Fan Behavior

No,  I don't mean fan like ceiling fan, or exhaust fan, I mean like fanatic, faithful follower, adherent, enthusiast, groupie.
There are fans of all sorts of things out there.  Sports fans, fans of TV shows, genre fans, music fans, fans of authors, you name it.  All of these fan groups are supportive of the objects of their interest.  They buy tickets to games, movies, concerts, events where their idols appear.  They buy memorabilia, pictures, t-shirts, toys, cds, dvds, books, just about anything to support the team/show/star they are fond of.  Go to any social media site, and you will find all sorts of fans in groups, or individually, either on Face Book pages, or following their idols on Twitter, or haunting websites and chat rooms about their favorites.
Fandoms are the separate little kingdoms of each type of fan.  Star Trek fandom is probably one of the largest and most active out there, but Doctor Who fans, also known as Whovians, are a very large fandom, also. (These also overlap, Trek fans also being fond of The Doctor in many cases.)  Star Wars has a large fan base, and they are also pretty active.  Most of these fandoms are fun to participate in, and most people are nice, at least in the Star Trek fan groups I have associated with.  That being said, there are trolls everywhere.

Fandom tends to fall into two general camps overall.
FIJAGH, or "Fandom Is Just A Goddam Hobby"  - Mostly folks like my husband and I that enjoy our enthusiasm, but do not base our ENTIRE life upon the fan experience.  (Though we DID meet in a Star Trek fan club...)
and
FIAWOL - Fandom Is A Way Of Life.  These are the die-hards, the fans that live and breathe for their favorites.  Some of these people's zeal would put the most earnest missionaries to shame.  They are the fans that go to EVERY convention, the ones who have ELABORATE costumes, the ones who get a little scary to talk to sometimes...
But most people in BOTH camps are kind, generous, and caring, especially of fellow fans. 
Perhaps the kindest, most dedicated, and most true to the tenets of the program they admire are Classic Beauty and the Beast fans.  These are people who, more than 25 years after the show first aired still have an annual convention, still write and share fan fiction, are very active online, and the best thing of all, they raise money at their conventions and at Winterfest Online for charity.  Each convention chooses a worthy local charity, one that exemplifies the principles of the show, and they raise money through the dealers' room and the silent auction and straight donations to support that charity. I have not ever heard of a group of fans doing something like this with such regularity, and so generously.  This is NOT a really large group, and yet, they raise decent amounts to donate.

 I have come across few fan groups that are openly antagonistic, but you will , as I said, find "trolls" or troublemakers in almost any group.  You will find "snobs" who think THEY are more dedicated fans and therefore will not associate with "lesser" fans, but I haven't found any of those in BATB fandom.  There are a few Trek fans like that, especially  when you get proponents of different types of Star Trek together.  I like the Original Series best, but I do not DISLIKE the other series that came later.  Some of the later fans openly detest the Original Series, which to me is a bit like hating your grandparents.  You came from them, you better have some respect, 'cause everything about you started there...
Since I have been on social media and finding some of my favorite actors on line, I have seen some fans who perhaps know these actors from other roles, who are downright nasty both to the actors and to other fans.  Now, how can you call yourself a fan and be rude and disrespectful to that person?  Doesn't seem logical to me.  A fan is a supporter, someone who enjoys the work of an actor, musician, artist, or sports star, not a critic.  Your job as a fan is to be SUPPORTIVE, to show your appreciation.  You are not a critic, and really, if you disagree with someone, just stop reading the posts, or don't say anything if you can't say something nice. (Basic manners you should have learned from your Momma.)  As for attacking other fans, hey, the social media page isn't a place for you to vent your cruelty.  I know of at least one star (William Shatner) who has blocked and banned people for being rude and crude to others on his feeds.  He shouldn't have to be enforcing such discipline, as though his fans were a bunch of unruly recruits at StarFleet.  It is to his credit that he does, though.

Some fans, myself included, have been quick to encourage when people we follow are seeming to be down or discouraged.  One celebrity thanked all of us who had sent him encouragement and support, saying he was overwhelmed by how much we cared.  I, for one, responded that hey, that's what fans are FOR!
True fans don't rub it in when you have a setback, they don't desert the team when it loses, they stick around and keep believing.  Sports fans are perhaps the best example of this.  True Sooner Fans will always root for OU, no matter what.  The Sooners could be playing the worst football EVER, and Sooner fans will still come to games, still cheer, and still love their team.  I have seen it over and over since we moved here.  (And we are only about 7 miles from Norman, our best friends are OU alums, as are many, many other people we know.)

