Back from Wiscon

[oyceter]

I was at Wiscon! I think I go to fewer and fewer panels every year but hang out with more people. This time, I even convinced people to go to parties to find other people! CB laughed so hard when I told him that: "Whoa, you are being social and getting other people to do it too!"

The panels I was on mostly went okay, although I felt the Xenogenesis one had so much to discuss that we just skipped around from topic to topic instead of going in depth into anything, which was sad. The Cultural Appropriation from the Outside one was thankfully good and interesting according to various audience members, and while there were some ?!?! moments from the audience, we had a good mod and the discussion didn't get derailed. And sadly, I had the most trouble on Anime/Manga 101, which is... really not the panel I was expecting difficulty with. The male panelist basically just kept talking... and talking... and talking. And while he was giving out good recs, it was really obvious that he didn't have much context in terms of anime/manga genres and history. Also, while the mod was trying to end the panel, he kept talking about a scene in an anime, over the mod's "we're out of time" warning AND over all the noises of the audience packing up their things and preparing to head out. Seriously, WTF.

I am super happy I got to hang out a lot with troisroyaumes (I kept forgetting she does not live in my area anymore, WOE), colorblue, and qian, and I managed to grab various people for meals, but I still didn't get to talk to nearly everyone I wanted to! I also find it incredibly amusing that naamenblog lives in the same area I do, but the last time I saw him was probably at Wiscon 35.

The con is also much more media fan friendly than it was when I started going back in 2006, and there are so many more DW people now. I think there were several panels discussing fanfic that didn't have to do Fanfic 101 or defend it! Obviously there is further to go, especially for non-Western fandom programming. I think there were 2-3 anime/manga panels this year, and the audiences are bigger than in the past, but I want so many more!

I don't know the POC count or how it compares to previous years, but it was really nice to have an entire room full of us for the Friday night POC dinner, and even cooler that there are many people I don't know. And!!! N.K. Jemisin and Hiromi Goto are the guests of honor for next year!!! I am so excited!!! Bwahaha, I hope we hit record numbers of POC for next year. That said, the POC percentage is still embarrassingly small (probably not even 1% of the people at the con).

There also seem to be more trans* panels than the last time I went (2011), and possibly more trans* attendees? I know people have been working on carving out space here for a while, and I hope that momentum is building.

I also didn't manage to make it to any of the class panels, though I've heard good things about some (Race and Class in Urban Planning) and bad things about others (Class in SF/F).

It is still so frustrating, though. It is so easy to go to panels and have intersectional issues overlooked or never addressed, and nowadays, I am tired so instead of doing something, I just go talk to people I like or go to a different panel. Mostly right now I am complaining in the post-con surveys.

Aaaand... this is getting long, so I will save other comments for later.

Poll #13562

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 26

View Respondents

What panel should I write up first?

View Answers

Xenogenesis
6 (23.1%)

Cultural Appropriation from the Outside
11 (42.3%)

LBG Anime and Manga
11 (42.3%)

Transfeminism
3 (11.5%)

Trans* Bodies in SF/F
6 (23.1%)

Women in Science
8 (30.8%)

The Glitch Memorial Panel
2 (7.7%)

And: Hello everyone I met! Post-Wiscon exchanging of pseuds and whatnot highly welcome!

Also: Anyone want to brainstorm panel ideas in the comments? And do people have AMV recs? Anything is good, no matter how old; I've been out of the loop for a really long time.

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

This is a creepy mahou shoujo AMV, if you haven't seen it already? It kinda freaked me out!!!1

[oyceter]

Sweet, thank you!

[shati]

Ahh, I love that one! Rec seconded.

[lnhammer]

Oo -- sweet. That's deliciously creepy. And a perfect song for it.

---L.

[hebethen]

I started checking off boxes in your poll, realized I was checking off p much all of them, and stopped. Aha.

and I STILL HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET MY HANDS ON ANYTHING BY HIROMI GOTO. My life is tragedy. And I am embroiled in DRAMATIC INNER CONFLICT because um NKJ (robbed of a Hugo I tell you! robbed!) but then again the idea of going to a convention with a lot of people and not getting enough sleep makes me flip out so :')

[oyceter]

Oh noes! I embarrassingly have not read any Hiromi Goto yet either, but hopefully I will have by next year!

If it helps, I think it is entirely possible to do Wiscon while getting enough sleep and talking to a limited number of people, though it is difficult to avoid the crowds all together. I've gotten a bit better at that over the years, now that I don't feel like I have to go to everything in the schedule. That said, despite my intentions to do better on sleep, I failed miserably. I blame my roommates, who are entirely too interesting to talk to, for this ;).

[qian]

I know it's a stereotype of con-going that you end up with no sleep and lots of germs, but I have yet to fall prey to con crud, and I was very well slept! I think it helps to be super lazy and to go with a couple of close friends who enable your laziness. If it helps, there are also so few PoC at the con that it is super easy to pick out non-white people you have heard of on the Internet or otherwise*, and I am almost certain you'd be able to inveigle yourself an introduction to NKJ. XD

*At one point we were trying to look out for Ted Chiang, and I said to my friend who was looking for him: "He's the one with the greying hair."
Friend: "Where? Where?"
Me: "The Chinese one!"
Friend, later: "At first when you said 'the Chinese one' I was like, 'Yeah, sure, that's really helpful' -- and then I looked around and realised it was actually helpful!"

[meganbmoore]

Did I tell you that dude who wouldn't stop talking MODERATED my other panel? It was way worse.

[badgerbag]

I am afraid I may know who this is merely by the description "that dude who wouldn't stop talking".....

