[ SECRET POST #1967 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1967 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 051 secrets from Secret Submission Post #281.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom.livejournal.com]

05. http://i.imgur.com/uDJcd.png

[(Anonymous)]

I majored in Japanese in college. One of my profs was a very intelligent man whose life work was his translation of The Tale of Genji. If you've read it English, you know how ridiculous such an undertaking is; if you've seen excerpts of the original ancient Japanese, you know why it's taken over a decade, and why I have an enormous amount of respect for this man.

Anyway, I took a seminar with him. It was very serious material, and he took it quite seriously. But that didn't stop him from taking half an hour out of class one day to talk about Final Fantasy and how it has helped the evolution of video games as a medium capable of telling deep, meaningful, intricate stories. And all of us students were nodding along, agreeing that it was totally awesome. And then we were comparing the games and talking about which ones are better in which way and why. In class. It was awesome.

Moral of the story: educators can totally be in fandom, too! It helps if your fandom has something to do with your field, but even if not, it's still cool.

[(Anonymous)]

But that's kind of the difference between high school and college fandoms, isn't it? Things like that are acceptable at a collegiate level, but if a high school teacher took some time out to do the same it would be problematic. It all depends on the age of the students.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, you're right on the in-class thing. But it seems like OP has fled out-of-school fan gatherings of one sort or another. As long as a teacher didn't take time out of class, I don't see why being a fan would be such an issue. So what if you see your teacher or principal at a fan event for Twilight/Sherlock/One Piece? Maybe it's a little bit awkward, but I don't think it would be any more awkward than seeing a distant cousin or that barista who always takes your order at Starbucks, in the sense of, "Oh, wow, that person actually has a life outside of teaching me at school/sending me Christmas cards every year/making my coffee," which admittedly can be awkward. But enough to be a real issue? I wouldn't think so. *shrugs* Or maybe that's just me? IDK.

To be fair, OP, I totally get you on the "too weird or not weird enough" thing. I'm kind of in that same awkward no-man's-land, so it's kind of weird to talk fandom with people IRL. But being in education shouldn't put a damper on your fan life.

[vethica.livejournal.com]

Who was your professor? Has he published his Genji translation? :O

[ncc-gqmf.livejournal.com]

If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's not yet published but should be in the next year or so, I believe.

[ladyknightanka.livejournal.com]

Your professor sounds amazing and I agree with him 100%; the Final Fantasy series is an inspiration to other games (or should be). Unrelated: I also read some of The Tale of Genji in one of my classes. :D

[(Anonymous)]

I work at a college, and here at least whether or not a professor has the safety of tenure has a pretty big impact on how... creative, I guess you could say... they get with their teaching and other activities.

[ncc-gqmf.livejournal.com]

Hahaha is it weird that I know exactly what college you went to and who this professor was because I went to the same school and had the same prof? That guy is awesome.

[kyoto-idol.livejournal.com]

Please, PLEASE tell me who this amazing professor is. PM if you must. I'm flailing and dying to know. I've been out of the loop a few years now, but I can't think of a known Genji translator who could be a game nerd!

[(Anonymous)]

I know how you feel! We're currently reading Heike Monogatari with our Prof but she takes at least some time at the end/beginning to a) bitch about how awful the university administration is b) tell us about her favourite shows (which she pirates on top of that). Ancient Japanese politics with Game of Thrones references, fuck yeah!

[kallanda-lee.livejournal.com]

Ah, I can see how that might be awkward. I just sort of get awkward around r/l fandom friends in general. One of my r/l friends writes slash (not any of my fav pairings, but still) - I always feel sort of uncomfortable reading her stuff. I sort of considered going to a yaoi/yuri con with some friends - but I considered the awkwardness of actually looking at yaoi porn with them...and I'm not sure it's a boundary I want to cross.

