The WisCon Report. Mostly.

[damselfish]

I've been laid low by the infamous con crud (I didn't even know this was a thing), which means now is a good time to make a post. I'm back from WisCon! This post is long so I'm going to hit the highlights. As for the con, I'm struck by two things:

1) The Seven Sister-ness of the place. I think I heard people were from Mt. Holyoke or Smith more than any other school-- or they had stories about them. It felt like being back at Bryn Mawr in some ways, from people's dress to the overwhelming number of women and the general tone of the crowd. It was both striking and nostalgia-inducing: it was Bryn Mawr+, where people wanted to be there and no one was obsessing over "but where are the guys!? There's too much estrogen in here!"

2) The closeness of the community.

I've never been to a con before, and most of what I hear about cons tends to be more anime/consumer oriented, whereas WisCon is primarily a writer's con for writers who care about feminism and sci-fi. So, you know, that's a pretty small subset already, of a very specific sort of person. This is how small it is: when I got on my flight, I sat next to JoSelle Vanderhooft, the editor for Steam-Powered. Of all the passengers, I sat next to someone going to WisCon. Of all attendees, heck of all editors, I sat next to the one who published my first story.

It's not that it's small that makes it feel cozy, so much as it's a tight group. You get to know the others quickly, at least at a glance, and the circles overlap with an unusual density. The pros mingled with us plebes because, well, they are us plebes. Most people I spoke to had a story or novel out or were in the process of doing so, which allowed me to do things like walk up to Malinda Lo and ask her if she would hang out for a bit while I ran down the street to buy Huntress so she could sign it (and she did! And I apparently fangirled all over her like a nitwit.) I felt okay being me-- I don't exactly hide being a geek, but I self-censor all the time on social justice issues, but at WisCon I could be all "grooooaaaan!" and people knew what I meant without further explanation.

e.g.: I saw a guy wearing a Twilight Sparkle cutie mark pin and he told me where to get one. "I need a Rarity pin!" "Huh, not many people I know like Rarity.... They like Rainbow Dash or Pinkie more." "Do you hang out in places with lots of guys? I've noticed that guys like RD best, but in women-dominated spaces, Rarity usually tops popularity polls." He looked surprised, and thoughtful. "Yeah, it's mostly guys. I never thought of that." I only knew because I'm one of the many who've been chased out of male-dominated spaces and entered female-dominated, and the difference between them is... nothing short of striking. And I could go on for hours about the Rarity v. Rainbow Dash divide as a female v. male fan thing (because gawd lemme tell you how sexist that gets) but that's not the point of this post. Back to the con!

In short, WisCon was super fun and felt tailored to my interests. Any time I wanted to go to a panel, I was usually torn between one or two. Most felt rather 101 or were long lists of books/movies/TV shows so not really all that edifying to me, but others were great (mind, I was unmedicated the whole time so my ability to sit still for an hour was severely limited). I stuck to the ones where I was interested but knew nothing/little about, like historical research, SFF in the Middle East. Not that 101 is bad, and it's at a much higher level than the average con (so maybe sophomore level?) but many of the issues I've seen hashed out online, and like I said, I have little patience for sitting quietly. Shit's gotta be riveting to keep me there for an hour and a half.

I think what was most striking to me was how much fun I had outside the con. It's right on the capitol, and Madison is overflowing with cute little indie shops and some truly incredible food. It's also queermo central, so it's a very specific kind of indie that felt a bit like Bryn Mawr with better shopping. My best memories are of hanging out at bars or restaurants with new people, most of them exceedingly cool, many of them with books. It feels so normal where outside the con it's like "wow, you wrote a book? Wow!" I went to the capitol square daily, where people were still protesting in small pockets, the town is plastered in "Recall Walker" signs, and there are even signs in the capitol windows. I almost like Madison best: not that the con was disappointing or lackluster, but the ability to leave the hotel and explore really ups the enjoyment and leaves you feeling less trapped, which is a problem I've heard other people have at cons. I almost never logged online. That's how good it was. The shopping! The cute town!

The cute, politically active town.

One of the best parts of the con itself was the writer's workshop. I sent in Swans, and while it wasn't crushing and I got a ton of great advice I have never considered before, I also got "they don't feel like real people yet" which is the one bit of criticism that left me stunned. That's never been a problem for me. Characters are usually my strongest point! So now I get to rewrite even more, right after I finished editing up to the middle of the book. I'm wavering between "it's not so bad" and "GOD HAVE MERCY WHYYYYY."

I also dressed up more than I usually do-- granted, it was jeans and a nice top versus my usual jeans and a t-shirt, but I forgot that I have some super-cute clothes, and folks at WisCon are not stingy with compliments, so I feel like a boss right now. I also put in the effort to fully do my make-up. My new liquid eyeliner has so much staying power that I didn't manage to wash it all off and it looked awesome all con even though I only applied it Friday morning. But then! There was the award's ceremony and the genderfloomph party, so I put on my favorite dress-- my Blade Runner dress. I can't put my finger on why I have the association, but something about the silhouette I think, the high, ruffled collar and the plunging neckline, along with the cap sleeves and the gunmetal blue color. I was unsure about it since I'd put on a few pounds since buying it, and took a picture before the con to ask teleidoplex her opinion.

