Star Wars club kicks off for 2009

Hoosier Alliance, a Star Wars club founded in 2004, urges people to forget all the stereotypes they’ve heard about Star Wars fans, including the notion that they’re all a bunch of greasy, 35-year-old virgins.

“We are not all virgins that live in our parents’ basements,” IU alumna and club member Sara Ballard said. “The stereotype that is true is that we can get pretty crazy about our fandom.”

Casey Brinegar, a graphic designer, joined the club last May as a way to meet new people. He, too, advocates that Star Wars is not just for nerds and loners.

“I mean, of all the nerd cliques out there, Star Wars is decidedly the coolest, most diverse of the bunch,” Brinegar said. “Although always lighthearted, I think most Star Wars nerds like myself tend to call Trekkies and D&D fans ‘nerds.’ We are collectively the world’s tallest dwarves and prettiest of the ugly people.”

The group meets once a month to talk about various Star Wars news and then usually goes out to dinner downtown, Brinegar said.

Brinegar and Ballard say nostalgia is a source of their love for Star Wars.
“It’s just always been a part of my life,” Ballard said. “I love the characters and the movies. Takes me back to my childhood.”

Some members take this a step further. Eric Stuckey, the club’s president, said he first saw Star Wars in 1977 and has since found joy in the books, movies and even the new cartoon series.

“To me, it is simply the best story I have ever read,” Stuckey said. “My love for it runs skin deep. I have four Star Wars tattoos.”

This shared passion brings together a diverse group of people, Stuckey said. The club has members from different cultures, professions, age groups and genders.

“I can say that it is a very diverse group of people of all age ranges, genders and backgrounds, which makes it unique in and of itself,” Brinegar said. “But that is what Star Wars is all about, really ... the celebration of diversity.”