a semi-brief Wiscon recap
last year, i planned a Wiscon recap post, wrote half of it, and got no further. i'll attempt a quick summary this time...
first of all, saw a ton of old friends and many, many people with LJs. it was a great weekend overall, but i think the stress of being "on" to promote Think GalactiCon almost constantly affected my ability to enjoy things more. yes, i could have just relaxed and had fun, but then, i wouldn't be me. and this con is the single most important thing in my life right now, so i couldn't help but be obsessed a little.
i went up early with tacithydra and mat_defiler but missed the Thursday night reception, which turned out to be fine, as those two are more than enough entertainment and engagement for any evening.
our Friday night party well smashingly well. the foil spaceships seemed to be a hit and some of them were flat-out amazing. mad props to my Think Galactic peeps, as i think we showed folks that we know how to have fun. we continue to get compliments on our reading list, so we must be doing something right. the piñata was a hit [pun not just intended, but required], though we need to refine the method of hanging it. also, packing it with so much candy is perhaps ill-advised. [ETA: i like this description of it.]
my own panels were a mixed bag. the "Rocking the Good Boat Utopia" suffered from me having miscommunicated what i was really wanting to discuss in the panel description, then from my general lack of good moderating skills [i'm okay, but not really that great]. being busy with con prep also hurt my panel prep and things suffered for it. it wasn't a waste of an hour, but it could have been a lot better.
the "Male Allies" panel was much much better. it's hard to describe what was discussed, other than how we came to be feminists [or at least, identify as such], how sexism and patriarchy are bad for everyone, and other topics. i think i am 100% more comfortable as a panel member and not a moderator. much less stress. i somehow feel responsible for a panel's outcome as moderator [rightfully so... a good moderator makes any panel worthwhile]. i think i will be more careful about volunteering as such in future cons.
the BSG panel was a riot to be on. we ditched the pro-side/anti-side format they set up and just riffed on things that bugged us. you should go buy some of Lyda Morehouse's books, because if her writing is as good as her panel presence, it should be well worth it [i plan to follow this advice and will report back]. i also got the chance to plug what_the_frak, which was cool. Annalee, the other panelist, also kicked ass; we discussed copyright at some length afterwards. mmmm... copyright debate. [i had thought my copyright panel had made the cut, but now i'm realizing it didn't... hmmm... may have to see about having us discuss it for TGcon].
other panels i attended:
the "Officer Unfriendly" panel wasn't the clusterfuck i feared it could be [i get really parental over panels i create]. however, it certainly could have been more daring. saramotley was the best, but then, i'm biased towards TG members. the fact that they scheduled it opposite the genre tokenism/Octavia Butler panel meant that POC representation was completely lacking, which was commented on. it's sad, as that was a much needed dimension to the discussion. i am kicking myself now for not asking the question "if you've had police beat the living shit out of family or friends for no good reason, please raise your hand" [*raises hand*]. i had meant to try to do more panelist managing to try to ensure a more radical direction, but didn't get the cnance to.
the Carl Brandon Society panel resulted in a lot of good ideas, some of which i volunteered for. i also spent a lot of time all con hanging out and talking to nisi_la, chr0me_kitten, and badger2305, because they're groovy people like that. we totally need to have a "Spawn of Wiscon" panel next year, where CBS, TG, the Plunkett folks, and some of the other family members have a panel comparing and contrasting organizational challenges. maybe we can all help each other [iamnotandrei, why the hell doesn't the Plunkett have a website?? i'd like to help, with my meager-but-probably-adequate skills/time].
"Why is the Universe So Damn White" was great, and all too true. happily, deadbrowalking is kinda like an ongoing, year-round version of this panel [this means you should go check it out if you don't already have it. listen.]
"When Good Books Happen to Bad People" was groovy. nihilistic_kid is an entertaining moderator. though i'm glad he knows my name, lest i be referred to as Pinky for comments. Patrick Rothfuss was amusing as well.
the first half of the cultural appropriation panel went pretty well, all things considered. i'm glad i missed the 2nd half, however.
i missed the beginning of the 2nd BDSM panel, but lapinova acquitted herself well. i look forward to her panel on BDSM and Consenuality for TGcon. that room seemed to always been way too hot, temperature-wise, however... most of its panels seemed to pack it...
now my brain is blanking on other panels i saw....
the rest of the parties were prety cool, but again, the TGcon promo mindset wore me out too much to enjoy them as much as i might have.
it was good to have a nice 1-on-1 dinner with jlassen. i can never can get enough man-love from that boy.
also =lovely was talking to Gavin, Kelly, wild_irises, Karen & Allan [of the Troika], 2muchexposition, Liz from Dreamhaven, and all of the other people i'm forgetting or unable to type out. y'all rock the socks off a rabid chorus line of llamas.
