Congoing
My good pal wanted to interview me for his LJ; this is my reply to his questions. The first one refers to a earlier question about ‘If you were going to be a bird, which bird would you be’?
1> Why the Great Auk?
The Great Auk” is one of my oldest and favorite books by the historian and naturalist author Allan Eckert. His books and career are as follows:
http://www.ohioreadingroadtrip.org/eckert/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_W._Eckert
I also adored his books about the Dayton Flood and the Passenger Pigeon, but, as years have passed, this one is the most timeless. I’m not really a bird person at all; my totem is a Kodiak bear, but this is the bird with its description that has stuck the most with me. One of the descriptions of this book went:
Eldey Island loomed ahead of them like a gigantic red iceberg jutting from the frigid grey waters of the North Atlantic. Dimly in the haze behind it the swimmers could see the desolate coastline of south-western Iceland There were more than eighty birds in this flock, and they spread out haphazardly in loose clusters which trailed behind the lead bird to a distance of nearly half a mile. The great auks had come home. Thc great auks were handsome penguin-like birds with head, neck, back and wings a deep glossy black, and underside a startling white. With tiny wings, they were the only flightless birds of the North Atlantic, but with their powerful legs and large webbed feet they swam and fished wonderfully. Reconstructed with great skill and compassion, this is the story of the great auks’ last annual migration between Eldey Island where they bred, and South Carolina where they wintered. Each journey meant an almost incredible swim of three thousand miles. And along the migration route lurked many dangers - storms, killer-whales, fish-hooks, scientists searching for specimens, and, worst of all, the murderous onslaught of feather and meat hunters. The Last Great Auk is the story of the last of these birds, from his hatching and his adventures as a fledgling until, as leader of the dwindling flock, he returns to Eldey Island for the last time. By then the reader is hoping against the inevitable, against what did happen on June 3rd, 1844. The species became extinct. One species out of 8,000 does it really matter? It does, and no reader of this sad and beautiful novel will forget it.
2> Is Congenial still going on?
http://www.congenial.org/ - the date given is in March, and I plan to be there. Uncle Vlad has been ruunning it for a while; it’s not as big as it was, but it’s still humming along.
3> Are you still the Con-Chair?
I gave up conrunning for lent. More specifically, when the whole situation with adopting a child came up, in 1999, I realized with a little prodding that there was a limit to what I could do, time-wise. You don’t break heaven and earth to get a kid to ignore her. After that, my life got seized with all sorts of major crises and upsets, along with the time demands of my family and household. My burnout on conrunning got turned into a for-now retirement in general from convention running. Never say never, and I haven’t. Not now is more accurate.
4> What Cons do you plan on attending this year?
Capricon, Congenial, Duckon, Worldcon in Boston, and Windycon are the highest on the list. Meredith (my daughter) and my wife Susan want to take a boat out to see whales…and I want to pee in the Charles and clean it up.
5> Are you still in touch with the “old crowd” from when I lived there? (If so, please pass my contact info to them… I’ve lost touch…)
Aside of via the internet, not really in the getting-together sense. My move to Lisle (spacing us much further from the city) and the events mentioned in my answer to #3 above have conspired against it. Also, people have moved around; , , and other have moved away. I occasionally will see many of those folk around and about here and there, especially at the local cons.