That could have been Carrie...
Nov. 22nd, 2005 06:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariI've been really quiet about the Day of Remembrance stuff, and of deeper things in general. I've had a lot to think about lately. The DOR stuff hits closer to home when a good trans-friend makes a nest in your heart as your love, and worse when you hit a very deep rough patch at the same time.
Not to name drop, but I've known Gwen Smith for sometime before she started the Day of Remembrance. So when she started it, I really didn't see it much more than "Something a friend did." I watched it get slowly get bigger each year, up to when Gwen Araujo died. That year, Gwen (S) and I talked about Gwen (A) quite a bit, and how it affected her. That's when I began to really take notice of the day. But then, what could one lowly webcomic artist do?
Enter Trinoc 2004, and suddenly I was connecting with all these other webcomic artists, and networking. In October 2004, Gwen was beginning to ramp up to that year's DOR, Erin (LeFey) was getting more involved in TACT and designing that year's DOR event. I had met Erin Lindsey at Trinoc, and we were just throwing around ideas for a small collaboration on something, anything...and it came to me.
The "DOR Webcomics Project" was just something thrown together off the cuff. What if we, me and her, did a DOR comic of our own? We began jotting ideas down of something to do, and we came up with the idea of killing off a character for a day. After a bit more jotting down, we decided to get a few more folks involved. It wasn't many, it was very last minute, and very disorganized - but it got done. It was never anything official, just something where we banded together and got it done.
I never gave working a second year another thought. We did our part, let's get on with our stories. And then Gwen began her ramp up to the 2005, and it got closer and closer...and I felt I needed to do this again. This time not so haphazardly, not so last minute. Let's really buckle down. Let's do this RIGHT this time. EMails went out to all of last years participants, and a slew of new trans comics out there. Gwen was the one who came up with the theme this time. This time, we would really try to "band together" as a community by having our characters actually interacting with each other in a show of support.
There were some serious delays in the process, mainly in getting info out while I was in San Antonio for a good week of the month. But I think it came together beautifully (I was really impressed by the High Maintenance piece). And then it was over, and the DOR vigil in Austin ended and the day finally passed.
In the wee hours of Monday Morning, I saw Gwen sign on and grabbed her real quick figuring she was just gonna check her EMail. I had decided to ask her if the DOR Webcomics Project could be an official thing, and I was immediately hit with how silly that sounded. What was there to ask? Just do it again and again till we don't need to do it anymore.
Unlike the end of the 2004 project time, I'm thinking ahead to next year. I'm planning on making a permanent section on the Dolari.org website dedicated for the "Day of Remembrance Webcomics Project." It'll host the images of the previous DOR comics, and have a central place that can give out information on where the makers can join up and links to the information the readers will want to know.
For everyone who thanked me for coordinating this, don't. Thank the ones who participated, readers and creators alike. I don't know if any of this really makes much of a difference. All I know is it's something that needs to be done.
Not to name drop, but I've known Gwen Smith for sometime before she started the Day of Remembrance. So when she started it, I really didn't see it much more than "Something a friend did." I watched it get slowly get bigger each year, up to when Gwen Araujo died. That year, Gwen (S) and I talked about Gwen (A) quite a bit, and how it affected her. That's when I began to really take notice of the day. But then, what could one lowly webcomic artist do?
Enter Trinoc 2004, and suddenly I was connecting with all these other webcomic artists, and networking. In October 2004, Gwen was beginning to ramp up to that year's DOR, Erin (LeFey) was getting more involved in TACT and designing that year's DOR event. I had met Erin Lindsey at Trinoc, and we were just throwing around ideas for a small collaboration on something, anything...and it came to me.
The "DOR Webcomics Project" was just something thrown together off the cuff. What if we, me and her, did a DOR comic of our own? We began jotting ideas down of something to do, and we came up with the idea of killing off a character for a day. After a bit more jotting down, we decided to get a few more folks involved. It wasn't many, it was very last minute, and very disorganized - but it got done. It was never anything official, just something where we banded together and got it done.
I never gave working a second year another thought. We did our part, let's get on with our stories. And then Gwen began her ramp up to the 2005, and it got closer and closer...and I felt I needed to do this again. This time not so haphazardly, not so last minute. Let's really buckle down. Let's do this RIGHT this time. EMails went out to all of last years participants, and a slew of new trans comics out there. Gwen was the one who came up with the theme this time. This time, we would really try to "band together" as a community by having our characters actually interacting with each other in a show of support.
There were some serious delays in the process, mainly in getting info out while I was in San Antonio for a good week of the month. But I think it came together beautifully (I was really impressed by the High Maintenance piece). And then it was over, and the DOR vigil in Austin ended and the day finally passed.
In the wee hours of Monday Morning, I saw Gwen sign on and grabbed her real quick figuring she was just gonna check her EMail. I had decided to ask her if the DOR Webcomics Project could be an official thing, and I was immediately hit with how silly that sounded. What was there to ask? Just do it again and again till we don't need to do it anymore.
Unlike the end of the 2004 project time, I'm thinking ahead to next year. I'm planning on making a permanent section on the Dolari.org website dedicated for the "Day of Remembrance Webcomics Project." It'll host the images of the previous DOR comics, and have a central place that can give out information on where the makers can join up and links to the information the readers will want to know.
For everyone who thanked me for coordinating this, don't. Thank the ones who participated, readers and creators alike. I don't know if any of this really makes much of a difference. All I know is it's something that needs to be done.
