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The heading was stolen from
sixbeforelunch because it made me laugh.

Challenge #5
Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.
1. Friendships. Fandom friends are all my friends except for the members of my meditation circle. That's it. I exchange messages with fandom friends every day, and some of the friendships are of many years. For example, all but 2 (my sister and a former co-worker) of the Christmas cards I received were from DW friends all of whom I have never met.
2. Poetry. Because of my participation in the LiveJournal Sherlock 60 comm, I rediscovered poetry and began writing it and that has enriched my life greatly.
3. Fandom made me queer. It did! I found fandom in my mid-30's and before that, I thought about the world differently and reacted to the world differently. I feel like as my interest in fandom has grown other parts of my interior life have shrunk to very small defined boxes or disappeared entirely. What I appreciate has changed. Yes, it's getting older and being a mother and not have a job or a career or really an identity for 10+ years, but I still think if I had followed this path without fandom, I would not be queer. And my degree of mental illness and sheer miserableness would be very great.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Challenge #5
Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.
1. Friendships. Fandom friends are all my friends except for the members of my meditation circle. That's it. I exchange messages with fandom friends every day, and some of the friendships are of many years. For example, all but 2 (my sister and a former co-worker) of the Christmas cards I received were from DW friends all of whom I have never met.
2. Poetry. Because of my participation in the LiveJournal Sherlock 60 comm, I rediscovered poetry and began writing it and that has enriched my life greatly.
3. Fandom made me queer. It did! I found fandom in my mid-30's and before that, I thought about the world differently and reacted to the world differently. I feel like as my interest in fandom has grown other parts of my interior life have shrunk to very small defined boxes or disappeared entirely. What I appreciate has changed. Yes, it's getting older and being a mother and not have a job or a career or really an identity for 10+ years, but I still think if I had followed this path without fandom, I would not be queer. And my degree of mental illness and sheer miserableness would be very great.