Here at EF, we've had 4 mods for quite a while now. We've all done our best, but with real life rearing its ugly head, and the fact that we're all in wildly different time zones, it's started to feel like we've been spread a little thin in a few areas. We put our heads together and decided that it was time to take on a new mod to help us out. We asked OffYourBird to join us, and she has graciously accepted. She's now officially a member of the admin team, and we are so glad to have her aboard! Most of you already know her because she's active in the shoutbox and she's a prolific author, but we asked her to write a few words to formally introduce herself as a mod. Without further ado...  

Hi, all! Many of you know me already, but I've been haunting EF for about two years and apparently our delightful mods finally decided to go with the 'if you can't get rid of them, then you might as well bring them on board' approach. (Just kidding.)  

I'm one of our members who started as an EF lurker to escape some winter blues (after a rewatch of BtVS put me on the hunt for fanfiction). I expected to find stories here. I didn't expect these stories to kick my muse into gear for the first time in a long time. And I absolutely didn't expect to find this amazing community. But I'm incredibly grateful for all of it. As a mod, I will continue to support our vibrant community, and help maintain the spirit of EF as a place where anyone can comfortably come to read, write, comment, or simply browse.   

However, part of what makes EF so vibrant is that we're diverse. And, as with any diverse community, learning how to navigate different opinions and perspectives without silencing or diminishing voices (or allowing the mood to turn destructive) is a challenge. There has been a lot of wonderful, productive conversation lately about how to operate in that mode, and I hope to continue encouraging that dialogue. For the moment, all I'd like to add is a quote from the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who says in her Ted Talk that, "I’ve always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity.  Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize."  

Please feel free to reach out to me anytime for any reason, whether it's with a concern or just to chat.  

Cheers and much love,  

OffYourBird (Katie)