"Okay, Boomlockian!"

One eternal question that circles Sherlockiana like an overhead vulture has long been "How do we get more younger people into our Sherlockian world?" As so many Sherlockians are grandparents, indoctrinating school kids always pops up as an answer. Grandparents have enough distance from their parenting days to think that you can get a kid to like something you like, I suspect, but what do I know?

Well, one thing I do know is that Sherlockiana can be expensive. Folks at the end of their careers have often built up more money than folks at the start of their careers. We see more older Sherlockians for the same reason you see more older folks on cruises -- they are more likely to afford such luxuries. But given the way the money game is more and more slanted against new players, I wonder if that will hold true forever.

The Boomlockians seem to be doing okay. (Yes, "Boomer Sherlockian." I'm not proud of that. But, being one, I can say that.) Most of us seem to be okay with country club level Sherlocking. And a few of us are apparently doing much more than okay.

Yet we're probably coming to a time when we need to think of cheaper on-ramps to full participation in Sherlockian culture, if we truly want to keep the old Sherlockian culture. Like being able to be recognized as a full-fledged contributing member of Sherlockian society with paying for a New York vacation just to attend a certain dinner. We've got Zoom now, we could literally recognize someone for their achievements with no cost to them or expectations that they come to New York two to three times to prove their dedication. And it isn't just New York. The old expectation that everything needs to have a banquet, something every traditional Sherlockian ever to wander into 221B Con seems to want to suggest, needs a good solid look.

A lot of things happen in Sherlockiana because someone has enough in their bank accounts not to fret when a big bill for an event comes due. Or are so caught up in the fever of the fandom that they just don't care about those bills coming due.

Every now and then I think of that one Sherlockian group that was so proud of themselves and their history that they never needed to adapt to the changing world, and that group nearly fell off the map completely. We like to think the things we like are impervious to change and will go on forever. We like to see ourselves as a part of that eternal thing, a touch of immortality.

But the times, as ever, are a'changing. A select number of country club Sherlockians will certainly be able to maintain a certain level of Sherlockian events and travel as long as there are old people with money and a few youngsters in their wake. But a new Sherlockiana, if the fandom does not fall with literacy rates, will surely evolve to fit the lives people can afford in the decades ahead. 

Might be time to start thinking about that.