Wild Wild West Con 2

And we carved our name in the sands

We are finally home from an epic trip across the country to venture into the wilds of Arizona for the second Wild Wild West Con at Old Tucson Studios just outside of Tucson, Arizona. With over 3,000 miles logged on the odometer, this was one of our longest trips to date. The first time we made this trip, we didn’t leave ourselves enough time and drove the entire length of the journey in one shot, both ways. Wise to our mistake from two years ago, we broke the trip into two days on the way there and three days on the way back. It’s been quite a while since some of our members, including myself, have had the chance to see their families, and we took this opportunity on the road to make some much needed visits. On our way there, we stopped in to see Mr. Fox’s family and celebrate his grandfather’s 90th birthday. I can not say enough about how incredibly awesome these fine folks are, not that I am surprised. I’ve known their grandson for over a year now, and he’s pretty cool too. They graciously let us stay in the house that his aunt is building and met us with wonderful food and all the cookies in the world. I will say that I was really proud of us this trip. We planned ahead. Saved money for some side trips. Made lists. Prepped the cars and got out on time which was no small feat as the departure time for each day was before 7am. I thought we had remembered everything…right up until the point that the tire blew out on the trailer on the side of I-10 outside of El Paso. Right. About that. You always forget something. This trip, it was forgetting to buy a new spare tire for the trailer after it blew out the last time. Oops. But these are the moments that define us, and true to form, the crew was up to the task.

Lulu and Zombie at Old Tuscon Studios

Attica, Luthiem, Zombie and Mr. Fox departed on an epic quest for a tire in the middle of nowhere, Texas. Cap, Suzeaux, Kitty, Wyatt, our often times travel mate, Joe and myself defended the van and trailer. And by defended, I mean boredly sat on the side of I-10 watching the fires in Mexico from the highway. A nice DPS officer stopped by to check on us, poke around the trailer and warn us to stay on our side of the highway. No real warning was necessary as the big fence and lights within visual distance of the other side of the highway was enough deterrent on it’s own. But we thanked him, and heeded his warnings. After the first hour, we were bored to tears, but apparently Budweiser in glass bottles is the highway drink of choice around there, and the previous travelers in the area left us copious numbers of bottles to create our own carnival game on the side of the road. Joe, Suzeaux and Kitty decided that it was the perfect time to build and fly kites, and after discovering a plastic bag, some sticks, duct tape and tearing apart some old headphones, they were happily running up and down the embankment of I-10 flying their new creation while the rest of us kept score at our makeshift pitch and toss. Two hours passed and our scouting party returned victorious. Trailer tire in tow, the crew came bearing tales of visiting Novac, waiting in a strange junk yard nervously waiting for ghouls to jump from behind the derelict cars. The place they found the tire wasn’t listed in any phone book and I’m not entirely sure that it would exist if we tried to find it again. But it was there when we needed even if it had to appear from the Fallout universe to help us out. Dr. Nightshade, I imagine you had something to do with that. And as night was falling, we were off again. The rest of the journey was pleasant and uneventful.

Even air pirates need a break
Cap’ and Attica at Old Tuscon

We arrived at Old Tucson Studios early Friday morning and it was every bit as breathtakingly beautiful as I remembered it to be. I’ll be honest. Wild Wild West Con II had a lot to live up to. The inaugural event is a trip and and convention that

Our friend Joe Hernandez of Penny Dreadful Productions and Suzeaux Ryette exploring Old Tucson

those of us who had the honor of attending talk about to this day. Big shoes to fill. But the event lived up to even our inflated expectations. It was fantastic. The programming was more streamlined than the first year, and we had the opportunity to work with some of the other guests on panels. We never pass up the opportunity to share the stage with Steampunk Bobba Fett, John Strangeway and Penny Dreadful Productions maker, Joe Hernandez. With them in the room, you know it’s going to be fun. We also got to meet and work with some of the members of L.O.S.E.R.S, a steampunk villians group out of the west. It’s always great to see and hear what other groups are thinking and talking about. And I have to give it up personally, for the people who attended the Character Building panel. I’ve done this panel I don’t even know how many times, and it is always entertaining. The participants at WWWC2 took the cake, and came up with probably the most fantastic, dynamic character that I have seen to date. Most panels end up with pretty interesting characters, but these guys went above and beyond and created a character that could have walked into the Percy Jackson universe and kicked his behind into Hades. Yay for a large group of people with knowledge of Greek mythology and a tremendous sense of humor. Bartholomew “Bart” Randy Jenkins, I will remember you fondly. Another plus this year was that the vendors were given more space and a number of all weather tents to gather in which was a good thing. The weather the first two days threatened to turn this event into the kind of story that everyone wants to tell, but no one wants to be a part of. It threatened to snow. There were thunderstorms. But the big winner was the

The coming storms

wind and the sand. The wind was strong enough one day that the larger vendor tent was very nearly airborne. But the participants, entertainers, vendors and staff were all wonderful, and jumped up to pitch in and help. In the end, the tent was saved and everything was business as usual come Sunday morning.

On Sunday, we brought together a small group of friends and crewmates and welcomed into the crew our two newest prospects, David Orenday and Rebecca Harrison.  They had survived and thrived during their six month probation period and (perhaps foolishly) didn’t run for the hills screaming into the night.  These two accepted positions in a time when ASI was in one of its most hectic , crazy and heartwrenching moments.  They walked into the fire willingly, stuck it out and experienced perhaps one of the hardest prospect trials that any member has had to face since Gen 2.  Guys, its been a long time since we’ve had a trial by fire like the six months you had to experience and learn in.  We could not be prouder of what you have done and how you have held yourselves.  Welcome to our dysfunctional, crazy, creative family.

Really, you can’t be super serious all the time.

Joe and Lulu at White Sands

At the event, the level of costuming and gear was outstanding. Everyone really did bring their best and brightest and it made for a beautiful setting for the event. As Sunday wound to a close, it was the first event in a very long time that I was sad to see coming to an end. We met some wonderful new friends and were really pleased to see some familiar faces so far from home. We ran around and grabbed some last minute snapshots, and then prepared for the journey home.

Crew enjoying the dunes

On the return trip, we stopped at the White Sands National Monument and spent a few hours sand sledding and just being silly before crashing for the night at Mr. Fox’s family home again. The next morning brought bone hunting and exploring and saying good bye to the Austin crew before heading to my family’s house to visit my newborn niece and her big sister.Oh and her mom and dad too .

Examining our finds from the bone hunting expedition

The whole experience was wonderful and we can’t wait to do it again next year. I really can’t say enough good things about this con. I want to thank a few people specifically for making this event something really special for us. First, Amber Solis was assigned the thankless task of taking care of us for the weekend. Poor poor girl. She was awesome and funny and just a joy to be around the whole bloody time. Thank you for putting up with dirty wayward pirates with a smile. It really means a lot to us. Second, Diane and John, you made my little girls whole event. The fastest way to a mother’s heart is through her children, and you have me firmly in your debt. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. If I can ever return the favor, you have but to ask. Finally, Ryan and Jason, you guys rock. The event was wonderful and I appreciate everything you did in putting this together.

