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University Daily Kansan
Thursday Features
Thursday, Sept. 5, 1985
Festival brings 16th century to life
'Mingling with the people really makes you feel like you're living in the year 1535.'
—Joe Holt
Tonganoxie freshman
BONNER SPRINGS — (clockwise, from top) David L. Leonard, alas Lion Fire, brought his magic to the Renaissance Festival from Black Forest, Colo. Patty Slayder, brought her wooden wind wizards all the way from Red Oak, Iowa, to participate in the festival. Greg Anderson, a former KU student, prepares to deliver the final blow to his opponent during a duel.
BONNER SPRINGS — Students create many diversions to escape the pressures of college and 20th-century living, but for the next five weekends, some KU students are helping the Kansas City Art Institute create the ultimate getaway from modern life.
By Theresa Scott Of the Kansan staff
Step through the gates of the Renaissance Festival at the Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs and turn back the clock 450 years to a time when men were men and women were wenches.
The festival is a world in itself where jousters, knights, minstrels, jesters, magicians, villagers, craftsmen and food vendors roam the straw-covered streets, creating a 6th century atmosphere with their costumes, dialecta images.
Among the 2,500 costumed participants, many of which travel to Renaissance festivals around the country, are several KU students.
Michelle Stelting, Topeka senior, acts and sings at the festival with her brother, Darin, Topeka freshman. Stelting, a self-proclaimed medieval history maniac, said Monday that she enjoyed playing a part in Renaissance life.
"It gives me a chance to live out the stories I'm so fond of," she said. "It's also a unique performing opportunity because we're in character all the time. There are no paper cups and there is no 'OK' in our vocabulary."
Joe Holt, Tonganoxie freshman, wearing a flounce white shirt, colorful bloomers and white tights, stood alone under a tree while playing classical music on a stage. The crowd was cheering and will be at the festival every weekend until it closes.
Holt, who plays the guitar as a hobby, said the Renaissance Festival was a good way for aspiring
"Mingling with the people really makes you feel like you're living in the year 1335," he said. "I bow whenever royalty passes by. That means basically that I bow to whoever has nicer clothes than I do."
performers to break into the business. He also said it was a good chance to live in the days of yore.
Students are not the only people from the University that are participating in the festival.
Masoni Azura, a secretary for the occupational therapy department, is a belly dancer in the Gwawoze dancers in Africa.
"This is my job," the beaded, bare-bellied dancer said.
"Being a secretary is my hobby. I have to work a 9 to 5 job to pay my bills."
JoAnne Hargis, another member of the Ghawazee dancers, said that the festival was an escape.
"It's like another world, an alter ego. It's a good place when you don't want to go back to real life problems. The problems here are much simpler," she said as her husband, Rex, a former KU student, triumphantly exited the room and she saved the day by slaying "the savage beast" — a wasp that had been terrorizing the wagon's inhabitants.
Hargis said the Renaissance environment was the best place for her group to practice its art.
This is the ninth year for the festival, which opened Saturday and will run every weekend through Oct. 6.
The festival, located on more than 60 acres of woodland about 25 miles east of Lawrence, annually draws about 144,000 people who play ancient games, enjoy old-time feasts and immerse themselves in medieval life.
Tickets are $7.95 for adults or $1 in advance, $3.25 for children between five and 12 years old or $2.75 in advance, free for children under five, $6.75 for students with IDs and $6.50 for groups of 25 or more.
On Tap
Nancy Haney
Peggy Helsel
RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL — The merriment continues this weekend at the Renaissance Festival at the Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs. The gates open to the medieval carnival at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Student tickets can be bought for $6.75 at the SUA office in the Kansas Union or at the festival gate. The festival runs through Oct. 6.
PEPSI WALK THRU ROCK — A traveling rock history show will open in Kansas City, Mo. on Wednesday at Battle Hall. The show says its has the most comprehensive collection of rock film, music and memorabilia ever assembled and will combine the visual effects of large screen projection, live entertainment and a museum to trace the 30-year evolution of rock music. The show will run through Sept. 15 and is the beginning of a 24-city North American tour. Tickets are available at all Capitol Ticket outlets, including Omni Electronics, 540 Fireside Court, for $8 or $6.50 with a phone availability at Pepsi displays and $5 for children under 12.
CONCERTS
The Viceros will play tonight from 9 to midnight at Johnny's Tavern, 401 N. Second St. The band plays a variety of music and the cover charge is $1.
The Jazzhaus. 926°. Massachusetts St., is presenting the BeAirs, a rhythm and blues dance band, Friday and Saturday. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. and there is a $3 cover charge.
The Clique will perform at 9 p.m. Friday at the Burge Union. There is no charge for the concert which is sponsored by SUA Special Events and KLZR-106. The concert is the first of four planned for the fall semester.
The progressive rock band, X. will perform at 8 p.m. sept. 21 at the Kansas Union Ballroom. Tickets are $9 with a student ID and $10 in advance to the public and can be purchased at the SUA box office of the Union and at Capitol Ticket outlets. The concert is the first of a series of concerts sponsored by SUA and Redline Productions.
Johnny Mathis will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. Tickets are $16.50 and can be bought at all Capitol Ticket outlets including Omni Electronics.
