SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS 4: Conclusion

Note: This is the last of several articles about Superheroes Anonymous 4, a gathering of Real Life Superheroes being held in Portland, Oregon. This series, written by Treesong, is a collaborative project of Heroes in the Night and Song of the Trees.

I've already given a description of each day's events in my previous entries. Now, I'd like to write a quick entry to sum it all up and thank the people who made it all possible.

On the whole, I would say that Superheroes Anonymous 4 was a great success. There were some logistical issues, some interpersonal issues, and some lessons to be learned for future events. But this is par for the course when you get together a group of people from different cities and try to bring them all together for a common set of activities. The important thing is that we met up, got to know each other better, and did some good work together. I've been to numerous conferences, and I felt that this one went quite smoothly.

This event has been a great inspiration for me. I get the impression it has been for other people, too. Becoming a part of the Real Life Superhero movement in general has motivated me to get active again, and this conference has definitely amped up my inspiration and motivation even further. I also have new contacts now in other cities, and we can support each other in the local work that we're doing. We've pledged to stay in touch so that we can share ideas, offer support, and meet up again as soon as we're able to do so, whether it's in the context of Superheroes Anonymous 5 or some smaller regional meet-up.

I'd like to thank Zetaman, Apocalypse Meow, and anyone else involved in organizing the weekend's events. Like many event organizers, I could tell that Zetaman was starting to stress out as we encountered a few delays and changes in logistical details along the way. But between the good work on advance planning and the attention to detail as the weekend went on, we were able to pull off all of the weekend's main events: the food bank, the Red Cross training, the coat drive, the patrol, and the Race for the Cure. Thanks for being good hosts and bringing it all together.

Thanks to my fellow Real Life Superheroes for showing up, putting in the time and effort, and keeping it real. There are still plenty of RLSHs who I've met online and would like to meet in person. But it was a pleasure to meet some of you in person, and it was great to work and play and learn side by side with all of you.

Thanks also to Tea Krulos for inviting me to contribute to his blog. I'm sure Tea would've liked to make it out to SA4, but since he couldn't, I'm glad we were able to work together in getting the word out about how the weekend went.

On a personal note, I'd like to send out a special thanks to everyone who made my own participation in Superheroes Anonymous 4 possible. I am a low-income worker with no savings, so I was only able to make it out here with the support of my community. Thanks to the several anonymous donors who supported my trip out here, and thanks also to Castle Perilous for matching these donations to ensure that Southern Illinois' own Real Life Superhero would make it to Superheroes Anonymous 4.

Now, it's time to return home to my own home town and resume my own efforts here. Good luck to everyone else as they do the same.

Note from Tea: Thanks much to Treesong for collaborating with me in posting this series of reports. I'll have one more great piece of news to report about SA4 within the next couple days--stay tuned!