Mya and Emma. Well worth driving 3000 miles.

Thoughts are things

“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

  I’ve had an unusual amount of time to just sit and think recently as Hurricane Isaac wailed outside our window and wouldn’t go away. I sat watching a crepe myrtle tree across the road turn into a furious whomping willow (as Kirby so perfectly put it) for hours, and it was kind of awe inspiring. Terrifying, but impressive. It definitely encouraged me to continue sitting inside our stuffy, but dry and not windy structure. So, I had plenty of time to look back at the last month and really do some soul searching about things. We’ve been through a lot recently. I’m not gonna lie. It’s been rough. Between a forced move, some nasty rumors, three weeks on the road, and then a hurricane…all in a period of a little over a month. Yeah, could have done without all that. But, in every cloud there is a silver lining and for every problem there is an opportunity to do something better. I could sit here and dwell on being lied about, and the exhaustion and frustration that comes from big moves and long work runs, or about being couped up in a house for three days with no hope of even going outside, or I can concentrate on the wonderful things that have come from one of the worst months I’ve seen in my 40 years. I made a quick push at this in my last post, but I think it deserves it’s own discussion. Thoughts are things.
Reality is the mirror of your thoughts. Choose well what you put in front of the mirror.
I’ve been told this my entire life, and my children have been raised to be mindful of their thoughts. I’m not saying to deny that bad things happen, but acknowledge them, then concentrate on what you can do to fix bad situations and look for the good in everything. While we would all be better off if people would make the effort to see it, your belief is not required for good to exist in the world. Because whether you believe it or not, it’s there. I’ve practiced this my entire life, and this month has been trying me. Finding the good in humanity and believing in it has been nearly impossible some days. I told myself to hold on anyway and in time, I would see what frustration, anger, hurt, exhaustion and fear were hiding. And sure enough, it did, and almost all of it amounted to normal people being exceptional human beings.

If you’re going through hell, keep going.  ~Winston Churchill

In late July, we heard a friend of ours was having a hard week, and we invited him to join us for our trip to Amarillo so he could get away for a few days under the auspices of needing to borrow his truck. We got back late Sunday, and about 15 minutes from the house, we learned that suddenly we needed to move yesterday. I’m not even going to go into that long story, but that friend who was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time stayed with us another two full weeks helping us get our feet back underneath us and providing unending moral and physical support (that poor man slugged boxes with us no less than three times in 10 days) to five battle worn and weary travelers who were having a hell of a time coming to grips with the storms that were whipping around them. He hauled us all over the country side from Dallas to New Orleans to Bentonville and then back to Dallas again. When our new ride ended up not getting a plane out to Dallas on time, he kindly let us stay in his house for another week while we waited to be able to fit all of our people into our cars again. For this, he asked for absolutely nothing. Thank you, Jim for being there and being one of my reasons to not give up on humanity. And thank you Cheryl and Thea for lending us your husband and dad for a few weeks. I honestly don’t know how we would have gotten through those few weeks without him.
In the same time period, our long lost Russian came to visit us in New Orleans, and he is always a joy to have around. Not having been involved as much this last year, this was his first exposure to the new ways we were running the business end of Airship Isabella. He has always been one of our organizers, and has a solid head on his shoulders about getting things done. His words of encouragement and no nonsense attitude were a validation and helped ease some of the harsher moments we faced. Thank you, Corey, for not letting us quit and firmly kicking us in the butt when it was necessary.

If falsehood, like truth, had but one face, we would be more on equal terms.  For we would consider the contrary of what the liar said to be certain.  But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.  ~Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

When the rumor mill decided that our cups weren’t full enough, and ran all over the edges, I spent hours on the phone with people calling with questions, encouragement and concerns. Everyone was respectful and nice, but it was exhausting. Late in the evening, I got an unexpected phone call literally seconds after hanging up with a member of the community. I answered the phone, and the conversation that followed made being on the phone for hours that day, dealing with rumors and drama and general crap, suddenly seem utterly unimportant. Because it deals with someone else’s personal information, I won’t go into the details, but it reinforced in perhaps the solidest and most meaningful way for me, that being honest, being forgiving, and never giving up is the right decision regardless of how the other person reacts long after you have learned to accept the situation as it is not as you want it to be. It reminded me that you should continue to hope for better even if you have come to terms with things as they are. That one conversation was the kind of closure that I never even dared to dream of. Thank you, Ronnie, for showing me that there is always room for hope and pointing out a place in my mind that I didn’t dare to dream. I will flush them all out someday.
As our con circuit began, people came out of the wood work, some of them literally out for the first time since the very beginning of ASI, and were kind and supportive in some of the most respectful and amazing ways that I have ever seen. I was in awe of these people. For months I’ve watched bickering and fighting and just copious amounts of stupidity flow almost unhindered, but for one moment, I saw the community that we dreamed of actually take shape. I saw people, in the face of bad behavior, refuse to behave badly. I saw maturity and understanding of what it means to be a member of a diverse community that accepts all kinds of people that won’t always get along. I saw a supportive structure that allowed for personal lives outside of the small world we play in, and it wasn’t just with us. Thank all of you for showing me that the community, while flawed, is not without merit or hope. I’m sure this was always the case, but sometimes it gets really hard to see. Thank you for chasing away the fog.

“Life at any time can become difficult: life at any time can become easy. It all depends upon how one adjusts oneself to life.”

Upon leaving San Japan, we went for the first time to our new Texas abode. I can’t say enough good things about this place. Not the least of which is that my brother is less than an hour away. I had the pleasure of having dinner with him and his wife for the first time in over a year. Then, just to cement the deal, we randomly ran into them at a small burger joint 120 miles from both our homes on the way to Geekfest three days later. Thank you, Connie, for sharing your space with a group of wayward steampunks in need of a sometimes home. With this, I am close to my brother and sister in law, have a country abode and don’t have to give up my city time either. It means more to me than you will ever know.

We won’t always know whose lives we touched and made better for our having cared, because actions sometimes have unforeseen ramifications. What’s important is that you do care and you act.
Charlotte Lunsford

When we finally made it back to New Orleans, Hurricane Isaac decided to come visit too. One of the awful things that happened in the middle of awful things happening is that our roof on the New Orleans shop collapsed. They hadn’t finished fixing it by the time Isaac blew into town. Some of the New Orleans steampunks have been quietly working on the idea of opening a self sufficiency center/disaster shelter here in the city for a while now, and knowing the situation we were in, decided to open their shelter WAY ahead of schedule. We weathered the storm there safely and without major incident. Thank you, Willow and Xan, for reminding me to dare to jump forward with your dreams even if you don’t think you are ready. When the universe decides that its time for your dreams to become reality, it decides the timetable, not you. It’s your job to know an opportunity and need when you see it, and not be afraid to jump. The converse is also true. When things seem like they are moving too slowly, keep going, keep pushing and keep fighting. When the time is right, you will know. While I knew that, I think perhaps I had forgotten.
Finally, through this entire ordeal, through every day of chaos and destruction, has been our family, both biological and crew. You guys have been patient, supportive, and just plain wonderful. From offering us a place to stay for a few days, to updates and phone calls, to managing to keep us from loosing our heads or our minds (no small feat) and so many more small things that I can’t even begin to list them all. Thank you for being exactly who you are, as you are, and allowing me to do the same. In this world, that’s something that isn’t allowed for very often, and when it is, it’s something to be treasured.

Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
Frank Herbert

Everyday of the last month has been challenging. Not one day went by that was easy. Not one day went by that I wasn’t shown again and again that people can be beautiful and wonderful creatures when they want to be, and that we can do all do far more than we think we can. The universe is change, and that’s not a bad thing. It simply is. Lord knows we’ve had to take that in large doses this month. You can fight it and become disillusioned or you can roll with it and see a new horizon. This is not to say that you shouldn’t stand up for yourself when you are being trod upon, but nothing is ever a promise. Nothing is ever guaranteed. All you can do is stay true to yourself, hold on to your dreams, keep your head up and move forward, even when you don’t believe you can. Your belief will catch up to you eventually.

I’m going to leave you with a poem that has hung in my home since I was 18 years old. I have read it about a gizillion times during every trying moment that I have ever had, and it has helped me find my strength over and over again even though I have a habit of misplacing it.
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling

Personal Responsiblity and Fighting Silence

I wrote this article almost two weeks ago, and it has taken on a whole new meaning to me since then. Between the Aurora shootings and the massive upheaval in both our personal and professional lives, it couldn’t be more relevant. I wanted to post this last week, but the world started falling down around our heads (in at least one example, literally. Our roof is trying to mate with our floor in the NOLA shop after massive damage from last Friday’s storms. Their relationship is problematic. But we do live by what I am about to say, and after a week of systematically pulling away the fallen stones, we have already seen the first rays of light. Your life is what you make it and your troubles are only bumps in the road. They can only knock you down if you let them. Be our fate, torn and frayed, still we forge on. I just wanted to let everyone know that this was not written in response to these events, but in fact, pre-dates them. With that said, I humbly submit my opinion on personal responsibility and fighting silence. Amelia Whittaker

 

Written July 19, 2012

 

I have read article after article after rant after article about the problems concerning the steampunk community recently. I have fielded personal messages, phone calls, and facebook complaints both positive and negative. These occasionally bordered on threats and always boil down to one thing…”The sky is falling. DO SOMETHING!!!!” First, the sky is not falling. Get that out of your head now. Second, I’m working on building this as fast as I can…what are YOU doing? Yes, there are a handful of people out there causing problems and unnecessary drama. They exist on the east coast, the west coast, the south, the north….they exist everywhere….and they always will. Welcome to steampunk meets the real world. It was and is inevitable. We have a great message and a beautiful aesthetic. We’ve been fighting for years for it to catch on in the general public, and guess what? Good job everyone! It worked! The line of “hipsters” leaving the movement is getting longer because they didn’t care about the message of creativity in adulthood and the do it yourself mentality. They believed in being ahead of the fashion curve, and I bid them a fond farewell. If that’s what makes them happy, so be it. It’s not a sign of the end, but of the beginning. If those who only want to be out of the mainstream rather than to change the mainstream are leaving, it means we are succeeding! It also means that we will be inviting in new people who were not always part of a counterculture or the geek/outcast circle. Welcome to our next challenge. How do you teach/convince people who have always done well in the “real” world to accept the ethos of a subculture? Honor, loyalty, respect…behave like a civilized member of society. We love it at the outset, but the second it actually applies to us, oh hell no! Are you telling me that this means I have to be a bigger person and talk out my issues rather than just splatter them all over the internet? You don’t own me! You can’t make me do things! That person challenged my blah blah blah blah. I’ll do what I want! Adult conversation and action never work anyway! You have to be mean and nasty to get anything done! I’m not going to show weakness by acting in a civil and adult manner to a challenge! No one treats me like that and gets away with it! Ehem….are you done yet? Because you seem to be forgetting something. Bad behavior does not give you the right to behave badly, and slights, imagined or otherwise, only compound when you fail to address them directly. Perhaps they did something truly horrible to you, and that is not your fault. But remember, it is your response to those slights that defines your character to yourself and to the world. Unless you are in a situation that involves life or death or prolonged emotional abuse, no one made you do a thing. You chose how to respond. You. No one else. Simple rules to civilized society. I learned these rules as a child. And it was reinforced growing up in the geek world where constant taunting and social slights were common. Coping skills for such things were something all geeks talked about amongst themselves, but apparently it wasn’t taught to a lot people outside of that group. And I was apparently mistaken in thinking most geeks understood the lessons.

 

I have stated before, steampunks have some unwritten rules of behavior that we can’t expect all newcomers to know, so a lot of groups have started writing them down. I’m going to gank the guidelines that we have adopted for SCARS as written and compiled by Dan Wright and Airship Horizons to share with the world here as an example of what one group of steampunks have adopted as general principles of behavior. Many of you will recognize the underlying influences that created these. Yes, we are burners.

 

SCARS Guidelines for Social Conduct 

The South Central Armada of Renegate Steampunks (SCARS) is comprised of Steampunks of all backgrounds. We are a community built on the love for all things Steampunk. We understand that because we are different, we cannot always agree. These are guidelines to help our community grow and communicate despite those differences. 

Respect Each Other

We must all respect one another. This can mean a lot of different things, such as respecting one’s wishes to be left alone or respecting another’s opinion on what is or is not Steampunk. We may not always agree, but we can always give respect to one another when interacting in the community. You do not have to like one another, but respect the community enough to not let that dislike bleed into the group. 

Personal Resonsibility

You are responsible for your own experience, your own actions, and your community. By following this philosophy, you help everyone to get out of the community what they put in individually. No one but you are responsible for your fun and your actions. 

Be Real First

Simple idea. Remember that you’re just acting out a role, and even if you don’t like a character in the game, the player might be a vastly different person. If you don’t like the way RP is going, step out of character and take a moment to talk with the players involved. We’re all here to have fun. 

Have fun and help others have fun

Everyone is here to have fun. So, it is the responsibility of each of us to make sure that everyone enjoys the community to the best of their ability. If you see someone frustrated or seemingly not having any fun, please take the time to interact with them and see if you can help them enjoy the community. 

Provide a Positive Image

Whether this is on the street or at an event, we will often get questions about “What is steampunk?” While our answers will always differ, the image we provide will have an impact on those outside of the community. We always want to be remembered in a positive way. 

Inclusion

Anyone may be a part of Steampunk. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community. There is no wrong way to do Steampunk. We accept all forms of Steampunk. 

Self-Expression

Steampunk is filled with talented artists, performers, and engineers of all kinds. It’s a huge part of what makes up the Steampunk community. Everyone puts a lot of work and heart into their creations and many of us do this for a living. There is no “right way” to create art and self-expression. We should all respect each others art form, whether you like their work or not. 

