​I'm watching a bunch of MLP fans on Reddit wail and rend their garments over the impending end of their fandom. Several of them are recent arrivals who feel like it's all ending just as they got there.

And I really genuinely do feel for them. I've seen subcultures I've loved very much last long enough to peter out completely. I've narrowly missed a lot of good scenes I desperately wish I could've been there for. And I've definitely seen some of my favorite imaginary worlds just... disappear before I was done with them.

But I kinda want to give those pony fans a hug, pat 'em on the nose, and tell them the story of when I was 12 years old-- that's 1987*. I was really sad, because I'd just heard about this whole "Dungeons and Dragons" thing, but I'd made up my mind that it had Already Happened and I'd just missed out on it.

So I don't worry too much these days about a fandom vanishing for good. I have faith in the great Bulldada Cycle: everything comes around every 20 years or so, in some form or another.

I also believe very strongly in these words of wisdom laid out by David Byrne, in the liner notes** of the Stop Making Sense album:

"THERE IS ALWAYS A PARTY GOING ON SOMEWHERE."

*A.D.

**This is really an excellent set of liner notes, full of other profound truths such as "Cats like houses better than people." It's like he knows us. 🐯