Readercon wrap up

[feuervogel]

My trip to Readercon began inauspiciously. I got to the airport in plenty of time and sat at my gate. A plane came in. We were supposed to leave at 9:45. Around 9:30, the gate attendants told us there would be a delay because our flight crew hadn't arrived yet. Around 10:30, she told us that the crew that was supposed to be on our flight hadn't made it in at all Wednesday night because of weather, so we would have to wait for another crew. There would be one getting in from Detroit at 11:30, which meant we could leave at 12:30. Ish. So we all got $25 credit card vouchers, good for 24 hours. (I used mine toward the hotel room.)

I'd been planning to head out to Somerville to drop my bags off and go sightseeing around that area, because I'd never done that, but by the time I made it to Boston around 2:30, I just wanted to go to the hotel. So I took the T out to Alewife and waited for my roommate to come pick me up. She got lost, and we got lost going back (not really lost, but GPS wanted us to go on the parking lot that was I95, so we went exploring. There are some really gorgeous houses around Lexington. I bet they're obscenely expensive.)

There was hardly anyone at the con hotel when I arrived (3:30-4), so I wandered around a lot. I was attempting to get a table in the restaurant when I saw ckd get into the elevator. We took the hotel shuttle over to the mall and ate there. The Indian place in the food court was pretty good, and I got more food than I could eat and a mango lassi for about $10. I'd never had saag with corn in it, but it was basically saag paneer minus paneer plus corn.

Eventually people started showing up at the hotel for the Thursday night programming. I went to Absent Children in Urban Fantasy (because shadesong was on it) and ended up dozing off a few times. (I'd gotten to bed late Wednesday night after trivia, and I slept poorly.) I was also not the target audience for the panel, because one of the panelists talked about deliberately including children in her life. I do think urban fantasy with a young protagonist could be a great story (YA), or that parents could be protagonists.

Then I went to Apocalypse Then and don't remember much about it, other than I thought Sabrina Vourvoulias was very wrong about the Hunger Games. She thought the adults (parents) were absent and ineffectual. Perhaps in book 1, but in book 2, Katniss starts to be manipulated by the people in the resistance, and in book 3, they're outright using her as a propaganda tool. And it's YA, which has always been about kids finding their own way.

There wasn't much after that, so I went back to my room and talked with my roommates Julie and Ann until we went to sleep.


After sleeping poorly, I was awake around 6:30. Julie and I went out to Trader Joe's to get some groceries (there was a fridge in our room). I got pitas and cheese, and Julie said I could share her hummus. So I had pitas with cheese and hummus for lunch.)

I went to the Latino Spec Fic Writers Collective to hear Julia Rios (skogkatt) read. Also reading were Daniel Jose Older and Sabrine Vourvoulias. I liked their stories, and Older has a wonderful speaking cadence. After that was the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading, where I read part of "Something There Is."

After that, Julie and I tried to go to Chipotle for lunch, but between construction on the road and a huge line at the store, we went back. She had to be at a volunteer thing at 2. So I had pitas.

Then it was off to Expressions of Disability in Speculative Fiction, which I took notes on. It was an interesting panel.

After that I went to knitting in spaaaaace! officially known as Handicrafts, Replicators, and the Future of Making. I didn't take notes, but the main thrust of the discussion was whether using a replicator or 3D printer would satisfy people's creative urges or fill the need to do something with one's hands. Would designing the thing and putting the design in the replicator/printer be the same as designing the thing and knitting it? Would handmade gifts take on more value or less? There were a lot of people knitting and crocheting during the panel.

I wanted to go to Race as a Social Construct in Speculative Fiction, but I ended up doing something else. I can't remember what. Possibly talking with people. That happened a lot. I made it to Agency and Gender and borrowed Julie's car to find dinner at 6 instead of going to Real Utopia. Sociolinguistics and SF/F was really interesting.

8 pm was the Outer Alliance meetup, so I got to chat with some folks for a bit. I was tired, so afterward I went back to my room to figure out what, if anything, I wanted to do. Eventually I met Don and Carrie for a beer. I opted not to go to Meet the Pros(e), because I was exhausted from too little sleep for 2 nights, and when I got back, before 10:45, both my roommates were asleep.


