History of the Community

Brigits_flame started as an offshoot of a similar LiveJournal community LJ Idol. Founded by in March 18, 2008, it was seen as way to take what we really liked about the Idol community and combine it with our own ideas and approaches to make a "separate but equal" concept. Whereas LJ Idol combines the twists, turns, and excitement of reality TV with an epic 6-month long contest, the Flame is more of a creative workshop with a contest edge. Both communities have their strengths and weaknesses, and both are very well-organized and well-run livejournal communities. Nearly every moderator of brigits_flame – boundfate, lacombe, desert_rose, and firesign10— has been a contestant of Idol at one time.

As for the name, "Briget" (pick a spelling) is the Celtic goddess of creativity, inspiration, healing, and smithcraft. Some people believe that the phrase "creative spark" comes from her followers, as she is depicted with a torch. Boundfate found her a fitting patroness for this group, as well as being easy to remember. ;-) The name has become more and more fitting as the community has evolved; we've crafted our entries with great effort; we've healed ourselves and each other at times; and, of course, we pursue the creativity that makes us better than ever.

In its first couple of months, the community was very small. Its first season (in May 2008) had fourteen contestants, and the community itself had about 35 members total. However, the members were strong and the group was good, and , the community's "fearless" leader held things together. In June, (Jacques) was added to the moderator team and helped out with daily chatter posts, while Fate made the executive decisions and manned the polls.

On June 23, 2008, Brigits_Flame was featured in LJ Spotlight, and its popularity exploded. In just a few days, the community's member exploded, reaching 700 members. Jacques and Fate both scrambled to stay organized, adding an editing team and adjusting to the fact that we had over 100 members competing for the following month. They added as moderator, stayed organized, and with an enormous amount of help (and patience) from the community members themselves, survived.

Several months later, faced overwhelming personal obligations, including saving a starving, abused greyhound and her litter of babies, and chose to step down as the leader of the community, passing the torch on to . Since then, other moderators, including our third-in-command and the art moderator have joined the efforts and have been immeasurably helpful in keeping the Flame alive.

Brigits_flame has a vision, and it's dedicated to continuing to grow, expand, and evolve while still holding fast to the values that have made it a worthwhile community. We hope to continue making history as time progresses!

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