backwoodsman traditions could interact/network and educate visitors on the history of interracial relations. This would include survival skills, the cultural context of interracial trade, and the history of various frontier wars. Primitive cuisine, campsite techniques, and wilderness dress would be exchanged among enthusiasts and academics, and would be presented in an educational capacity to visitors.

SCOPE OF PRESENTATIONS

But, speaking of interracial relations, there would be other important features—spread throughout the key sections—to address the slave trade of African peoples and indentured servitude of Gaelic and lower-class peoples.

For example, in the urban and rural areas would be venues exploring the experience of African-American slaves in the New World. Port Recovery would offer to relocate artifacts of slavery that local communities wanted to rid themselves of for political reasons—troubling whipping posts and auction blocks—in order to educate visitors on the atrocities of slavery. Servant residences and other artifacts, like documents of indenture and slavery, would be preserved and exhibited. Reenactors would be employed to humanize and contextualize the lives of enslaved and indentured persons.

An important part of this would be to have specific exhibits on African-Americans in colonial maritime history, as well as information on the presence of Muslim Africans among the enslaved. Likewise, significant attention would be given to other minority spiritual communities during the period, including Jews, Catholics, Quakers, Puritans, and Native Americans.

Other important features would be specific venues to practice and present the differing roles of men and women in the period. Military, hunting, and political exhibits presenting traditional masculine obligations would be offset by home-building, cooking, and familial exhibits presenting traditional feminine obligations. The aim would be to educate visitors in the differing, traditional gender roles that men and women experienced in the period.

SUMMARY

The overall goals of such an historical park would be: to preserve threatened historic structures; to create an opportunity for various academic and traditional craft communities to exchange ideas and skills; and to engage and educate the public on the history of the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.

Imagine taverns where archaic cuisine and drinks (like flip and orange fool) were available to visitors. Imagine shops where history books and recreated artifacts were available for purchase by enthusiasts. Imagine events where traditional military skills were on display, where visitors could tour tallships and other historical structures, where Native American cultures were exhibited, where the lives of enslaved and indentured persons were presented, where the experiences of women and men were shown in their privileges and obligations, and where history is lived via actual structures and artifacts from the period.

This is my vision of Port Recovery.

Category: Design, Elevator Pitch