Felicity

[sartorias]

See coraa's post here and here for our trip so far (in other entries she's got excellent panel and roundtable notes); now we are at Writers' Horse Camp for several more days. Already Rachel and I have gotten two goals met, and I got another met. Cora's written most of a short story. Every time we come to Camp we get tons done, while having fun with

Comments

[aamcnamara]

Sirens sounds lovely. I wish I could go.

[sartorias]

I wish you could too!

[ann1962]

Thanks for sharing. Sirens does sound mesmerizing.

Unbuttoning is good! ;-)

[sartorias]

:-)

[msagara]

Not all conferences need to be safe space--there is no "should" here--but it happens to be the kind that I like best. At Sirens, when people talked about the books that influenced them most, or got them reading fantasy, you could hear someone mention Dragonlance, or David Eddings, and there was no vestige of a snicker of superiority, no looks exchanged telegraphing Bad taste alert!. No Twilight wars! Readers either love them or leave them, no jousting. Just as there is no green room, so that guests of honor and attendees are mixing all through the day and evening, going off to the comfortable tete-a-tetes established along the con lobby area, or else going off into the beautiful scenery. No A list, no tiers of insiderness that is pretty much inevitable in most human congress, and sometimes built right into an event as a preferred thing.

Now I really, really want to go to this convention. It sounds like everything I find interesting, but without the endless and entrenched fury that sometimes takes root.

[sartorias]

There's a place for the fury--too many people have felt silenced for various reasons. A place to express oneself is good.

My own feeling is that more actual learning takes place in safe spaces--when one feels safe enough to see from the other's point of view, and maybe to consider alterations to one's assumptions--but I know that many feel that confrontation is the way to force change.

I personally tend to exit rapidly when I perceive domination exertion going, especially in conflicting claims for the moral high ground. But I am also a coward, so that probably influences my thought in all these matters.

[msagara]

There's a place for the fury--too many people have felt silenced for various reasons. A place to express oneself is good.

Actually, the funny thing is that what I meant by fury was the legion of people who loathe Twilight/LKH/epic fantasy and it's financial success. (And also, because I've been thinking about entitlement issues and trying to work my own way through them, vis a vis writing and readers). I in particular hate it when people go all intellectual on the heads of people who cut their teeth on books which are somehow not approved of by said people.

It didn't occur to me until I read your response that it could be taken in a larger political context. Which is why one should not post these things without any coffee in one's system.

[stephanieburgis]

I in particular hate it when people go all intellectual on the heads of people who cut their teeth on books which are somehow not approved of by said people.

Oh yes - those hierarchies are so toxic in con situations! Here we all are, a group of people whose taste is looked down on by mainstream society, just because we like f/sf as a genre. Are we really then going to waste our time separating into smaller groups to sneer at the people who like the wrong f/sf books?

Sigh.

But Sirens sounds wonderful!

[stephanieburgis]

I'm a hapless housekeeper and a loving mom, a sort of clumsy well-meaning member of family and society who has learned over the decades to keep her weird side to a socially tolerated minimum, so chances to unbutton among others also unbuttoned is felicity and bliss.

OH yes. I identify with this so much! And I've been yearning over all the wonderful descriptions of Sirens this year. Someday...

[sartorias]

:-)

[anonymous]

from pilgrimsoul

Sounds lovely! I won't tell the doglets you are petting horses though.

[sartorias]

There was apparently a cooler day last week, and daughter forwarded a picture of doglets sharing the same basket!

[anonymous]

from pilgrimsoul

TOO CUTE!!