Have you ever felt that you were born in the wrong time or era? Are you very creative and eclectic? Do you have a fondness for fantasy and sci-fi? If so then you are like many of us who have discovered the magic of the Steampunk Culture! One person who felt the call to “go home” to Steampunk in a big way is Jeff Mach! I met Jeff several years ago when he was planning his first Steampunk World’s Fair event in Central NJ….it took over a large room in a corporate hotel and has now expanded to a 3 day extravaganza, often taking over two complete corporate hotels, with hundreds of cosplayers, artisans, vendors, musicians and those that want to just be a part of the spectacle!
Goth Girl
As you may or may not know, Steampunk combines sci-fi with the Victorian Era, so fantastical contraptions are created as if solely fired by steam power. Elements of Goth, fantasy and anime can be found as well. Here’s a taste of what Jeff’s events bring… https://www.facebook.com/SteampunkTendencies/videos/1317398068374556/?pnref=story
And in his own words, here’s a bit about what drew him to all this madness:
There’s a simple goal I have for every Jeff Mach Event: I make weekend-long homes for unusual people.
What does that mean?
The second martial arts school I attended was literally in the back of an alley, up a long flight of stairs. And leading to the school door, there was a pair of signs. The first was a standard martial-arts school notice, “Please remove shoes”. This simple act gave a physical reminder that I was leaving one place—“the street”—and stepping into a different world, with different rules.
The second was at the top of the stairs. “You are entering a traditional karate dojo. Please act accordingly”.
How did one “act accordingly”? I knew many common rules and practices—I also knew that every school I had seen had its own style, rules, approach. What was proper in one school might be utterly wrong in another.
Yet the practical value of that sign was enormous. It always gave me pause, called to my mind all of my associations with training grounds, what I learned there, and who and what those things made me. “Act accordingly”: know what you have come to do, know what you are doing, at least in your own mind. Or, at the barest minimum, recognize in your gut that you’ve come to a place where things are different. Don’t just take that difference passively, when it enters your space; make it a part of your consciousness.
And thus. And so.
You’ve entered our world, a place where we belong, a place where we are not the outsiders, a place where what we do matters, is meaningful, is real, and we are NOT the only ones who know it.
Steampunk, Rocky Horror, Renaissance Faires, Geeky spaces; it doesn’t matter.
Leave the outside world for outsiders.
We bring our homes with us, inside us, we foster them with love and passion. We’re different–not better, just not the same–and sometimes, we realize: we are not alone.
And that place? That place is home.
The next Steampunk World’s Fair is May 5-7, 2017 in Central NJ….here’s where you can find all the info & tickets:
www.SteampunkWorldsFair.comLike this:
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