Battle cries echo at Renaissance fair
By John Williams
Of the Kansan staff
BONNER SPRINGS — Journey the dusty streets of the Renaissance Festival and you are filled with sights and smells of another age.
Listen closely and battle cries, the clash of steel on steel and the sound of creaking leather becomes apparent as two opposing battle with swords and shields.
Although the swords are made of wood and the shields from trash can lids, the fighting is real enough for expectator who chances on a battle.
Ridgely Schlemm, Webster Grove, Mo., senior, said Monday that fighting with swords and shields was probably one of the most popular images of the Renaissance age.
Schellm is a member of the Society of Creative Anachronists, which recreates every aspect of the Middle Ages, from 600 to 1650, and he will be performing at the Renaissance Festival of Kansas City, in Bonner Springs, for the next five weeks.
"It's great to fight and to whack on someone without the violence," he said. "One minute it is quiet and you're standing there ready to fight and the next is a whack, whack, whack, smack, bash and thud when one of fighters gets 'killed.'"
"The SCA provides people with a way to escape from the 20th century and live a simpler way of life, if only for a weekend."
Schlemm said that the fighters were very careful when it came to
fighting. Every weapon and piece of armor must be tested by marshals of the festival who decide what can and cannot be used.
Most armor and weapons, as well as most clothing, is made by hand and in the style of the period the person chooses. Armor is made from various materials like carpet, cans and metal. Weapons are made of rattain, a wood similar to balsa but stronger, he said.
The SCA is serious about mock fighting. For example, Schlemm says, the SCA put out a 35-page handbook telling people how to make safe armor and weapons.
"If you don't meet their specifications, you don't fight. It's as simple as that," he said.
The most serious injury an SCA member has had was a momentary paralysis, but the usual injuries are just smashed fingers and bruises and, rarely, broken bones, he said.
Fighting is not an easy job, either. Many people get heat exhaustion because of the armor and padding they wear. During Saturday's performance, 12 fighters participating in the festival drank ten gallons of Gatorade and 15 gallons of water, Schlemm said.
Greg Anderson, a former KU student, said that fighting had grown from a backyard hobby - broomsticks and trash can lids - to a martial art, which people practiced every day to improve their techniques.
Students offer tips to prevent roommate troubles
By Theresa Scott
Of the Kansan staff
Many students leave for college relieved that they're getting away from nagging parents and the hassles of family life.
But often when they get to college, they realize that living with a roommate can be just as trying as living at home.
To avoid some of the problems that could crop up among roommates, several KU students offered a few helpful hints.
"The first roommate I had moved out." Boeger said Sunday. "He thought he was a beautiful Mr. Joe fraternity stud. The first thing he said to me was that there was an article in the paper about himself. First impressions are important and he lived up to his."
Jack Boeger, St. Louis junior, had a bit of advice for new roommates don't point out the article about Ms. Boeger's life after you say hello for the first time.
Boeger said he had more problems with his next-door neighbors in Ellsworth Hall than with his new roommate, although he has found a way to remedy these problems.
"I brought up my guitar and amplifier," he said. "When the neighbor plumb it into my phone, I'd go early morning, I just can't help it, the volume on the amps
slips up a bit. First my roommate and I pounded on the walls and then I gradually turned up the volume on my amps. It worked."
"I know she just can't help it," she said of her roommate at Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall. "But I have trouble sleeping through the alarm. She isn't used to this roommate business and hasn't realized there is someone still in bed."
Beoer said that pounding on the walls was a good way to communicate with the neighbors because it sounded so angry.
Terri Krafft, Liberal sophomore, also had some advice for new roommates.
"No one wants to get on anyone's nerves," he said. "You have to respect that."
"Of course some things are going to bother you about your roommate," she said. "But if you expect them to never make any noise or turn on the light when you don't want them to, you don't belong in a dorm. You should live by yourself in an apartment."
Kraftt said that having roommate problems was inevitable, no matter how good the friendship between roommates was.
However, Kraft had a practical view of the situation.
“你'll get on each other's nerves.” Krafft said. “It's because
Jim Lewis, Oklahoma City sophomore, said that although he got along well with his three roommates at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, 1439 Tennessee St., all four men had to adjust to each other's personality quirks.
you live so close to them. It's really unhealthy, but that's why you get on each other's nerves."
"I have to have everything neat in my room," he said. "I'm such a neat freak that sometimes my roommates call me 'Mom Lewis.'"
Lewis said his roommates didn't mind him cleaning up after them as long as he didn't bother their personal belongings.
Other than the neat freak syndrome, he said he got along well with his roommates because his personality and theirs were similar.
Although students may have their own answers to roommate woes, a recent book by Kate Kelly, Richard Davis and Jeff Stone, "What Color Is Your Toothbrush?" Or the Joys of Roommate Living," suggests certain questions to ask when moving with a roommate. For example, after moving in, the authors advise:
- Don't begin studying a new musical instrument in the room. Ever.
Confine the placement of religious shrines to unshared locations such as desk drawers and closets.
(especially karate or yoga rituals that require loud screaming or mantras) to closets, deserted bathrooms, and isolated exercise rooms in the university gymnasium.
Restrict early morning exercise
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Following these simple suggestions, and a few others mentioned in the book, may avert many roommate conflicts and make college life more enjoyable.