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July 2, 1997 11:52AM EST Another working day. So much will be happening this weekend though. I'm both biting my nails in anticipation and freaking out because of all the things I have to do before tomorrow. Since when is summer supposed to be this busy? The 4th promises to be fun, Winnie will be there and my friend Charles, from high-school will be coming to town as well. Party party:) Okay, I should probably say a little bit about the convention. Mostly I spent the entire con roaming about the Babylon 5 events. I found out about the 5th season being picked up by TNT, and saw spoilers for the rest of season 4 and gag reels and laughed my buns off as the co-producer of the show who was running a lot of these events was an extremely funny guy. I also went to a panel on Celtic magic, this wasn't so good, in fact it was kind of boring. Mostly because there were some Wiccans in the audience who kept interrupting with meaningless asides. Another panel on gender equity and gender identity turned into a discussion of how gay/lesbian and hetero literature are treated differently. That was actually interesting to listen to, except that I was so tired from sleep deprivation. We also listened to a reading by Thomas Martin which was nice. I like listening to stories. We pretty much avoided the 'main' events, it was such a big con with so many people ... The dealer's room was HUGE and it was too easy to get lost in there. They had a very nice art show though, which gave me some ideas for craftsy things to do. Saturday night, we roleplayed with some friends and a bunch of people who signed up for the game. It ended too quickly, but it was pretty fun anyway. Sunday I spent in the Babylon 5 room sucking up all the news and previews of the movies and how the show was made etc. etc. The upshot of all this, is that I feel even more fond of the show because it was obvious how much the people who make it, love it. They're really giving it their all. The con also made me ponder the vagaries of fandom. Mercedes Lackey was there with a train of body guards. She's had a pretty rough time with threats and other nastiness recently. It seems ridiculous to me that people would take fiction SO seriously as to make it an issue worthy of attacking the writer responsible for the fiction. I believe in polite, respectful and distanced fandom. It's one thing to admire a writer, or go to a con and thank them for their work and ask for an autograph. I don't know why people have to transmogrify it all into a big issue, or make it all real to themselves and turn to stalking when they don't get what they want from a writer. It's extremely scary. It kind of makes you wonder about the state of the world today. Every time I find something good and hopeful out there, something else nasty rears its ugly head and shows again just how much is falling apart at the seams. I'm scared for my potential children. I don't know how I'm going to teach them how to navigate the currents of life, give them the defenses to fight against the monsters out there and the power to distinguish between good, bad and the things in between. I consistently marvel at the fact that my parents were able to do it with me. They and the books I read gave me a very firm moral base. Yet it's something that actually comes from the individual. You can show a person what's good but something inside will actually do the recognizing, processing and eventually adopt precepts. People believe what they want to believe, in the long run .... Anyway, I'd better go do some work and get my head out of the clouds for now. |