The Blue Ribbon Collective

The Blue Ribbon Collective

Blue ribbons tied with a safety pinTowards the start of Knutepunkt 2017 in Norway, we organized a workshop, High on KP, for people who were interested in avoiding or limiting their drinking of alcohol during the conference. The reasons for this choice were varied; perhaps they were drawn to using drink as a social enabler, or they felt social pressure to drink.

This attracted a good mix of people. Some interesting personal stories and strategies were shared. We were also joined, and went on to be approached later, by a number of people who didn’t drink at all themselves but who wanted to help and support those who were avoiding alcohol.

The project was informed in part by our related work on alcohol at larp and at larp-related social events, and the problems that can sometimes arise from it. It became apparent from responses to our survey that social pressure making people drink more than they were comfortable with was one of the factors causing adverse incidents.

Two men display the blue ribbons pinned to their badges

Members of the Blue Ribbon Collective at Knutepunkt 2017.

As part of the project, we introduced the blue ribbon badge. This symbol is a light-hearted homage to the ribbon worn by those who took the temperance pledge in the 19th century, although our aims for it are rather different. This is what we intend wearing a blue ribbon to signify:

  1. I am sober;
  2. If you would like to stay sober, or to drink no more than you have done already, I can support you in that resolve.

We anticipate offering blue ribbons and running workshops at future KPs – if organizers are happy with that. And we would be glad to see them being used at other social events where alcohol is generally part of the social structure. They’re not official emblems and don’t have anything special about them; any length of blue ribbon, held by a safety-pin, will send the same message.

Finally, we should add – to avoid potential misunderstanding – that this project is absolutely not about trying to discourage people from drinking, or to shame drinkers, or to reduce the amount of alcohol at KP. It is simply meant to help people who don’t want to drink, or who don’t want to drink too much.

The Blue Ribbon Collective

Blue ribbons tied with a safety pinMoving forward, we are developing a Blue Ribbon Collective of participants who are interested in staying sober at events and helping others with alcohol-related issues. Anyone can be a part of the Collective: that just signifies being aware and supportive of our work. Then if someone chooses to wear a blue ribbon pinned to their clothing at a particular larp event, that signals their sobriety (at that event) to others. Being part of the Collective does not mean you should feel under any pressure to stay sober, or to wear the ribbon. Feel free to contact us if you would like to be included on the list.

Current members of the Blue Ribbon Collective:

Frederik Vindal Andersson

Johannes Axner

Sarah Lynne Bowman

Banana Chan

Jon Cole

Liz Gorinksy

Harrison Greene

Charlie Haldén

Sanne Harder

Cleo Hatting

Mo Holkar

Kjell Hedgard Hugaas

Torgrim Husvik

Antti Kumpulainen

Janusz Maxe

Morgan Nuncio

Stephanie Nudelman

Tuomas Puikkonen

Tadeu Rodrigues

Pedro Rodríguez Marín

Francesco Rugerfred Sedda

Liv Kristine Slyngborg

Susanne Vejdemo

Melissa Whitlock

Mila Ould Yahoui

If you’re interested in the blue ribbon, or in the project generally, or would like to help in future, please get in touch!

(Edited on 6th March 2019 to clarify details of the Blue Ribbon Collective.)


Cover photo: A blue ribbon pinned to the lapel of a black leather jacket. Photo by Sarah Lynne Bowman.

 

Become a patron at Patreon!

Authors

Mo Holkar is a British larp designer and organizer. He is part of the Larps on Location design collective, and was formerly an organizer of The Smoke and of The Game Kitchen. He is a member of the editorial board of nordiclarp.org.