By: Maggie Grazioso
One of the most entertaining things about our generation (younger Millennials and older Gen Z’ers) is our presence on social media. When I turned 12, I was finally allowed to get a 4th generation iPod Touch. My case was a collage of all my favorite broadway musicals and my lock screen was a blurry picture of my dog. I was living the life, clearly. And from there, I downloaded the trifecta of social media apps: Instagram, K.I.K., and Vine. Though two of these platforms are no longer with us (may they rest in peace), Instagram was always the strongest of the three and where I spent most of my adolescence.
Such a large part of my childhood specifically, and many others I assume, was fandoms. I have spoken with many of my peers about this time in our life, and about which fandoms they had residency in. Including, but not limited to; Twilight, Harry Potter, Supernatural, and many more. I definitely observed this phenomena from a distance, and even delved into some of them when I got older, but that’s not what I was interested in at age 13.
My very first fan page was made for a reality television show that has recently been resurfacing on Tik Tok. That’s right. Dance Moms. Back in the day, @aldckissesxoxo was THE shit. I co-ran it with a girl who I don’t speak to anymore, but we still follow each other on instagram. So. This page created an unspeakable bond between the two of us. If you’re reading this, hope you’re well girly, sorry I’m weird and talking about something you’ve probably haven’t thought about for a decade:)
@aldckissesxoxo had around 2,000 followers, which doesn’t sound like much, but in a niche fandom like Dance Moms, it was a real achievement. I know what you’re thinking. Maggie! Dance Moms was huge! What are you talking about, “niche fandom.” Guys. Dance Moms was popular amongst like three 12 year olds, and thousands and thousands of judgemental women in their late 40’s. It was on Lifetime, not Disney Channel. Every Tuesday night, these gray-haired girlies would make a strong ass marg, plop their thicc mom asses in front of the tv, and GAB during commercial breaks. This show was NOT meant for little kids to write fanfiction about these other little kids, but here I was. Okay. To be fair, I did not write fanfiction, but I was an avid consumer of said fanfiction. (I read a really weird one about one of the girls battling depression?? Odd.)
This account had everything. Video and picture edits, updates, facts, ya know, the works. I made friends through that account! This was really my outbreak into creating fan pages. From there, I went on to create accounts for Austin and Ally (@auslly__,) Broadway (Honestly, don’t remember, maybe that’s for the better,) Matilda the musical (it was like apart of one of the songs, could be anything really,) and Harry Styles (I don’t wanna talk about it.) (Don’t remember.)
I’d like to believe the Dance Moms section of my life was something of importance for me. Watching those girls dance had both a positive and negative affect on me. The negative, being it, made me think I was a shit dancer. The postive being that it awakened my gayness. I am a diehard Chloe stan. She carried that group and the whole show on her back. And I think since then I have had a thing for gorgeous tall babes (shouts out to my bae). This account led to me actually attending a meet and greet with Chloe Lukasiak herself, and her badass mama Christi. And now….. We both have girlfriends so…. Do with that information that you will.
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