The Doubtful Guest

This is my online journal, in which I discuss my life and things like that. Almost all the posts from late 2008-onwards are flocked. Also, as of September, 2010, I do not post regularly here, instead preferring to give my business to Dreamwidth where possible. You can find me there easily: KimBooSan on Dreamwidth.

I still read and check my flist here, though, so this is not a "dead" journal. If you want me to friend you, leave a comment on this post (all comments are screened).

Thank you!

If you come into a fandom later rather than sooner, you could be wading hip-deep into waters best left undisturbed. Ever since my throw down with the due South community, I've pondered on what kind of advice I'd give to a newbie in a fandom about how to avoid that kind of situation.

There is the "step in slowly" advice, which isn't bad advice but is hardly enough. I stepped into dS slowly, carefully, and watchfully, and I still upset the hornet's nest of high and mighty BNFs.

But, I think I may be on to something here, based on my observations of SGA comms: if you want to see how well people get along, look at how they talk about each other behind each others' backs.

Specially, I'm thinking in regards to pairing and character comms. The RayV comm I joined seemed like a great group of folks, but in review, I see that many members spent a lot of time verbally abusing RayK followers in absentia and the RayK/Fraser ship. To the point where if anyone even said anything slightly positive in nature about either, they were branded traitors/delusional/insensitive (guilty). The atmosphere wasn't "to each their happy own!" but rather "us against them, those misguided and obnoxious jerks!"

In that vein, I've looked at a couple of SGA shipping comms outside of McShep and lo, there is so much bitterness there. There is in absentia name calling that would NEVER be acceptable (and I have never seen) in a general SGA comms. These are people with a chip on their shoulders, and one foot held ready on the trip to start a shipping war. It's just unpleasant.

So, that's the secret, I think. Check out the "specialty" comms, be they for a ship or a specific character or something of the kind, and lurk for a while to see how the mods handle people talking shit about other fandom members/communities. If they aren't shutting it down, then you've been warned: there is a hornets nest of ill-will festering below the surface of the fandom, and you'd do well to keep your wits about you and tread softly.

My 2 cents.

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This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/428788.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but if you comment on LJ it may be a while before I respond because I only log in here once a week or so.

Compersion is “a state of empathetic happiness and joy experienced when an individual's current or former romantic partner experiences happiness and joy through an outside source…” and is a term that originated in and is still mostly used by the polyamory community. It’s sometimes presented as the opposite of jealousy, although it’s acknowledged that it’s possible to experience both emotions almost concurrently, and truthfully the term is still new and in flux so there are a myriad of different shadings to the definition depending on who you read.

With that in mind, I’m going to expand the term a little to move it beyond romance or sex and into fandom. The other day I was reading a friend’s tweets squeeing over a couple of new shows she was fangirling over, shows that I have about zero interest in watching. However, I was happy reading about her joy and I was excited for her, so I gleefully jumped in and volleyed some encouraging tweets back at her. Even being completely removed from the fandoms that she was excited about, I was enjoying the exchange. We were fangirling, despite the inherent disconnect of my not actually participating in those fandoms or even watching the shows.

The word compersion came to mind, then, but it really fit exactly what I was feeling: empathetic happiness and joy over my friend’s happiness and joy. It didn’t matter why she was wound up.

She and I have a number of other fandoms we do share, some more active than others. We certainly have a history of being in fandom together (that’s how we met, after all) and a strong friendship that’s developed even outside of those interests. That we’ve got some “fandom drift” going on is immaterial to any of that; our divergent interests in different shows/movies is no threat to everything we share, as some fans often act when this happens. It is true that if all you have in common with someone is one fandom, then when either of you move on or take up other interests, the friendship is going to probably tank. Sometimes, that’s just the way it is. If there is more to the friendship than that, though, compersion comes into play.

In this way I can expand and even further cement our friendship; instead of being jealous of her joy or angry that we don’t share those fandoms, I can interact with her with happiness and excitement, sharing in her passion even if I don’t particularly share her passions.

Fandom compersion. It’s working for me.  

This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/426142.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but if you comment on LJ it may be a while before I respond because I only log in here once a week or so.

Posted for the month_of_meta over on Dreamwidth!

Title: The Fandom Social Contract
Author: kimboosan (mikes_grrl)
Rating: PG13/teen and up
Warnings/Spoilers: Triggers for wank, flouncing and fandom splits. And, footnotes!
Word count: 10k~ (i.e. obscenely self-indulgent)
Disclaimers: You should in no way assume the author knows what she’s doing.
Summary: What is the nature of the presumed social contract fans share? What is the affect of fandom personality, size and pan-fandom influence on that presumed social contract in regards to wank/splits/flounces? In this essay I take a lens to these issues by reflecting on the behavior of fans in several different online, fanfic-centric fandoms (LoM, HF, SPN, SGA, dS) in the face of adversity and stress, and how their history, size, and pan-fandom influence affects those community reactions and whether the presummed social contract plays any roll in longevity or robustness.

Now with extended author's notes and long-winded introductary section!

