Mum’s train of thought was that only perverts talk to strangers on the internet, how do you know they are really nice ladies, and not creepy dudes? And also, don’t you have REAL friends?
Mum is an accountant. Say no more. < note to self: insert smiley here in case mum reads this>
My train of
thought was; these people are AMAZING, and we are so similar. I’ve spent most
of my life feeling like the “odd one out”*, why would I walk away from the chance
to find like-minded people?
So I went to
coffee. I went to brunches. I went to tweet ups, to movies, and music in parks.
I helped start an Auckland Feminist meet-up, We started a pub quiz group. I met
the most amazing people. People, who don’t like bars, people who don’t like
crowds. People I wouldn’t have met any other way, than through friends, or
online.
These people
were My People. They were Good People. They were broken, and ill and strong and
opinionated. They were different ages, and stages of their journey. We didn’t all
immediately click, and there were admittedly a few, who once I met them, I realised
we weren’t so well matched after all. But mostly, this weird space on the
internet that my mother was convinced was full of perverts was a gold mine.
These were my
kind of “perverts”.
These
perverts had the same kinks as me. It was like being on a platonic dating site
full of witty, smart people who cared about the world they inhabited. Who took
action for change. These perverts were willing to do a lot of weird stuff with
me (like helping the community).
Most
recently, one of my favourite internet perverts – Jackie Clark, started calling
some of us the #twitteraunties. It seemed at first glance that it was a bunch
of friends who enjoyed meddling in each other’s lives and being shoulders for each
other. Then things stepped up to another level and the #auntymafia was born. These
were Good People who might not even live in the same place, but were willing to
come together to make a difference. Last night some of the Aunty Mafia came together to coordinate, wrap and deliver food, presents, packages, technology collected for Te Whare Marama o Mangare women’s refuge. This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. We had been meeting to discuss how to help, and the job seemed almost do-able by us on a small scale. We came up with a small plan, and Jackie took it to twitter and started asking for help. For some reason this captured people. They loved it, and wanted to help. Donations and food and gifts flooded in, people involved their corporations that they had links to, and networked among community groups. With enough strong backs, and loving helpers, we were able to harness all the resources available. It wasn’t small scale at all. What Jackie had started was small. What she had grown was HUGE.
I found last
night overwhelming for a bunch of reasons. Partly because it felt like an honour,
that at what could be one of the roughest times in someone’s life, we were able
to make a difference. Partly because for every enthusiastic smile there, ten
more people had contributed to the gifts and food we were wrapping. This was
bigger than anything I’ve been so closely involved in, and although part of me
was overwhelmed, a small voice was proudly chirping up in the back of my head…
“Not bad for
a bunch of perverts off the internet”.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Further reading:
Jackie has a
lovely thank you at her blog, acknowledging the sheer number of people
involved, and saying thanks better than I have words for.
And the
Divine R and R have info on their blog on the next project moving forward.
* My old friends are amazing, but we are united by love of each other and lives together, not similarities.