"vavoom! That's such a great dress. You look like Sean Young in Blade Runner. And now you're going to tell me you hate Sean Young in Blade Runner"

She apparently, didn't know that I love that movie, let alone that I also thought the dress looked Blade Runner-y.

Conclusion: The dress really reminds people of Blade Runner.


Sorry the picture quality is low, my camera's phone is good but it's not great.

So, on to the swag!



Not pictured: my awesome octopus ring that I bought for $1. I never get cheap rings because they rarely come small enough a 5.5 is not small! Right? :( so I had to pounce. It's one of the more comfortable rings I've ever worn.

That necklace is actually a pocket watch! The chain it comes with is way too long, I guess so it can be used as a pocket watch, but the long necklace trend does not look good on me.

The book titles, if you can't see them: Hellebore & Rue, Silver Moon, Lost Voices, Huntress, and Red Wood and Wildfire. I didn't manage to get Red Wood and Wildfire signed, alas, but I did get it for free. Turns out that getting books signed is a great way to convince me to spring for them; I rarely buy books, especially not trades because $15? Back in my day, books were $5! Then $6... now $8. I digress. It's why I don't understand the kvetching that $9 is too much for an ebook, it's more than the physical book! I don't know if I've moved to different books or what, but most books I come across are $15 trades now. I'll buy a mass market because it's cheaper than the ebook, but really? $15 is less than $9, now? Okay, internet.

I also have a stone pegasus. It was a graduation gift from teleidoplex because I saw it and remembered that one of my Latin textbooks as a kid (like, 6th grade?) had a blurb about how the pegasus is a symbol of inspiration. I used to have a little stone pegasus figure that got lost in the move, and so when I saw that the greedy part of my brain said: "that! You need it! Add it to your little stone figure animal collection now!"



This pony has my earrings, which I didn't expect and makes me laugh every time I look. People were noticing my wing earrings all con. I've had them for years but I never got comments on them, even though they're among my favorites (I wore them at the writer's workshop and our pro spoke about the metaphor of flight "even your earrings!" "Oh... I didn't even mean that, I just liked them.") It's nice to finally get recognition for the fact that, yes, I have a fuckload of good taste. APPRECIATE ME, SOCIETY AT LARGE.

Anyway, so the artist (Alex Herberling) asked if I wanted a pegasus or unicorn. I said I wanted a unicorn like all the other nerds, kind of like how everyone I know sorts themselves into Ravenclaw, and the artist told me that everyone wanted a pegasus. Which, actually left me a bit speechless because... really? teleidoplex got a pegasus and said "of course, you can fly!" Flight? Cool, I guess, but: "...Unicorns have magic! They can fly with magic if you really must fly, but they have magic!"

Nerds, man. No accounting for 'em.

But I can see why people love their pony OCs so much. I got this on a whim (read, other people insisted while I got awkward and "oh gosh nooooo I couldn't do anything so frivolous yet fun!") and afterward I felt quite partial to it, to the point where I almost want one colored. I am being swept down this slippery slope.

Actually, the things I am most pleased with are what I bought while out and about in Madison. I went to the farmer's market on Saturday morning. It winds around the capitol building, bigger than any farmer's market I've ever been to. The two earrings are from a woman who sells antique-y things (the parts to make the earrings come from the 20s and 30s, she said. I don't know how much I believe that because they weren't pricy but I also don't really know the value of some old things, so I guess I can't say but I bought them for the pretty more than the history). I also bought gladiolus bulbs because they're the August flower, and I do love the silly astrology-linked stuff like peridots, orange, fire, so why not gladious. I have never seen them before, or so I thought. When I called mom to ask how to grow them she said she had some in her garden. Whups! Never noticed. To be fair, she never points them out to me like she does the daylilies, clematis, and dahlia.

The perfumes are from The Soap Opera, which may be the cutest soap store I have ever seen, and I love soap stores. They're great perfumes and smell exactly as described. It's hard to find a satisfying rose perfume in particular, and while this one doesn't smell like the rose garden I grew up with, it smells a bit like rose tastes, which is good enough for me. They're by Pacifica if anyone is interested. They had a lot of cool scents that remain fairly true after putting them on. At least, the lilac I tried did, as does the rose. I also got Waikiki Pikake, and while I like it, hell if I know what it's supposed to smell like (it's a very green, fresh smell, not at all what I associate with jasmine). I picked it up because of the peacocks (/shallow!) and now I have to wonder who thinks peacocks = Hawaii.

So that was my WisCon experience. Good thing I mostly wrote this post before I got sick, because now my WisCon experience is a sore throat and raging bitterness at the cruel world. I only get sick when I have to meet attorneys and make a good impression.