Announcing the Great Mark Twain Cussoff

The Library of Caledon has joined forces with several other august bodies to sponsor this literary event of the highest merit, suitable for persons of refined sensibilities, from all parts of the 19th century and literary grid: a contest in the  art of expression, to wit, unburdening oneself of an excess of sentiment with high-flown phrase and well-aimed epithet,  in the manner of a character out of the works penned by Mr. Samuel Clemens, more familiarly Mark Twain.

"Then the old man got to cussing and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any, and after that he polished off with a kind of a general cuss all round, including a considerable parcel of people which he didn't know the names of, and so called them what's-his-name when he got to them, and went right along with his cussing." -Huck Finn

Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood City, the Caledon and Steelhead Libraries, and the Alexandrian Free Library invite you to  participate in a series of events, leading up to the Great Mark Twain Cussing Contest itself. These events are hosted by Miss Diogenes Kuhr of Deadwood

Tour of Deadwood 1876
Sun, February 10, 1 - 3pm slt
Meet at the Deadwood Welcome Center
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Pass/201/157/651/
To get in the spirit of cussing like a Mark Twain character, Library members are invited to come to the Deadwood/1876 role-play sim for an "in-character" tour of the 19th century western mining boomtown that is not unlike the mining camps and boom towns in which young Samuel Clemens lived and worked. 

View the intricate and authentic historical build and meet some of the colorful individuals who populate an environment that is based upon actual historic photographs of 19th century Deadwood. 

Tour will be conducted by "cranky Confederate widow" Dio Kuhr, proprietor of the Saloon No. 10 and Kuhr's Laundry. 

RP note: We love our furry, tiny, mechanoid, vampyric, and other non-human friends, but to be in keeping with the historic character of the sim environment, we request that tour participants wear human avatars, dress in appropriate clothing from the latter-19th century (free outfits can be found at the Deadwood Welcome Center)  and remain in character with us as the friends and associates of JJ Drinkwater, publisher and principal author of Drinkwater's Dime Novels, for which he is seeking authentic western persons, vocabulary, and detail.



Lecture/demo, How to Cuss like a Mark Twain Character
Sun, February 24, 1 - 3pm SLT
Location TBA
Meet in the OOC (out of character) Classroom area of the Deadwood Sim for a discussion of Mark Twain's life and experiences in the west, and samples of his work illustrating archetypal western characters.  The discussion will be followed by an exhibition cuss-off presented by expert practitioners of the art.  All are welcome.


Mark Twain Cussing Championships - sponsored by the Caledon Library and Saloon No. 10.
Contestants will meet in the Deadwood sim OOC Classroom area to be matched against one another in a series of cuss-offs, working with a series of challenges including (but not limited to) commentary upon the following themes: the intelligence of your opponent; mainstream organized religion; the American electoral process; the morals of your opponent; Old Europe; the intelligence and morals of the wealthy; drunkards; etc. 

Judging will be conducted by Mr. JJ Drinkwater and Mrs. Diogenes Kuhr. 

Contestants' efforts will be judged on the basis of creativity, authenticity, verbal ornamentation, and sheer entertainment value.  Neither modernisms nor actual obscene language may be employed. 

Again, all are welcome!  To apply to be a contestant and win fabulous prizes (of a sort), kindly contact JJ Drinkwater or Diogenes Kuhr.