The Dandelion Conspiracy
by Kathy Mar

[[The following article was created as a flyer and circulated by Kathy 
Mar at Chicon and other conventions, along with the dandelion stickers 
and buttons.  It has been posted on FidoNet via Stormgate Aerie.  Feel 
free to re-copy and distribute it wherever you are -- Kathy Mar wants 
it to get the widest possible distribution.  Originals suitable for 
reproduction are available from Kathy Mar or _The Filking Times_.]]
  
There seems to be little understanding in fandom at large of the 
changes that have occurred in filk music since its inception so many 
years ago.  This is not helped by the way most filkers react when we 
interact with other fans.  We are very intense, we tend to be blind to  
or enamored of those aspects that non-filkers find most annoying, and  
we are inclined to be very vocal (no pun intended) and obnoxious in 
our protests when we feel we are being mistreated.

In an attempt to find a way to communicate our views to others more 
effectively, I have decided to form what I call the Dandelion 
Conspiracy.  This is meant to serve many goals at once.  In taking the  
dandelion as the filker's symbol, I hope to convey, as gently as the 
flower-power movement did, that filk is almost impossible to root out.   
If disturbed, it tends to proliferate.  It can be beneficial at times,  
and it can even be beautiful in spite of its weedy reputation.

Most ConComs fail to realize the real advantages of treating filkers 
well.  Most filkers take hotel rooms so that they can crawl off to bed 
at whatever impossible hour the filk ends and to provide a secure 
environment for their recording equipment and instruments.  They are 
perfectly content with any large quiet room that is done with 
programming for the day, and are almost always finished before 
programming starts again.  They give their money, then put very little 
strain on the daytime programming because they are usually asleep 
through most of it.  The more professional performers are happy to 
entertain at the masquerade during the judging intermissions.  They 
don't mind if people talk or stretch while they play.  If treated 
well, they will tell other filkers and all their friends good things 
about the convention; so their numbers increase as the years go by.

Because there is no organization of filkers to lobby for better 
treatment and to approach Con committees in our behalf, we are at the 
mercy of people who understand us very little if at all.  In order to  
make them aware of our increasing numbers and to make sure they 
recognize not only the better known singers, but all those who just 
love to listen, I will have available dandelion stickers and dandelion  
buttons at this convention and any others I attend.  The stickers are  
free and the buttons will be at cost.  Anyone is welcome to copy the 
dandelion and distribute it on their own.  With time and luck, ConComs  
may come to know in a gentle yet insistent fashion just how many 
people are in favor of this special science fiction art form in all 
its diversity and joy.

I hope to see a lot of dandelions at this convention and at other 
conventions in the future.  Like the weeds we are, we will grow in 
numbers and colorful profusion until we are taken seriously by 
ConComs.  From the smallest root, we will grow back.  If disturbed, we  
proliferate.  We may be weeds, but we're beautiful just the same.