Community Support

As a community we promote working together and sharing. Collaboration between people generate creativity and some of the best works of engineering and artwork the community has to offer. We also help promote and protect our social groups, merchandise, art forms, and our members. Without this support, we wouldn’t be a community. 

Participation

We encourage our members to participate; whether it’s going to conventions, making things, posting in the forums, playing in the LARP or creating stories, volunteering, etc. The more people that participate, the more fun and profitable our community can be. By joining in on the activities you avoid loosing steam! 

Dealing with Problems

We will not always like everyone in our community. If you have a problem with someone in the community, please find a way to resolve the issue privately or find a way to avoid airing out issues in public. Remember, it is sometimes best to sleep on an issue. Our outlook often changes after we’ve had time to cool off and think about it.

 

Seems pretty simple, right? You would be surprised how hard these are to maintain sometimes. Really there are two that seem to pose the most problems for people. Personal responsibility and dealing with problems. For whatever reason, society has raised an entire country of people who don’t know how to say I’m sorry. I think the same forces that created a society that doesn’t want to admit fault, created a society that gets a “holier than thou” attitude when someone is actually mature enough to throw off the shackles of that training and admit wrongdoing. Why would you apologize to someone who is going to use that apology as an admission of weakness and throw it in your face every few weeks. The reluctance is understandable. This is an issue we desperately need to address because it perpetuates an overall issue facing society and an underlying effect, choosing silence when faced with controversy. It’s time that we faced that we are all responsible for the shortcomings of this community whether it’s by refusing to apologize for wrongs, being unable to accept an apology, by reacting in an unproductive manner or worse, by not saying anything at all. I’m going to use a very controversial example to illustrate this that has nothing to do with steampunk, but everything to do with why we are fighting for this.

 

Recently, a good friend of mine has been dealing with issues of PTSD that have arisen from emotional abuse. I watch the pain, the hurt, the fear and the need to place blame, and I want to reach out and shake her. You are stronger than this! It doesn’t matter! What matters is how you respond! Dwelling on this will not help you! But I can’t because I know that she is not ready to hear it, and I know how much pain she is in right now. It struck a cord with me in relating to what I have been seeing in society and steampunk as a whole. The issues are radically different, but the problem in addressing them is the same.

 

I don’t mean to sound callus about any of this, especially my friend. I really do understand. I am a rape survivor, and as many others like me, I fell into the trauma cycle afterward. I spent years berating myself and felt I somehow deserved the emotional abuse that I suffered because of what had happened to me. It took me over 10 years embroiled in a terrible situation before I finally found the courage to stand up for myself. Predictably, psychological testing showed severe PTSD, situational MDD (major depression disorder) and suppressed emotional response. If psychobabble is greek to you, I’ll put it in layman’s terms. I couldn’t go to party’s or be in large crowds because I’d have flashbacks, and on bad days, in certain situations, I still do. Saying that I have social anxiety is a mild understatement, but loosing the ability to know where you are or when you are, i.e. flashbacks, is much, much worse. When I’m in situations that illicit these responses, I kick myself to the point of being a real problem. To deal with this and the emotional abuse I was suffering, I forced myself not to feel at all. So, I know you are asking yourself what this has to do with the personal responsibility issue? Let me explain. First, what happened to me at 18 years old was not my fault, and I no longer blame myself for it. What happened afterward, was understandable, but it WAS my fault. I was punishing myself though I had no logical reason to do so. Because I believed that was what I deserved, I continued and in fact, perpetuated the pattern because to leave it meant that I would have to admit that it was me who accepted the abuse to begin with. And until I was ready to accept that, nothing in my life changed. It only went from bad to worse. Personal responsibility is like that. Nothing changes, it only gets worse until you reach a point that you realize that in bad situations you have a choice. Continue with the patterns that you know are bad and destructive or make new patterns. You can not cling to past hurts, no matter how justified you may be. In doing so, you allow the person and situation that hurt you to rule your life.

 

As a community, the same thing applies. If we hold on to past hurt, and refuse to either accept apologies or to give them, the only thing we are hurting is ourselves. We cling to the patterns that society has burdened us with, and we will never rise above them. Shit happens. Life sucks, and everyday something truly amazing and beautiful happens. The only question is did you see it or were you too busy wrapping yourself in the negative. Maintaining a community is work and it requires conscience effort, an open mind and commitment. A commitment to fairness, to standing up for principles, to throwing in your two cents even when they are unpopular. A lot of times, the things no one wants to hear are exactly what needs to be said. Stop playing chicken little. Address the problems, find solutions then DO IT YOURSELF. This is steampunk, afterall.

 

For me in the community these last few months have been exhausting. Many times I have wanted to either, a)quit, b)resort to violence or c)speak out. It’s kind of rotated around the block a few times before I finally came to the realization that I was falling into the trap of silence for protection. Trouble makers and attention seekers count on societal training for you to avoid conflict. They know that most people will just quietly fall away rather than stand up for what they know is right or speak out against what they know is wrong. I’m not about to fall into that trap. I’ve devoted my life to fighting societal training that tells me to be quiet, to stay in my place, to place blame rather than take responsibility, to endure abuse rather than cause conflict. I had to face this long before I found steampunk and sometimes I just need to remember why I am here, in this community, fighting for these people. It’s for people like my friend who are suffering because they haven’t internalized the very steampunk idea that they are doers. They are builders. And we can build so many more things than goggles or toy guns. Self-esteem doesn’t build itself and happiness is not an outcome of some event or personal relationship or job. It’s something you choose to do every single day. Community doesn’t rise or fall on one persons whim unless you allow it to. Do, build, make. Not just your costumes, but yourselves. You really do have that power. Do it yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clockwork Con 2012

Now that I have gotten enough sleep in one sitting to qualify as rest, I would like to say thank you to everyone who attended Clockwork Con this weekend.  It exceeded our hopes for a great con by leaps and bounds.  To Alex and Tiffany Whisenhunt, guys, you did an AMAZING job.   Great volunteers, really good hotel, and my daughter’s dream line up for bands.  I couldn’t ask for better bosses!  Normally I would put something in here about being great for a first year con.  Pooey.  It was great for a con that has been going on for years: well organized, accessible staff, friendly atmosphere, original programming, rocking burlesque and did I mention the great band line up?  You guys knocked this one out of the park.  We can’t wait for next year!

I, Amelia, often gauge events for my personal satisfaction levels based on the number and quality of the stories that come out of them.  To say that this event was anything other than epic would be a HUGE disservice to the event.  I would like to share some of those stories with you guys.  These are my personal stories of things that happened to me that will stick with me from the con.

