Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:40:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Drew Bittner <drewbitt at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: SF fandom- this has been interesting
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Thanks, Tom!
She's really getting a kick out of this...
Drew

--- thaughey <thaughey at acnet.net> wrote:
> Everyone will have to wear their star trek uniforms
> and pipe her
> aboard.  --Tom Haughey
>
> Drew Bittner wrote:
>
> >Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this
> topic.
> >My headstrong opinion has brought forth food for
> >thought.
> >I think sf fandom has had an image problem largely
> >because of media fandom, as Nikki points out. The
> two
> >are conflated in the public mind. Maybe it breaks
> down
> >into the worlds of sf readership and sf fandom
> having
> >some overlap but not absolute congruence (one being
> a
> >subset of the other?).
> >My fiancee (Katherine, 23, graduating college next
> >month) has gotten very interested in sf because
> it's a
> >genre of ideas. She has no experience with fandom
> but
> >her preconceptions (before she met me) were
> negative,
> >based on media stories about Trek fans in costume,
> >etc.
> >She's come around and is very interested in meeting
> >everyone at WSFA, but she is rather shy-- don't be
> >surprised if she's very quiet at first.
> >Are we a welcoming community? I think sf fans can
> be
> >very welcoming or very cliquish, like any group of
> >people. Many of us (me included) have very strong
> >opinions and express them forcefully; it can get
> out
> >of hand.
> >But like any group, there are those to whom you
> >gravitate and those to whom you don't.
> >Everyone is a fan in their own way. With luck,
> through
> >meeting others and chatting, we expand each others'
> >horizons. I'm glad I've become part of WSFA and
> look
> >forward to introducing Katherine to the group in
> June.
> >
> >Drew
> >
> >__________________________________________________
> >
>

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