stands

Carry On…

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In one week, a mere seven days after today, Supernatural begins with the first of seven final episodes in the show’s fifteen season series. It’s been a long road, and for the fans, there isn’t really an end. Some of us have grown up along the way, and watched as the actors got married, had children, and shared with us their other projects. Some of us found our voices, discovered new skills, met and overcame challenges and just enjoyed the stories. I am finding the ending of Supernatural a bittersweet time.

Supernatural came into my life about mid-way through its historic run although of course, I couldn’t have known that at the time. It was a dark time for me and the show filled a void, where I could watch it without having to think about the mental health issues that were nearly drowning me. As medication began and adjusted, as therapy began, as my faith took an unexpected turn, Supernatural was the light at the end of the tunnel that gently led me home. I can still feel a calm, soothing consciousness when I put on the reruns, either in syndication or on Netflix and let it play as the background music of my day whatever it is I’m doing at that moment.

I am glad that we will get an ending that is well thought out and does justice to the entirety of the series. Seeing old faces throughout season 15 has been a walk down memory lane, and I’ve enjoyed reliving some of their best moments despite the constant death of characters. Although to be fair to Supernatural, dead doesn’t always mean dead. Only time will tell.

One of the most valued things to come out of the series is the SPNFAM. A lot of that is through Misha Collins’ scavenger hunt, GISH and contributing to his charity, Random Acts. It has allowed us to become more politically aware and civic minded, especially here in the US. There is also the Stands shop where we can wear our fandom through merch while also supporting a variety of causes and charities that the actors find important. It has expanded my knowledge base of causes that I woudn’t necessarily have heard about otherwise. (I’ve shared some before, and I will share them again before the last episode airs.)

I’ve written love letters to Supernatural before and published them here and elsewhere; it has held me together when I was falling apart, and it brought me closer to people I wouldn’t ordinarily know across the country and the globe. It’s encouraged my writing, both in fan fiction and in exegesis as well as supporting my love of pop culture and puns, which Supernatural is full of. Plus there are the inside jokes, and online, there is a Supernatural gif for everything.

Supernatural is magical.

It will remain a special place in my heart forever.

While the series will end and there will be no new episodes to share and enjoy, we can still follow the actors we’ve grown to love on their various social medias, their future work and businesses, and through the fandom and fan-family.

Netflix

The CW

Supernatural Wiki

Fandom Friday – In This Family…

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I won’t be posting the monthly pages this year, but I thought I’d share the first month of The Women of Supernatural’s 2019 Calendar, In This Family. There’s space for writing a thought to go along with the theme of the month or I can add a picture of my and my family. I love the Supernatural family!

Happy New Year!

Giving Tuesday

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In this time of holiday joy and generosity, please do what you can to support those organizations who help throughout the year.

ACLU

Planned Parenthood

RAICES

Random Acts

Where I Give My Support (list not inclusive)

Scroll down to the Stands links for a collection of worthy charities, all of whom do good works.

Add your own recommendations in the comments with how to reach them with donations and what their organization does. 

Fandom Black Friday

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Even though most of us have been picking up holiday gifts whenever we see anything appropriate and affordable, today is the official begin to the holiday shopping season, at least as far as capitalist society is concerned.

I’ve done the 5am shopping thing once or twice, and we treated it like a day out: we did our shopping, finished by 9 or so, and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then home for some hot chocolate and naps. It was fun. Kind of.

I tend to look online for some items that are unique and hard to find locally even though I do like to shop at my local businesses.

There are many great shops and now there is access to those small shops through online shopping. I love fandom gifts, from clothes to Pops! to jewelry to journals, pins of course, and other unique things in my various fandoms.

Apart from Amazon, here are a few places, both online and brick and mortar stores that I like to check out for my friends and family that are looking for the perfect fandom gift.

Hot Topic – great store for a variety of fandoms, and they get it. They’re knowledgable about the fandoms, know their merchandise, can and will direct you to other places if they don’t carry something, etc. It’s a good store to visit. If you’re looking for Plus Sizes, they generally don’t carry them in the stores, but you can find them online.

DC Universe – this is a new app that offers original programming and other DC programs. It is a subscription service, so that in itself might be a nice gift for the DC fan in your life.

Target – They have a fandom section (although they don’t call it that) on the back wall between books/DVDs and electronics. They rotate pop culture shows and books and often have Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Marvel and DC Comics & Movies, Star Wars, The Walking Dead, and more.