I got up rather late, for me, around 8. I needed the sleep. The first panel I went to was Making Up Facts That are True. I was a little late, so I missed the introductions, and I was too far back to read the name placards. I skipped both 11 am panels I wanted to go to and strolled through the bookshop.

Then I went to Unraveling the Unexamined Privilege of Safety. That was a really good panel. Afterward I spent a while chatting with shadesong, Rose Lemberg, Maria Dahvana Headley (who has really awesome pirate ship earrings), and Brit Mandelo.

I went back to my room to drop off my computer and became engrossed in conversation with Ann, which made me late for setting up in the con suite. I volunteered to help set out food for the Detroit 2014 NASFIC bid. I got to talk to people, which was fun.

Then it was time to meet people to go to the Viable Paradise dinner. There ended up being 30ish people. I sat with captainecchi and John Murphy (which was nice; I haven't seen him in forever, so we caught up some). I'm excited-nervous about October.

We got back a little too late for me to make Women's Bodies, Women's Power, but I did get to The Gender of Reading Shame. That was good, too, and there was talk of not shaming people for what they like to read, regardless of whether it's comics, romance, Twilight, or video games. when Trent Zelazny said he'd rather his students read comic books than play games, I thought half the room was going to cut him. Fran Wilde did it, very politely.

After that was some more chatting, then back to my room. I was too tired to go look for the parties I heard about. When I sat down, the room spun a bit. Mentally I was ready to go PEOPLE PEOPLE YES TALK TO PEOPLE but my body said no.


I got up for breakfast with Carrie and Don, and a bunch of other people, at the hotel restaurant. It was stupidly expensive. I got the cheap buffet for $13.95, and it didn't include any of the hot food (except oatmeal). I definitely didn't get $18 (after tax and tip) worth of food. Delicious fruit, though. Fresh melon!

I went to Subsocietal Safe Spaces, and one of the panelists, John Shirley, pretty much wanted to do all the talking. The moderator wasn't very good at reining him in to let other people answer. Eventually the other panelists (all women) just started cutting him off.

I saw part of Pining for the Fnords: the New Nostalgia while trying to arrange a ride either to Alewife or Somerville. I skipped Egalitarian Character Trauma in favor of eating lunch, then I went to Secrets and Discoveries in Urban Settings. The moderator of that panel wasn't very good, but she was knowledgeable (has a degree in urban planning). I don't remember much about it, other than "cities are magical" and there was a suggestion to use other places than London, NYC, etc.

I got a ride from John down to Alewife, along with a few other people. Those of us taking the train sat together and talked until our respective stops came. I walked from Central Square to the Inman Park area. It was hot and I got sweaty. The plan was to go see Pacific Rim, but oonh had a headache, so I was on my own.

I walked over to a bus station and waited. It was late, so I started worrying and went to the MBTA trip planner. Then I saw the bus at a traffic light, so I went back to the stop. The bus didn't fucking stop. I waved my arm with my bus card in it as the bus flew past me. WTF?

I didn't have any idea how else to get to Davis Square, so I said fuck it and walked toward where I remembered there being food (from when I arrived earlier) and bought some nice Indian food. Saag paneer and a pineapple lassi (I'd never heard of it, so I had to try. It was good.) from Punjabi Dhaba.

Then I went back to Owen's and read All the Tumblr and petted his roommate's cat. I saw an episode of a ZDF series based on some Stanislaw Lem, called Ijon Tichy Raumpilot. It was odd and silly.


I slept poorly and woke with bug bites on my leg, which were probably not bed bugs, because they've never found bedbugs on the couch. I still washed all the things in hot water when I got home.

I walked back to the T station. It was only 10, and it was already gross and horrible outside. I made it to the airport in plenty of time. There was no line at security. I'd bought a muffin at Lyndell's, but there was a Dunkin Donuts right next to my gate, so I had donuts for lunch. The seasonal lemonade donut is pretty good, actually.


My flight was uneventful. Ben picked me up, we went home, and I took another shower to get the sweat stink off. Then we went to see Pacific Rim.

PACIFIC RIM. It was really good. The plot wasn't super deep or anything, and a few of the plot points were easy to predict (though not telegraphed). But the characters were fun, and there were giant robots smashing giant monsters. I really dug the song that played during the action scenes. Idris Elba gave a Crispin's Day speech. It was awesome.

Comments

[ranyart]

Sounds fun! Several of those panels sound like ones I'd enjoy. =)