and for the record, this IS the semi-brief version... :P
now i go to continue my collapse in exhaustion
first of all, saw a ton of old friends and many, many people with LJs. it was a great weekend overall, but i think the stress of being "on" to promote Think GalactiCon almost constantly affected my ability to enjoy things more. yes, i could have just relaxed and had fun, but then, i wouldn't be me. and this con is the single most important thing in my life right now, so i couldn't help but be obsessed a little.
i went up early with tacithydra and mat_defiler but missed the Thursday night reception, which turned out to be fine, as those two are more than enough entertainment and engagement for any evening.
our Friday night party well smashingly well. the foil spaceships seemed to be a hit and some of them were flat-out amazing. mad props to my Think Galactic peeps, as i think we showed folks that we know how to have fun. we continue to get compliments on our reading list, so we must be doing something right. the piñata was a hit [pun not just intended, but required], though we need to refine the method of hanging it. also, packing it with so much candy is perhaps ill-advised. [ETA: i like this description of it.]
my own panels were a mixed bag. the "Rocking the Good Boat Utopia" suffered from me having miscommunicated what i was really wanting to discuss in the panel description, then from my general lack of good moderating skills [i'm okay, but not really that great]. being busy with con prep also hurt my panel prep and things suffered for it. it wasn't a waste of an hour, but it could have been a lot better.
the "Male Allies" panel was much much better. it's hard to describe what was discussed, other than how we came to be feminists [or at least, identify as such], how sexism and patriarchy are bad for everyone, and other topics. i think i am 100% more comfortable as a panel member and not a moderator. much less stress. i somehow feel responsible for a panel's outcome as moderator [rightfully so... a good moderator makes any panel worthwhile]. i think i will be more careful about volunteering as such in future cons.
the BSG panel was a riot to be on. we ditched the pro-side/anti-side format they set up and just riffed on things that bugged us. you should go buy some of Lyda Morehouse's books, because if her writing is as good as her panel presence, it should be well worth it [i plan to follow this advice and will report back]. i also got the chance to plug what_the_frak, which was cool. Annalee, the other panelist, also kicked ass; we discussed copyright at some length afterwards. mmmm... copyright debate. [i had thought my copyright panel had made the cut, but now i'm realizing it didn't... hmmm... may have to see about having us discuss it for TGcon].
other panels i attended:
the "Officer Unfriendly" panel wasn't the clusterfuck i feared it could be [i get really parental over panels i create]. however, it certainly could have been more daring. saramotley was the best, but then, i'm biased towards TG members. the fact that they scheduled it opposite the genre tokenism/Octavia Butler panel meant that POC representation was completely lacking, which was commented on. it's sad, as that was a much needed dimension to the discussion. i am kicking myself now for not asking the question "if you've had police beat the living shit out of family or friends for no good reason, please raise your hand" [*raises hand*]. i had meant to try to do more panelist managing to try to ensure a more radical direction, but didn't get the cnance to.
the Carl Brandon Society panel resulted in a lot of good ideas, some of which i volunteered for. i also spent a lot of time all con hanging out and talking to nisi_la, chr0me_kitten, and badger2305, because they're groovy people like that. we totally need to have a "Spawn of Wiscon" panel next year, where CBS, TG, the Plunkett folks, and some of the other family members have a panel comparing and contrasting organizational challenges. maybe we can all help each other [iamnotandrei, why the hell doesn't the Plunkett have a website?? i'd like to help, with my meager-but-probably-adequate skills/time].
"Why is the Universe So Damn White" was great, and all too true. happily, deadbrowalking is kinda like an ongoing, year-round version of this panel [this means you should go check it out if you don't already have it. listen.]
"When Good Books Happen to Bad People" was groovy. nihilistic_kid is an entertaining moderator. though i'm glad he knows my name, lest i be referred to as Pinky for comments. Patrick Rothfuss was amusing as well.
the first half of the cultural appropriation panel went pretty well, all things considered. i'm glad i missed the 2nd half, however.
i missed the beginning of the 2nd BDSM panel, but lapinova acquitted herself well. i look forward to her panel on BDSM and Consenuality for TGcon. that room seemed to always been way too hot, temperature-wise, however... most of its panels seemed to pack it...
now my brain is blanking on other panels i saw....
the rest of the parties were prety cool, but again, the TGcon promo mindset wore me out too much to enjoy them as much as i might have.
it was good to have a nice 1-on-1 dinner with jlassen. i can never can get enough man-love from that boy.
also =lovely was talking to Gavin, Kelly, wild_irises, Karen & Allan [of the Troika], 2muchexposition, Liz from Dreamhaven, and all of the other people i'm forgetting or unable to type out. y'all rock the socks off a rabid chorus line of llamas.
and for the record, this IS the semi-brief version... :P
now i go to continue my collapse in exhaustion