This is important enough that I feel the need to post about it here. I wish I'd known about the situation ahead of time so I could have canceled my membership to AnachroCon and not attended after all.
Apparently the convention has had a long-term, known issue with one of its co-chairs making inappropriate advances to women on staff and attendees. He has also violated the terms of the convention's weapons policy. He was instrumental in the refusal to set up a harassment policy for the con.
For a good overview of the situation, please read this article at Steampunk Chronicle.
The person in question has stepped down. It's infuriating, however, that he was allowed to act this way for years without repercussion.
The Artifice Club has renounced all participation with AnachroCon until major changes are made. (That's how I learned about this, from an Artifice Club tweet.) While from the Steampunk Chronicle article it does look like the con plans to conform to the Con Anti-Harassment Project, until and unless it does (and does so in good faith, with concrete measures in place to stop harassment before it becomes an issue and deal with complaints promptly and appropriately), I will not attend AnachroCon again or recommend it to friends.
Last year I put my name down as someone who would follow John Scalzi's Convention Harassment Policy. I wish I had remembered to check the AnachroCon site for a harassment policy--or its lack. From now on I'll remember to do so and plan my con attendances accordingly.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
AnachroCon report
IMPORTANT ADDITION: Please read my follow-up post as to why I will not be attending AnachroCon again.
Con report warning: this is long and probably kind of boring. I didn't take very many pictures for some reason.
Above: spicy chocolate cogs I bought in the dealers room. They're good! They got kind of smudgy and melty from me carrying them around in my hot little hands.
This weekend I went to AnachroCon in Atlanta, a convention focusing on history and alternate history. I left for Atlanta after work Friday afternoon, and got checked in at the hotel and convention in time to attend the leatherworking panel at 8pm. It was a lively, interesting panel, well-moderated, and set a good tone for the convention. After that I went to the Eat Your Drink panel, about cooking with alcohol, which was also excellent and had food samples. This was good, because the hotel had no real restaurant in the evenings--you could order food at the bar, but it was noisy and crowded and the food overpriced. I figured I'd walk around outside and find a nearby restaurant. I mean, who ever heard of a big hotel (the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center) without at least one moderately-priced restaurant next door? But there was nothing nearby except a pricy, crowded restaurant at the bottom of the hill. I ended up eating some chips and an orange I'd brought from home instead of a real meal.
Anyway, the con is a relatively small one but I was astonished at how many people dressed up for it. I estimate at least 90% of attendees wore a con outfit/costume, maybe more. I wore my awesome hat, but jeans, boots, and T-shirts, and felt very underdressed! It was awesome. Everywhere I looked I got ideas for outfits. And even though I didn't know anyone at the con, the tone was warm and welcoming, and I felt comfortable starting up conversations with strangers.
In the morning the tea-room was open for breakfast. I got the buffet and wasn't enormously impressed with the food for the price, although they did have some excellent fresh fruit. I stuffed myself, because the schedule I'd worked out for the day was so busy I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to eat again. AnachroCon has TONS of programming, and so many of the panels interested me that sometimes I had a hard time deciding what to attend.
I'm an early riser, and after breakfast had over an hour to kill before the first panel at 10am. I'd brought a book with me, Kenneth Oppel's excellent Airborn, which I was almost done reading, so I got some coffee and tucked myself in a corner of the quiet bar to read and watch people wander by. That was pleasant, and then I attended three excellent food-related panels in a row: the history of candy and Sweet Alchemy (the science of candy) by the same panelist who'd presented the Eat Your Drink panel the night before (Esdee Ar, who has an etsy shop where she sells her awesome handmade candies), and a panel on the history of chocolate. After that I went straight to a history panel about WWI pilots, which was both interesting and fun.
After that I had planned to go to a few more panels, but it was 2pm and I was hungry again, and I didn't want to go to the 4pm absinthe tasting on an empty stomach. I checked the area map on the con website and found out there was a bagel shop about a quarter mile away. I walked there and got a bagel and (bad) hot chocolate, then came back and got in line for the absinthe tasting.
It was a $20 extra charge which I'd paid in advance, and I believe it was sold out. It was run by the folks from Tea and Absinthe, and it was so much fun! I'd never tried absinthe before although I'd always wanted to. We tasted six brands, plus a homebrewed absinthe for those who were brave (I wasn't). The talk was fascinating and the absinthe very different from anything I'd expected. It's not really to my taste but I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it. It's got a very strong licorice taste from the anise, with a slightly bitter aftertaste from the wormwood. Oddly enough, while I didn't love the taste, I liked the aftertaste.
After the tasting, I asked the presenters, Daniel Myers and Pacita Prasarn (that's her in the picture above, on her knees to get a closer look at a glass) to sign my bucket list book. They were both very gracious to do so!
I had planned to attend the Tea Dueling at 5pm, but the absinthe tasting ran long--it was a big crowd--and I came in at the very end of the duel. After that, though, Daniel Myers gave a talk about the history of tea, called Blood on the Leaf, which was both fascinating and a bit demoralizing considering how awful people are to each other. But he made it funny too, and brought good tea so we all sat around to listen and ask questions and sip.
I was so full of absinthe and tea after that that I skipped supper and went on to two more panels: a fun and inspiring panel on the panelists' favorite types of tools for costume crafting, and a panel called Character Through Costume, which was also inspiring. Seriously, I have so many ideas! I can't wait to hit the local thrift shops to see what I can find.
There was programming today (Sunday), including some panels I wanted to attend, but I had a long drive ahead of me and wanted some time to wind down, do laundry, and get ready for the workweek. So I left this morning early.