So, to the actors, writers, and musicians that I admire (ahem, Ron Perlman, Elton John, William Shatner, Rod Stewart, Michael Ornstein, Wil Wheaton, Anne Lamott, Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagal, Josh Groban, to name a few) know that you have my support, and I will still root for you no matter what.  I appreciate your talent, and I will be here.
 To my fellow fans, I will support you, also, and as long as you are willing to play nice, so am I.  If you are going to be mean, though, you will be ignored and blocked.   Life is too short to waste energy feeding trolls.
Love to all my fellow PerlGirls, ladies, you are the best!

Katie

Some Thoughts on a Friday Night

"Friday Night in the Big Town!"  Gary England always says.  Yeah, well, Moore isn't really a big town.  It's a nice little suburb, and full of great people, has a fabulous theater, a Harley Davidson dealership, and a wonderful library.  (And lots of other shops and parks and restaurants, but you get the idea.) 
Oklahoma City is considered "the Big Town" around here.  To  a girl who grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles County, it's not so big, either.  A few Friday nights when I was in high school, (in the late 70's when things were pretty wild), my friends and I used to gas up Kathy's old Delta 88 and head to Hollywood for "Hollywood Boulevard Safari."  That's what we called cruising Hollywood Boulevard.  We had rules.  All doors must remain locked and all windows rolled up for the entire cruise.  There was to be no interacting with the nightlife, we were only there to observe.  And observe we did.  Drag queens so fabulous, the women looked less like women than they did, generally funky people out ambling around, the odd cop or two questioning people.  We never told our parents where we were going.  We'd all still be grounded if we had.  We lived in a nice middle class suburb in the San Gabriel Valley called Hacienda Heights.  Our school's band and football team won all kinds of state titles the four years my friends and I were attending.  At least four of us were in the Shakespeare Club at school, and all of us were Honor Roll students.  Going out to cruise Hollywood Blvd. was our only real vice.  None of us had boyfriends that year, so we had fun being "just us girls."

The kids around here think cruising 12th Street in Moore is a big deal.  I don't get it.  Nothing interesting to see here, certainly nowhere near the entertainment value of our forays into Hollywood.  Yet, for YEARS the kids in this state would come from all over to cruise 12th Street.  The cops have pretty much put an end to it, well, their presence and the much higher price of gas these days.  Neighbors have told us of being unable to leave the subdivision for the traffic on cruise nights, and the NOISE was something awful.  Thankfully, the cruising had been pretty well shut down before we moved here.
These days, my Friday night is seldom more than a chance to really relax and not worry too much about how late I happen to stay up writing.  I do have to watch the clock tonight, though.  I have to get up and get the weeding and mowing done before it gets too stinking hot tomorrow.  The yard looks disgraceful.

On another tangent; our quest to lose weight and be healthier is going pretty well.   Matt is back in size 36 slacks, and I am back in my size 10 jeans.  It is hard to log everything we eat and all the exercise we do, but worth it.  Both of our recent blood tests have come back with excellent results.  Matt has even been taken off one of the heart medications they put him on since he has done so well losing weight and keeping his blood pressure in control.  I am proud to say that I take no prescription medications at this time.  My numbers were all really good, and the doctor knows my high blood pressure readings in the clinic are white coat hypertension.  (I had a very bad experience in an emergency room as a young child, and hospitals and doctor's offices have freaked me out, at least on a subconscious level, ever since. )  I have to really concentrate on my breathing and relaxing myself to get a near normal reading in a clinical setting.  My numbers here at home have been going down as my weight goes down.
It makes me feel good to be able to wear clothes I haven't fit in for a long time.  I also need to start my workout with free weights again, as I need to strengthen my muscles and prevent bone loss.  I know I will never recapture my lost youth, but I think I look pretty good, and I'll settle for looking good for my age and being healthy.  Very excited that Matt is starting to look like the man I married again instead of a much too heavy man.