Stands – Partial proceeds go to charity. There is a limited shopping time for each campaign and each sponsor actor chooses their own charity to support. Previous (and some current) charitable causes have included: Random Acts, Jacmel Children’s Center, ACLU, Raices, Chicago Foundation for Women, Lydia’s Place, My Hope Chest, New Leash on Life, National Stroke Association, Canadian Women’s Foundation, Feeding America, Rainbow House, TrapKing Humane, Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA, and others.

Fandom Friday – Shoshannah Stern and Off The Grid

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Credit to Stands. (c)2018

Shoshannah Stern is an actress, in theatre, television, and film. She played hunter, Eileen Leahy on the hit show on The CW, Supernatural. The Supernatural cast and fans are known for their various charities, especially for actor/activist, Misha Collins’ Random Acts.

The All You Need is Love campaign will run for the next seven days. Items will begin shipping the third week in May. Proceeds from this campaign will go to Off The Grid, a non-profit that provides access to survival tools in high risk and remote areas all across the world. One of those survival tools is for the deaf and hard of hearing who are often forgotten about during emergency communications.

Shoshannah herself is deaf; her first language is American Sign Language. She is currently co-starring (and co-writing as well as having created) This Close, a series currently appearing on the Sundance Now streaming service. This Close is a modern day drama showing the universal story of friendship, love, and life where the two main characters (and others) just happen to be deaf.

New York Times article on This Close

Here’s their official trailer:

Fandom Friday – Wayward Sisters

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​I have talked, here and other places, about my perceptions of the differences of being a fan and being in a fandom. Those of us in fandoms take things just one step, maybe ten steps further, and for each us it happens in varying degrees and with a variety of participation.

Of all the fandoms that I’ve participated in, I would say that the biggest part of my fannish heart belongs to the Supernatural family, or #spnfamily or abbreviated further as #spnfam.

They are the kindest, most compassionate people who volunteer their time and donate their money to just causes and people in need with their only reward the thankfulness for letting them be a part of it.

From Misha Collins’ Random Acts charity to Jared Padalecki’s Always Keep Fighting campaigns to Jensen Ackles’ raising money and awareness for Down’s Syndrome, and he and his wife (along with the Padaleckis and Collins’ and the rest of the Supernatural and CW folks) raising an incredible $400,000+ for hurricane relief – Stronger than Storms.

They’re supportive.

They’re encouraging.

They’re inspirational.

In addition to the charitable works, Misha’s Scavenger Hunt, Gishwhes, which just finished its final year, the depression awareness, self-harm help, and suicide prevention Always Keep Fighting campaign, a small group of vocal women created a group based on the women we admired of Supernatural.

I say “we” but I was not part of the initial germ of an idea; I joined with other fans in supporting the concept of Wayward Daughters, which became Wayward Daughters Academy. The use of the word “wayward” is a nod to Kansas’ song, Carry On Wayward Son, the unofficial theme of Supernatural. The concept was the the wayward orphan girls on the show would live with Sheriff Jody Mills, and hunt monsters. It’s a nice idea, and the fans loved it. And Kim Rhodes loved it. As well as Brianna Buckmaster, who plays Sheriff Donna Hanscom, and as more orphans arrived on the show, and more kick it in the ass female characters arrived, it grew.

And it grew.

It became a hashtag. #waywardaf

It became a charitable campaign through Creation Stands, now known as Stands.

It morphed into sisters instead of daughters; not biological sisters, but a family of choice.

And now, we fans have realized a wonderful dream: a possible spin-off show starring Kim and Brianna as well as Kathryn Newton (Claire Novak) and Katherine Ramdeen (Alex) and a few other young women.

Their pilot is called a back door pilot. They will have an episode in Sueprnatural’s Season 13 giving us a glimpse of what a Wayward Sisters show would be like, and if it gets enough viewers and potential fans, it’s a go.

I am so excited!

Girl Power!

The future is female!

This is the perfect year for this opportunity.

In addition to a sidebar in this week’s Entertainment Weekly, the Ladies of Supernatural have produced a calendar, sold through Stands for charity. All proceeds will be going to the Jacmel Children’s Center in Haiti.

It’s more than twelve months of pretty pictures; it is also life advice from an amazing grup of independent, empowering, bad ass, wayward af women!

Click picture to buy calendar. (c)Stands, 2017. Pin above used from Kim Rhodes Twitter. (c)KimRhodes, 2017