Historians, The History Peeps, Lovers of Musical Theatre, and Advocates of Social Justice. I aspire to be part of the first and am already part of the others.
Overview:
To be an historian is like being a professional student. You continue learning throughout your life as an historian. That is the greatest appeal: never needing to stop questioning and learning and thinking.
The Do’s and Don’ts:
An historian should always aim for objectivity and acknowledge the biases he/she does have. An historian should try to uncover as many possible points of view on a subject as possible. He/she should work to form new ideas.
Becoming an Historian:
To become an historian, one must have at least a Master’s degree for archival and curatorial work, and a Doctorate for work as a professor in a four year institution.
Hierarchy and Society:
I don’t know much about historians yet, save what I’ve learned from a week of knowing my two history professors, but, concerning ways of dress, I happened to stumble upon this video which shows the varied ways historians dress at a relatively formal event. I also found this blog post by an historian in which she discusses the ways in which the wardrobe of a professor is seen differently based on gender.
Overview:
The social justice community is made up of those who support and fight for the rights of all people no matter their race, gender, sexaulity (or lack therof), gender identity, or disability. As far as the world has come in respect to civil rights, the members of this community refuse to think that prejudice and problems no longer exist for any group.
Do’s and Don’ts:
As a member of a social justice community, one must always be aware of his/her privileges (male privilege, white privilege, heterosexual privilege, cisgendered privilege).the social justice community member must monitor every thing he/she/zhe says, because if he/she/zhe something that could be seen as offensive, though that was not the intent, he/she/zhe will be ostracized and attacked. This is especially prevalent online. Those who fight for acceptance can make mistakes, as anyone can, but when they do they are met with insults and death threats. The anonymous take the time to find the individual’s name and address in order to force he/she/zhe to go into hiding, in a sense.
This is worrying to me. I want to speak up about things I believe in, but it terrifies me what could happen if I slip up. I also think it hinders the messages the community tries to support. The rage and antagonistic qualities of the community only serve to worsen the opposition. There are a few, however who realize that it is safer and smarter to calmly explain to others their mistakes and what they’re trying to accomplish.
Becoming a member of the Social Justice Community:
It isn’t something you become a part of. If you have the values, you are a member.
Hierarchy and Society:
In the social justice community, those who have less privilege in the rest of society are ranked the highest. It’s how it should be. Those who are oppressed or ignored deserve to have their voices heard.
There’s no particular way of dressing in the group, since it is so diverse. There are of course a multitude of t-shirts earned from being part of certain societies and communities there within.
As for speech patterns, I’ve already discussed them a bit. Members of the social justice community are passionate and outspoken. They can be articulate, but often their emotions hide the rationale.
Overview:
“Drama geeks” and actors are often seen as serious and focused, but when singing and dancing is added a new breed of people is found. Musical theatre actors are usually a livelier bunch. They tend to be more laid back: there are fewer qualms about fooling about backstage, so long as they remain quiet, they belt out their favorite showtunes while doing mundane tasks, and they are prone to tap dancing down hallways. Most importantly, they have a love and a talent for all things musical theatre.
The Do’s and Don’ts:
When it comes to this community, there really aren’t many requirements that come to mind, but there are several restrictions. They stem from a need to respect your fellow performers. When acting as an audience member, you shouldn’t speak or be distracting in any way. When rehearsing, you should not try to be the director yourself: there is someone hired for that job. The community is driven by “golden rule” style respect.
Becoming a Musical Theatre Person:
One becomes a musical theatre person when they audition for or see their first show. The experience pushes them to continue on and experience as much of the world of musical theatre as is possible.
Hierarchy and Society:
As much as it pains me to say, there is definitely an hierarchy within the world of musical theatre. Putting aside those who have “made it” in a world of professional performance, there are two major groups: those who’ve been doing it for year, who have the training and experience, and those who don’t. One can have mounds of natural talent, but he/she will still seem insignificant when surrounded by those who claim to have been doing it since they were to, who list out the roles they’ve played, who’ve taken this master class and those voice lessons with this teacher. When I was Musical Theatre “Major” at Northwest School of the Arts for two years, my friends and I referred to such people as “The Elitist Musical Theatre Kids.”
In casual settings, people in the musical theatre community tend to have a quirky sense of dress. They mix patterns and wear bright colors. For auditions, they dress to impress: the girls wear dresses and heel, the men button ups and slacks. The leotards and tights from rehearsal tend to slip into more frequent wear as well, as they’ll often not take the time to change out of them before heading home.
Those in the musical theatre community tend to speak in run on sentences. Their tone is more of a sing-song and their expressions are always clear on their faces.
Overview:
Perhaps the most interesting, and by far the most obscure of communities I know of is “The History Peeps.” The History Peeps is a community on tumblr made up of highschoolers and college students with a love for history. What makes them interesting is their approach to history. Far too many people either place historical figures up on gilded pedestals or condemn them as murderers and psychopaths, but the history peeps choose to acknowledge that every figure in the past, no matter how significant, lived a live outside of what’s written in the textbooks. They squeal over Robespierre’s love of pigeons and Aaron Burr’s sexual exploits in addition to having serious intellectual discussion.
Though I do consider myself a part of this community, I exist far from the center of it. I and many others tend to take a backseat in participation; we pipe in with our opinions from time to time, but tend to back away from some of the more …spirited activity, by which I mean photoshopping the heads of historical figures onto various things, drawing historical fanart, and writing historical smut. It’s a bit much for me.
I enjoy being a part of this group because , despite some of the stranger goings on, “peepdom” in its broadest sense is a love for, an enthusiasm for, and a fresh look at all things history.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Peepdom:
As stated by many history peeps, the only requirement for becoming a history peep is a love of history. The only restrictions are those that prohibit insulting the interests and favorite periods and figures of others, and blaming any event on any one person. Otherwise, History Peeps are allowed to do whatever they please.
Becoming a Peep:
One does not truly become a peep. Those who are a part of this community have always had a love for history, the title simply came from them finding each other. There is no becoming a history peep, rather one finds the history peeps.
Hierarchy and Society:
There is little to no hierarchy within the History Peeps. Whatever there may be would be based on seniority and amount of activity. Those who have been History Peeps for the longest time, those who write more, draw more, do more are better known within the community.
There’s little governance of our actions and speech, but it tends to fluctuate between two extremes. There are times for eloquence and rhetoric and times for incomprehensible rambling, times for composure and times for fangirling.
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