Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Give me your hands if we be friends...
What is community? What is family? Who do we love, and why? Where do connections come from? And what the hell do we do when we lose part of that community?
These sorts of questions have been buzzing around in my head for a couple of days now. They've always been there, but are in sharp relief at the moment.
I'm involved in a very strong online community of Browncoats. We're spread out across Australia, across the world, and we are in each other's pockets and hearts all of the time. This is the first online community I've ever been a part of, and it's become more important to me than I could ever have imagined when I first registered onto one of the forums.
I've organised shindigs, I've met Browncoats from around Australia, I take part in a podcast about the Jossverse with other Browncoats, I've opened my heart and my mind to this most extended of extended family.
Nothing can quite describe the way that this family is formed. The first time I met Mim face to face, when we were looking at accomodation for a weekend we were organising together, we got on immediately. Different background, different lives, different everything...well, except, you know, female and stuff. But you get what I mean (I hope). And then, on the weekend, there were 10 or 15 people, all of whom had only just met - when they arranged to get lifts to the accomodation, or when they walked in the front door. And yet...instant bonding.
Is it because our love of Joss Whedon's work means that we identify with that idea of formed family? Is it because we are open to a different interpretation of community? Is it because the medium of forums and emails and PMs is such an intimate form of communication?
Or is it because we want to be part of an extended community, all of us humans everywhere, and when we find it, it just.feels.right?
Whatever makes the Browncoat community so damn strong, and makes me love all of my fellow Browncoats so damn much, I thank the Internets every day for putting me in touch with this family of mine.
The centre of the Australian Browncoats community is Serenity Oz, and the centre of Serenity Oz, and the patriarch of our family, was a Browncoat called Chocolate. And, yes, I said "was". Chocolate died last Friday night/early Saturday morning.
For some Browncoats, it's been really hard to describe to their offline friends and family why Chocolate was so important to us, and why his death has left so many of us hollow - even those who had not met him face to face. And this is where the internet community is perverse - his typed words touched people across Australia, and whilst only a couple of handfuls got to meet him over our time together, everyone on the boards felt his presence, and mourn the loss of his light in the world.
I was one of the lucky ones. I've known Chocolate offline since August of last year, and he was always there for me, and always happy to listen and advise me. He had a wicked sense of humour, a brilliant smile, and when his shyness fell away, he was the strongest and demonstrably the most loved of our Browncoats.
So what is a community? A group of people that loves together, supports each other, celebrates every member, and is there for each other when we mourn. Damn it, Chocolate was a community all on his own! And I, we, are all thankful that he chose to join ours, and shine brightly in the centre of our hearts.
...and Robin shall restore amends.
These sorts of questions have been buzzing around in my head for a couple of days now. They've always been there, but are in sharp relief at the moment.
I'm involved in a very strong online community of Browncoats. We're spread out across Australia, across the world, and we are in each other's pockets and hearts all of the time. This is the first online community I've ever been a part of, and it's become more important to me than I could ever have imagined when I first registered onto one of the forums.
I've organised shindigs, I've met Browncoats from around Australia, I take part in a podcast about the Jossverse with other Browncoats, I've opened my heart and my mind to this most extended of extended family.
Nothing can quite describe the way that this family is formed. The first time I met Mim face to face, when we were looking at accomodation for a weekend we were organising together, we got on immediately. Different background, different lives, different everything...well, except, you know, female and stuff. But you get what I mean (I hope). And then, on the weekend, there were 10 or 15 people, all of whom had only just met - when they arranged to get lifts to the accomodation, or when they walked in the front door. And yet...instant bonding.
Is it because our love of Joss Whedon's work means that we identify with that idea of formed family? Is it because we are open to a different interpretation of community? Is it because the medium of forums and emails and PMs is such an intimate form of communication?
Or is it because we want to be part of an extended community, all of us humans everywhere, and when we find it, it just.feels.right?
Whatever makes the Browncoat community so damn strong, and makes me love all of my fellow Browncoats so damn much, I thank the Internets every day for putting me in touch with this family of mine.
The centre of the Australian Browncoats community is Serenity Oz, and the centre of Serenity Oz, and the patriarch of our family, was a Browncoat called Chocolate. And, yes, I said "was". Chocolate died last Friday night/early Saturday morning.
For some Browncoats, it's been really hard to describe to their offline friends and family why Chocolate was so important to us, and why his death has left so many of us hollow - even those who had not met him face to face. And this is where the internet community is perverse - his typed words touched people across Australia, and whilst only a couple of handfuls got to meet him over our time together, everyone on the boards felt his presence, and mourn the loss of his light in the world.
I was one of the lucky ones. I've known Chocolate offline since August of last year, and he was always there for me, and always happy to listen and advise me. He had a wicked sense of humour, a brilliant smile, and when his shyness fell away, he was the strongest and demonstrably the most loved of our Browncoats.
So what is a community? A group of people that loves together, supports each other, celebrates every member, and is there for each other when we mourn. Damn it, Chocolate was a community all on his own! And I, we, are all thankful that he chose to join ours, and shine brightly in the centre of our hearts.
...and Robin shall restore amends.
