Wiscon Schedule

[meganbmoore]

I'm not on any panels since I wasn't sure if I'd be going until well after signups were closed.

 

Thursday:

4:35: Arrive, go to hotel and check in.
6:00~: Go to Room of One’s Own (People on my list who work there: Does Room carry any more academic books? There are a few I want to get that my local bookstore doesn’t carry because…uhm…they don’t like academic books.) Find food.
Later-ish: Go to karaoke if I find someone to walk there with. (I’m sure I can find someone to tag along with to go back to the hotel, but I am not walking unfamiliar city streets at night alone!)

Meet roommates somewhere in there.

Friday:

The Gathering most of the day-I’ll be doing whatever laceblade tells me to do.

9:00-10:15 pm: Attend “Women in Comics” panel:

Last year's Women in Comics panel discussed comics either written or drawn by women, or comics featuring well-written female characters. This year let's review the changes in the field since last May, both positive and negative. What titles were cancelled, what titles were added, and what has happened to the writers are characters we mentioned before? We'll focus on Marvel, DC, and other major publishers.

10:15-until I get sleeeeepy: Be torn about whether to be at Vid Party or LJ Party. (Possibly ditch panel above to get the intro stuff at the Vid party.)

Saturday:

As soon as I am awake and Groomed: FARMERS MARKET

10:00-11:15: Attend “Mary Sue” panel:

We all recognize "Mary Sue," the violet-eyed teenage female cadet who shows up out of nowhere and flies the Enterprise better than Captain Kirk. She's a frequent punching-bag in fanfiction, where she's easy to spot, but she's also alive in the more complex form of the "canon-Sue," the character who is an obvious stand-in for the author or showrunner. Why, exactly, do we object to her/him? Has "Mary Sue" just become a way of saying "a positively-portrayed character I don't like" and, as such, lost all usefulness as signifier? Is there a feminist problem with picking on girls who want to be starship captains, and if so, does using male equivalent terms like "Gary Stu" fix it? What's so bad about Sues anyway? Is there a way to rescue the term, or is it time to come up with a substitute?


2:30-3:45: Attend “Judge a book by it’s cover” panel:

The covers of science fiction and fantasy books can be gorgeous and amazing. They can be dark and disturbing. They can be downright offensive or embarrassing. How much does cover art accurately reflect the story and the authors vision, and how much is left entirely to marketing? Case in point: Justine Larbalestier's Liar. How does the art on the cover change our feelings about and/or interactions with books? Who are your favorite (or least favorite) artists? Let's take a look at the styles and trends in covers: what works and what needs to change.

4:00-5:15: Attend “Does YA Fiction Catch The Attention of Tiptree Judges?” panel:

Does young adult (YA) fiction tend to be ignored by Tiptree judges? Should YA fiction get more attention than it has? Over the past 20 years what gender-bending YA titles can you think of that deserved to be honored?

9:00 pm-until I get sleeeeeeeeepy:

Fairyland party. Maybe Tor Party too?

Sunday:

10:00-11:15: Maybe attend (possibly find blogs for the panelists for their thoughts on the subject first?) “Return of the Rape Panel”:

Sexual assault and rape frequently get used as symbolic plot devices, with no consideration of how sexual violence actually affects survivors and the people around them. Some have said that feminists shouldn't write science fiction and fantasy dealing with rape; others felt that not writing about rape doesn't negate the reality that rape is both an actual crime and a political and personal means of attack. This year, we hope to discuss how to write about sexual violence in a way that shows the repercussions not just for survivors, but for their communities—and in a way that informs the entire story and isn't just used as a plot coupon or shortcut to character development.



CONFLICT (that will probably win out-MY CATCHING UP ON THE MANGA FIRST IS LIKELY THE DETERMINING FACTOR…I hit caps by accident, but am too lazy to change it) “Ooku” panel

Since winning the 2009 Tiptree Award for the first two volumes of Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Fumi Yoshinaga's series has continued on through volume 5 and forges further into the alternate history in which a terrible plague affecting only men utterly changes medieval Japanese culture. Beautifully drawn, the story is a feast for science fiction readers whose sense of wonder is sparked equally by the gender themes, alternate history speculation, and the we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore vision of historical Japan. Yoshinaga's view of gender and power isn't a simple matter of women taking charge from men. What characteristics does Yoshinaga clearly think are gender-specific, no matter which gender is in power? What changes in this alternate history with the transfer of power?


