Snowflake Challenge: Day 1
Jan. 9th, 2019 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auroracloudI wanted to join the fandom_snowflake challenge this year, but I didn't have the energy for it right away after New Year, so I'm catching up now. I'm doing Days 1 & 2 today, though in separate posts as they got a bit long. I'll hopefully continue with other ones in the following days, though I may do things out of order and/or skip some.
Day 1
In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
1) Without a doubt, recently my happiest of fannish happy places has been Classic Doctor Who, in particular the 1960s and especially the Second Doctor era. It turns out I adore TV being black and white and kind of slow and sometimes clumsy with special effects because 1960s and budget, but so full of heart and fun and spirit, and lovely characters with great chemistry, and willing to try out just about anything they manage and then some. The stories have a certain old-fashioned charm, and while that unfortunately sometimes also means old-fashioned values and attitudes, generally they do aim to be progressive for their time despite some unfortunate blind spots, and e.g. many of the female characters are quite awesome.
There's also such a strong found family vibe in the whole First and Second Doctor era - and to some extent through all of Doctor Who, especially Classic Who, but I feel it's particularly strong in that early era. Also, Patrick Troughton's Doctor is totally someone I'd enjoy spending time with, which doesn't go for all Doctors, but that doesn't mean he's in any way too nice - he's got rough edges and temper and will certainly stand up whenever it counts. I feel so at home with these characters and they make me happy and I can't stop thinking about them and wanting more of their adventures and imagining them in other stories. Watching something from that era will always make me feel better, more grounded and more at home with myself.
2) Another happy place for me is reading. I love books. Fiction books: modern diverse science fiction and fantasy that give space to women, queer characters, people of colour, mental health etc.; historical fiction; 19th century and early 20th century classics, especially by female authors or by such male authors who were capable of imagining intelligent and active women (Alexandre Dumas); poetry; history books; easy-to-read but not too dumbed down popularized science books, especially physics, astronomy and natural history. I love losing myself into the pages of a book and widening the world around me, and it can cut me off from anything that's preying on me, stressing me out, depressing me, making me feel lacking. Books also frequently show me a way to do things differently, be different, make a change. I'll escape into a book and emerge with more hope.
3) Finally, in terms of physical places, forests are happy places for me, as are high enough hills that you can see the landscape around you, and the shores of natural waters like lakes and rivers. Even just a few minutes in such a place washes away some of the worry and grime and stress of ordinary life, and being able to spend a an hour or two is really cleansing and soothing, and makes me feel alive. It does usually need to be real, wild nature, not just a park or a garden, though something living and growing is better than nothing, being that it's hard to find much wild nature when you live in a city.
Be back soon with Day 2!
fandom_snowflake challenge this year, but I didn't have the energy for it right away after New Year, so I'm catching up now. I'm doing Days 1 & 2 today, though in separate posts as they got a bit long. I'll hopefully continue with other ones in the following days, though I may do things out of order and/or skip some.Day 1
In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
1) Without a doubt, recently my happiest of fannish happy places has been Classic Doctor Who, in particular the 1960s and especially the Second Doctor era. It turns out I adore TV being black and white and kind of slow and sometimes clumsy with special effects because 1960s and budget, but so full of heart and fun and spirit, and lovely characters with great chemistry, and willing to try out just about anything they manage and then some. The stories have a certain old-fashioned charm, and while that unfortunately sometimes also means old-fashioned values and attitudes, generally they do aim to be progressive for their time despite some unfortunate blind spots, and e.g. many of the female characters are quite awesome.
There's also such a strong found family vibe in the whole First and Second Doctor era - and to some extent through all of Doctor Who, especially Classic Who, but I feel it's particularly strong in that early era. Also, Patrick Troughton's Doctor is totally someone I'd enjoy spending time with, which doesn't go for all Doctors, but that doesn't mean he's in any way too nice - he's got rough edges and temper and will certainly stand up whenever it counts. I feel so at home with these characters and they make me happy and I can't stop thinking about them and wanting more of their adventures and imagining them in other stories. Watching something from that era will always make me feel better, more grounded and more at home with myself.
2) Another happy place for me is reading. I love books. Fiction books: modern diverse science fiction and fantasy that give space to women, queer characters, people of colour, mental health etc.; historical fiction; 19th century and early 20th century classics, especially by female authors or by such male authors who were capable of imagining intelligent and active women (Alexandre Dumas); poetry; history books; easy-to-read but not too dumbed down popularized science books, especially physics, astronomy and natural history. I love losing myself into the pages of a book and widening the world around me, and it can cut me off from anything that's preying on me, stressing me out, depressing me, making me feel lacking. Books also frequently show me a way to do things differently, be different, make a change. I'll escape into a book and emerge with more hope.
3) Finally, in terms of physical places, forests are happy places for me, as are high enough hills that you can see the landscape around you, and the shores of natural waters like lakes and rivers. Even just a few minutes in such a place washes away some of the worry and grime and stress of ordinary life, and being able to spend a an hour or two is really cleansing and soothing, and makes me feel alive. It does usually need to be real, wild nature, not just a park or a garden, though something living and growing is better than nothing, being that it's hard to find much wild nature when you live in a city.
Be back soon with Day 2!
Snowflake Challenge 2019
Date: 2019-01-10 03:13 am (UTC)I love Classic Who! Partially because my local station used to air it at 11:30 PM on a school night when I was a teenager (my mother didn't realize how late I was staying up) so I got to watch all these surreal old episodes while struggling to stay away and something about that headspace... my defenses were down and I just absorbed it all straight into my soul.
I made this icon in response to someone complaining that one of the aliens in New Who was "too silly". (And I had my old-fan moment of "Back in my day, our aliens were made of bubble wrap and we liked it!")
Re: Snowflake Challenge 2019
Date: 2019-01-11 08:50 pm (UTC)Haha, I know someone who told me that she doesn't watch Doctor Who because the special effects aren't good enough (she was talking about New Who). I was like, but isn't that the point? The stories are so wacky and the characters so compelling that you'll watch it no matter how cheesy the rubber mask of the alien. Now that I've seen Classic Who, I'd almost like to catch up with that person and make her watch The Ark in Space, Web of Fear, not to mention all the First Doctor stuff where people try to look dramatic next to painted scenery. (I just watched a bunch of First Doctor stuff when Twitch helpfully dropped another marathon, and concluded that my 13 inch laptop is way too good a screen for these special effects. *g* Not that it stops me from watching!)
Re: Snowflake Challenge 2019
Date: 2019-01-12 01:56 am (UTC)Yes! When New Who came out, I was very dubious. I was watching the first episode with friends and I was like, "Um... okay, but... I'm not sure I can deal with Doctor Who having good production values." And then Mickey got eaten by the rubbish bin and all was right with the world. That was the moment that I went, "Yes! Okay, this is my show after all!"
no subject
Date: 2019-01-11 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-11 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-17 08:55 am (UTC)Looking forward to your other posts! <3
no subject
Date: 2019-01-17 09:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-17 09:37 am (UTC)I'm not going to do all of them, either. I did four, I think, and I might do two more. (And maybe three if I count an icon battle as the challenge I'm making myself, if I ever have time for it. :))