On Saturday afternoon, my daughter, her step-mom, her dad and I decided that it would be a great idea to skip down the hallway leading up to the con.  It wasn’t terribly crowded and we were just having that much fun.   I was on the far left, closest to the meeting rooms and to the right were windows.   We made it about halfway down the hall, when, in mid skip, a door flew open right in front of me.  I screamed, threw myself out of the way and thereby in front of my daughter and caused the cascade effect of us all fumbling and nearly falling down.  It was something out of the Three Stooges and it was hysterical!  We laughed.  The guy who opened the door laughed.  The people in the hall who witnessed the event nearly peed themselves laughing.  Side note:  I know the lineup of people involved might sound strange to most people, but my ex-husband and I don’t hate each other.  We just couldn’t be married anymore.  We are great, so long as we don’t have to live together or make daily decisions together.  We have our moments, but all friends do.  I like his new wife, and he likes my new husband, though we both remarried almost 10 years ago.  I guess new isn’t the right term, but you know what I mean.  And we love our children very, very much.  We are committed to having both of us in their lives, and my ex and his wife became active in the steampunk community because it is so much a part of the children’s lives with us.  Then they realized how cool it is, and got even more involved for themselves!

Also on Saturday afternoon, I was taking a much needed smoke break with the kid’s step mom.  Two girls came up, and one of them said “Someone just recently made me quit smoking,  so I’m going to enjoy the second hand smoke.”   I had recently purchased a nifty new electronic cigarette, and wanted to show it to her.  Being in steampunk  garb and having a total lack of pockets, I had been storing it in my bra.  I held my finger up and said “wait, I want to show you this!”  I went to reach inside my shirt to pull out the cigarette, and realized it wasn’t in the normal easy access spot.  I then got really concerned because it was a relatively expensive piece of equipment.  I pulled my bra to the side and started to actively look.  I didn’t find it in the left breast, so I looked on the right side.  No luck.  Jamika was now concerned as well and asked, “Did you loose it?”.  I reached inside my bra, thoroughly searched both sides, and looked up and said “It appears so.”  I then turned to apologize to the girls and tell them about the e-cigarette instead, but they were actively running away.  I tilted my head in confusion when Jamika looked at me and started laughing.  “You were totally just feeling yourself up.”  Ooops.  So, if you are reading this, I swear I’m not that kind of pervert.  I just have no couth.

There are so many more to tell: sitting talking BCTODAT with SheIs, the +15 drunk, giving a serious business panel with a balloon tied to my wrist, Pablo’s birthday roast, calling our first officer at 2am on Saturday just to say we missed him and Amarante, listening to Steam Powered Giraffe, hearing Dear Isabella by Marquis of Vaudeville live for the first time, seeing all of the Order characters come to life, the wing ceremony for Andy and Suzo, Zombie’s interaction with Mentor, running from Faust out of the Dark Steampunk panel, the look on Kitty’s face with the Spine remembered her from Wild Wild West Con, and so so many other wonderful memories.

The costumes at the event were wonderful, and the Gageteer festival was awe inspiring.  It was great bantering with the Sky Dogs and getting to know some of the other crews better.  I think my favorite part of this convention was that we had time to interact with the attendees.  It was busy enough that there was always something for people to do, but not so busy that we found ourselves booked into exhaustion.  Our volunteer staff was wonderful, and allowed the crew, especially our table crew, a chance to pull away from the table a bit, and actually get to know the community that we love so much.  Thank you again, Clockwork  Con, for throwing an outstanding event.  You were inspiring to all of us.  I can’t wait until next year!

http://www.clockwork-con.com/

Life as a Full Time Member of Airship Isabella

I so often hear “It would be great to be able to travel and go to cons for a living…to meet all kinds of people and feel like I’m making a

Captain Whittaker fitting a custom bracer to one of the patrons of Louisianime 2010...the moments that make it worth it.

difference…I want to do that!” My standard response is…no you don’t. On the one hand all of those things are completely true. It is wonderful to travel especially with the eccentric personalities that I have the pleasure of traveling with. Two, cons are wonderful to me because I’ve never known them as a civilian. I enjoy the work, but make no mistake, it is work and a lot of it. Honestly, the reason we keep doing this is the meeting people and the feeling like your making a difference, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Nothing I have ever done beats those moments. But nothing is as easy or as pleasant as it seems. Traveling when you want to is wonderful. Being on the road for 6 weeks with the same people in a confined space with lack of sleep takes a special kind of person to enjoy, and you don’t get to choose where you are going nor what you do when you get there. That is easily overcome with the joy of the event and the people that you work with, but it’s what you don’t see that makes this life difficult.

Enjoy your sweat because hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but without it you don’t have a chance. Alex Rodriguez

There are no promises. We may work our behinds off and be totally prepared, and we may sell out of merchandise at the first event in a six week run. Great ,right! Yes and no. Great that we will actually be able to eat on the way to the next event. Not so great in that as soon as we find crash space for the three days between events, we will be feverishly working to replenish supplies before the next Friday, all while maintaining an internet store. God help us if we run out of raw materials on the road. Did you know you can ship things to post offices in towns you will visit? Just saying. Or on the flip side, we may work our behinds off and be totally prepared, and no one shows up to the event. If we walk away with enough for cup o noodle for the next three days, we will be lucky, not to mention where we are going to sleep. National Park passes are a good investment as is making friends with the locals. And it starts again every Friday. The uncertainty and instability is enough to drive most people crazy. On the crew, we have all had moments of “I can’t do this anymore” and “I just want to know where I’m going to sleep or how are we going to eat.” But we hold each other up in those moments, and figure out new and inventive ways to survive. Some of my favorite stories involve having to come up with ways to get through what seemed to be impossible obstacles. To date, we have had to sleep in our vehicles, but no one has gone hungry. For that, I am thankful.

Then there is the disparity between the way we see the con world and the way a convention goer sees the con world. I hear time and

The Wonderland Crew - Dickens on the Strand 2010. They started with about three hours of sleep and these guys worked in a crowd of approximately 20,000 people for six hours without a break.

time again once people actually book and work conventions, “How do you guys do this?! This is too much like work!” Well, yes, yes it is. It is our job, and treating it as anything less will make you miserable. We do not attend conventions to have fun. We go to promote steam punk, the steam punk community and hopefully make enough money to survive until the next one. To me, that IS fun. I will give you a little taste of what it’s like by relating what we have learned over the course of two years on the circuit. We did attend Ikkicon 2010 as guests, but mostly we stood around being awestruck and not knowing what to do. It was a whole new world to us, and we LOVED it. I had no idea that there were that many people who took the time to make costumes of their favorite characters and dress up for the weekend. I can’t explain to you, as a costumer, how excited that made me.

After giving our very first panel. If you don't recognize them, they didn't make it past the first Spring.

The first convention that we tried to pull together some organization was Comicpalooza in March of 2010. It was our first run at hosting panels on our own, and standing completely independent from other more established groups. We got our first taste of what con life was like on the inside. First, nobody sleeps. How is it that nobody sleeps? But there we were fighting waves of sleep deprivation while having to maintain some semblance of knowledge and decorum. Second, it’s really hard to find food that isn’t a convenience store hot dog for $9, and cons frown on coolers. So, eating is an issue. Third, it’s really, REALLY hard to be polite, welcoming and answer questions without sarcasm when you are suffering from numbers one and two. Finally, desperation often breeds real innovation.

