Tales.of.Swanky: What is a Wrockstocker?

Abby Hupp, organizer of Wrockstock Spooktacular 2007, left an amazing blog today on her myspace page telling the world what it takes to be a "Wrockstocker". I was very moved my her entry, and I wanted to share it with you all, to show you all exactly why I am so in love with this group of people. I'll just put my favorite snipits here, but please, click on the link so you can read the whole entry. It really is moving.

Myspace.com Blogs - What is a Wrockstocker? - Wrockstock Spooktacular MySpace Blog

"To be a Wrockstocker, you do not have to have attended Wrockstock, but you should already be most of the following things... the rest will come... that's what this community is all about. All of us learning and growing as human beings, together...

"1. Generous. With their time, their hearts, their minds and on occasion, with their spare money...

"2. Respectful.... of themselves and others. Those with no self respect cannot respect others. Treat yourself with the same love and kind[n]ess that you give to your friends. Speak up if your friends are disrespecting themselves or others...

"3. Caring. Comforting a total stranger, saying "I love you" to someone who really needs to hear it, helping someone in need despite your own issues, these are how you spread love in this world. Performing random acts of kind[n]ess and making a habit out of it. This is the little stuff that can make a world of difference...

"4. Tolerant. Of each other, of the world, of "Muggles", even of Wal-Mart...

"5. Funny and/or fun loving. We use humor to raise awareness, to ease our pain and to show our appreciation for each other, differences and all...

"6. Concerned about the world. ... If the news makes you cry, if you want to grab President Bush by his short hairs and shake him til the money runs down his thighs, if you would spend your spring break building houses in New Orleans, if you would march your straight behind down main street in a Gay Rights parade, if you are sick and tired of seeing piles of dead children on the side of the road all over the continent of Africa, tired of seeing 12 year old boys who are the foot soldiers for drug trafficking warlords in South America, if you hate seeing women being mistreated in [A]sian and [M]iddle [E]astern countries, if you hate that Walmart is turning countless [C]hinese people into soul[l]ess slaves to the system and keeping them in giant chicken-coop like dormitories, if you are sick of seeing the gay kid in your art class getting hassled, anything that makes you angry about the world, anything that makes you wish you could do something about it..... you can. We did, we do and we will."

Abby is completely right. That is what Wrockstock was all about, at least for most of us. It wasn't about the bands or Harry Potter. It wasn't about the costumes or the fangirling. It was about the joy and the fact that we were helping to raise money for The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA). It was about making a difference in the world, weather just by adding you money to the HPA pot, or by brightening the lives of the Wrockstockers around you. It was amazing to be a part of, inspiring to see, and humbling to know that there are so man people in the world who actually care.

For some time now, I have been disenchanted with my generation. We are the future of this world, and all around us the world is falling apart. This is not different from any other generation, the world is always falling apart, or at least seems to be. Regardless, we are responsible for trying to change that which we don't like about our world, and we haven't.

It is encouraging to see that there are people who are interested in changing the world. Who are willing to sacrifice time and energy, among other things, to make a difference. If the Wrockstockers of the world, and the HPA, keep growing and spreading their love and drive, there may be hope for our generation yet.

I'll be blogging more about the HPA later I'm sure. What exactly it is, what they stand for and why its swiftly becoming so important to me. I hope that anyone who reads this at least takes the time to visit the HPA and find out some more about this great organization. And if the above attributes discribe you, perhaps you should look into Wrockstock 2008. It's going to be a blast, full of love, motivation, and hope for the world.

~Swanky

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