The Fandom Social Contract
(on Dreamwidth only as apparently I'm too long-winded for LJ, sorry!)

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In a fandom I barely know exists, apparently there was a discussion about the term "pre-slash" which I find illuminating and enlightening. The only reason I know about it is because a fellow mod for a comm brought up the issue, based on what she was reading about in one of her other fandoms.

The idea is that "pre-slash" is a form of ghettoizing. We don't warn for "pre-het" or "pre-femslash" after all, do we? "Het" is the cultural norm and I suppose "femslash" is so marginal even within slash (hence the "fem" prefix to differentiate it, as oppose to a specifically independent term) that labeling (or warning) for those elements is considered silly. But in labeling "pre-slash" we separate it out from all other forms of relationships, and while that is not inherently a judgmental act (nor was it ever intended as such, I'm sure) it does give the concept a type of "exceptionalism" that is culturally isolating. That is, in short, it makes is seem abnormal as compared to the concept of "pre-het." If you have identified your story as being a M/M the "slash" part of the "pre-" is implied, therefore redundant.

The argument for continued use of the term rests mostly on the idea that it is accepted and recognized in general use. We all know what "pre-slash" means in regards to a story, no long winded explanations necessary ("so see, they aren't involved yet, but in due time there will be fabulous dicking going on, you just need to read all of this story first, but I promise, as some point, dicking!").

But eh, IMHO the phrase "pre-relationship" fills the gap (so to speak? er....). The other alternative is to have category-specific labels (pre-het, pre-gen, pre-kid!fic, etc.) but seriously, how complicated does this need to be? 

I'm not going back and re-labeling everything I've ever posted anywhere that fits this category/description, but from this point out I will describe anything that I would have once labeled "pre-slash" as "pre-relationship." Just FYI, and food for thought.

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This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/421993.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but I'd rather you do so on Dreamwidth.

Right now it is 8:30pm on New Year's Eve (Jan. 31st). I had to be a work at 8, class at 12:30, the garage at 2:15 (new tires...that's kind of like purification, yeah? Well, they're new. Good enough), music lesson at 5:30pm. BUSY! 

Even so, I've managed to do a few things in the spirit of February (the month of purification and renewal!): several loads of laundry (I have to go to a laundromat to do that, so it's a big deal for me) which included linens and throw rugs, take down old and hang new porch lights (yes, I found some), clean the litter box, straighten out my shoe cabinet (I keep all my shoes by the front door), and even take a trip to the grocery store! 

While that's not quite the complete overhaul one might want out "spring cleaning", I'm thinking I've done my good deeds for the day, in preparation for tomorrow. I am even putting out fresh bed linens! I know!!! Can't hold me back! Watch out! 

I'm now going out to my fave steakhouse, eating a good meal, then coming home and going to sleep. I love you all, and hope you are having a FABULOUS New Year's Eve too! 

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This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/419782.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but I'd rather you do so on Dreamwidth.

February is the month of purification, and that's a great way to kick off the new year, right? 

My plan is that after I meet my responsibilities for the day (work, class, new tires $$$) I will come home, straighten up the house, vacuum, and then head out to do my laundry.

I know, that doesn't have the cache of putting on a party dress and rockin' the town, but really, who wants to ring in a new year by puking on her expensive heels? Not the message I am trying to send, at all!

So after I CLEAN ALL THE THINGS, I will then spend a drachma or two on a nice steak dinner someplace where other people do the dishes. Then I will come home, drink wine, relax, and go to sleep so I can wake up feeling ready to face a new year: refreshed, with a clean house and clean clothes and nourished body.

I'm geared up and ready to roll! :D

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This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/419358.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but I'd rather you do so on Dreamwidth.

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve! Again, but better! Because instead of ringing in the new year under the banner of the God of Doors (yawn...Janus, there's the door, buddy, please do let it hit you on the ass on the way out), we ring it in with February, which was named after a ritual of purification! That’s right! No pagan gods to even piss off! February is all about shucking off the dirt and pain and scum that has weighed us down!

In fact, the big pre-Valentine’s Day celebration in Rome was Lupercalia, which was kind of weird and kinky BUT was all about purifying the city to improve health (and fertility, but we’re not going there). It was celebrated between February 13 and 15 and involved, I don’t know, something about half-naked virile young men running around in goat skins and whipping maidens. Like I said, weird and kinky...just the way we like ‘em!

So the theme as we head into this brilliant NEW YEAR is purification! Cleanliness! Health, wealth, and well-being!

We will also be celebrating Lupercalia as a festival of personal reinvention. You can celebrate in parallel with Valentines Day (you freak) or just by itself. I’ll be posting some modern ideas for celebration, but this is an open-opportunity TRANSFORMATIVE HOLIDAY! Let’s make it ours!

What’s your plan for tomorrow? Skipping work? Class? Showing up like the responsible drone you are? I won’t be skipping anything (drone, here) but I totally plan to have a nice meal, a long shower (purification is the theme here, people!) and a quiet evening of doing something I enjoy just for myself, like reading. Something to shake off the shackles of 2011! Not sure about the details yet, but how about you?

