Wiscon - Day 2

[oyceter]

I started out by going to yhlee's paper on free will, Fred and Angel, and stayed through other people's presentations (one on Nausicaa as the saintly heroine and one on Jessica Jones in Alias the comic as feminist symbol by her stepping out of the margins and other topics that made me want to read the comic). I was particularly interested by the talk on Nausicaa as the saint, because the presenter said he was using his reading in a larger paper comparing Nausicaa to Watchmen and another western comic I can't remember.

It was neat, because the talk about apocalypse and the destruction of the human race in favor for the ecology made me think of X and how X works as a response to Nausicaa, which I didn't know about since I've never read the manga. Since I bought it a few years ago, I should probably dig it out and read it now.

After this, I finally got to meet up with rushthatspeaks, my other roommate. Awake, that is. So rushthatspeaks, Yoon, and I headed out to a Nepalese restaurant for lunch, in which we were very lucky and probably snagged the last empty table there. As such, we got to have asparagus, a ground bison stew with tomatoes, peas and other spices, along with the momocha, small dumpling-like things that remind me a lot of Shanghai pork dumplings with soup in them. Except these had a sort of lentil and bean mixture, which was delightfully chewy and nutty, along with a very delicious tomato sauce that was more salsa than sauce. Also, I got mango lassi! I love mango lassi.

We topped off lunch with Ben & Jerry's ice cream, which now has baklava flavor, which tastes precisely like baklava, down to the slight floury flavor of the filo dough. I am bemused by this, particularly because it's still ice cream. I resisted, being too full from lunch.

Food in SF/F panel

And then, panels! Justine Larbalestier moderated this one, with Nora Jemison, Mary Kay Kare, Janet Lafler and Melissa Scott as the panelists. I missed the first few minutes due to ice cream (I feel ice cream is always an acceptable excuse), so I wasn't quite sure what the panel was going to be on. It started out talking about the frequent portrayal of eating as a biological necessity that wasn't particularly valuable in and of itself in SF, ergo the frequent mentions of food pills or food generators or etc.

Then the conversation went more to the delight of food (I fully sympathize), fads of Slow Food and fast food, science and technology in food preparation, the example being the new cutting-edge restaurants in Spain that deep freeze and make emulsions and powders and etc. There was, of course, discussion of how the ethos of slow food is a class-related thing, along with sustainable agriculture and organic foodstuffs, and how eating healthy can be seen in the US as a privilege of the well-off, due to government subsidies of certain, not so healthy foods.

Also, Justine Larbalestier said her favorite fruit was the mangosteen, and I think I did a small "Yay" because... mangosteen! Best fruit ever!

Oh, and I wanted people to talk more about food and culture. While there was discussion of the importance of food and culture (ex. being Chinese New Year food differing from region to region in China), along with the necessity of talking about food in world building, someone said something about people's common reaction to alien foods, which is largely, "Yuck, what is this?!"

I thought that was interesting, since I tried feeding more traditional Chinese snacks to my roommates and friends in college, and frequently got that sort of reaction. Reaction to food as a means to portray xenophobia and horrific differences? I asked, and the panel sort of talked about this, along with the divorce between food consumption and preparation, and ergo, the disgust over eating offal and brains and internal organs and the like.

Oh! And I think this is when I got to meet jinian!

Then there was a panel on the literary history of women in SF/F with Justine Larbalestier moderating again.

I had almost been brave enough to go talk to her after the food panel, but she seemed like she was in a rush, so I didn't. Then I managed to bump into her in the bathroom, and I nearly introduced myself, except I didn't and then she left. Meeting authors is extremely nerve-wracking right now.

Anyway, I'm not going to blog about the literary history one, because I have absolutely no background knowledge, so I found it rather educational. Except for the part where I forgot everything that was in the panel, because I didn't take notes. I did, however, get book recs for Pearl Cleage (speculative feminist fiction disguised as chicklit), Larbalestier's new anthology of historical stories in SF/F by women, Molly Gross (apparently historical novel on a homesteader), Penelope Williamson (western romance!), Lisa Yazek (no idea), and Siberia (hard SF YA).

I proceeded to not introduce myself to Justine Larbalestier for the fifteenth time and went to see a panel on feminist romance, which I feel requires another post all together.

Good lord, this con report is going to be huge!

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I find it hilarious that a) there was a panel on food and sf, and you were there, b) you missed the first few minutes due to ice cream.

(In London my editor remarked with some awe, "You are certainly very fond of food.")

