Old South

[SWTXBelle]

All of this makes me think back to the Sons of Confederate Veterans Ball I attended at their Reunion in Nashville a few years back. We had many gentlemen wearing CSA uniforms, and tons of belles. At the same hotel a black family was having a large family reunion. Some of the family members came into the lobby area where we were, and asked what was going on. I overheard one national officer explaining the purpose of the SCV to an interested man of about 30 - 40. We had a historical band play, and were dancing. Some of the younger reunion family members stuck their heads in, and we invited them to dance. It was quite a sight to see them doing the Virginia Reel with the costumed SCV participants!

I'm not saying that the ladies of AKA will ever feel like taking a turn around the dance floor with the gentlemen of KA - I will say that when you engage in a sincere dialogue with well-meaning people you will often discover that perceived animosity and stereotypes aren't necessarily the reality.

[Beryana]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

All of this makes me think back to the Sons of Confederate Veterans Ball I attended at their Reunion in Nashville a few years back. We had many gentlemen wearing CSA uniforms, and tons of belles. At the same hotel a black family was having a large family reunion. Some of the family members came into the lobby area where we were, and asked what was going on. I overheard one national officer explaining the purpose of the SCV to an interested man of about 30 - 40. We had a historical band play, and were dancing. Some of the younger reunion family members stuck their heads in, and we invited them to dance. It was quite a sight to see them doing the Virginia Reel with the costumed SCV participants!

Somewhat similar and off the CSA topic but similar in ways. . . Every year in February there is a big reenactor/living historian conference held in the Chicago area. Time periods run Roman through VietNam. This year there was a booking goof up and one of the rooms we had reserved was also booked for a Bar Mitzvah (we were booked a year out, etc)! Anyway, there are a LOT of German reenactors that attend this convention and we had to do some smaller things on our part because one of the Bar Mitzvah guests was a Holocaust survivor. Needless to say, that was a situation where we didn't mingle and the hotel even put up a barricade so there would be no mingling on Saturday night at the ball. The German reenactors were fine with only wearing their tunics/jackets and caps while within the designated rooms so it was all good - we definitely did not want to cause distress to an 80 year old woman! Common sense does go a long way.

The mystery and crime writers' conference did enjoy mingling with us.