Dear Fandom; A Love Letter

[kiki_eng]

Dear Fandom,

I don't say this as often as I should or coherently enough, but- you're awesome. I really dig you.

I love how excited you get about things. I love that you have all of these feelings. I love your incoherent squeeing and angry noises of rage and cat-macros of justice. I love your thoughtful essays and really distracted posts about pretty people. I love how into vests and mechatronics you are.

I love how much you care. I love that you set up and participate in charity auctions. I love how you try to look after yourself - that fans try to help other fans out by donating money for those in a fix, by gifting paid time, by looking up and getting information for and to them, by introducing them to people, by making them something to cheer them up. I love that you're not just about individual fandoms; I love that you're about people. I love that you try to help.

I love that you talk about things. I love that you look at things critically, that you'll analyse something that you love and call it out on what it's doing wrong. I love that you talk about prejudice and intolerance and privilege in the text of a work and also in the real world. I love that you tackle these issues. I've learned a lot just from listening to you.

I love that you sometimes worry about not being worried. I love that you're a little or a lot neurotic.

I love that you try to make yourself better, that you try to be more inclusive or caring or social. I love that you try.

I love that you share. I love that you write a drabble or a novel or make an icon or a fanvid or a podfic or a pair of slippers and then you share. I love that you have that creative urge. I love that you want to talk about films and television and novels and that song you heard last night. I love that you want to hear about that or read about that. I love how interested you are in things.

I love that you keep records. I love that you write about your history and put it into context with the history of art and copyright law and technology. I love that you think that way. I love that you hang on to zines and VHS tapes and take screencaps.

I love that you make ridiculous picspams about furry creatures and write silly AUs. I love that you sometimes revel in angst. I love how many different facets of your personality there are; I love how complicated you are.

Some days you make me fiendishly happy, when you make me giggle or put my chin in my hands and gaze adoringly at you. There are also days that you get under my skin something terrible, when there's something you've done that makes me sad or angry or frustrated, but I also sometimes learn something from that. When you make me unhappy I don't think that I can call that bad, and when I'm mad at you there's always another part of you that can cheer me up. I love you.

I love you for being complicated and messy and human. You've taught me a lot, about being complicated and messy and human, about interacting with people, about listening, about writing, about culture, about history, about slang, about critical thinking, about social issues, about learning, about technology, about all sorts of things.

I love your posts about gardening, knitting, ferrets, and the military. I love how many interests you have and your willingness to share them and your excitement. I love how you riff off of yourself. I love how full of ideas and potential you are. You're amazing.

I love you for being you, for being fannish.

♥

(This post is for china_shop's Fandom Appreciation Challenge, which "is about giving feedback, reccing and interacting with other fen." - details here.)

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Ray hugs!

*\0/*

I've been embracing my outer squee, thanks to fandom. Not because I'm not still critical, but because I can be smart, fierce, sweet and silly without it making me less.

Fandom, it's about More.

[kiki_eng]

Ray hugs!
*tilts head* *makes experimental Fraser noises at you*

Yeah, I think fandom has made me a lot more confident in my squee and helped me take more stock in that kind of excitement.

Fandom, it's about More.
That's a really good way of putting it, capital letter included, (though I am oddly reminded of recruitment ads for the Forces, but yeah-) more variety, more people, more... That sounds right. :)

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

He's less huggy. Benton needs practice.

Ray Stantz was the preceding icon. He's a fanboy and an engineer (and very sweet and mouths off to gods)

(well, yeah, those before 9am ads were evocative.)

your bats are kawaii.

[kiki_eng]

Your Ray sounds very exciting.

Thanks! (The bats are by boundary and from some fun art.)

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Ray is also from Real Ghostbusters (he's based off Dan Aykroyd's Ghostbusters Ray), as are Janine who I used in another thread, and Peter and Egon I followed her up with.

This is Winston, here in a spec template version. Normally he gets to stand in for righteous indignation, literary criticism, building trades, and any time common sense really needs to break out.

ends Real Ghostbusters introductions.

[kiki_eng]

:) Fun.