Join the Terri Schindler Life Ribbon Campaign!

I was amazed at the videos on terrisfight.org of Terri's obvious non-vegatative state considering how much Mr Schiavo has tried to have his wife killed.  Has he no shame or shred of compassion? 

 

Anyway, last night I fell asleep while discussing (with myself, here, in the previous entry) some of the thoughts I had over the weekend.  Rereading the entry, I think I got most of the points across that I wanted to convey on the topic of my marital status.  I remember feeling like I left it uncomplete when I went to bed, but I guess not.  So, the next topic I wanted to discuss is local conventions. 

 

This weekend was WesterCon LVII:  Konkopelli.  I chose not to work it for several reasons, including cost to attend, distance to bike or convince someone to give me a ride, loss of holiday pay at work, lack of a place to crash, lectoring duties, and the holiday party planned by An.  I was vaguely interested in attending a regional convention to see how they compare to local cons, knowing that I'm not likely to attend one unless its held here.  But that, and the bigger name guests of honour and participants wasn't enough to outweigh the negatives.

 

But I've had this growing, but unspoken, feeling since LepreCon this year.  A feeling I kept shifting to the backburner rather than explore.  While at Steve's game on Saturday, the inevitable local convention conversation came up (considering the fact that all of us were not at the con, but Rusty was missing the game because he was).  Smitty was dishing out that same complaints that almost everyone who quit going to local cons spouts.  Complaints which for the most part aren't valid anymore, but when countered with that they keep complaining rather than give local conventions a chance.  And somewhen between when I was countering complaints which weren't valid for newer conventions and I was challenging him to put action to his complaints, the feeling solidified itself in my conscience. 

 

I've always been a believer that if you see something broken, you fix it.  Rather than complain, do something.  Action speaks louder than words.  So, when some friends of mine were complaining about conventions I challenged them to do something about it.  So we started working at the local conventions more, in the hopes that we could fix what was broken.  But what really happened?  One friend found success in that through working the local conventions he was able to join a group which formed to assist local conventions.  He's nw able to do what he always wanted at cons, and all the more power to him.  The other friend, well I don't know if she's found that success or not.  With her current conventions commitments, success probably can't be ascertained for another two years. 

 

There is a certain amount of stress in the learning curve for working at conventions, and that stress is exponentially worse the higher up the ladder one climbs.  Yet, I've found that despite the initial stress one undergoes, once a possition is learned it can be fun.  However, is that hard work and that fun enough?  Because, to be honest, the local conventions don't offer me enough to pay full price yet.  In fact, I've never attended a convention for which I had to pay full price (that I can recall anyway.  Even at DarkCon IV I payed the Saturday/Sunday only price because I hadn't originally intended to attend without running any events).  The closest convention would be HexaCon, because it offers its main attraction (gaming) in larger quantities and varieties than any of the other conventions offer their main attraction (whether it be sf art, sf lit, comics, or other primarily gaming cons). 

 

I've reached a point where I'm seeing some allies quit or sellout to the old guard.  Many of my successfully received changes are ignored and old ways are brought back as soon as the next convention rolls around.  So then I have to wonder if my work is even worthwhile, or if I'm Sisyphus rolling that boulder to nowhere.  If I capitulate, that'll make me a lackey of the old guard.  If I quit, I let them win.  If I keep at it without success, I'm a fool.  Can I be successful as allies leave the ranks left and right, all for their own reasons?  It's not a comfortable feeling to have, so no wonder I've kept trying to ignore it. 

 

I still have four more local convention commitments over the next two years, with another commitment implied if not actually made.  I seriously need to reevaluate things.  Getting allies is tough, as most people don't want to do a lot of work for no monetary gain.  I guess I should say that's it hard to blame them, but it really wouldn't be if I wanted to do so.  Blame is cheap, as someone once said. 

 

The most successful conventions are those run as businesses rather than as volunteer-based not-for-profits.  Perhaps that's what this town really needs.  I've heard several pipedreams over the years, but if anyone actually pulled it off I'd have to become a paying member just to insure its early success even if I couldn't attend.  So, if anyone ever stumbles across this Web site and is pondering that very idea for our area, reread this paragraph again. 

 

Anyway, I'm not falling asleep at the computer, but it is later than I should be up on a work night.  I'll continue tomorrow.