I'm always surprised by seeing negative reactions to "Steampunk".
It's as if people can't stand others having more fun than they are.

Steampunk is, at it's essence, a way of having fun by participating
in a role-playing fantasy, building wildly outlandish contraptions,
and getting to step out of day-to-day life for an afternoon here and
there.  It's about the least threatening activity I can imagine.

I participated last weekend in the Watch City Festival in Waltham,
Massachusetts, a gathering of nearly 10,000 steampunkers.  We had
everyone from toddlers to nonagenarians, people of every race and
ethnicity participating -- and they were all smiling!  What's not
to like?!

In our part of the world, based on the folks I know, I'd estimate that
50 percent of the serious participants are engineers who do programming
and robotics for a living -- absolutely no disrespect for technology
there!  Kids participate in building simple machines (what's better
than making a trebuchet to learn about physics?), learn about all kinds
of steam devices, and sometimes music machines.

The steampunk audience is the very best I perform for with my organ.
It is the only crowd (and I include organ rallies here) where I have
significant numbers of people who sit and listen through multiple songs.

Their questions and interest is always very high.  I know of at least
two people who have gone home and started fooling with "that old player
piano in the basement" after seeing and hearing the organ at a steampunk
event.  That's where new members of this hobby will come from -- they
sure aren't going to get there by finding the MBSI or AMICA magazines.

As to the etymology, I suspect steampunk owes it's name in large part
to cyberpunk, another branch of science fiction dedicated to the uber-
hackers who master the cyber-sphere.  The Matrix movies are examples
of that genre.

I will continue to wear proudly my top hat and goggles while exhibiting
my marvelous contraption!  It's all about having fun.

Roger Wiegand
Wayland, Massachusetts, USA
http://www.carouselorgan.com/