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This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/419133.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but I'd rather you do so on Dreamwidth.

“In [MLS advocates’] approach to professionalism, they have confused two issues: whether librarianship is a profession, which is a factual question, and whether it ought to be a profession, which is a question of values.” (p.107)

This is the chapter I made the most notes about, because I’m something of a theory whore. So bear with me. Or skip it, honestly I won’t mind. However it does make for some interesting food for thought.

The core problem with the MLS, as described here, is that the issue of professionalism was reduced to a “trait model”, that is, “the method for an occupation to become accepted as a profession is to acquire the traits of the recognized professions.” (p.116)

Swigger does a lot to back up this argument. His analysis of the faults of the trait model go on for a few pages, but the most informative aspect of his argument is that applying an ideal type as a recipe (“lawyers have degrees; lawyers are professionals; therefore professionals have degrees”) is a recipe for disaster. He also discusses the symbiotic relationship of librarians to libraries (can you have librarians without libraries? It is a valid question given the digital revolution, but it is also valid in regards to defining what a librarian’s job is at a more theoretical level). As Swigger points out, “the issues of libraries’ roles in the future are ultimately ideological issues, not technological ones” (p.113), despite appearances.

This in turn gives rise to the next argument that Swigger makes, which is that the problem with “using the trait model as a checklist is that the social need addressed by an occupation or profession may change substantially.” (p.115) No kidding.

There is a very powerful paragraph on page 117 that starts, “The MLS Project experienced difficulties in developing a library science…” and is addressing the utter lack of a sophisticated body of knowledge and theory within the field. There is theory, I will grant you, but sophisticated? Not so much, in my experience. I found much more complex and deep theory of information studies in the humanities courses I took (in connection with the History of Text Technology certificate offered via the English Department). Swigger poses the question of why we are not asking “What is beautiful librarianship?” which is something I’m not sure has been seriously addressed since Ranganathan.

Page 117 also has an important comparison of librarianship to law, profession to profession, and why it is pretty much a given that the two will never be seen equally in terms of prestige and status. Swigger does not mention, as I have brought up previously, the fact that librarianship has been viewed historically as a feminized profession, whereas law has always been the provenance of the social elite (middle to upper class white men, for the most part). I still feel this is a critical issue to address openly if we are going to attempt to identify Information Studies as a professional profession; are we simply trying to ape the masculinized ideal of what a professional is or are we willing to try to retrofit what a valid “profession” is to librarianship as it stands? That is, instead of running from the “Marion Librarian” stereotype as fast and hard as possible (as the MLS Project was designed to do) are we going to fight to hold up our feminized history as its own valid model of professionalism? (I would like to point out that Marion the Librarian was the hero of the musical, smarter than pretty much everyone around her, better read, better educated, and held herself to a very high level of professionalism in her career…the fact that she was a soprano was incidental).

The rest of the chapter delves into two other “models of professions”: “power” and “jurisdiction”, which are both important but too complex for me to recap here in a meaningful way. However one thing that got me thinking is that for the public to recognize librarianship as a profession, we as professionals would have to be viewed as solving an important problem. Most people today, especially in the Google era, see no problems with information searching or wrangling because most of those problems are “behind the scenes,” so to speak. If anything, the digital age is ushering a new era of invisibility for information professionals.

I’ll finish this part of the series with two quotes that encapsulate the issue as Swigger sees it, and as I feel it truly stands:

• “The concept of professionalism in the MLS project was flawed because it focused on the characteristics and rewards of librarians rather than on the needs of clients or the kinds of expertise required to serve them.” (p. 126)
• “The question ‘Is librarianship a profession?’ is unproductive. A more important question is ‘What are the functions of libraries as social instruments?’…until librarians can answer the question of function without rhetorical flourishes, more complex questions and answers will perplex them.” (p.129)

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Originally published at kimboo york is kbs. You can comment here or there.

This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/419006.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but I'd rather you do so on Dreamwidth.

So today has been kind of emotionally icky, and I'm still walking with a cane, and tomorrow is Monday, and this month has just plain SUCKED.

How about you?

My plan is to relaunch 2012. Clearly, this January was the last desperate hacking coughs (not as much a metaphor as it should be) of 2011. I redact January from 2012 and give it back to 2011 where it belongs.

On Tuesday, January 31, we are RELAUNCHING 2012!  It will be News Years Eve without the overpriced pathetic club parties and cheap champagne -- get some nice wine or a cocktail instead. Spend it with a loved one. Kiss at midnight or just sleep the hell right through it, doesn't matter, because February 1st marks the BEGINNING of the NEW YEAR!

The Year of the Dragon just started, 2011 is going out under heavy medication, and we are going to welcome in the awesome new year with all the enthusiasm it deserves!

January, you are fired! Back to 2011 with you! February, we welcome you with open arms!

Okay, so it's the middle of the week and we can't go party down. Who cares? It's a brand new year! How will you celebrate it? 

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This entry originally posted on Dreamwidth: http://kimboosan.dreamwidth.org/418304.html. You may comment there or here, whatever suits your fancy, but I'd rather you do so on Dreamwidth.