Remembering Susan Garrett
Yesterday the world of fandom lost a really lovely little star, Susan M. Garrett. She was one of the founding members of my first fandom, back in 2001, based on a little show called The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne. Susan told me once that she hadn't really intended to get heavily into a fandom again when she did, but that she saw the beautiful steampunk visuals of SAJV from across a crowded room at NATPE, and things rolled along from there. There are so many of us who are grateful for that little moment, because it brought us together to form wonderful friendships.
Susan was really a fandom evangelist. It wasn't enough for her to chat about a show now and then, or just write a few fics. She wanted to share this really cool show, to get other people into the experience. In the case of SAJV, what we desperately needed were more viewers, in the small hope of getting a second season. I'd never been involved in a fandom beyond reading fic and occasionally posting on Usenet, and it was all new and exciting to me, but Susan was a pro. She and other fandom leaders worked on marketing the show because the network and the distributor didn't bother, making up bumper stickers, pins, and bookmarks, and creating websites to spread the word. The gang worked fan tables at cons, and Susan hosted laminating parties where we made bookmarks till after midnight (using her two laminators, "Marie" and "Louis"). Susan was a "warrior fan," I remember someone calling her - and a good friend to boot.
In addition to all of Susan's hard work promoting the show to other fans, there were her stories. Susan's fan fiction could spring a universe to life before your eyes, with exciting adventures and intrigues, vivid details, and characterization so perfect that every word resonated. You could actually read Susan's stories and then see the canon without missing a beat. A BNF could have rested on those laurels alone, but Susan was also quick to praise stories she enjoyed and to encourage writers to contribute.
When talking in a Yahoo Group, or maybe during the Sunday afternoon fandom chat, Susan noticed that we both lived in Philadelphia. She invited me to meet her in Chestnut Hill for afternoon tea. From the moment I stepped off the train, I knew I was in good company. We spent hours talking about the show, the fandom, and everything from British food to French history to Forever Knight. Susan relished fandom and embraced it as part of her life, with all the fun and disappointments that could go with it. She was actually a great fannish role model, generous and thoughtful, understanding of boundaries and always a lot of fun. Meeting up with her there opened up for me the opportunity to meet other SAJV fans, and step into this fun, crazy fandom world. Susan helped nudge that door open for me, and for that I couldn't possibly thank her enough.
I wasn't in touch with Susan in the end. Before she headed out to Los Angeles, she filled the back of my family's minivan with paper and craft supplies that my mother used for over a year in her classroom. We were Facebook friends and before she became ill she made the occasional post on Livejournal. Maybe it's part of the fandom beast. We make some friends who we feel intensely close to, and those bonds may stay tighter in the long run, but there are some people with whom the only experience we share is the enjoyment of something that can fade with time, with a general feeling of friendliness that lingers on, ready to spark up again at a moment's notice. That doesn't change the impact that these friends had in the first place. For my part, my memories of Susan are filled with intense happiness...even though the actual, tangible amount of time I spent in her company couldn't have been more than two weeks. In some way, maybe these experiences cause us to rewrite the rules of grief, because even out of contact, we know the world is a little darker and sadder without the people who've brought us such joy.
Susan was really a fandom evangelist. It wasn't enough for her to chat about a show now and then, or just write a few fics. She wanted to share this really cool show, to get other people into the experience. In the case of SAJV, what we desperately needed were more viewers, in the small hope of getting a second season. I'd never been involved in a fandom beyond reading fic and occasionally posting on Usenet, and it was all new and exciting to me, but Susan was a pro. She and other fandom leaders worked on marketing the show because the network and the distributor didn't bother, making up bumper stickers, pins, and bookmarks, and creating websites to spread the word. The gang worked fan tables at cons, and Susan hosted laminating parties where we made bookmarks till after midnight (using her two laminators, "Marie" and "Louis"). Susan was a "warrior fan," I remember someone calling her - and a good friend to boot.
In addition to all of Susan's hard work promoting the show to other fans, there were her stories. Susan's fan fiction could spring a universe to life before your eyes, with exciting adventures and intrigues, vivid details, and characterization so perfect that every word resonated. You could actually read Susan's stories and then see the canon without missing a beat. A BNF could have rested on those laurels alone, but Susan was also quick to praise stories she enjoyed and to encourage writers to contribute.
When talking in a Yahoo Group, or maybe during the Sunday afternoon fandom chat, Susan noticed that we both lived in Philadelphia. She invited me to meet her in Chestnut Hill for afternoon tea. From the moment I stepped off the train, I knew I was in good company. We spent hours talking about the show, the fandom, and everything from British food to French history to Forever Knight. Susan relished fandom and embraced it as part of her life, with all the fun and disappointments that could go with it. She was actually a great fannish role model, generous and thoughtful, understanding of boundaries and always a lot of fun. Meeting up with her there opened up for me the opportunity to meet other SAJV fans, and step into this fun, crazy fandom world. Susan helped nudge that door open for me, and for that I couldn't possibly thank her enough.
I wasn't in touch with Susan in the end. Before she headed out to Los Angeles, she filled the back of my family's minivan with paper and craft supplies that my mother used for over a year in her classroom. We were Facebook friends and before she became ill she made the occasional post on Livejournal. Maybe it's part of the fandom beast. We make some friends who we feel intensely close to, and those bonds may stay tighter in the long run, but there are some people with whom the only experience we share is the enjoyment of something that can fade with time, with a general feeling of friendliness that lingers on, ready to spark up again at a moment's notice. That doesn't change the impact that these friends had in the first place. For my part, my memories of Susan are filled with intense happiness...even though the actual, tangible amount of time I spent in her company couldn't have been more than two weeks. In some way, maybe these experiences cause us to rewrite the rules of grief, because even out of contact, we know the world is a little darker and sadder without the people who've brought us such joy.