Moments in Racism: Wiscon 33

I went to Wiscon this year hoping to not make an ass of myself regarding racial stereotypes, racial remarks, racism, or my own privilege. But I realized something, sitting here at home, thinking over the weekend. I have never gone to a panel at Wiscon discussing race. Or, worse still, I may have and I don’t remember it. I have the privilege as a white person to “know” that those panels aren’t talking to me, aren’t a part of my life, that they are for Other People’s Needs.

Someone at Wiscon this year asked me if the convention is graying, getting older, if no new (younger) folks are attending. I assured her that Wiscon was not graying, that there are plenty of younger people at the con. I walked away pondering the fact that the panels I go to have lots of younger people, I pondered the fact that one can apparently attend the con and only see select subsets of people and miss others.

Except you can’t. Everywhere you go at the con — except the People of Color Safe Space — there are white people. Every programming track is a white people track, every panel is a white people panel, every party is a white people party. And I hadn’t noticed that until this year.

[Note: Moments in Racism are part of an ongoing effort on my part to raise my personal awareness of my own racism, to unpack the backpack of white privilege. Comments welcome.]

Administrative notes regarding Wiscon 33

1. To anyone I met at Wiscon 33: Hi, and welcome, and please leave a comment with your blog or journal in it, so I can find you later!

2. I don’t really use LiveJournal much anymore, and I’m not on Dreamwidth. I’m on Twitter, which crossposts automatically to my Facebook, but I don’t log in to Facebook much either. Here and Twitter are the best ways to talk to me –

http://twitter.com/sigridellis

3. There are a ton of people I met this weekend, many of whom I have already forgotten the names of. If you prompt me as to what we talked about, I will likely recall you.

4. I’ll likely blog about the panels and such after a few days, when I get a more coherent grasp on what I want to say.

5. I had a great time talking to y’all, I hope to continue the conversations we began at con over the internet this year, and I’ll see many of you next year at Wiscon 34.

Sunday afternoon Wiscon 2009

There was a gap there, in the blogging, I note. Let me simply say that the Fanfic and Slash panel was good, I went to bed early but not early enough, and the morning’s Doctor Who panel was great. Now I’m in the Fathers and Daughters panel and we’re talking about dvd region coding.

Oh, hey — I did buy a copy of the Wiscon SF Carnival book, in which I have an essay. I re-read the essay, and I was not embarrassed by what I wrote! Go me.

Catch y’all later.

Saturday morning Wiscon 2009

I actually like traveling with my kids. They are veterans at this point, experienced in negotiating hotels, at dealing with key cards, and at the most important thing of all — remaining quiet in the early morning while we get up and get ready.

When the kids were infants, getting up in the morning in a hotel was more work for me. No high chairs, no swings or bouncy chairs. Small children loose on the floor with raisins was just a bad scene. But with the kids being five and six years old, getting up in the hotel room is easier than at home. I don’t have dishes to do, dogs to let out, or bills to examine. There are no bath toys for the kids to delay over, or arguments to have about clothes. We get up and get ready and I blog while the kids play and Tern gets dressed. In a few minutes we’ll head downstairs to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, which I will neither cook nor clean up after. I like this plan.

Last night, the Friday of con, was a good time. After the 9:00 panel, “Turns Out This is Your Dad’s SF/F,” Caroline and I swung by the LJ party and the Think Galactic party for some good conversations and tasty mimosas.

The panel itself was . . . thought provoking. I may have ranted. More on that later.

Friday evening at Wiscon 33

I really ought to be at opening ceremonies right now. But my kids needed to be put to bed, and I needed the down time.

The trip down was uneventful. Highlights included:

There’s a new adult merchandise store advertising along the approach too Madison — “Naughty Novelties and Bakery.” And Bakery? Bakery? Really? Like, cakes in the shape of penises? Or cakes women jump out of? Or just a regular bakery serving cookies, next to the adult novelties shop? I have no idea. (For those who don’t know, the highway north of Madison has a number of adult-business billboards. Exotic dancers, sex toys, and the like.)

Washington Avenue, aka Hwy 151, has been under construction the last four times we’ve driven in to Wiscon. 2009 did not disappoint! There, lo, was construction on 151.

I met up with Caroline, which is absolutely as good as expected. Meeting, for the first time, a person with whom one has developed a friendship over the internet is a slightly odd thing. But conversation with Carrie face to face merely means we interrupt each other in person instead of cutting the other off in IM, so that’s perfectly fine and reasonable.

I made it to a four o’clock panel on the working class in science fiction, which was extremely constructive and useful for writers. This panel on class avoided the pitfalls of previous Wiscon panels on class that I’ve seen. It defined the working class in three minutes and then moved on to the practical questions of how we portray the working class in science fiction. Nice work, panelists.

I’m off to the LJ party and a nine o’clock panel titled “Turns Out This *Is* Your Dad’s SF/F.” Should be fun –

En Route

I’m blogging this from the passenger seat of the Rondo, as Tern drives us out of Saint Paul towards Madison. With Cavorter’s housesitting and Mmpantsless’s last-minute dog care, we’re off to Wiscon 33. I couldn’t sleep last night, dangit. Too busy comparing Dollhouse to Andrea Dworkin, too busy wondering if we’d left anything vital off of the packing list, too busy wondering why people think Paul Gross is attractive.

You know. Pre-con thoughts.

See many of you there!

Wiscon 33 Schedule

Posted largely for my convenience.

Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse
Sat 10:00 – 11:15AM
629
Moderator/Participants redacted

Dollhouse has finished its first season on TV. The premise of the show involves a group of people “who can be imprinted with personality packages for different assignments.” This premise could easily end up being highly problematic. How well did the show do in its representations of power in terms of gender and race?

We Want Your Children: Writing to Recruit
Sat 2:30 – 3:45PM
Caucus
Moderator/Participants redacted

Children’s literature can be a powerful force for feminist ideas—and under some circumstances, can fly right under the radar and into the hands of the children of the Other Side. How do you write subversively for children without turning the books into (boring) propaganda? What books are successfully bringing feminist (or other progressive) ideas to an unsuspecting audience even as we speak? And what do we do (as parents, teachers, or librarians) about the books out there that are attempting to corrupt our children with their ideas?

Media vs. Book Fandom
Sun 4:00 – 5:15PM
Senate B
Moderator/Participants redacted

Do you know what Paul Gross arms are? Has anything ever harshed your squee? How do SF/F print and media fandoms get along? Is there a generational difference? Gender differences? Race differences? Vocabulary differences? Do people tend to participate in both, or only one or the other? What does each fandom think of the other? Where do comics fans fit in? And what about those crazy bandom people?