Proud of My Team and Our Commitment to You

get one for yourself at 7th and F

by Mike Lunsford, Editor-In-Chief of the Great Geek Refuge

One of our missions here at GGR is to give everyone a safe space to enjoy their various forms of geekery. It is a place for escape from the real world, even if the real world sometimes interferes. This is one of those times, because simply ignoring the coronavirus won’t make it go away. Sticking together, though, may make it more bearable.

Those are the words of the first contributor I’ve promoted to editor in the history of GGR. His name is Benjamin Shapiro. He came on staff less than a year ago but has proven himself to be a great writer and a consummate professional when it comes to the written dealings of our site. I couldn’t be more proud of what he’s done in the short time he’s been with us. In fact, with his most recent editorial, Benjamin did something that I had wanted to do but simply didn’t have the time nor capacity to handle. My day job recently gave me a pretty sweet promotion. With that promotion came much more responsibility and with the coronavirus quarantines becoming a very real thing, I was tasked with helping my company ready a plan for working from home that we never had thought we would need. I’m not going to bore you with the details, but last week was extremely busy and stressful. At any rate, it’s just a reminder that my choice in editors was a wise one. Ben saw a need and took care of it.

So, if Ben said everything that needed to be said, why am I writing this editorial? As the Editor-In-Chief, it’s my role to be a leader. Part of being a leader is recognizing your people when they do well. I mentioned Ben and how great he’s doing as an editor, but he also does some great articles, too. I also need to mention the great content Russ Brown “The Opaque Senator” is giving us. He’s splitting duties with me on Star Trek: Picard recaps plus he’s giving us video game reviews. Chelsea House is covering pretty much any good kids’ movie plus some awesome anime and video game content. Every now and then, we get a guest article in from our first recruit, the awesome artist Andy Bartsch. Help the dude out, give him a follow. Ask to buy some of his stuff.

There’s also the amazing TK Walker. She pops on the podcasts occasionally and one of these days she’ll have a show of her own. In the meantime, she helps me immensely by running our Instagram account and always supports all the articles and podcasts we produce. She rocks. Talk to her about true crime podcasts and bug her to record her own lol.

We also have our podcast crew. I couldn’t be more proud of MC Brooks. That dude told me when I interviewed him on the phone a few years back that if we gave him a shot, he would produce some good content. He under promised and over delivered. He continues to amaze me with his ability as a podcast host and musician. This dude is legit. Support his music on BandCamp. James Rambo manages to juggle a full time job working at a comic shop, work on amazing art work, AND hangs out with us on the podcast from time to time. He’s knowledgeable, funny, and again, makes amazing art. Buy some. We also get to have an amazing recurring guest in Ulysses E. Campbell. He’s the Obi-Wan of the group: without his guidance, this site wouldn’t be what it is today. He’s also kind enough to cross-promote our show on his Fantastic Forum by having myself and MC on as frequent guests.

Then there’s Steve Monnich. Without him, I would have given up on this whole geeky/nerdy website thing. In fact, it may have never happened if it weren’t for us working together. Any time I question what we’re doing or I feel a change is needed, he is there to talk me through it. There were times when I really doubted if we could continue doing this and he’s been the rock. Any time I need something from him, he’s on top of it. I couldn’t ask for a better co-creator or friend.

Yeah, I gushed a bit about all my people who help make GGR great because of how proud I am of all of them, but there’s a huge part I left out. Our readers and listeners. I try to thank you all on every podcast, but sometimes writing it down is important as well. I mentioned in our group page that we wouldn’t have amazing news like our AwesomeCon panel if it wasn’t for you guys. I also want to remind all of you our commitment. This geeky/nerdy thing is only fun if everyone is welcome. We will never exclude, persecute, single out, or make fun of someone because they lack knowledge on a geeky nerdy subject. However, we will also not stand for prejudice, gatekeeping, or hatred on this site or any of its groups or pages. With the current pandemic going on, there are a lot of lies and irresponsibility going on. They will not be spread here. If you’re not following quarantine, social distancing, or for some reason think it’s all a “hoax” then you have no place among us. Many of our readers and listeners are healthcare providers and are busting their asses right now trying to help the sick and that lack of care is only making their jobs harder. Help them out. Don’t make this thing go on longer than it has to. To sum up, don’t be a juicebag. Stay home, and as our friends over at 7th and F say on their tee shirts, “wash your damn hands.”