The Search for Suvwl'

If you've read The Green Lodge Cypher (you can! It's here and on Tumblr!), you know what this is about. In the mid-nineties, someone fielded a Klingon honor guard in the Fourth of July Parade in Towsontown.

This was a crystallizing moment for me. It didn't change everything; in fact, it didn't change much at all. But it was a concrete point of evidence along a line of understanding. I was a kid; I hadn't quite understood the reality, until then, that when you read about fan culture, those people really exist in the same physical world you do, alongside everyone you've actually seen. That people really aren't, or maybe shouldn't have to be, afraid to share that where other people can see. That it's okay to enjoy things. And that was a point along the road to understanding that it takes personal choice and effort to make that space, that visibility, and that joy.

This particular incident ended up in the Cypher because, well, I loved it, and it fit the work, and I thought that just maybe someone would see it and a memory would surface and they'd go, "Hey! That was us!". In late 2024, I ran across Tumblr user daily-klingon. I messaged them, and they asked around a bit in ways I just hadn't thought to. One really does have to make those connections to get some information, and I've been very busy. One redditor referred them to Alternate Worlds (I guess it still exists!) and others jumped in their comments to reach out into their monkeyspheres. I've sent some messages out to some of the groups I could dig up on Fanlore.

I'll update if I get more.

*Suvwl': warrior. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Klingonese. "p'takh" was a better pun, but it just didn't fit.