DWills states, "One does not outgrow anime. Once you're a fan, you can never
turn back."


I have to strongly agree with that. Fandom, after all, is a way of life. As a
lifelong SF fan, albeit as one who has currently gafiated from Fandom per se,
one never loses a appreciation for the genre. I've been to science fiction
conventions where I've met a lot of old fans---and 20 years ago I had the
honor of meeting some of the legendary fans, and also writers, from Fandom's
and SF's Golden Age---Fans such as Lou Tabackow, and writers such as Edmund
Hamilton. Age makes no difference in any of this, whether its Science Fiction
or Anime, as long as one never loses one's Sense of Wonder. Now that Anime
has come into its own as Genre and is developing a Fandom of its own, I'm
sure the same thing will happen and when *we're* in our 70's or 80's,  the
young awestruck fans of the future will be asking *us* about the Golden Age,
*The Good Old Days* of Anime Fandom, just as I sat there, in that convention
suite that night at the old Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis listening to Lou and
Edmund talk about the Golden Age that *their* sense of wonder created. There
was a magic and a wonder that sparkled brilliantly that nght in their old
voices. And the wonder that they left behind for us still remains. And I know
in my heart that someday it will be the same for us. And ahh the tales we'll
be able to tell!!

---michael parker smith
   
   "FIAWOL Forever!"