Serendipity
This morning when I got up late, I stumbled into my already roasting living room (am still so ready for August temperatures to be over, and our heat wave is nothing compared with some of the heat waves in the country right now) when a little voice in my head said, "Ivy, turn on the news."
So it happened that I turned on the news just in time to watch the Space Shuttle land. It's possible that I got a little teary eyed when I realized that finally, 22.5 years after I had first thought to see a civilian teacher in space, I was getting to watch a teacher in space land safely.
It made me think--along with the recent pair of SPN vids making their way through fandom--about how one of the things that I take for granted is the ability to hold on to two conflicting notions.
No, see, the thing is? I've read stuff on NASA and the teacher in space program, and I'm terribly cynical about the whole thing. (If you haven't read the first half of Constance Penley's NASA/TREK I strongly recommend it.) I mean, intellectually, and as a feminist, I get how very co-opted the whole idea of a teacher in space program was at its height, and I get that manned space exploration isn't on the path I thought it would be when I was a kid and the shuttle first took off. (I'm just young enough that I wasn't alive when we landed on the moon, so first shuttle fights are my earliest space shot memories).
But at the same time, every single time I get faced with the reality of the Space Shuttle, seeing it come in for a landing or seeing it take off? I still feel that welling of hopes and dreams and possibilities that I got as a kid.
I mean, look, I know that it's not perfect, but every so often I need a little hit of optimism to hope that maybe it's not as impossible as I've come to believe.
That ambiguity, the ability to hope because you want to believe in the best, even at the same time that you can take a step back and think critically about what is so very wrong, is one of the things that I love most about fandom.
So, yes, Luminosity and Sisabet's SPN vid Women's Work is the vid that is critical of the parts of SPN that deserve us being critical.
At the same time, Sisabet's vid Falling For the First Time, and the fact that it hit fandom after the other, is like waking up and seeing the shuttle come in for a picture perfect landing. (Or at least, I think it is, because I can't really tell since my laptop won't play the vid's sound and video synched. Grr.)
I mean, I don't want to overstate things here. I think that "Women's Work" is a real reminder about how so many of the texts that we as fans love fail at representing women, and I don't think "falling For You" undoes that. On the other hand, what I love is the narrative that fandom is creating--all these people going, hey, look this aspect of the show? Sort of sucks. On the other hand, we aren't going to pretend that we don't still like the show despite the obvious problems. (This is on my mind because of work).
But what I love about fandom is that we keep insisting on the right to do both: love and hope for the best and be critical of the worst.
In other news (see icon), last night when I logged on for my Pavlovian "Has it shipped? Has it shipped? Has it shipped yet?" moment, I sat and gaped when the little screen told me that yes, it had. My shiny new MacBook Pro has left China and is on its way here.
::Cue Bad Idea Bears Voice:: YEA!!!!
So it happened that I turned on the news just in time to watch the Space Shuttle land. It's possible that I got a little teary eyed when I realized that finally, 22.5 years after I had first thought to see a civilian teacher in space, I was getting to watch a teacher in space land safely.
It made me think--along with the recent pair of SPN vids making their way through fandom--about how one of the things that I take for granted is the ability to hold on to two conflicting notions.
No, see, the thing is? I've read stuff on NASA and the teacher in space program, and I'm terribly cynical about the whole thing. (If you haven't read the first half of Constance Penley's NASA/TREK I strongly recommend it.) I mean, intellectually, and as a feminist, I get how very co-opted the whole idea of a teacher in space program was at its height, and I get that manned space exploration isn't on the path I thought it would be when I was a kid and the shuttle first took off. (I'm just young enough that I wasn't alive when we landed on the moon, so first shuttle fights are my earliest space shot memories).
But at the same time, every single time I get faced with the reality of the Space Shuttle, seeing it come in for a landing or seeing it take off? I still feel that welling of hopes and dreams and possibilities that I got as a kid.
I mean, look, I know that it's not perfect, but every so often I need a little hit of optimism to hope that maybe it's not as impossible as I've come to believe.
That ambiguity, the ability to hope because you want to believe in the best, even at the same time that you can take a step back and think critically about what is so very wrong, is one of the things that I love most about fandom.
So, yes, Luminosity and Sisabet's SPN vid Women's Work is the vid that is critical of the parts of SPN that deserve us being critical.
At the same time, Sisabet's vid Falling For the First Time, and the fact that it hit fandom after the other, is like waking up and seeing the shuttle come in for a picture perfect landing. (Or at least, I think it is, because I can't really tell since my laptop won't play the vid's sound and video synched. Grr.)
I mean, I don't want to overstate things here. I think that "Women's Work" is a real reminder about how so many of the texts that we as fans love fail at representing women, and I don't think "falling For You" undoes that. On the other hand, what I love is the narrative that fandom is creating--all these people going, hey, look this aspect of the show? Sort of sucks. On the other hand, we aren't going to pretend that we don't still like the show despite the obvious problems. (This is on my mind because of work).
But what I love about fandom is that we keep insisting on the right to do both: love and hope for the best and be critical of the worst.
In other news (see icon), last night when I logged on for my Pavlovian "Has it shipped? Has it shipped? Has it shipped yet?" moment, I sat and gaped when the little screen told me that yes, it had. My shiny new MacBook Pro has left China and is on its way here.
::Cue Bad Idea Bears Voice:: YEA!!!!