No Rest for the Wicked Awards, and Meta Love - Some fannish thoughts and gratitude
A couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that my meta "Dopplegangers" has been nominated for Best Meta in the No Rest For The Wicked Awards, I didn't properly say "thank you". I had a nice long paragraph of appreciation all typed out on LJ - and that was the week LJ decided to give me shit, and wouldn't let me post more than a couple of sentences. *shakes fist at LJ*
So, thank you very much, Mystery Reader - and I honestly have no idea who it might have been, but it's appreciated all the same. I don't think what I've written is even in the same league with some of the other meta that have been nominated, but it's a huge compliment just to be in the same category with the other writers there. And it's especially gratifying because meta, not fanfic, is what got me into this part of fandom on LJ and what really pulled me into Buffyverse fandom for the first time last year; it was the thoughtful essays and discussions that demonstrated to me that what I'd heard - that there was a TV show with academic journals and conferences devoted to it - was no joke.
This is perhaps the first fan awards I've run into that specifically include a category for meta writing. There are also categories for vids, manips, banners and icons, as well as fics in a variety of fandoms. The nomination period ends the 31st, so stop over there and spread the love for your favorite fan works. (It's probably worth mentioning that the nomination periods for the Absence of Light and the Willowy Goodness Awards will also be ending soon. I think all of them still have slots that can be filled in various categories.)
[More thinky-thoughts and self-deprecation after the cut....]
I know fan fiction dominates fandom creativity, in this as in other fandoms, but I think it's a shame not to give meta essays some love and recognition as well, particularly given the fact that Buffyverse fandom is the most academic fandom and intellectual fandom of any tv show. And while I read TONS of fanfic now, meta is still where my heart is, particularly when the writer combines heart and head, intellectual and emotional responses. There's Slayage of course, but those papers are addressed to a very specific audience, one that I never became a part of and whose language I cannot access.
I am speaking from a place of my own inadequacy, of course (health monetary problems forced me to drop out of a masters degree program many years ago, and I never achieved the level of education I imagined I would), but there's a need in me to talk and write about the show, to peel back it's many layers, to hear different viewpoints, without feeling like someone is talking over my head. Which is ironic, given that the refrain I heard time and again from classmates and even my mom growing up was "Why do you have to use such long words? Can't you speak English?"
Karma is indeed a bitch, my friends.
So I never got to reside for very long in that vaunted ivory tower, which isn't so very exalted in reality - I have more friends than I can count who are doing better than I am, perhaps, but still just getting by cobbling together a variety of adjunct teaching positions. But watching BtVS awoke something in me that needed more intellectual stimulation, and meta on LJ, DW and various blogs fulfill that quite nicely.
So, thank you very much, Mystery Reader - and I honestly have no idea who it might have been, but it's appreciated all the same. I don't think what I've written is even in the same league with some of the other meta that have been nominated, but it's a huge compliment just to be in the same category with the other writers there. And it's especially gratifying because meta, not fanfic, is what got me into this part of fandom on LJ and what really pulled me into Buffyverse fandom for the first time last year; it was the thoughtful essays and discussions that demonstrated to me that what I'd heard - that there was a TV show with academic journals and conferences devoted to it - was no joke.
This is perhaps the first fan awards I've run into that specifically include a category for meta writing. There are also categories for vids, manips, banners and icons, as well as fics in a variety of fandoms. The nomination period ends the 31st, so stop over there and spread the love for your favorite fan works. (It's probably worth mentioning that the nomination periods for the Absence of Light and the Willowy Goodness Awards will also be ending soon. I think all of them still have slots that can be filled in various categories.)
[More thinky-thoughts and self-deprecation after the cut....]
I know fan fiction dominates fandom creativity, in this as in other fandoms, but I think it's a shame not to give meta essays some love and recognition as well, particularly given the fact that Buffyverse fandom is the most academic fandom and intellectual fandom of any tv show. And while I read TONS of fanfic now, meta is still where my heart is, particularly when the writer combines heart and head, intellectual and emotional responses. There's Slayage of course, but those papers are addressed to a very specific audience, one that I never became a part of and whose language I cannot access.
I am speaking from a place of my own inadequacy, of course (health monetary problems forced me to drop out of a masters degree program many years ago, and I never achieved the level of education I imagined I would), but there's a need in me to talk and write about the show, to peel back it's many layers, to hear different viewpoints, without feeling like someone is talking over my head. Which is ironic, given that the refrain I heard time and again from classmates and even my mom growing up was "Why do you have to use such long words? Can't you speak English?"
Karma is indeed a bitch, my friends.
So I never got to reside for very long in that vaunted ivory tower, which isn't so very exalted in reality - I have more friends than I can count who are doing better than I am, perhaps, but still just getting by cobbling together a variety of adjunct teaching positions. But watching BtVS awoke something in me that needed more intellectual stimulation, and meta on LJ, DW and various blogs fulfill that quite nicely.