Thread by @GailSimone

Last night an amazing thing happened that made me very happy. We are in LA for some movie consulting, which is already thrilling, and we were taking Ubers, from the airport, to the hotel, everywhere. 1/

Our first driver didn’t speak much English, he’s Chinese, so we talked the whole ride about how much we love China and how incredible the food was and had a lovely visit despite the language barrier. He objects to all the Chinese food here, by the way. TOO SAUCY. :). 2/

But after cleaning up at the hotel, it was time to go to dinner at the director’s house, and we had a lovely young college student as our driver. She asked what we were here for, and @rocketspouse told her, and she was very curious...3/

It turns out that she loves superhero movies, but hasn’t read many comics. She said her favorite was the Justice League, which I thought was neat, so we talked about that. And we talked about Wonder Woman. It was just nice conversation. 4/

Then she said one of the things she liked was that she felt like these movies were getting more inclusive. We were talking about Wonder Woman and how much our lesbian friends approved of her, and she agreed...then she said something unexpected. 5/

She said that she had read an article that there was a trans character in the Batman books, and how she never thought she would see something like that. And it made her and her girlfriend happy to see. 6/

And I suddenly realize who she’s talking about, and hubby says, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but she actually created that character that you are talking about.’ 7/

So she got all excited and was asking questions about Alysia Yeoh, from my Batgirl run, and how excited her girlfriend would be that we got to meet. I won’t lie, it pretty much made my year. 8/

I get the impression that her girlfriend is trans, or I might have misread the situation but it was clearly very personal, and meant a lot to her, and once again I am reminded that what we put out into the world has an impact, it has meaning. There are ripples.9/

I don’t want to mention her name for her privacy;s sake, but I’m going to remember it, it’s such a wonderful reminder that sometimes the scope of our actions is a little bit longer-reaching than we think.
10/

We all have a choice, to put mean old garbage into the world, or to try to do a little better than that.

What I have seen from my tiny little window is that the attempts to do better come back to you a thousandfold. Even if you mess up sometimes, even if it’s imperfect. 12/

I messed up the numbering AGAIN.

Anyway, for all the dumbass talk about ‘sjw agendas’ and whatever other horseshit is out there, I think there’s a couple hills worth dying on. 13/

1. Comics are for everyone. No one is going to be able to put that genie back in the bottle. Sorry. 1946 is long gone and it’s not coming back.

14/

2. What we put out there matters. And if you can tell exciting stories and still have a welcoming message, I think that’s goddamn delightful.

And sometimes you get an Uber driver who is awesome.

I hope you get your degree and wish every joy to you and your girlfriend, C!
14/

PS. I realized after that I should have gotten her email and sent her the Alysia issues of Batgirl. I am a goofus.

Still! BEST UBER RIDE EVER.

end/

Wait, PPS. We gave you my name and twitter handle...on the off-off chance you see this, C, please dm me and I will happily send a care package of comics, Batgirl and some other stuff you both might like. It would be my pleasure, and THANK YOU for making my day!