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wilderthanA lot of people have been doing posts about why LJ is important to them. I had to mentally debate for a while about whether I should post it here or on my personal journal. I elected for here because, well, I promised that this would be the place where my personal life and fandom touch, and that's what this is about.
LiveJournal provides the parts. The bits you need to make a community work. Fandom, for many people, provides the glue. It isn't always the case, but it is for me. The minute I started sliding in to join LJ fandom, I started becoming "stuck" here. Before that I could have gone off to any other journalling site just as happily, as long as it had as many shinies.
I don't think there's much that needs to be said, though. It's the same story as for many others: fandom has welcomed me. I have friends I would never have met otherwise, I'm engaged to someone I would never have met otherwise, and here I can express myself largely free of the homophobia that to some extent surrounded me when I was still in Sixth Form.
I'm not sure whether fandom was what really helped me figure out my sexuality: the timing was right, and the girl who introduced me to the concept was the first girl I had feelings for. Certainly writing in fandom and speaking to people I've met through fandom has helped me be more open.
And then, well, I've just plain had fun.
To switch metaphors -- LiveJournal is important to me because it provides the dancefloor. Fandom is my dancing partner of choice, and the dance has been a good one. Ladies (and gentlemen), can I have the next dance? ;) And probably the one after that, too.
LiveJournal provides the parts. The bits you need to make a community work. Fandom, for many people, provides the glue. It isn't always the case, but it is for me. The minute I started sliding in to join LJ fandom, I started becoming "stuck" here. Before that I could have gone off to any other journalling site just as happily, as long as it had as many shinies.
I don't think there's much that needs to be said, though. It's the same story as for many others: fandom has welcomed me. I have friends I would never have met otherwise, I'm engaged to someone I would never have met otherwise, and here I can express myself largely free of the homophobia that to some extent surrounded me when I was still in Sixth Form.
I'm not sure whether fandom was what really helped me figure out my sexuality: the timing was right, and the girl who introduced me to the concept was the first girl I had feelings for. Certainly writing in fandom and speaking to people I've met through fandom has helped me be more open.
And then, well, I've just plain had fun.
To switch metaphors -- LiveJournal is important to me because it provides the dancefloor. Fandom is my dancing partner of choice, and the dance has been a good one. Ladies (and gentlemen), can I have the next dance? ;) And probably the one after that, too.
