puppetmaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
puppetmaker) wrote2014-09-12 09:04 am
puppetmaker) wrote2014-09-12 09:04 am
Being the Other
At Dragon Con I got to hang with like-minded people for a couple of days. I got to play with my puppet tribe. I got to hang with old friends I hadn’t seen in years and it was like putting on a comfortable sweater. It was glorious.
But this year I noticed that I was explaining to people some old fannish customs. A couple of us figured out that most of the people who participated in the puppetry track had never met Jim Henson. Heck some of them hadn’t even been born.
I spent some time talking to friends about conventions past that had faded into memory like Atlanta Fantasy Fair and MoC. Dixie Trek came up too. ChattaCon and Liberty Con are the only two that I went to regularly that are still going on.
I have become, to some, without my knowing it an elder in fandom. I was there when (fill in the blank) happened.
And it is an odd feeling.
Caroline and I were talking the other day about various topics including school and her new classmates. She told me that the kids thought I was cool because I work with puppets and always wear awesome t-shirts. And that Dad was cool because he worked for Marvel.
But she felt different than the other kids because her upbringing is different. She had both parents at home when she leaves for school and when she gets back. We work out of the house rather than go to a shop or office. She travels to all kinds of interesting places and meets interesting people.
And I got to thinking about being the Other. The one outside the group looking in.
I think we all feel that we are the Other at some point in our lives.
I know my brain doesn’t work like other people’s brains and that’s fine because theirs don’t work like mine either.
It is when I discover that something my brain does and has been doing pretty much my whole life is not like the norm that I feel the most like the Other. My norm is not your norm nor will it ever be.
I walk around with music playing in my head. Sometimes the songs get stuck but I pretty much have a soundtrack to my life or lines of dialogue from something I have heard.
I have been called a good problem solver because I seem to have this magically ability to think outside the box and come up with a solution. One of the reason I love doing panels at Dragon Con where the panelists are asked how they would build something or what materials would we use for something. Being able to rattle off ideas is like breathing to me. I also can take what others are coming up with and adding to it. I was asked this past Dragon Con, ‘How fast do you think?’ Apparently it is faster than most but then my brothers and sister can do the same thing so that’s the normal for my family.
My brain doesn’t slow down and I am fine with that. Makes it a little noisy in my head at time but I have learned to deal.
When I was a child being the Other could kind of sucked as an adult I am so use to it that it really doesn’t cross my mind unless something brings attention to it. In this case it was Caroline and a discussion about being true to yourself.
But there are times when I look around and see how I look different than the other parents of the children that Caroline is friends with. I know our common ground is our children and not much more than that. I am the Other and I am OK with that and I honestly hope they are too.
I am grateful for my brain in all its twisted glory.
But this year I noticed that I was explaining to people some old fannish customs. A couple of us figured out that most of the people who participated in the puppetry track had never met Jim Henson. Heck some of them hadn’t even been born.
I spent some time talking to friends about conventions past that had faded into memory like Atlanta Fantasy Fair and MoC. Dixie Trek came up too. ChattaCon and Liberty Con are the only two that I went to regularly that are still going on.
I have become, to some, without my knowing it an elder in fandom. I was there when (fill in the blank) happened.
And it is an odd feeling.
Caroline and I were talking the other day about various topics including school and her new classmates. She told me that the kids thought I was cool because I work with puppets and always wear awesome t-shirts. And that Dad was cool because he worked for Marvel.
But she felt different than the other kids because her upbringing is different. She had both parents at home when she leaves for school and when she gets back. We work out of the house rather than go to a shop or office. She travels to all kinds of interesting places and meets interesting people.
And I got to thinking about being the Other. The one outside the group looking in.
I think we all feel that we are the Other at some point in our lives.
I know my brain doesn’t work like other people’s brains and that’s fine because theirs don’t work like mine either.
It is when I discover that something my brain does and has been doing pretty much my whole life is not like the norm that I feel the most like the Other. My norm is not your norm nor will it ever be.
I walk around with music playing in my head. Sometimes the songs get stuck but I pretty much have a soundtrack to my life or lines of dialogue from something I have heard.
I have been called a good problem solver because I seem to have this magically ability to think outside the box and come up with a solution. One of the reason I love doing panels at Dragon Con where the panelists are asked how they would build something or what materials would we use for something. Being able to rattle off ideas is like breathing to me. I also can take what others are coming up with and adding to it. I was asked this past Dragon Con, ‘How fast do you think?’ Apparently it is faster than most but then my brothers and sister can do the same thing so that’s the normal for my family.
My brain doesn’t slow down and I am fine with that. Makes it a little noisy in my head at time but I have learned to deal.
When I was a child being the Other could kind of sucked as an adult I am so use to it that it really doesn’t cross my mind unless something brings attention to it. In this case it was Caroline and a discussion about being true to yourself.
But there are times when I look around and see how I look different than the other parents of the children that Caroline is friends with. I know our common ground is our children and not much more than that. I am the Other and I am OK with that and I honestly hope they are too.
I am grateful for my brain in all its twisted glory.
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This. Exactly.
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