To start yet another topic, I am so far behind on the books I want to read that it isn't even remotely amusing.  I have several things on my Nook that I really do want to read, but I keep getting distracted.  Maybe now that the weather is settling down, and life around here is settling back to something like normal, I'll be able to concentrate on my reading again.  I have been  reading, but have had to backtrack and re-read a lot because my mind wanders off in the middle of things.  Not that the books are not interesting and engrossing, just that my ability to concentrate hasn't been too great lately.  Have also been distracted by trying to catch up with some movies and TV shows that I have not been able to watch.  Netflix is a wonderful thing, but boy, you can sure overdose on it if you aren't careful.  I try to save stationary chores like ironing for the times I want to watch say, Sons of Anarchy,  so I won't be so inclined to watch more than I can absorb in one sitting.  There is a lot going on in that show that is not immediately apparent.  Layers upon layers.  My husband doesn't like it, says it glorifies outlaws, but he hasn't really watched it, I don't think.  I do know there used to be a motorcycle club that hung out across the street from where he bought his house in San Bernardino.  They were pretty small-time, and mostly pretty amusing, but I didn't hang out with them too much, only with Saundra, who ran the Star Trek fan club we belonged to.  (Yes, a biker chick who liked Star Trek, they DO exist.)  In fact, I think it was Saundra who told Matt he really ought to ask me out.  His Mom was in the club, too, and SHE actually introduced us to each other.  (Yeah, my mother in law wrote sci-fi stories and sometimes called herself "Granny Space".  She was a good writer, had a wonderful sense of humor, and I really miss her.)

Anyway, that and the dread of the hot, humid hours I must spent dealing with weeds and grass tomorrow are what has been rattling around in my brain this evening.  Hope everybody has a great weekend.
As Ever,
Katie 

We Must Share The Light

This world of ours has gotten very dark lately.  There is so much sadness, so much hatred and vitriol spewed forth in our news and entertainment media.  An outsider looking at this divided and antagonistic society would think we were beyond all hope.
And yet, there are positive voices out there.  There are people speaking out and reaching out in love and not hate, in seeking for solutions, and not seeking to fix blame.  We must nurture each other, and those voices of hope.  There are a few quotes that speak to my heart about times like this, and I would like to share them with you, and tell you why they speak to me.

First, is a quote from a television show that many dismissed as 'silly' or a "space opera".  Nearly fifty years later, Star Trek is still going strong, and still the original series is viewed by many, and words like these reach people who need to hear them.

This is from the episode "Who Mourns For Adonais?"  Kirk is trying to convince a crew member that her loyalty is to humanity and the crew, not the god Apollo.
     "We're the same.  We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives.  We're tied together beyond any untying.  Man or woman, it makes no difference.  We're human.  We couldn't escape from each other even if we wanted to-that's how you do it, Lieutenant!  By remembering who and what you are!  A bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end.  And the only thing that's truly yours is the rest of humanity.  That's where our duty lies!"

When you think about it, we are all more alike than we are different.  We all have feelings that get hurt.  We all have dreams and hopes, we have other people we love, and if we're lucky, people who love us.  The only thing that matters is that we are all human.  If we can learn to see the similarities while still appreciating the differences, then we might be able to survive.

Here's a quote from another TV show.  This one still has a dedicated fan base, but there have been no directly related series, no mini-series, no movies.  And yet, the fans persist.  Because there is something in this little television program that touches people deeply, if they are open to it.  The original TV series Beauty and the Beast, made from 1987-1990, was about love.  Love between an unusual man/beast and a beautiful woman.  It was also about human beings loving and accepting each other on many levels, about how people can learn to live together in harmony.  The show made great use of classical literature and music, it celebrated what human beings can do to make the world a more beautiful place.  The world Below, where Vincent, the so-called beast, lives because it is the only safe place for him, depends on a network of "helpers" in the world Above, who, as their name implies, help the people below by providing supplies or logistical help or whatever they can within reason.  The world Below is fairly self-sufficient, but they still need assistance in some areas.  This quote is from a ceremony that opens the annual celebration they call "Winterfest".

"We are all part of one another.  One family, one community.  Sometimes we forget that.  And so each year we meet here.  To thank those who have helped us, and to remember...even the greatest darkness is nothing, so long as we share the light."

Sharing the light is important.  We all have light within us, whether we feel like it or not.   Those of us who grew up in the Christian tradition know well the verse that says:
"Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  (Matthew 5 :14-16) Light is not meant to be hidden away, it must shine out for all to see if it is to be of use.
Light is manifest in love, in the things we do because we have love.  Those who help feed the hungry, who care for the sick, who reach out to any other person, near or far, are sharing love, are sharing (and spreading) light.
I want to leave you with another quote.  One I read again today because this is Martin Luther King  Jr.'s birthday.  So much darkness was in his world, so much hate.  Yet he preached love in response to hate, peaceful resistance in response to violence.  He was looking to his faith for guidance in this.  He, like his savior, was ultimately killed for his opinions and his daring to live in love and light.
It is never easy to push back against hate with love, to force darkness back with our light, but we must try.  If you are a Christian, if you have another faith, or even if you don't consider yourself a person of any faith at all, you can love.  You MUST love.  It is the only way to survive.
Here is the quote from Dr. King:
" Returning hate for hate multiplies hate,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
Only love can do that."

Please God, help us share the light.  Teach us to love one another.