I'd love to attend AnachroCon again next year--but not if they're at the same hotel or if the hotel doesn't open a real restaurant. I enjoyed the con enormously, though. It was well-run, friendly, and a lot of fun! Next time I will dress up.
ETA: I've heard the con will be held in a bigger hotel next year, so I'm definitely going to attend.
Con report warning: this is long and probably kind of boring. I didn't take very many pictures for some reason.
This weekend I went to AnachroCon in Atlanta, a convention focusing on history and alternate history. I left for Atlanta after work Friday afternoon, and got checked in at the hotel and convention in time to attend the leatherworking panel at 8pm. It was a lively, interesting panel, well-moderated, and set a good tone for the convention. After that I went to the Eat Your Drink panel, about cooking with alcohol, which was also excellent and had food samples. This was good, because the hotel had no real restaurant in the evenings--you could order food at the bar, but it was noisy and crowded and the food overpriced. I figured I'd walk around outside and find a nearby restaurant. I mean, who ever heard of a big hotel (the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center) without at least one moderately-priced restaurant next door? But there was nothing nearby except a pricy, crowded restaurant at the bottom of the hill. I ended up eating some chips and an orange I'd brought from home instead of a real meal.
Anyway, the con is a relatively small one but I was astonished at how many people dressed up for it. I estimate at least 90% of attendees wore a con outfit/costume, maybe more. I wore my awesome hat, but jeans, boots, and T-shirts, and felt very underdressed! It was awesome. Everywhere I looked I got ideas for outfits. And even though I didn't know anyone at the con, the tone was warm and welcoming, and I felt comfortable starting up conversations with strangers.
In the morning the tea-room was open for breakfast. I got the buffet and wasn't enormously impressed with the food for the price, although they did have some excellent fresh fruit. I stuffed myself, because the schedule I'd worked out for the day was so busy I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to eat again. AnachroCon has TONS of programming, and so many of the panels interested me that sometimes I had a hard time deciding what to attend.
I'm an early riser, and after breakfast had over an hour to kill before the first panel at 10am. I'd brought a book with me, Kenneth Oppel's excellent Airborn, which I was almost done reading, so I got some coffee and tucked myself in a corner of the quiet bar to read and watch people wander by. That was pleasant, and then I attended three excellent food-related panels in a row: the history of candy and Sweet Alchemy (the science of candy) by the same panelist who'd presented the Eat Your Drink panel the night before (Esdee Ar, who has an etsy shop where she sells her awesome handmade candies), and a panel on the history of chocolate. After that I went straight to a history panel about WWI pilots, which was both interesting and fun.
After that I had planned to go to a few more panels, but it was 2pm and I was hungry again, and I didn't want to go to the 4pm absinthe tasting on an empty stomach. I checked the area map on the con website and found out there was a bagel shop about a quarter mile away. I walked there and got a bagel and (bad) hot chocolate, then came back and got in line for the absinthe tasting.
It was a $20 extra charge which I'd paid in advance, and I believe it was sold out. It was run by the folks from Tea and Absinthe, and it was so much fun! I'd never tried absinthe before although I'd always wanted to. We tasted six brands, plus a homebrewed absinthe for those who were brave (I wasn't). The talk was fascinating and the absinthe very different from anything I'd expected. It's not really to my taste but I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it. It's got a very strong licorice taste from the anise, with a slightly bitter aftertaste from the wormwood. Oddly enough, while I didn't love the taste, I liked the aftertaste.
After the tasting, I asked the presenters, Daniel Myers and Pacita Prasarn (that's her in the picture above, on her knees to get a closer look at a glass) to sign my bucket list book. They were both very gracious to do so!
I had planned to attend the Tea Dueling at 5pm, but the absinthe tasting ran long--it was a big crowd--and I came in at the very end of the duel. After that, though, Daniel Myers gave a talk about the history of tea, called Blood on the Leaf, which was both fascinating and a bit demoralizing considering how awful people are to each other. But he made it funny too, and brought good tea so we all sat around to listen and ask questions and sip.
I was so full of absinthe and tea after that that I skipped supper and went on to two more panels: a fun and inspiring panel on the panelists' favorite types of tools for costume crafting, and a panel called Character Through Costume, which was also inspiring. Seriously, I have so many ideas! I can't wait to hit the local thrift shops to see what I can find.
There was programming today (Sunday), including some panels I wanted to attend, but I had a long drive ahead of me and wanted some time to wind down, do laundry, and get ready for the workweek. So I left this morning early.
I'd love to attend AnachroCon again next year--but not if they're at the same hotel or if the hotel doesn't open a real restaurant. I enjoyed the con enormously, though. It was well-run, friendly, and a lot of fun! Next time I will dress up.
ETA: I've heard the con will be held in a bigger hotel next year, so I'm definitely going to attend.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Snow-powered with a sidecar
I've neglected the blog, and the garage, this winter. It's just been too cold to do much except read and write and do a bit of knitting. I have lots of ideas for spring, though, if it ever gets here.
I'm in East Tennessee so we don't get much snow ordinarily--but last night we got ten inches! I made a snowman. Actually it's a snowwoman, representing me, and a snowcat, representing Jekyll, and we are about to rev into our next adventure in a snowcycle with a cat-sized sidecar.
I'll be at AnachroCon in Atlanta this weekend. I wanted to make an outfit for the con but I didn't, so I'll just be dressed in jeans and T-shirts and my awesome hat. If you're going to be there, say hi! We can go to the absinthe tasting together!
I'm in East Tennessee so we don't get much snow ordinarily--but last night we got ten inches! I made a snowman. Actually it's a snowwoman, representing me, and a snowcat, representing Jekyll, and we are about to rev into our next adventure in a snowcycle with a cat-sized sidecar.
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