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Dickens Christmas Fair 2008 December Missive #5 - Thanks, Best Wishes and Timegames
(sent December 23rd, 2008)

Happy Hanukkah!
Joyous Yule!
Merry Christmas!

There will be a closing missive at some point after Christmas, but for the time being please accept our thanks and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

And in the meantime, for those of you already aching for more time-travel opportunities, here's a Timegames missive from Phyllis. Please remember to contact her with any questions, rather than replying to this missive.

Cat


FOR A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT TAKE ON TIME-

    Einstein's theory reminds us that we can imagine moveable celebratory entertainments encompassing many eras and places simultaneously.
    Time is a shape-shifting game that can turn away from the strictly chronological to other levels of logic and perception.
    We who have played that game from 1960's Renaissance Faires, occasional California history ventures and definitely at our sometimes daunted --but never defeated-- Dickens Fairs know to what breadth and depth reality can be recovered from times past.
    This newest series of California history time-traveling experiences I envision as involving several small troupes of traveling players, who will be the generating forces. Ancestors they portray may be chosen from any time/any place, 1800 to 1929.
    Traditional occasions will be staged in various appropriate California architectural settings that seem to transcend specific eras. Events may be imagined to be either before or after the arrival of the 'ancestral' performers in California (flashbacks are allowed as a special effects device).
    Cultural groups will enjoy and share the ethnic celebrations and dynamic traditions played out as the world rushed to California even before the 1800's.
    The melding of each ethnicity's amusements became the culture that today is California's own-yes?
     If it is well-played, visitors will be a vital part of this multicultural game. Ways to create bilingual events are most welcome.
    At our College of Ageless Amusements featured at Timegames.org there can be multilingual translations of our program, to accommodate wide-ranging, even worldwide players and contributors.
    Potential players can be better prepared for touring California if they first take our history classes online at the 'College'.
    Just as in our other time-playing experiences, the appeal is ageless and participation can range through preschool age all the way up to older and wiser heads!
    Senior citizens have special skills and memories that should be welcomed and honored. Families-- actual or created-- are especially welcome.
    Auditions will soon begin for seasoned performers and all others.
    Our time-playing occasions will take place once we know the degree of availability of proposed performers. Event size will be from perhaps 50 to 500-person attendance and vary widely in location.

    History will be experienced as it could have occurred traditionally at important celebratory times, always with banners flying, good drink, feasting, games, and music for song and dance unique to each ethnicity. Appearing online will be ample fodder for feasting on rich conversations: sharing gossip, news of the day and always the rumors and legends upon which history is based! Trivia is always to be pursued!!
    These images describe my own creative persuasion for over 50 years.   We truly become conscious, thinking human beings only in moments that give us pleasure.
    Do you belong to or know those who are members of existing diverse ethnic groups who may want to be part of these Seasons of Celebration?
    If any of these images excite your imagination, please call me at 415-892-0162.  Voices are a vital part of the conversations I most enjoy and are definitely more personal!! Leave a message as to the best time to return your call and state slowly your name, area of interest, and phone number.
    Oh! One more emphasis in every era will be the strongly predominant presence of the "aesthetic" artist, writer, sculptor, actor, and philosopher - always apart from his or her time in appearance, thought, and behavior.  Their theatrical environs - salons - etc. have always predicted our future.

With all sorts of regards,
Phyllis Patterson
Chief Instigator, Timegames

Special Request:
    A basic, apparently primal prerequisite for admission into today's world of conversation is computer skills!!

    In recognition of what my preindustrial personality has wrought for forty years, please help! ~  Will anyone who can teach me and/or be my magician, who knows the latest in website special effects please answer my call for help?
    This Time-playing portrays the effect of the wide wide world on California 1800 - 1929.  There are most promising prospects for success.   

Phyllis








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