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Reflections on Transworld-
The Transworld has drawn to a close. Chairs are being folded and stacked and wheeled away along gray concrete halls. Bits of forgotten Spanish moss and strands of thermoplastic webbing are being swept up from the massive show room floor. As those are things left behind at the show I ask what you took away from it- not just the masks you bought or the animation receipts that you pray will be delivered in a timely manner.
I hope one thing you are taking away is new friends or at least put faces to go with your online acquaintances. I met so many board members who I had not met before and I got to see many who I met last year. As always social and business obligations kept me from meeting and talking with as many as I like but the hours I had were packed. I feel like no time was wasted and for that I am thankful.
The few blocks that include the Convention Center, Ren Grand, Holiday Inn, Mayfair, and other gathering sites are on becomes a magical place during the convention days. It becomes steeped in haunt culture and you find yourself surrounded by people who have the same problems, seek the same solutions and the same playful spirit that drives them to create. We all have to walk the tightrope between focusing on business and the show itself, leaning too far to one side is disastrous and results in the suffering of the other side. That balance is not found in many other businesses. The people you pass on the sidewalk, that you see in Starbucks, who you walk past on the show floor or see them standing and chatting in the bar, they all belong to the same cult.
A cult of people who have chosen a field where they must become master carpenters, engineers, plumbers, interior decorators, psychologists, and pray to the sky each Fall for dry conditions. What an odd thing, what an odd mix of people with similar goals. When I see a haunter I see someone who can play like a child at the City Museum, goof off with actors, giggle feverishly when a scare works out well. Someone who can be tender and childlike enough to do those things and strong enough to work 16 hour days in August and September hauling wall panels and heavy molds as the opening date draws closer, and then amazingly be strong enough to not break down in tears when the skies open up on the third Saturday of October and the show they crafted loses tens of thousands of dollars by the hour as rain keeps customers away. We are an amazing breed.
Take away from the show a spirit of connectedness, a soul that carefully chooses when to be upset by your brothers and when to brush off slights that there is no real harm in ignoring. We are a moody and taciturn bunch that rides highs and lows depending on things as fickle as the weather and the public. I ask that you take away from the show a spirit of tolerance and acceptance of the haunters across the world and across town, forgive them their trespasses and ask that they forgive yours. We are all united, we choose when to be upset- back up see the world and our connectedness, problems and slights that have us super angry will seem small from a greater distance.
Am I a dreamer …yes. Did I have a great time in St. Louis …YES!
Allen H
The Transworld has drawn to a close. Chairs are being folded and stacked and wheeled away along gray concrete halls. Bits of forgotten Spanish moss and strands of thermoplastic webbing are being swept up from the massive show room floor. As those are things left behind at the show I ask what you took away from it- not just the masks you bought or the animation receipts that you pray will be delivered in a timely manner.
I hope one thing you are taking away is new friends or at least put faces to go with your online acquaintances. I met so many board members who I had not met before and I got to see many who I met last year. As always social and business obligations kept me from meeting and talking with as many as I like but the hours I had were packed. I feel like no time was wasted and for that I am thankful.
The few blocks that include the Convention Center, Ren Grand, Holiday Inn, Mayfair, and other gathering sites are on becomes a magical place during the convention days. It becomes steeped in haunt culture and you find yourself surrounded by people who have the same problems, seek the same solutions and the same playful spirit that drives them to create. We all have to walk the tightrope between focusing on business and the show itself, leaning too far to one side is disastrous and results in the suffering of the other side. That balance is not found in many other businesses. The people you pass on the sidewalk, that you see in Starbucks, who you walk past on the show floor or see them standing and chatting in the bar, they all belong to the same cult.
A cult of people who have chosen a field where they must become master carpenters, engineers, plumbers, interior decorators, psychologists, and pray to the sky each Fall for dry conditions. What an odd thing, what an odd mix of people with similar goals. When I see a haunter I see someone who can play like a child at the City Museum, goof off with actors, giggle feverishly when a scare works out well. Someone who can be tender and childlike enough to do those things and strong enough to work 16 hour days in August and September hauling wall panels and heavy molds as the opening date draws closer, and then amazingly be strong enough to not break down in tears when the skies open up on the third Saturday of October and the show they crafted loses tens of thousands of dollars by the hour as rain keeps customers away. We are an amazing breed.
Take away from the show a spirit of connectedness, a soul that carefully chooses when to be upset by your brothers and when to brush off slights that there is no real harm in ignoring. We are a moody and taciturn bunch that rides highs and lows depending on things as fickle as the weather and the public. I ask that you take away from the show a spirit of tolerance and acceptance of the haunters across the world and across town, forgive them their trespasses and ask that they forgive yours. We are all united, we choose when to be upset- back up see the world and our connectedness, problems and slights that have us super angry will seem small from a greater distance.
Am I a dreamer …yes. Did I have a great time in St. Louis …YES!
Allen H
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