Good point about the ooh, ick alien foods, although people in real life often get over the initial ooh ick reaction and become fans of the alien food-- and often end up losing the initial ooh, ick response to new foods altogether. There's the flip side of that, which is the addictively delicious alien food, as seen in A Tale of Time City, Perelandra, and many books involving European-type fairylands.

I think you and Justine would like each other. Too bad I wasn't there, or I would have introduced you. But you'd have a lot to discuss about fruit and bicultural experiences, and of course sf.

[oyceter]

Of course I was at the panel on food! ;)

The funny thing was, I think that's where I met up with jinian, who said something like, "Yeah, I sort of thought you'd be at this one."

I think I spent the majority of WisCon attempting to eat or to feed people.

I did get to actually talk to Justine later! It was a little nerve-wracking on my end, though she was very, very nice (my knees were knocking, heh).

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Justine is actually an incredibly nice and sunny person, whom I met at Noreascon 4, and is totally approachable (possibly not in the bathroom).

Also, she does the blog thing, which I have on my friendslist but can't reproduce the code that makes teh three yellow wiggly lines for what happens when blogs get LJ-feeds. But, my userinfo page should help you find it.

[oyceter]

She is indeed very nice and cheerful! I got to meet her a little later and babbled a bit about Saiyuki and Nana.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Molly Gloss has written a lot of things, including YA fantasy (Outside the Gates), historical fiction (Wild Life and The Jump-Off Creek), and hard sf (The Dazzle of Day). I think you'd like her lots.

Cyberia is by Ann Halam (aka Gwyneth Jones).

I was really excited to get the recs for Pearl Cleage and Penelope Williamson.

[oyceter]

Oh, I had no idea Gwyneth Jones had a pseud (or vice versa)! Thanks for the spelling, never would have found it otherwise.

I am very excited to read the Cleage!

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Me too! Andrea Hairston's description of that book (did anyone get the title?) made me drool. Especially as the cover was so awful. I wouldn't in a million years have picked that book up. Now I'm dying to read it.

I, too, wish there had been more on cultural difference around food. Tragically, as I was monitort that's kind of my fault. I pleasd jetlag and a cold.

I am so pleased you introduced yourself cause it was lovely meeting you.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Baby Brother's Blues. It's only out in hardcover, so I got an earlier one, Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do, which has some minor fantastical elements, at least in the first few chapters.

[oyceter]

It was lovely meeting you as well!

I think I may associate food with culture more than most, largely because of ambivalent reactions to Chinese food early on in life (I know, what was I thinking...?). But I wonder if there are any first-contact type books that center around food. I am, of course, completely making things up, but it seems like there are more culture+food books around in "mainstream" lit.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Er, the spelling was wrong, actually. It's Siberia as usual. And you must read it, it's wonderful. Unlike books under the Gwyneth Jones name, I didn't want to die after reading it!

[oyceter]

Hee! I'm guessing you're talking about Life? I saw it in the dealers' room for $4, but ended up not getting it, which is probably good, considering that it would have been spattered with vinaigrette by now.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I considered reading Life. I even checked it out from the library. But I just wasn't up for the doom that I anticipated based on having read White Queen. (None of her other titles look familiar, though I could've sworn I'd tried more than one.)

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Ice cream is always an acceptable excuse!

(Is it also worth noting that the only picture I have of you from my SF trip is from outside the gelato crepe place?)

[oyceter]

*snork*

Somehow, I'm not surprised ;).

I spent most of my time at WisCon eating, thinking about eating (I was frequently hungry at the panels for some reason), or attempting to feed people scones, preserves, granola and goat cheese.

[kaiweilau.livejournal.com]

A panel on food? Oh man, I wish I could have gone to Wiscon. (And I hear you on mangosteens; they're the best!) I love different food; I am totally a stomach traveler; when I travel, I'm always noshing in the street markets.

Alas, poor grad students like me don't have to money to fly all the way there...

[oyceter]

Street markets are the best thing ever!

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I was late for the panel on food myself and I was on it. (Hi! various references in various places have sent me here.) But it was deemed acceptable because I had been at lunch.

I would have liked to talk more about food and culture too -- I think I was the one who brought up food and folklore. But there's only so much time.

I would also have liked to meet a lot more lj people than I did -- obviously I should have stayed longer at the lj party but I got distracted and forgot to go back.

MKK

[oyceter]

Hello! (let me guess... cultural appropriation! ^_~)

And even though I didn't really get to meet you at WisCon, it's nice to be "meeting" you here!