1:00-2:15: Attend “Audacious Women of the 18th Century” panel:

Audacious means "bold, intrepid, venturesome," but also "brazen, presumptuous, and forward." Come hear surprising stories of almost-forgotten women who were all that: Emilie du Chatelet, cutting-edge Enlightenment scientist and mathematician; Mary Wollstonecraft, radical author, advocate of women's rights; Theroigne de Mericourt, martial "Amazon" of the French Revolution; Ekaterina Dashkova, polymath and cross-dressing inciter of the palace coup that made Catherine the Great empress of Russia. And more!

(I only ask that it be at least half as entertaining as last year’s panel on 17th Century women.)

2:30-3:45: Attend “Outside the Hero’s Journey” panel:

Many stories are built around a classic idea of the "hero's journey," a story in which events and characters are created to further the personal growth of the protagonist. This type of storytelling can marginalize other characters—and if the protagonist is a straight white able-bodied male, everyone else exists only to serve his plot. One way to combat this is to change the protagonist—but that is not the only method. How do writers—of prose fiction, comic books, games, movies and television—work against or around this "protagonist problem"? How do we increase the representation of women and minorities in fiction in the presence of male protagonists?

CONFLICT!

Attend “SIBLING OF REVENGE OF NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL”

Back for a third go-round, by popular demand! Writers of color working in F/SF face unique challenges, it's true. But, at the end of the day, being a "person of color" is only one aspect of what makes up our identities as writers. While it's very flattering to asked to be on panels, most of these panels never crack the ceiling of Race 101. With that in mind, wouldn't it be nice for multiple writers of color to sit on a panel that isn't about race at all? Here's our chance to do just that. So, what are we gonna talk about, instead? Practically anything! Presented in game show format, SIBLING OF REVENGE OF NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL brings together writers of color to get their geek on about any number of pop culture topics—none of them race related.

(Last year’s was absurdly fun.)

4:00-5:15: Attend “We're All Mad Here: Madness in Fiction” panel:


How have writers used the concept of madness? Does it denigrate, or exalt the character? Tag them as dangerous, sick, bad or holy? In touch with genius, or another world? How do cultural norms influence our definition and the expression of madness? Can it be a way of healing or renewal? A political act? Why was it a popular 19th-century plot device? Who is considered mad these days and why?

8:30-9:45: Guest of Honor Speech

Monday:

10:00-11:15: Attend “Policing the Boundaries of YA Literature” panel:

According to young adult author Margo Lanigan, "there is a lot of pressure from anxious adult carers of children and young adults to fill children’s and YA literature with explicit moral messages that can only be read one way, the ‘right’ way." As a result, there are efforts both in real life and online to police the content of YA lit. These range from overt efforts to remove YA lit from schools and libraries to advisory campaigns like Common Sense Media. Most recently, BitchMedia removed three books from its "100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader" list after a few persons complained that the books—Jackson Pearce’s Sisters Red, Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels, and Elizabeth Scott’s Living Dead Girl—were "triggering," or did not handle rape in an appropriate manner. We can briefly discuss the BitchMedia kerfluffle and its consequences, but let's focus on examining the larger phenomenon and how both readers and authors can respond.

11:30-to-whenever: The Signout

The rest of the day: Transfer to way cheaper motel, maybe see if the bus routes run within walking distance to one of the local Half Price Books (or otherwise finagle a ride.)

Tuesday:

11:35: GO HOME!

All weekend: Hang out with people and no doubt randomly change scheduled plans! No doubt eat overpriced-but-good food made worthwhile by the company.
 

 

If you didn't meet me last year, here's what I look like.

(The picture is about a year and a half old and...well, there aren't many pictures of me from the last few years that don't also feature a tiny person who I'm related to.)

 
And if you happen to be at the airport around my arrival/departure times (or at DWF airport either day) and see someone with a black duffle bag with peace signs and pink trimming and a suitcase with black and white zebra stripes and red trimming, that's me. (My luggage was deliberately selected to be glaring visible for easy location. And I have hot pink luggage tags for the same purpose.)