Goodbye + a few words for the road
(Edited to add: The blog will still be semi-active (mostly inactive) as the founding mod is still around. Thank you Mod Salt for taking over and being an amazing force for fandom positivity these past few years ~ Mod Saltiest)
Hey folks, this blog has been inactive for a while now as my life has been very busy and my interests have changed, so here's me offering official closure at least.
First of all: It has been a fun few years chatting, having debates, inspiring and helping each other out around our shared passion for fanfiction. I really enjoyed this form of interaction and was often moved, amused and empowered by our exchanges. I look back to this entire time with you with a fond smile. Thank you for your kindness, patience and enthusiasm.
And since i'm here, i want to use my reach one last time to share some personal thoughts - please indulge me, i won't bore you.
What is it about writing fanfiction that feels so empowering to so many of us?
When i was a child and young teenager i experienced stories as something closed-off, unchangeable, a product of great minds that, yes, i could and did vicariously enjoy, but of which i was forever the passive recipient. I was allowed in the fantastical playground of a storyteller's mind, but i was there as a guest, i could look but not play. I wasn't even aware playing was an option.
But with fanfiction ... somehow my entire perspective on storytelling changed. My relationship to stories moved away from mere consumption to a desire to make it different, to make it mine. Suddenly there was a space for my previously vague, unformed ideas, and an incentive to explore them.
Confronted with polished, glossy professional stories, I now saw possibilities. What if this character fell in love with the same gender, experienced trivial domestic bliss, came to grip with their childhood trauma? And i could make this possibilities reality through my own writing, bend the narrative to cater to my taste and interests. I was an active participant in the process of creating reality through words. And sure, the product was rough, awkward, mediocre at times - but it was mine, it held something of me. And sometimes it entertained and thrilled and moved readers from all over the world that happened to stumble upon it.
Online communities allowed me to realize that we can reach others, relate to each other, move others, that our voices are unique and interesting, if only we care to speak. A pen, a laptop, and we can make as much fucking sandcastles as we want to, tell the stories we want to tell, that are ours to tell. No one can do that in our place.
And if you've nodded along to this trail of thought; if you agree with this logic and can relate to that feeling of empowerment; then i want you to understand that this can be applied to all aspects of life.
This dreadful, gray concrete wall on your street that fills you with gloom? Why endure its depressing sight when you can grab a spray can and remake it into something colorful and joyful, reshape that wall into something you actually care to look at and that may bring others joy too.
The wasteland next to your neighborhood that's currently hosting weed and trash and that the municipality doesn't want to take care of? Why accept it as it is, if you can envision better possibilities? A shovel, a wheelbarrow, some seeds, a few helping hands, the internet to guide you, and you have the first steps to an urban garden beloved by bees, butterflies and birds, and providing fresh fruit and vegs to you and your neighbors.
Sandcastle, build that fucking sandcastle.
Your workplace where everyone is treated like shit and your rights are threatened? Are you going to accept the narrative that things have to be that way? That there's nothing you can do, except maybe vote? What's to stop you from reshaping your workplace so it caters to your needs? Colleagues at your back, help from the union, and you can bargain for better work conditions, modify the entire workplace. No one is going to do that for you.
The local coal mine that is tearing through the earth to dig up tons upon tons of fossil combustible, actively threatening all life on earth? Can you really accept that as a given, as something no one has might on, except maybe some remote politician? Or can you join a group fighting for climate justice and block the shit out of that mine so it's forced to stop the destruction?
Redesign the entire game.
The step from writing fanfiction to blocking a coal mine may seem far-fetched, but at its core it's a matter of how we interact with the world we live in. See how it all ties into each other? How once you've noticed you have the power to actively reshape things around you, whether stories or your real-life environment, you realize that everything can be changed, and that everything probably must be changed, too?
Friends, hard times are ahead. Times have been hard for a lot of us for a long while now. With the climate crisis upon us and world governments eager to maintain this deadly status-quo of economic growth and environmental destruction no matter the costs, it's up to us to take action, fight the powers in place and change the lives we lead. We can't rely on politicians, we can't rely on big business, we can't rely on someone more smart and capable to emerge and fix things. No one's gonna come. We have to start where we stand, teach each other and ourselves what to do, and get shit done.
It will be difficult, and it will be tough and it will be scary, but we have each other, we have this wonderful medium that allows us to find each other all over the planet, hear each other's voices and organize on an unprecedented scale. We are creative, and numerous and bold, and we will be reckoned with. Because help won't come from above, and we have to stop waiting, hoping and campaigning for it. Let's invest our energy where it really matters, and that's not a mere cross on a ballot every few years.
Being an active participant in the fight for a better life, no matter how harrowing that might sometimes be, is so much better than enduring crisis after crisis with only the dishonest voices of the powerful to lead you through them. And the crises will come. Covid is only the start. You will not be forever able to keep your head down and abide the rules, not if you want to maintain your personal integrity. I repeat: keeping your head down will not be an option forever. So why not choose to act of your own impulse?
Friends, change is coming and there will be choices to face sooner or later. Questions that will demand answers. Can I accept the status quo? Can I accept the dominant narrative? Can I accept indignities and injustice, carried out against me or sometimes in my name? Can I accept the climate crisis and environmental destruction taking place under my nose?
Talk to your friends. Find your answers. Find the drive for change.
Friends, the world is yours to shape. The story is yours to tell. Be aware of your own power, and use it for good.
Friends, be brave. The time is now. Good luck on your way.
