Hello, People.

This is the only opening I can think of. 

I’m here to write a little bit about Steampunk. You’ve probably heard about it, but you might not be very clear about what it is. You might have a vague idea of men in Victorian suits and women in bustles running around in dirigibles with goggles on their heads. This wouldn’t be inaccurate, exactly, but it wouldn’t be the whole story. 

The whole story is complicated. You might want to get a chair (it doesn’t have to fly, if you were wondering.)

Steampunk is what you get when you mix the Victorian-era society with futuristic technology. Like, a flying armchair, but powered by steam. In some ways, Steampunk is kind of a rebellion against our modern way of doing things, in which we try to make all our technology homogenous. 

For example, have you ever walked out into a parking lot and can’t find your car? That’s pretty much the opposite of Steampunk. Now, I know I sound a little crazy here- “is she against flush toilets?”- but aside from the fact that they actually had flush toilets in the late 1800s, I am not insane. Well, maybe a little, but in a good way. 

So, Steampunk is what would have happened if our technology was invented a couple of centuries earlier than it was. I love Steampunk because they love old stuff, and they have lots of adventures, which I’m kind of in a love-hate relationship with. More on that later. 

Have you ever read any Jules Verne or H.G. Wells? They were sort of what might be called Steampunk, even though they had nothing to do with the term. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is probably one of the most Steampunk books of all time. Doesn’t hurt it’s a classic. 

So, the point is, you don’t have to be against modern life to be Steampunk. There isn’t a cult you have to join or a secret handshake you have to learn- more’s the pity- to be considered Steampunk. To be honest, you can be anything you want and still be Steampunk. That’s the beauty of it. 

You can be a supervillain with clockwork wolves (don’t ask; it resulted in a lot of claw marks), you can be an explorer, you can be an airship pirate, you can be a mad scientist who Does Science with capital letters. It doesn’t matter, and there’s only one rule: You can’t be mean to anyone, because everyone is welcome. 

So, grab your goggles, your Dr. Patina’s Officially Patented Grappling Hook Launcher, and/or your lab coat, climb aboard your trusty dirigible/train/flying armchair, and go be Steampunk! 

P.S. I will hopefully be posting all sorts of things having to do with this topic, hopefully including crafting tutorials. EEEEEE!!!! So excited. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, there’s a potato and some copper wire that need my attention……