Opinion: Lie to Me About Renn Fayre

Renn Fayre this year is going to suck — or so “the discourse” would have you believe. But I worry that the focus on how much ‘worse’ this year’s Renn Fayre is going to be will actually make it worse. The people concerned about Renn Fayre are (obviously) the same ones who care about it. As a Freshman with only legends and lore to inform my understanding of what  Renn Fayre even is, nothing makes me want to attend less than being warned about how lame it’s going to be. If that were just me, then I’d advise myself to shut up and get over it — but I don’t think it is. If we want the people (who are going to need to run this party one day) to care about it, they need to actually attend. And right now, the only times we’ve heard about Renn Fayre is when it was introduced by college officials at the start of the year, and in the context of how much it’s gonna suck. Now, I don’t know about you, but hearing about how great a party is going to be from college officials eight months ago doesn’t fill me with confidence and fervor. So if we as a student body want new-ish Reedies — freshmen and transfer students — to show up in full force we need to advertise it ourselves. And please; disparage campus policy and advocate for more student freedom to your heart’s desire.

But also hype it up! Wax poetic in the MCs, plan cool outfits; we gotta, to fake it till we make it. No matter how much art or how many drugs there are this year, it will be so much worse if no one shows up. I would even go so far as to hope, if you’ll excuse my corniness, that the people were the most important part of Renn Fayre all along. So, please, even if it really is gonna suck, lie to me about Renn Fayre; and maybe we’ll find that the real Olde Reed was the friends we made along the way.