Radiant Things

Last night I went to a round-sing and was dismayed to find it populated by what are politely called "those girls who wear capes" and less politely called things I won't repeat. The type who are generally into neopaganism, anime, John William Waterhouse, and the Society for Creative Anachronism.

I'm really rather worried that my reaction was so negative. I made Christine's first cloak. I once had a quasi-relationship with an SCAer, for crying out loud. In elementary school I was about as geeky a kid as could be wished for, but now that seems to have changed. I never thought I'd condemn people for being too weird.

So what's my problem with these people? I didn't find them fun to be around, but other people who aren't fun to be around aren't scorned the same way. Is it some kind of recognition that the girl in the tight jeans and heavy eyeliner isn't of a group I want to be like, but she's at least good at what she does? The thing is, there are people out there who are into weird things who aren't socially incompetent. Ellen is as into fantasy novels as anyone (she writes them, for one) but is the kind of brilliant personality who makes you wish you were a Paris hostess of the 1600s so you could invite her to your salons. Allison rhapsodises at length over Priam's last speech in the Iliad, but she's witty and has a great sense of style. Christine and Cass write fanfic, but it's well-written fanfic.

Whereas there's a certain type who just doesn't have that. I want to tell them, "You look completely goofy with a cloak over your backpack, and we're not even going to get into the limits of wearing vintage styles. Dying your hair that color makes you look like a thirteen-year-old trying to freak out the grownups."