Newbie at Wiscon, Day 1
Wiscon bills itself as "The World's Leading Feminist Science Fiction Convention," although I'm not sure how many cons actually fall into that category: it's sort of like saying the "The Death Star is the galaxy's Most Mobile Lethal Weapon." The con is in Madison, the very capital of Wisconsin, and sure enough when I look out the window there's s big white dome housing the Wisconsin legislature, which has fled town for Memorial Day Weekend. Atop the dome stands a golden woman wearing a badger on her head. She bills herself as the "The Country's Leading Gold-Leaf Badger Woman." She is also fifteen feet tall, and I think at night must come to life as a super-hero, swooping in to save Wisconsites from raging rivers or terrible tornadoes and then zipping away again, taking her small furry mammal with her.
Every year there seem to be in inordinate amount of travel woes from people getting to or from here (I've already heard two), as if Madison resides at some swirling vortex of bad luck. But the trip up through Detroit was uneventful, and I met an interesting person on the second plane (he's a Nichiren Buddhist, which is a sect I'd never heard of), and tabby333 picked me up and got us to the Concourse Hotel in hardly no time at all. The Concourse is a 1970's square box of a building with a very nice lobby. It's always amused me, from afar, how people always raved about getting rooms onto the Governor's Club level. For a con devoted to addressing equality issues, why do some people opt for the accommodations of the elite? Now that I'm here, though, I totally get it - free food, free alcohol, and a 42 inch flat screen TV at the foot of my luxurious bed. I might never leave.
Madison is a college town, with lots of little shops and restaurants and street cafes. Deb C took us to a restaurant entirely devoted to noodles. This is very impressive to me, since I consistently undercook or overcook spaghetti, macaroni, Ramen soup, etc. We saw lots of people I know, or kinda know, and then went back to the Governor's Club, home of the free stuff, accessible only by key card or if you call me in Room - er, nevermind. More chocolate martinis for me!
Registration was fast and easy, and the well-designed program guide is chock full of interesting events.
I did a terrible job packing, however, for which I blame the cats. One wanted to climb into the suitcase; another kept trying to claw it; another gave me long, sad looks as if knowing he was soon to be left alone; the other wouldn't come out from under the bed. So we are doing the egalitarian thing and going to shop at Target.
Today: Con events begin! People will apparently be giving away clothes, and helping you tattoo yourself, and showing you how to braid your hair, and doing tarot readings. Smiling down on us with all of her Midwestern charm will be Lady Wisconsin herself, sort of like Emma Thompson in Angels in America, but with a badger.
Every year there seem to be in inordinate amount of travel woes from people getting to or from here (I've already heard two), as if Madison resides at some swirling vortex of bad luck. But the trip up through Detroit was uneventful, and I met an interesting person on the second plane (he's a Nichiren Buddhist, which is a sect I'd never heard of), and tabby333 picked me up and got us to the Concourse Hotel in hardly no time at all. The Concourse is a 1970's square box of a building with a very nice lobby. It's always amused me, from afar, how people always raved about getting rooms onto the Governor's Club level. For a con devoted to addressing equality issues, why do some people opt for the accommodations of the elite? Now that I'm here, though, I totally get it - free food, free alcohol, and a 42 inch flat screen TV at the foot of my luxurious bed. I might never leave.
Madison is a college town, with lots of little shops and restaurants and street cafes. Deb C took us to a restaurant entirely devoted to noodles. This is very impressive to me, since I consistently undercook or overcook spaghetti, macaroni, Ramen soup, etc. We saw lots of people I know, or kinda know, and then went back to the Governor's Club, home of the free stuff, accessible only by key card or if you call me in Room - er, nevermind. More chocolate martinis for me!
Registration was fast and easy, and the well-designed program guide is chock full of interesting events.
I did a terrible job packing, however, for which I blame the cats. One wanted to climb into the suitcase; another kept trying to claw it; another gave me long, sad looks as if knowing he was soon to be left alone; the other wouldn't come out from under the bed. So we are doing the egalitarian thing and going to shop at Target.
Today: Con events begin! People will apparently be giving away clothes, and helping you tattoo yourself, and showing you how to braid your hair, and doing tarot readings. Smiling down on us with all of her Midwestern charm will be Lady Wisconsin herself, sort of like Emma Thompson in Angels in America, but with a badger.