Let's begin.
My name is Dalissa and I am a fangirl. My nerdom knows no bounds and possesses many layers from life long (Star Wars) to new obsessions (Orphan Black), movies to musical theater to sports I am a BIG OLD GEEK FAN. I was a band geek in high school and a theater nerd in college. I am unapologetic for this and proudly stand among the masses who has done her share of crazy, Whodini tactics to make my fan dreams come true. At 40, I can safely say I have spent an abundance of time adoring from afar whether it was waiting at the stage door of countless Broadway shows, lining up for book/memorabilia signings, camping out for free tickets or buying tickets to galas I couldn't afford.
Fandom for me is about adoration. It is about loving something with the purity of a child because it makes you feel giddy or it allows you to escape from the grind of the real world. It is about admiring a talent you don't possess and relishing in the beauty of it. It allows you to extend childhood fantasy and play as an adult in a way that invokes joy.
I have stories that could fill a book and the scapbooks to back them up. Along the way something unexpected happened. I met interesting, wonderful people who shared my encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture, some of whom became comrades in nerdom. Growing up (before the internet) I saw it manifest in a variety of ways. Being a young girl one of my first real encounters of fandom came to life through the enduring constant that was the 'boy band'. My holy trinity consisted of Menudo, New Edition and Duran Duran. People like to mock the boy band on its face, but the power of a handful of cute boys, some choreography and a catchy tune is a force to be reckoned with. I know this because six months ago I bonded with co-worker over our shared love of New Edition and I have $10 bucks that says if you are a female reading this you just had a memory bliss of your own.
Sports remains my strongest connection to fandom. There is nothing like being in a ballpark, arena or stadium with 30,000 strangers all dressed in team colors, with common love, bias and understanding as you pass through the turnstiles. Being a sports fan is often like gaining a family heirloom, your teams are passed on to you from older generations and it is a part of the connective tissue within your family. It comes with superstitions, rituals and traditions. For me, these make up some of my most precious memories with the men in my family. It is a tradition we are now passing to our children and as an adult I marvel at the broad diversity that comes together in moment around sports to this day. It can rally strangers on a train and be a source of community bonding. Sports may invoke irrational emotions, but rarely are those emotions not based in a passion and joy for the sport one loves.
To this day it is still about the adoration and purity of being a fan, an audience member and the ability to be moved by the wonder of it all. The rise of social media has pushed Nerd culture to the spotlight and dare I say, made it cool. It really is the new black. With innovations in gaming exploding over the last decade, online social networks and the immediacy of Twitter connecting fan bases the true diversity of being a nerd has risen to prominence. It has also put fans into tangent hemispheres with those we admire like never before.
For me however, the love of fandom is more intimate than that. Fandom has given me a world of possibility and friendships that remain a source of real happiness in my life. Some of my first friendships were born out of playing Star Wars on the playground with left over Christmas wrapping paper tubes serving as light sabers. Thirty years later I am still finding kindred spirits through blogs, online social networks and shared commonalities on the playground with other parents. The connections may not always be 'three dimensional' but they are no less real or inspiring (@nerdygirlnotes I am looking at you)
That is what I hope to pass on to my daughter. The beauty, power and joy that comes through individually carving out a path for yourself that is built on passion, admiration and appreciation. Life is hardly monolithic and what I have discovered as a fan girl is that passion for something singular can manifest itself into a discovery of an entire world of information you may not have originally sought out. That sense of wonder is something that drives me today to instill in my child a continued sense of exploration that feeds her insatiable curiosity.
I haven't made it to Comic Con (this year's Orphan Black panel put me dangerously close), Sundance or the Toronto Film Festival yet, but I've got time and it will happen. In my geek heart I have promised myself a trip to Con when the LOST anniversary panel rolls around. It is also safe to assume a much desired laser tag set will be landing on our doorstep this holiday season, because in the realm of all that is possible, I want my daughter to always know there is joy to be found, especially among the geeks, nerds and fan boys and girls.
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