Cedric at our first con workstations, Comicpalooza 2010

Comicpalooza was the first convention that we set up workstations for our leather workers. Not because we thought, “What a great way to get people interested in steam punk!” or “This will be really good marketing!”. No, it was because we are just like every other artist out there, and we had time management issues. We were utterly unprepared for the convention, so in desperation, we brought our workstations with us thinking that we could work in our down time. It turned into a round the clock DIY panel that was inspiring for everyone. It also taught us how horribly wrong not sleeping and eating can go. One of our crew members fell asleep at the wheel, and crashed into a culvert. He broke his back. We now have a policy for cons in which we have to travel more than 3 hours. We do not leave until Monday. Nothing is worth a 21 year old having a lifetime of pain.

At conventions, we are up every morning between 5:30 and 7:30am depending on the con, and work solid until 8pm-midnight. Some cons, I won’t mention any names, seem to think it’s ok to push that end time to 4:30am. This is not because we choose to be there. This is not because we thought it would be fun even if it was. It’s in our contract that we will attend/host/vend. I have wanted to see Abney Park play since I started doing this. I have attended three conventions where they were playing and have not seen them once. The last time I was not working at that exact moment, but I had to choose between catching two hours of sleep, literally on the convention center floor, or the concert. I chose sleep, and including that two hours, I only got three hours of sleep that night. So please don’t take offense when we don’t show up to after parties or don’t drink with you. We are already looking at less than 4 hours of sleep. Having a hang over only makes the next day worse. We had to learn that one the hard way, though we still do it occasionally. People have to cut loose sometimes. As strange as it sounds, you do get acclimated to operating under these conditions, and the pleasant demeanor gets easier to maintain in time. It’s the first six months that’s a killer. After that, it becomes second nature. I will also tell you that you can do far more than you think you can, and push much further than you ever thought possible if you want something badly enough.

To be honest, I think that we learned all of the basics at that first full-fledged con. At the time, we thought it was a fluke. That we hadn’t prepared properly. But the truth is, the con world and life on the road is both totally predictable and utterly unpredictable. You can count on the lack of sleep, the difficulty in locating food and the iron will to maintain a pleasant face while operating under the first two. You can also count on the fact that something will go wrong, things you were promised will not happen and schedules change without anyone bothering to notify you. These are a given. But you can also count on that one person that makes your smile real through the fog, the one panel that you enjoy giving as much as the people enjoy attending, the random acts of kindness, and the light in people’s faces that just make everything worth doing.

Kitty and Nyxie, Ikkicon 2011, day two, midnight

Surviving in this world requires one thing: perseverance. Thriving in this world requires two things: perseverance and flexibility. One, always have a backup plan. You are suppose to have a hotel room? Know where the nearest dive that you can afford to shove all 15 of your people into is. In the same vein, know the crime rates in the city you are going to. Green room access? First trip will be to the grocery store. We will have time to do that once we get there….no you won’t. Two, schedules don’t work…for us or for them. Cons are notorious for changing in mid-stride and we just learned to deal with it. Nothing is ever written in stone,so it is a waste of time and energy to get upset about it. Knee deep in a season, we have neither of those things to spare. Plan for it instead. We assigned crew members and friends to this problem. Their job is to keep poking around places so that we have as much warning as possible to the inevitable changes. And it doesn’t hurt to get to know the staff. They are either your best allies or your worst enemies. Don’t make them the latter. You will regret it.

Finally, people seem to think that we can relax between conventions. This is so far from the truth that its mind boggling. I hear people on the internet talking about con comas when they get home. We have a rule in the shop. If we arrive at the shop, or our next port of call before 9pm, we all have to put in an hour of work before we can sleep. Actual building work, not computer work. The computer work is for the next day. And that includes the end of a long run. Once we end a season, there is still a weeks worth of work to do. We do occasionally have two-three week breaks and those are when our con comas hit. I have seen a marked change in the crew in this regard over the year. When we first started, every break was treated like a weekend. Now, people won’t take more than two weeks even if we have more time, and for anything less than two weeks, no one slows down at all. But after that 6-8 week push in the fall and spring, the first week back, no one changes out of pajamas or goes out to do anything other than buy smokes or sodas. And they sleep. Sleep like they will never see it again. Which in their defense, they won’t once the ramp up to the next run starts

“…I didn’t bring my peremptory tone to bear in regard to what you’d just said about the unnecessariness of sleep but only, only, mind you, because of the fact that I absolutely, simply, purely and without any whatevers have to sleep now, I mean, man, my eyes are closing, they’re red hot, sore, tired, beat…” Jack Kerouac, On the Road

The guys of Airship Isabella hosting an impromptu panel with Mr. Saturday and Sixpence at Realmscon 2011, day three, at this point an hour of sleep in 48 hours.

During long runs, we only have three days to replenish stock which is all hand made by us. That means 16-18 hour work days leading into 4-36 hour road trips leading into 20-22 hour work days with no weekends for 4-8 weeks at a time. Now with all of this, you still have to update your outfits, repair any gear that was damaged, and maintain family relationships….and I home school my children as well. We still have the Ike shack as a shop and home when we are not on the road, and we have added a leaky camper in the driveway to house our two newest full time members. And somehow we have managed to eek out enough space to fit three more workstations in the living quarters that has no central air or heat. Any creature comfort we have ever had is gone, from privacy to consistent hot water. Still sound like something you want to do?

I will tell you it is worth every minute, but it is not for the faint of heart! Every time someone comes up and thanks you; Every time they bring their first attempt at building and garb to an event; Every time you see a family brought together by a common vision; Every time you leave the con floor with a smile, and I have never left the con floor anything but smiling, you are reminded why you work so hard. In the midst of everything, I do get to spend more time with my family. Even if we are all working, we are working together. I am closer to the people on this crew than I have been to anyone that is not related to me by blood, and with them, I have shoved a lifetime full of incredible stories into the space of a year. I have been to more places than I ever thought I would get to see. I get to work my rear off for something that I love, and I was not raised to be ashamed of hard work. I’m actually really proud of it. So if you still have a mind to set out after that dream with your eyes open, come talk to us. We will help you any way we can!

Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life. Jack Kerouac

The Airship Isabella crew at Wild Wild West Con, Tuscon, Arizona...would not trade them for anything.

Airship Isabella – the real life “Origins” of Cedric and Amelia Whittaker

The fall season is finally behind us, and I will admit to crawling in my little hobbit hole and taking a much needed break from the front lines. I’ve probably slept more in the past two weeks than I have since September! This fall was wonderful and busy and everything that I could have hoped it would be. That being said, it was also everything I expected it to be.

I wanted to take this short moment between awaking from post-road dogging stupor and moving on to the holidays and then without a breath, the slower, but still busy winter season to talk about what it’s like to be a full time member of Airship Isabella. It’s probably one of our most commonly asked questions, and it is often said with a glitter in the eyes and a look of longing. I don’t understand the look because I’m here, at headquarters, and know the full story. With the upcoming release of our first installment of Airship Isabella – Origins. I thought I would also take a moment to give you the real life “Origins” story as well.