[oyceter]

You did! I am so sorry =(.

[bibliofile]

Yeah, so many panels barely start conversations; fortunately, people seem okay to continue conversations from year to year. Expanding on topics as more people become familiar with them.

IIRC total attendance was about 930 people, so if you want to work out percentages you might be able to. But then I still remember when I knew who all the PoC were and could count them on one hand. The increasing diversity of the con makes me happy, especially as the trend seems only to continue.

[likeadeuce]

Yeah, so many panels barely start conversations; fortunately, people seem okay to continue conversations from year to year. Expanding on topics as more people become familiar with them.

Yes, this. I know my friend and I came out of the Xenogenesis panel psyched to read ALL the Octavia Butler.

[oyceter]

Ooo, thanks for the info! I was so happy to see various POC I didn't know at all and that there are so many that coordinating the POC dinner requires more effort. I keep trying to both be happy about all the change that's taken place—2006 Wiscon had maybe 15 POC?—while also not getting complacent.

[inkstone]

Soooo, finances providing, I think the chances of me going to Wiscon are really high next year! My bookclub (we usually go to Balticon over Memorial Day weekend) even gave their blessing although they promised to send me text messages at all hours of the day and night, LOL.

[troisroyaumes]

Oh my gosh, please do, it would be so amazing, and I would get to meet you in person!

[oyceter]

YESSSSSSS!!!!! This makes me so happy!!!!

[laurashapiro]

So glad you had fun! Reading everyone's con reports is really making me want to go next year.

[coffeeandink]

I really think you would like it. It is a very Laura con.

[were_duck]

I am really hopeful our POC numbers continue to grow, here's hoping next year's Guests of Honor help with that. You're right, POC attendance is still embarrassingly low in terms of percentage--I think it's still in the single-digits. I'm glad to hear the at-con experience was an improvement for you over previous years!

I'm sad to hear the Xenogenesis panel wasn't as in-depth as you had hoped--I'd still love to read a write-up about it! I really enjoyed what I caught of the Cultural Appropriation panel.

[oyceter]

I am really hoping next year will have a big increase in the number of POC! It's true the percentage is still pretty low, but it's been really encouraging to see both more panels on race with all or majority POC as well as POC on lots of other panels as well. Onward and upward! I'm especially hoping disability and trans* numbers in terms of attendees and panels grow in number as well.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Cultural Appropriation panel... that was the one I was most nervous about.

[troisroyaumes]

I miss you already! /sobs

AMVs...well, there's the Princess Tutu one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHZqxecCukg

I was also thinking of this Evangelion one, mostly because it focuses on Asuka, though I personally don't like it that much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZKq1HqZuvw

I love this GW AMV simply because it came with my set of VHS fansubs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrhJHZiiTw

I know so little about AMVs though! I will have to go wade into animemusicvideos.org and see if I can come up with proper recs.

[oyceter]

clings to Tari We will have to hang out tons next time you are here with S.!

Oooo, thanks for the links. I am going to have to find various award lists and whatnot and going through them.

[shati]

Wiscon-y AMV recs or just stuff to watch? (I have both! But they're not identical lists.)

[shati]

On second thought I think that was a silly question, so this is a quick list of amvs from skimming my vids folder that might be Wiscon-y:

Synthetic Heroine, Ileia (multi/cyborg)
Festival of Lights, songbird21 (multi/magical girls)
Gemini Rose, Radical_Yue (Utena)
The Silver Contractor, manabyu (Darker Than Black)
Mahou Shoujo Requieum, Shin-AMV (Madoka)

I feel like I should have more Utena recs ... I'd rec my own but I'd need to remaster and I'm lazy. /o\

And I like a lot of Chiikaboom's stuff besides Imagica, but that's definitely my favorite of hers and it would be great for a Wiscon show.

[tevere]

I remember you mentioning that you were considering talking about diaspora hyphenates drawing from sourcelander myths (to retell to Western audiences?)-- did that end up being part of the 'cultural appropriation from the outside' panel? It's, er, relevant to my interests, so if so I'd be very interested in hearing more.

[oyceter]

We didn't actually touch on that much at all, unfortunately. I suspect a lot of similar issues apply, from whose voice is heard from more often to who has more power and what part of a culture you're hearing the stories from. With complications regarding reclaiming lost identities, especially for hyphenates in Western countries who were pressured to assimilate and might have gotten a lot of images from Western media, to intersections of class and authenticity policing and etc.

[jinian]

Self-interest talking in the panel request poll. :) Totally want to read all of them, still frustrated with that one and want someone else to say there were problems.

[redacted]

[oyceter]

Was it mostly the being talked over, or were there other things as well?

[such_heights]

It was very nice to briefly say hi to you! And now I'm going to camp out in the comments and swipe up everyone's AMV recs. \o/

[oyceter]

I am so glad we got to say hi!

[mme_hardy]

Hiiiii! I missed you!

The last WisCon I attended, I mostly talked to friends and rarely went to panels. WisCon is a really great attractor for pulling the people I want to talk to into one space.

I hope you had good food!

[oyceter]

Yes, I love being able to see so many people I like at the same time, and to have panels to feed the conversation for those of us who are awkward and never know what to talk about ;).

I sadly didn't go out to as many places for meals due to money concerns, but had a ton of loot from the farmers' market!

[qian]

♥ ♥ It was so good to see you again! Also, yay, AMV recs! *noses around your comments*

[oyceter]

My new Big Project for this year is to catch up on a decade or so of AMVs!

And it was so awesome to hang out!! Haha, especially the surprise extension the next day ;).