[(Anonymous)]

I may be in a similar position myself someday. I'll teach, too, and I imagine it'd be awkward to see one of my students somewhere (anywhere; even somewhere unrelated to fandom, like a supermarket). I think what I worry about is whether they'll take pictures to document their bemusement at seeing their teacher outside of school (at a fandom event, no less). We're of course allowed to have lives and enjoy things, but administration may disapprove. It's already a ~thing here that they investigate our online lives before offering positions. So I understand your precaution. Still, just try to have fun. As I said, it's your life and your enjoyment, so long as no one's getting hurt.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

Wait, they investigate online lives? But how deep can they search, really? I mean, I assume they can go pretty far, but could they easily find your fanfiction/Livejournal/etc? They could look at my Facebook all day and find nothing because I rarely use it. But I do go by the same name in fandom. -_-

[joshua-glass.livejournal.com]

This is what really disturbs me now. I can see checking with the police for a criminal history etc, but what I do at home or online should have nothing to do with whether I get a job, provided I am qualified for said job. Why should my hobbies and interests be a "black mark" just because the hiring committee doesn't agree with them?

It really bothers me that they're even allowed to do such things, and I've heard of some places demanding you log in to your facebook/etc so they can see unrestricted things. It seems to cross a line between work and home that I don't like at all.

I work to pay my bills. My propensity for enjoying slash fiction and bad action films has nothing to do with my ability to do my job.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I think if I had seen a teacher at a fandom gathering, I would be stoked. I would probably feel closer to that teacher, somehow. I mean, as a student you tend to feel like you don't have anything in common with your teachers, and you see them only as teachers but usually very little else. I think a lot of students don't think about a teacher's hobbies, friends, et cetera, because it's just not relevant to them, their lives, or their education.

However, it's good to see even teachers on a slightly more personal level. Like, wow, she likes XYZ too? That's so cool! Because I think if students can identify with you a little bit, can see you on a more personal level-- like you're another person, not just a teacher with no life and no hobbies-- then they are probably going to be more likely to listen to the things that you say, because they've decided you're interesting. :P

Of course, the tables are turned if it's a fandom you're embarrassed to be in, I guess. Like maybe if I was a teacher and saw a student at a Pokemon sort of gathering I might be a little, uhhhh, but I'd own up to it because that's just how I am. And I'd own up to going to a My Little Pony convention (been to a Midwest Meetup once!) or Ohayocon or whatever. I mean, it's my life. I'm not a robot. I have hobbies. It's okay if other people know.

[(Anonymous)]

OP: I've had discussions with my students and bonded with them over popular books and movies. But taking it farther than that and letting them know that I am actively fannish? That can be problematic in several ways, as different anons have referenced elsewhere in this thread. When you work in education, it's not always okay if other people know what kind of hobbies you have.

I'll also copy this which I posted above:

OP: I am best known in my main fandom for writing sometimes plotty smut between characters that were older teens during the canon of their series. Most of the time it was future-fic with them aged up, but a few times it wasn't because teens 15+ having sex is pretty reflective of reality. Do I want to risk a student, particularly one who's not the best student and may be looking for an upper hand, connecting me with my fandom identity and the "child porn" I've written? No.

Some of my fandoms are anime, too, and while it's way more acceptable to be an anime fan now than it was when I started, there are still plenty of negative preconceptions for that interest alone.

[otakugal15.livejournal.com]

My art teacher in high school (AMAZING TEACHER WAS AMAZING) loved Star Trek, Doctor Who, let me borrow The Hitch Hiker's Guide on cassette tapes, loved anything to do with conspiracy theories (especially big foot stuff), and comics.

Me and my friends were freakin' STOKED and it made our last few years there so much fun.

I also had an English teacher who had a HELL of a sense of humor. I fuckin' LOVED her. She also introduced me to Kristy MacColl, who's songs can be....rather raunchy. XD I was 17 when she let me borrow one of the CDs. Still love it~

[grazie.livejournal.com]

... Ugh, I'm kind of mad that I was completely focused on the fact that you used a picture of Memphis in your secret, because that's where I'm from.