In the fall of 2008, my firefighter husband, Michael “Hawk” Ford came up with a “brilliant idea”. We were going to build a full scale 20′

Kitty in our backyard Summer 2009

X 50′ two story “airship” to be taken to Flipside the next May, and set up a dance camp. For those of you unfamiliar with Burning Flipside, it is a regional Burning Man festival in central Texas. We called her “the Airship Isabella”, and we did actually build it and take it to Flipside. We had a wonderful time building the ship, and we fell in love with steam punk in the process. We even came up with characters and back stories, and named ourselves Cedric and Amelia Whittaker. In June we moved into a beautiful home on Lake Travis, and rang in the summer playing in the lake and teaching our youngest how to swim. It was about as perfect as anything I had ever imagined. But out there in the economic world, the recession had be going on for almost a year, and we were about to become victims. It’s a long story that is just rotten all the way around, but suffice it to say that by the middle of July, Hawk was out of a job. That left me, a secretary, trying to take care of three children while living in a very nice house on the lake.

“Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.” Richard Bach

We had savings enough to get us through December, but after that we were going to be in real trouble. There were no jobs to be found, and cities, now loosing revenue, were not looking to hire. Hawk continued to play with his new found hobby in steam punk while looking for a job, and as finding a job anytime soon began to look less and less likely, an idea began to form. We had done so well throwing the party at Flipside maybe we could do it professionally. It was crazy. We were desperate. So, we banded together with some friends, and started mapping out what we wanted to do. We created a plan to build our reputation as event hosters and to use merchandise sales to fund our start up. We had a box of old leather in the closet from when Hawk was in the SCA, and a whole lot of bits and pieces from the Flipside project. So, we set out to build steam punk merchandise. It was slow at first, and we didn’t really do much to offset even our costs at first. We also had a hard time figuring out where to market ourselves. We did clubs and small events, but nothing big enough to even begin to be hopeful. We did manage to book a movie spot as extras, and were hired by the artistic designer for the scene we were in, J.R. Fleming. We let her use our boat house as a scene shop, and much to our benefit, she joined the team.

December came and went with the last of our savings, and January was looking incredibly bleak. On the day before New Year’s we got a call from Beth at Ikkicon, asking us if we could fill a single spot on Thursday night before the con. We jumped at the opportunity, and put together a show…complete with a band…that didn’t exist before that day…in under 24 hours. I’m just going to be honest. It was horrible. I cried and had a panic attack. I really didn’t think we were going to survive the backlash. Nonetheless, we showed up the next day to sit our table, and low and behold, people had liked it or they hadn’t seen it. It didn’t really matter either way. We made a ton of connections, and while we had shown up with some merchandise, we had had no experience in the con world. We didn’t realize the volume we were dealing with. By Sunday, we had sold all but two pieces of the gear WE HAD ON to the patrons of that Ikkicon. More importantly, we met there a large portion of the future members of the Isabella.

As the winter progressed, we started working on making inroads into the convention circuit, and trying to survive. We lost our only whole car, and had to pull the old Jeep out of the scrap bin just to keep going. It had two shattered windows and no heater, but it ran…sometimes…and we owned it. J.R. let us use her car when she could, and her mother even picked me up and took me to work a few times when the Jeep was acting up. We had some disagreements within the crew over the direction of the group, and we lost all but three of our original members who weren’t family. They thought the convention circuit was snobbish and a waste of time. They didn’t see how pursuing this venue would be beneficial to promoting a party company. Those who remained had begun to see things a little differently. Those who left were right and they were wrong. It was definitely snobbish, but we were convinced it wasn’t a waste of time. We were also convinced that we didn’t want to concentrate on parties. We could see a bigger picture beginning to emerge and an actual community beginning to develop that we wanted to be a part of. In that split, we lost all but one of our closest friends. And we kept going.

We went with my parents to the museum for Father's day after a really rough spring.

The spring brought another round of triumphs and perhaps the worst tragedies that we have seen to date. We actually started making inroads in the convention circuit, and met people who would become some of our closest allies. We lost a good friend to accidental suicide and had to file charges on a member of the crew that resulted in one of our children moving away…on the day of the funeral. The two weren’t actually related in anyway other than rotten timing. Even in the midst of turmoil, no one lost site of the mission, though the mission had changed. We no longer had any desire to be event managers/promoters or party planners. We had seen the magic in steam punk, and the potential that it had to actually inspire people to be creative and innovative. The mission became, in the summer of 2010, to make sure that that potential was achieved as much as this crew of rag tag misfits could.

I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me. — Dr. Seuss

By July of 2010, we had reached a cross-roads. We were out of money, completely. The Jeep finally quit working altogether. We were facing me having to get two jobs, if I could even find another one. Or Hawk having to put down the steam punk venture, and take any job he could find just to survive. Even those were damn near impossible to locate. We had one other option. We could completely abandon trying to make things work in the “real world” to try to make Airship Isabella full time. We had realized quickly that the only way to make this work was to be able to travel. Without reliable transportation and being tied to an 8-5 job, I couldn’t go along. The second barrier was the children’s school. The third and final problem was start up costs. We made the only logical choice for us, terrifying as it was. I quit my job, cashed in my retirement, sold all of my household belongings, decided to home school the children, and set out on the road. They say the only way to really build wings is as you are falling, so we gave it a shot.

Last day at the Lake House August 2010, our moving/packing partners: Hawk, Remy, Nick, Korrin, Alex, Julissa, Whitney, Eevie and David

We set up a home base in a tiny house behind Cedric’s mom that had been severely damaged during Hurricane Ike, and was and is probably uninhabitable. Over the course of the Fall of 2010, Captain Delacru and Johnny No joined us, and several other members quit their jobs and school to do this full time though they did not move into the shop. To truly understand this, you must understand that this house is about 900 sq ft with two bedrooms and one bath that kind of works. We had to pull the seaweed out of the stove. In this house was our workspace for Cedric, Lazuli, Johnny No and me. As well as sleeping quarters for my two children and Cedric and me. Hawk’s mom kindly let the guys sleep inside her house. We used the start up cash to buy tools and supplies and a vehicle that lasted all of three weeks before blowing out the engine. And we started to work in earnest. We booked a few really great events, and by October were booking well into 2011. We booked and performed at Dickens on the Strand in Galveston, and then we really started to gain steam.

Dickens on the Strand 2010

So, the background being set up and knowing where we were coming from will hopefully make what will come next make more sense.

 “Here’s to the crazy ones; the misfits; the rebels; the trouble-makers; the round pegs in the square holes; the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Jack Kerouac

Steampunk as a Cultural Movement

We’ve all heard the “steampunk is an aesthetic” and the “steampunk is a genre” discussions that have been going on recently, but while I would argue that it’s both depending on what you are talking about, I’m not interested in going into detail on that subject. While Cap and I were on our way to get dinner this evening, we were discussing why is steampunk, as a cultural movement, worth fighting for. To begin with, I should probably expound upon why we feel it is a cultural movement.

