Day in the Life of an Idiot

I left Diversicon 19 with a huge list of things I need to read -- many of them are comicbooks, of course, but also on the list is a re-read of Milton and several young adult novels with new-to-me authors. (Also, the list of movies grows longer as well.)

Otherwise, I think the most awesome part of being a special guest was access to a minion. Shawn was truly horrified when, on Sunday, after our upstairs bathroom sink's plumbing decided to 'splode right before I was meant to leave for the con, I actually called my minion on the phone to request a special latte delivered to my first panel. Shawn is a traditional Minnesotan from the Iron Range, and the idea of actually _imposing_ on someone, even someone who says they're happy to do such things, is EVIl and WRONG and there is a SPECIAL place in HELL for those who would _impose!!!_

But I'm not from here. I'm from the East Coast (of the Mississippi, in Wisconsin,) where people are brassy and loud and demanding. I have no shame and I take people at their word. If they say they're my gopher and are happy to fetch things for me, I assume they mean it.

Which, of course, has caused no end of trouble for me here in the Norwegian stronghold of Minnehiem (see Steve Fox's post on Facebook about the Thor panel and how cool it would be to rename Minnesota "Minnehiem" in honor of the fact that the original Dr. Donald Blake/Thor is supposed to be a Minnesotan.)

The other cool thing about Diversicon and honorable guesting was the fact that I got to be on all the panels about the things I never usually get to talk about, which is to say comic books. Usually, I don't have enough expertise (being a mere fan) to rate a comic book/comic book movie panel, but I got to pull strings, as it were, and get myself a prime seat on both the Captain America panel and Thor. In other fun sidenotes, I am slowly corrupting Eleanor Arnason into a comic geek (at least as far as the movies are concerned. She asked me on the way home from Captain America, "Do you think comic books are modern mythology?" I said, "Of course!" Because, they are in so many ways. Like ancient myths they're popular, they're epic, ever changing through generations of storytelling, and they reflect the modern human's take on the questions about Truth and Honor and Heroism with the capital letters.)

I had a lot of fun. And I got to bond with David G. Hartwell over ties, as I was wearing several of my grandfather's ties at various times at the convention (on Saturday I had three "costume changes," though, alas, never into Tate's get-up.) He suggested that my grandfather was likely wearing the ties I favor sometime in the 50s and/or early 60s. I guess the slim, square-cut pink one I wore on Sunday really narrowed (pardon the pun) down the date, as those were only popular for a very short period.

That was fascinating to me, because the family story that came with the tie collection was that these were the ties that Grandpa wore to take my grandmother dancing. My grandpa was working class (having worked his whole life in a blue collar job at Trane Company), and many of these ties are very fancy indeed. Some are silk. It's interesting timing if this is accurate, because my father, the middle child, would have been a teenager in the mid-50s, and I always had had the sense that these dancing dates were earlier... perhaps they were simply a long standing tradition (which, frankly is quite romantic.)

I also got to reconnect with some people I don't see very often, and, in fact, am going to slip off later today to meet up with one, jiawen, at noon today. Hooray!

It's been pointed out to me that sometimes the way I say things on this blog (and probably in Real Life TM,) come off differently than I intended. For instance when I say that Diversicon is a tiny con, that was NOT meant as a dis in anyway. Small is awesome for many reasons, not the least of which is that a person can have real, meaningful and in-depth conversations in a way that isn't always possible at the bigger cons where there's just so much to do and see.

Some of my fondest con experiences have happened at Diversicon, specifically, and smaller cons in general, and what I was trying to express was great enthusiasm. In all honesty, I absolutely do think MORE people should come to Diversicon because, when they don't, they're missing out.

I really hope you (you know who you are!) will consider coming this year and giving it a try. Eric Heideman is an EXCELLENT program director and I know he also has a very talented staff working with him this year, as every year. You may know some of his programming tracks from CONvergence and/or anywhere Kruschenko's is found. Diversicon, in fact, is kind of like a larger version of Kruschenko's, so if you've enjoyed that, you'll LOVE Diversicon.

I also heard that it's not too late to sign up to attend, and, possibly with some begging, get on a programming panel or two (although don't hold me to that last one, as Diversicon IS next weekend.)

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that no one read my last post in the wrong light. I adore Diveriscon and I'm extremely honored and grateful to have been given an oppotunity to be a guest there, especially when you look at the luminaries attending with me this year, and the caliber of people who have guested in the past. My only fault is that I think it's a shame that more people don't go. So, dang it, come this year! You'll be impressed.