One of my metal clay hollow beads
And now time for a serious post . . .
An online blog buddy is having a rough time right now, having spent the last 10 years trying to speak up for the ‘small people’ who are coming into the new world of Metal Clay. I admire Kate Mckinnon for her determination and doggedness to make her voice heard in a closed knit world where one or two others are the be all and end all of the Metal Clay Universe. I am in awe of Kate's personal crusade to make this wonderful material as safe as possible for everyone ~ and as someone with a much reduced immune system, that is most definitely me she is talking about.
10 years ago, I wish I had had the determination and candour to do the same. My position was very different, being the voluntary chairwoman of a Science Fantasy convention, but our paths were similar in that we both had information. However unlike Kate, I chose to keep the info I had very close to my chest in an attempt not to involve the general fandom and get into a very public fight. When the convention was heading into obvious overdraft, I took the very difficult decision to pull the plug and cancel it for that year. A lot of people were disappointed ~ I was devastated but I felt it better to do that than to have a convention that was going to be £20 000+ in debt. I walked away with my head held high, but left my reputation in tatters and have never been able to read or enjoy the books since as the bad taste has never left my mouth.
What I wish is that I was more like Kate. That I had decided that everyone needed to know all the details; of the fact that I had inherited a convention from the previous chairman that was already in debt, strangely enough by the exact amount of money that had been generously donated by the convention goers to the charities from the previous cons. That the charity money only got paid by the generosity of the major personality of the convention, but the deal was that that was never to happen again and by the way, he wasn't going to help in anyway whatsoever from then on. That the other personalities were all at loggerheads with each other, and that the whole thing seemed to be a battle of epic proportions where one slight misheard comment could cause a catastrophic engagement of wills.
I had walked into the position with such high hopes, looking forward to challenging myself with new experiences and having a great time doing it with so many friends at my side. I walked away with nothing but head and heart ache and an inherent distrust for the cult of celebrity. The major celebrity then happily went back to working with the previous chairman. I only worked on the convention for a few years, so I cannot imagine how Kate has maintained momentum to continue her work for 10 whole years. Admittedly this is her career choice, whilst mine was a voluntary position alongside my full time job as a theatre nurse, but still the continuous barrage of negative criticism? I only had that behind closed doors and never in the public arena ~ at least, not until I cancelled the convention. In retrospect I wish I had included the fans but I wanted to attain the moral high ground. 10 years on, it's not done me any good. Mostly I can ignore that part of my life, (no matter that it was such a huge part of it at the time) but there are moments when it comes back to haunt me.
Kate's crusade has reminded me of so much. I applaud her and wish her the strength to continue as long as is necessary. For all those people who don't know what is going on, there is always so much more than you will ever know. So you don't like the way things are being portrayed? Get used to it. Life is unfair, and there are as many ways to say something as there are beings on this planet. Just because you don't like what is being said and the way it is being said, doesn't mean that it is wrong. Listen with an open mind, research on your own, question and only when you have the facts in front of you, make a decision.
Take responsibility for yourself.
Be a responsible individual.
An online blog buddy is having a rough time right now, having spent the last 10 years trying to speak up for the ‘small people’ who are coming into the new world of Metal Clay. I admire Kate Mckinnon for her determination and doggedness to make her voice heard in a closed knit world where one or two others are the be all and end all of the Metal Clay Universe. I am in awe of Kate's personal crusade to make this wonderful material as safe as possible for everyone ~ and as someone with a much reduced immune system, that is most definitely me she is talking about.
10 years ago, I wish I had had the determination and candour to do the same. My position was very different, being the voluntary chairwoman of a Science Fantasy convention, but our paths were similar in that we both had information. However unlike Kate, I chose to keep the info I had very close to my chest in an attempt not to involve the general fandom and get into a very public fight. When the convention was heading into obvious overdraft, I took the very difficult decision to pull the plug and cancel it for that year. A lot of people were disappointed ~ I was devastated but I felt it better to do that than to have a convention that was going to be £20 000+ in debt. I walked away with my head held high, but left my reputation in tatters and have never been able to read or enjoy the books since as the bad taste has never left my mouth.
What I wish is that I was more like Kate. That I had decided that everyone needed to know all the details; of the fact that I had inherited a convention from the previous chairman that was already in debt, strangely enough by the exact amount of money that had been generously donated by the convention goers to the charities from the previous cons. That the charity money only got paid by the generosity of the major personality of the convention, but the deal was that that was never to happen again and by the way, he wasn't going to help in anyway whatsoever from then on. That the other personalities were all at loggerheads with each other, and that the whole thing seemed to be a battle of epic proportions where one slight misheard comment could cause a catastrophic engagement of wills.
I had walked into the position with such high hopes, looking forward to challenging myself with new experiences and having a great time doing it with so many friends at my side. I walked away with nothing but head and heart ache and an inherent distrust for the cult of celebrity. The major celebrity then happily went back to working with the previous chairman. I only worked on the convention for a few years, so I cannot imagine how Kate has maintained momentum to continue her work for 10 whole years. Admittedly this is her career choice, whilst mine was a voluntary position alongside my full time job as a theatre nurse, but still the continuous barrage of negative criticism? I only had that behind closed doors and never in the public arena ~ at least, not until I cancelled the convention. In retrospect I wish I had included the fans but I wanted to attain the moral high ground. 10 years on, it's not done me any good. Mostly I can ignore that part of my life, (no matter that it was such a huge part of it at the time) but there are moments when it comes back to haunt me.
Kate's crusade has reminded me of so much. I applaud her and wish her the strength to continue as long as is necessary. For all those people who don't know what is going on, there is always so much more than you will ever know. So you don't like the way things are being portrayed? Get used to it. Life is unfair, and there are as many ways to say something as there are beings on this planet. Just because you don't like what is being said and the way it is being said, doesn't mean that it is wrong. Listen with an open mind, research on your own, question and only when you have the facts in front of you, make a decision.
Take responsibility for yourself.
Be a responsible individual.
Thank you so much; I'm not sure it's any more difficult now than it ever was, in fact, I feel a bit freer as I am setting a beautiful, clear, gorgeously researched book and DVD set on the table before I walk off into a year of exploring the Earth; if Tim McCreight and Marlene Vail and the rest of them running the MC world want to continue to willfully expose people to unnecessary risk, when taking precautions is so easy, there is little more that I can do to stop it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at the thoughtful, intelligent, funny, brilliant, talented people who support me, and who aren't afraid to do so publicly, and I look at the people who are stubbornly supporting filling classrooms with metal and cellulose dust and burnout fumes, resin fumes, PVC and polymer fumes... well. Honestly. There is no comparison in the caliber of individual and I will take my team any damned day over the syncophants (and paid representatives) that staff the opposition.
Who could object to offering clean air? It's...functionally retarded. It's not like it's remotely difficult to work safely.
Good luck to you, and thank you for the support.
Love,
Kate