Have you tried around the university area? Unless you're a UofM, Rhodes, or Christian Brothers teacher, I don't think it'd be bad. (Though I only know UofM, alma mater represent. \o/)

[(Anonymous)]

Unless you're a UofM, Rhodes, or Christian Brothers teacher

OP: Yeah, I'm one of those. I also do some activities with a few high schools, and I used to volunteer with physically and sexually abused children. I've got all ages of awkwardness covered.

[otakugal15.livejournal.com]

Fellow UofM graduate and fellow Memphian? :D

The UofM isn't so bad, though it depends on what department you;re in when it comes to what kind of people, professors and students alike, and fannishness. And they've recently hosted some 2 day (i think) anime cons.

Or they did two summers ago. I'm not entirely sure.

[(Anonymous)]

I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that I need to keep my fannish activities more of a secret. I used to be friends with this guy who ended up marrying the woman who later became my boss. I didn't keep fandom a secret from him. In fact, we collaborated on what is probably the biggest fannish project I've ever undertaken--filming a Firefly movie with action figures and props--and it never occurred to me that him knowing about my lj/dw would be a problem, but it totally is. His wife hates me, and she gets to decide whether I get tenure or not. She's already denied tenure to another former friend of my ex-BFF because she's so insecure. I wish the two of them didn't know I was in fandom. I'm terrified she's going to whip out my journal and say, "Look at these Lucius/Draco" recs or that Elizabeth/Teyla rimming ladyslash. She cannot teach your conservative younglings! Let us set fire to her in the quad and read Deuteronomy by the light of immolation." *sigh* Until I have tenure, I cannot sit easy, and even then, I'm paranoid that she'll still try to kill me in my post-tenure review.

My advice, as paranoid and as negative as it is, is to be really really really careful about who you share your fannish activities with, especially if you are in academia or in K-12.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

>_> Burying fannish activity right now. BRB

Not really but close enough. Ughhhh. Too bad I've been going by the same name in fandom for so long or I'd bury it all like whoa.

[kikuko-kamimura.livejournal.com]

I work as a teacher in Japan, and I am really big into a certain band who is doing solo projects; I don't get to go to shows often, but when I do, my students know about it because usually I am super excited and/or the school has given me permission to wear my band shirt/outfit to school as long as it's not really risque because I don't have time to go home to change clothes between work and the show most times. However, some of my students are also fans of this band, and I am kind of a little bit terrified that I am going to show up even more obviously than I already have on a live DVD or something somewhere; especially considering that I wear corsets and other things totally not appropriate for school to some of these shows.

One of my former students, though, now goes to concerts with me--but it was after she graduated, I met her mom, the whole thing. (I think she was happy to have a Responsible Adult around to take her daughter to see one of her favorite bands, despite the potential shadiness of it.)

Despite my fortune, though, I'm always terrified that there's going to be a day where it's arbitrarily decided I've taken it too far, just by...living my life outside of my glass coffin under the school. /coolstorybro

[(Anonymous)]

One of the reasons I made myself a new username for LJ, Twitter etc. a few years ago was that I'd been active enough on a sales comm on LJ that quite a few people could associate my real name with my fandom activity. I'm a freelance journalist and fledgling fiction writer, but my goal is to publish my YA novel and develop my career in that area.

Now, I absolutely believe that fiction for children and teenagers can talk about difficult subjects, with increasingly adult overtones in the case of books for older readers. But that's a situation where the author can set the terms of the conversation and deal purposefully with how it plays out in personal or online interactions with young readers: very different from, say, my future kid readers seeing my fannish self using a lot of cuss words, talking about very personal stuff, and fangirling porny fic.

I miss the days of being carefree online, but realistically I think anyone whose job (whether their present one or something they're working towards) involves a lot of interaction with children and young people is going to ask themselves questions about how secret their fannish identity really is...