How Being an Obsessed Supernatural Fangirl Got me a PhD: A Poem.
On an ordinary night in my buddy’s old attic
A moment of glory transpired all dramatic
My former obsession with Lord of the Rings
Was about to transmute and embrace other things.
Already waning, and using a stop gap
Confused and in need ever since Heroes got crap
Cruising the channels in search of some fun
Then my eyes did alight as we found Season One
Of the show that would shortly devour my brain
All genre defying and horror insane
All comedy, tragedy, wit and whatnot
With the obvious draw the protagonists were hot.
Cue the halcyon daze of a new fan fixation
(O guilt pain and banter and h/c elation)
And still to discover, the treasure sublime:
The fandom all fruitful and wondrous online,
And basically fic that my Id would produce
If my fingers had skill and my brain had the juice
For such prose of precision and beauty (or crack;
For when canon’s so grim-grey it’s pretty much black),
And I thought, I shall read this fic all every day.
But one problem: I’m young and I still need a way
To earn money and live and to never leave school
(With an MA in English that’s generally the rule).
And I lay and I thought, and the pieces assembled
Until a coherent idea they resembled:
A thesis I’d make of these texts I adore!
But behold: fifty people had thought that before!
I scoured the library shelves - how surprising -
This thing Fandom Studies was strong and fast rising
(I had thought reading fic was all I’d have to do
But the first year was purely the literature review!)
But still - three years later, I have almost written
A thesis on fanfic with which I am smitten,
And largely beholden to fandom for being
Almost entirely awesome and seeing
That loving a text is no adolescent craze
And we will not grow up and it isn’t a phase
And we’ll read all we want and we’ll write at our will
And if I get to 80 I’ll be at it still.
So keep falling in love with your shows and your fandom
It’s fic all stark brilliance (or cracky and random)
And mock all detractors who blindly insist
That ‘professional ’ means ‘better’ and ‘original’ exists.
For soon, when they come with a glint in their eye
And an edge in their smile as they ask, how am I,
‘And you’re still into fanfic? Is that all you do’
I shall say, ‘Well it got me my doctorate. And you?’