WisCon 41 - Day 3

I had fully intended to get up for morning panels today, but I guess my body had other ideas because I woke up at 9:55am, and the panel block started at 10am. So instead we bailed on the morning and had a leisurely brunch, followed by a trip to the chocolate shop. (I'm having a delicious fudge snack right now.)

So then came the afternoon panels. First up was a panel about the women of Luke Cage, and it was awesome. Awesome. Probably my favorite panel this year. Five black women, talking about these black female characters who meant so much to them, and the great things and not-so-great things about how the representation. Panelists and audience members discussed issues like respectability politics, colorism, the importance of Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, and also whether Shades is or is not an appropriate Supportive Murder Boyfriend. I highly recommend the hashtag for this one. The panel was recorded, and will be posted on the Nerdgasm Noire Network, and if you get a chance you should totally listen.

Next up was a panel on comics, focusing mostly on recommendations, and featuring "comics matchmaking", where an audience member would ask for a rec based on their specific parameters, and the panelists and audience would make suggestions. There were far too many recs for me to catch them all, but moderator crosberg promised to post up a complete list on their website after the con. (It seems I will have a lot of things that I need to come back and share with you soon.) We closed out the afternoon with perhaps the most entertaining panel of the con: an examination of which superpowers might be the most useful for banging. Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin; the hashtag has more. We laughed, a lot.

After dinner, it was time for dessert salon and the Guest of Honor speeches. Kelly Sue DeConnick and Amal El-Mohtar were both brilliant and moving in their own ways, both of them urging us to stand up and support each other and fight against the terrible and growing injustices in the world. I imagine the full text of both speeches will go up eventually, and I'll make sure to link those too. Unfortunately I had to leave before the presentation of the Tiptree Award, because I had a 10pm panel and the speeches were running over. The late panel was on "how to ship without being a jerk", but the conversation ranged much more widely, into the history of ship wars and fan entitlement (I got to share my favorite story, about Louisa May Alcott getting into a ship war with her own fans), and how and why fandom conversations have gotten to be so toxic. It was more about root causes than solutions, but I still found it an interesting conversation, and we all had fun with it.

Then we hung out in the lobby for a little while, before coming back to the room to wind down and start packing. Tomorrow will be a light day for me -- no panels, probably, just the sign out -- and then we drive back to Chicago to end the weekend.

WisCon 41 - Day 4

Links to previous days! Arrival Day / Day One / Day Two / Day Three

This was a programming-free day, because I decided to sleep in and take it easy rather than rush to any of the panels. It was the correct decision. Although I feel much better today than I did at the start of the con, being sick the entire time did put a crimp in my con experience; I didn't sleep as well, had much less energy than I wanted, and my voice was pretty thrashed by the end of every day.

So, anyway, after a casual breakfast, packing up, and checking out, renay and I said goodbye to justira, who had an earlier flight direct out of Madison, and went to the sign-out, where Nay added to the autograph collection in her copy of Joanna Russ's How to Suppress Women's Writing. It was delightful to join her for this leg of her quest, and to see the reactions of such women writers as Pat Murphy, Alexandra Erin, and Nisi Shawl. I also got Kelly Sue DeConnick to personalize the copy of Bitch Planet Vol. 2 that I bought on Friday.

Then, after a flurry of goodbyes, Nay and I hit the road to Chicago. The drive to the airport was mostly uneventful -- only a little more traffic than on the way up to Madison -- and we are now safely ensconced at our respective gates, waiting for the planes that will take us away from con space and back to real life. Even if the con experience wasn't exactly the one I would have asked for, I'm still so glad I went, and I absolutely plan to make the pilgrimage again next year. If I met you there, I hope to see you again, and if I didn't meet you, I hope I do.