Friends and Gentle Readers,
It's no coincidence that the overhaul of this site is coming just at the time when I've had something of a falling out with what you might call the online vampire community. From my point of view it's been one misunderstanding right after another, but for others it's been the unearthing of suppressed anxieties and longterm biases that have blown wide open into a rancorous debate.
Well, that's not what being a vampire is about to me. I don't care who agrees or disagrees with me, so long as my right to think freely and for myself is never challenged. I gladly extend the same respect to others. But there are, shall we say, powers in motion that would move to curb my expression in order to tow a nebulous party line. Sometimes I've felt that I'm alone in seeing a move to carefully control what is thought, felt, and expressed by the community. For years, I thought I could shift the momentum from within the community, but instead I've only found frustration. Finally, I've become a scapegoat, and finally, I've had enough.
And so welcome to the first stages of the new Sappho Wolf, Vampire Philosophe and communications liaison. Nothing has really changed in my world except that I've shed a lot of unpleasant baggage. I'm still the Matriarch of the Order of Maidenfear, a vampire network forty years old and almost completely offline. I'm still the mind behind Vampgeist Creative Media, vampires serving vampires in the media jungle. Friends who were friends are still friends. All in all, things are good.
Where should we be headed? I've been putting it like this.
Essentially, we need to figure out who and what we are first before we turn our faces to the world and demand rights as an identity group.
We need to be firm and secure in our own identity before we can expect anyone outside the community to take us seriously.
Perhaps we can begin with considering our community as one gem with many facets, our differences being those facets that bring light to the gem.
What's intriguing is that we all seem to be coming to some kind of epiphany. We're realizing that some steps need to be taken, which is maybe the most important step of all.
A better existence is worth working for, whatever our differences and disagreements.
That's my renaissance. There's plenty of room for anyone who wants to join me.