Founder’s Note: Why The Ampliverse?
If you’re reading this, the site is live! Welcome to The Ampliverse. It feels bizarre and surreal, amongst some other emotions, that this all actually materialized. As I sit and try to write something to reflect on this process to get here, I feel as though I have a mouth full of words, and none will string together eloquently, or even coherently, but I will try my best.
Where did The Ampliverse come from?
I am a person who enjoys collaboration. I went to school for film and what I love most about the movie making process is the amount of people involved in it. It’s a team effort of creative people working to accomplish a shared vision. It’s essentially an elevated version of a group arts and crafts project, and anyone who knows me knows I love a good arts and crafts project! I love the problem solving, the working together to get around things, the opportunity for a group of people who maybe see things differently all working toward creating one vision.
As the lockdown grew to nearly a year long, that collaboration I love seemingly dried up in both my professional and personal life. I was fortunate enough to remain employed, but was working constantly trying to be creative within the constraints of quarantine to keep a travel company afloat at a time when people couldn’t travel. To say it has been challenging and both mentally and emotionally draining would be an understatement. I had lost all separation of work and personal life and was feeling lost as a result. I knew I wasn’t alone in that feeling, and I needed to do something creative for myself.
Motivated by that feeling of disconnect, I started a virtual book club as a way to bring people together in a common activity. This wasn’t groundbreaking by any means, but it was nice to have something. One night I decided I wanted to create a puppet show based on my two corgis, Artie and Rocket. I used whatever materials I had at the house to create the set, ordered some puppets, make them some outfits, and ‘The Adventures of King Arthur & Rocket’ was born. I kept trying to find these types of activities to help give me some form of personal purpose. Nothing like having an identity crisis amidst a global pandemic.
And then my focus, along with the rest of the country, was shifted to the Black Lives Matter marches for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and others who have been victims of racial injustice, and I took the time to reflect.
I remember the first time I heard the term “white privilege.” I didn’t understand what it meant. Worse yet, I didn’t stop to understand it. As a gay man from a small town and a lower-income family, I was offended by it. I didn’t feel like the phrase applied to me. After all, I used to wear sneakers with holes in them to school. Often my lunch would be saltines with peanut butter. My single mother worked so hard to make sure we had a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs, she would leave at 7am and we wouldn’t see her until 8pm most week nights. Now that I am grown, I can’t even fathom how exhausted she was, so when I heard the word privilege just blanketed at me, I was offended. I got defensive. Everyone in my life, including me, has had to work so hard for what we have. I didn’t listen. That was 2015. A year later, a man shot and killed 49 people in a club that was a safe space from myself and many of my friends. I was away on work on June 12, 2016 and I remember standing in Disneyland Park just wondering how people could just be going about their day. How they…just didn’t care…They were not personally affected by the events, so it seemed enough to say out loud, “that’s so tragic,” then go about their day. I felt that way again when the Black Lives Matter marches were happening. How could more people not want to do SOMETHING. This time, I am listening. I will continue to listen and continue learning and educating myself and anyone else that will listen. I want to talk about it. I want to have uncomfortable conversations. I don’t just want to be a more informed person, I want to help solve the problems however I can. I want to USE my privilege to help.
Just before lockdown began, I started a Power Rangers Podcast. My approach to the podcast was simple: everyone should be able to get in on the conversation. I felt that a fandom like Power Rangers is so niche, yet the people that are a part of it seem incredibly cliquey and problematic at times, which is always SHOCKING to me considering that Power Rangers has always been about a group of people from different backgrounds coming together to help those in need. Like the idea that someone is offended that Power Rangers could be considered social justice warriors is bonkers to me. What show were they watching?! I feel that a fandom should be welcoming to all. Whether you’ve seen one episode or every episode, or you just are looking to get “into”, I want people to feel welcomed in a safe space. I often think of the harassment that Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega faced from “fans” of their franchise and it disgusts me...
I was talking to RJ about ALL of this, and started daydreaming about creating something. We didn’t know what right away, but we wanted a place where we could combat fandom toxicity, and have honest and open discussions about issues of representation while celebrating the fandoms we love most. I want to take a moment here to acknowledge RJ. He listened to a friend’s daydream, just random threads of thought, and without any dismissive attitude or scoffing, said, “let’s do it.” You might meet plenty of people that entertain a flight of fancy, but few will ever pilot it in for landing. None of this would have happened without him, and I will be forever grateful for this experience. (I hope he never makes it this far into this post or I will never hear the end of it.)
What do I hope comes from The Ampliverse?
As far as what I hope can be accomplished with this site, it’s all in the name. The intent behind The Ampliverse is to amplify marginalized voices. Everyone is welcome in The Ampliverse, and this is meant to be a safe space. I want a space where someone can be their truest self. For everyone to nerd out about whatever they want and not feel judged about it. Let’s talk about representation in Star Wars and how it can be problematic. I want to talk about what it meant for someone when Selwyn Ward became the first Black man to play the Red Ranger. Let’s celebrate Kim Ng, the first Asian-American general manager in Major League Baseball and the first woman to become a general manager of a men's team in the history of major North American sports. Let’s reframe conventional conversations in fandoms and hear and see perspectives from different angles.
The Ampliverse can be a sandbox of creativity. A sort of internet community center to help support people that want to say something, but might just not know how to say it. I want people to listen, learn, inform and be informed, and obviously have fun! I want to use what little social media following I have to hopefully amplify someone else’s story. The site isn’t mine or RJ’s, it’s everyone’s. In the end, if we help one person’s story get heard by at least one more person, then we have succeeded.
