Mandrake wrote:In the meantime, a virtual Ruskin!
Well, I watched this for three hours or so. I’m not sure why The Ruskin was mentioned as this Zoom event was nothing like being in the Ruskin! OK, it’s not easy to recreate the packed crowds, the background shouting and noise and the half hour wait to get a round of drinks but this was nothing like my memories of the Ruskin. Instead it seemed to consist mainly of Ben Earl and Mark Calabrese chatting, occasionally doing a slight or move to illustrate a point, and one or two other occasionally making a point but I didn’t see any sense of wider sharing from others which is what usually happens in the Ruskin. It was more like I’d stumbled on the two of them having a great time swapping stories and thoughts but no real involvement of others which is ironic because one of the topics they mentioned was people feeling a bit left out at conventions and the way that some groups tend to be unwilling to open up to newcomers. Perhaps I missed the point completely! Roll on 2022 when we can do the Ruskin in the flesh!