Quick Sips 05/27/2022

Hi everyone! I think we’ve hit a point where I’m just a mess, somehow animate from momentum and the will to not look down and realize that there is no ground beneath me. Meaning, of course, that I’m trying to get ready for WisCon, my first in-person anything since COVID began, plus all the work going on with my non-profit work getting ready for our biggest time of the year, and all that while trying to hit deadlines, help my overworked husband survive having worked in a hospital for the last three years while management continues to suck at approving PTO or hiring new people, and… it’s a lot.

On the plus side, I did indeed manage to turn in my sixth column for Locus, and it’s actually shorter than the month previous, which is a first for me. And as said above, I’m getting ready to attend WisCon this year. It will be my…fifth? Sixth? Anyway, definitely the convention I’ve been to the most, and I’m always excited to attend and get to bask in the creative energies. Very much looking forward to it. Which means I should probably share my schedule. So here is my full WisCon schedule, which makes for a very busy Sunday.

The Very Model of a Modern Mutant Metaphor? Capitol B • Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Sat 10:00 AM–11:15 AM

Let's dig deep into the mutant metaphor - where comics' mutant identity serves as a stand in for real world marginalizations like race, sexuality and disability. When does it work, when does it fail, and why?

You Must Be "This Bi" To Enter Capitol A • Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Sun 10:00 AM–11:15 AM

A pervasive anxiety for many bi and pan people is that we aren't bi "enough." Maybe we've mostly or only dated people of one gender. Or we're monogamously married and people tell us we've "chosen a side." Or we feel romantic attraction for all genders but sexual attraction for only one or two/or vice versa. Let's honestly confront these anxieties, together! What does your bi or pan identity look like? How have you felt the not-bi-enough pressure, and what have you done to push back against it?

Finding Queer Joy Amongst the Chaos Wisconsin • Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM

Queer people have unique coping mechanisms through community, creativity, and activism to negotiate everyday problems, and political and environmental challenges. How do we find, celebrate, nurture, and sustain queer joy? What could previous queer generations teach us about prevailing? What creative systems need to be created, uplifted, fixed, or destroyed to allow queer joy to thrive? And what current creative endeavors speak directly to queer joy in our chaotic political climate?

How Dead Is the Author? University B • Reading, Viewing, and Critiquing Science Fiction • Sun 2:30 PM–3:45 PM

In the age of social media, the boundaries between creators and fans have never been so porous. How do fans navigate this real or perceived closeness, and how does it influence our response to the work? Are we living in a new cult of author personality, and how does that affect what we choose to read? Does swapping fic recs and dog pics with our faves make us more generous readers, or is it really true that you should never tweet your heroes?

The SignOut Capitol/Wisconsin • Special Events • Mon 11:30 AM–12:45 PM

Come sign your works, get things signed, chat with authors, hang out, and wind down as WisCon ends.

Not too much else to report for now. Busy busy so I will cut myself off here. Cheers!

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