In our early days on the steampunk scene, we encountered quite a culture of snobbery. It wasn’t ever-present, and it wasn’t everyone. But it was enough to be a real turn-off to the community. People tended to be possessive of geographic areas and didn’t really like seeing new faces on the block. It was really hard to get started in the community, and we had to really ask ourselves why we even wanted to try. After much debate we decided that the push of creativity and the spark of innovation that steampunk seemed to inspire in everyone that came across it was enough to fight for. It was so contrary to the 8 to 5 workday, everyday dole-drum hobbies that even tinkering in the art-form was enough to change the way you looked at everything around you. Your broken bits and baubles became gold, and your arts and crafts classes became a way to express a long repressed desire to create. Once started, we all asked the same question. Why, again, did I stop playing dress-up, and when exactly did I stop seeing the world as a giant canvas for us to paint? It’s those questions that ultimately make this a cultural movement.

Steampunk challenges the idea that make-believe and hand-made creativity should prudently come to an end at the age of 18. The formal end of childhood also marks in our culture the expectation to “grow up”.  At one time, entering science and engineering was a formal way to continue the creativity and innovation of childhood, but in the last 30 years we have seen a marked increase in dogma in those fields as well. Less and less funding has gone to theoretical research and otherwise “alternative” scientific fields. This is doubly true if the field and study doesn’t have an obvious way to turn a profit. With the privatization of scientific research, funneling large sums of cash for the purpose of improving the human race or the understanding of the universe isn’t exactly a priority. Beyond that, the cost of higher education has sky-rocketed, and many people can no longer afford to attend college especially in fields that will require more than four years of study. Traditional art is another option, but it is both highly competitive and requires a natural talent that very few of us possess. Even then, the term “starving artist” is a very real testament to the value our culture places even on the most talented of us.

So where does that leave the rest of us? Those of us who have either already completed our higher education or are not able to start for whatever reason. Those of us who don’t have the drive or the natural talent to strike out as artists. Are we suppose to give up all of our innate creativity in exchange for more practical pursuits? In terms of occupation, maybe. But in terms of hobbies and lifestyles, society would say we are more than welcome to take up jewelry making or soap making or model building or knitting, but those things hardly make a lifestyle. I have found that steampunk often starts just like knitting and model building would, as a hobby. But it involves more than rote mechanics and learning a craft. It engages the imagination. It encourages people to imagine a world that doesn’t exist and to place themselves inside of it. To create their own place and personna in which they play roles that range from princes to janitors in much the same way we created our outlaw worlds in childhood cowboys and indians.

Society frowns deeply on this, and you have to ask yourself, why? The answer isn’t as simple as it may seem. In our travels we have heard a number of reasons why we should “just grow up and stop this”. One, it’s weird. Why? Because it’s not normal. That’s only true because more people don’t do it. Two, it detracts from the normal progression of adulthood. This is true, but the comment assumes that our “normal progression” is a positive and desirable goal. I would argue that it’s not. It stifles cultural, mechanical and scientific innovation at a time when there really isn’t a non-profit driven vehicle for this type of exploration. Three, it’s silly, and you are embarrassing yourself. Well, it is silly, but I’m not embarrassing myself at all. I may be embarrassing you, but I’m doing just fine. And again, the statement assumes that being silly is an undesirable quality. I, again, do not accept this statement. Being silly helps you to retain your sense of humor and calm in a world that is increasingly bleak. Four, and my favorite, aren’t you too old for this? Which brings us back to the original assumption, once you are past 18 years of age, you should no longer be creative or silly in ways that are outside of the established norm. I reject this wholeheartedly for all the reasons I have already stated plus one. The one that answers the question that hasn’t and won’t be asked by those who are disturbed by what we are doing, and that answers how steampunk is a cultural movement.

Those of us, especially those of us who are older, who have embraced the steampunk aesthetic and have involved themselves in the character and world creating genre ultimately find themselves asking the question how did the world that we are living in now get so screwed up? It is inevitable, really. When you start creating worlds in your mind, you can’t help but do so in light of the world you live. You are attempting to either build a better world or to find the ways that it will ultimately fail, depending on how you are looking at your characters. But all roads lead to the same place. They lead you to look critically at the “real” world. Just as in childhood, acting out your conflicts, your inner demons and your fears helped you to cope and to change your responses, so it also works in adulthood. Writers think in this manner as a matter of course, and are often considered some of the most dangerous and influential people in the world. It’s no wonder a genre/aesthetic that encourages and trains people to embrace this mindset might seem disturbing.

In the last year, I have begun to see more and more people embracing this playground, and as they do, I see more and more of them waking up to the reality that they are living in. Every moment of our lives are choreographed and planned according to the dictates of age, race, and class. The odds of breaking free of whatever cycle you were born into are nearly insurmountable, and the society in which we are embroiled has done little to nothing to improve those odds. We have a host of failed and over regulated programs that many of us have begun to wonder if they were ever intended to succeed, or whether they were always meant as a placebo to people that noticed and called for change. From our laughable education and public assistance systems to the empty promise of bettering ourselves through higher education. And by and large, people are trained to look the other way. We are trained to accept as inevitable the oligarchy that this country has become. We accept that our jobs are tenuous and just working is a privilege for which we should be thankful. How far have we fallen even in the last hundred years? We watch with placated eyes as the work our grandfathers fought for is taken from us without so much as a backwards glance. We fight to get ahead for the promise of comfort and security, when neither are even a probable outcome for the vast majority of the populace. We no longer fight for happiness and well-being, but for a bigger house, a nicer car or a new ipod. Happiness is measured by how much money you have in your bank account. To that I have an answer that is often used around the Airship Isabella shop. Money may buy you comfort, but it will never buy you happiness. We have made a conscious choice to live a life where we are happy, and have rejected the idea that success can only be achieved by making the appropriate amount of money. While many have not made the same type of leap, I’m starting to see more and more people reach these same conclusions.

In addition to abandoning the idea that the newest toys are the best toys, today, I am watching as an involved and creative community is starting to turn what they are learning playing games to apply to their real brick and mortar lives. A series of steampunk cultural norms are beginning to emerge and develop by which those in the movement are expected to adhere. Honor, loyalty, respect, free expression, compassion and sharing, especially in the do it yourself/maker aspect of the community. You hear the saying, There are no such things as “trade secrets”. I have seen a return to a community support system, and quiet but real push away from the old snobbery of a few years ago. It has been replaced with a open arms and teach everyone philosophy. While the differences to accepted cultural dogma might not be drastic, the ideals that are being formed are different enough to be considered a real deviation from the norm. As far as a cultural movement goes, by it’s very definition, it is a change or deviation in the way a culture approaches work or thought. We definitely fit that criteria.

This is not to say that the community is without its problems and inconsistencies, but in all honesty, that is to be expected in a movement as young as we are. By the time this sees the public page, some of this will already be outdated. We are growing and changing so fast. But in that break-neck pace, mind-blowing train that is steampunk is a spark that I haven’t seen in my entire life. The encouragement of creativity and inclusive mentality is a positive point of growth for our culture, and that alone is worth fighting for.

Besides, we have better cookies. <wink>