Ascendio: Friday
Damn. This was the longest day in the history of forever. If I find some better pictures, I'll put them up.
I wish I could say that I remembered everything that went down on Friday, but like I said, it was a long, long day. I definitely don't remember much about the Welcoming Feast. I am very, very bad about planning to sit with people and that kind of thing. If you ever see on this blog that I am planning to be at a conference, for Merlin's sake remind me to do that or flag me down to sit with you or something, because otherwise I will just sit wherever and try to look inconspicuous. I will say that you get to talk to some nice people that way, though.
First up was the MuggleNet Academic live podcast. For some reason I thought that I was supposed to be there or something, but anyway, I wanted to be there. It turned out that the topic was copyright and fan fiction, which surprised me. I thought it was going to be on something more academic. I do know that it had something to do with the opening of myHogwarts, which of course I am on now. I don't know how to friend anyone or send out friend requests, though.
Anyway, all I can say about that is that:
1) Heidi Tandy is a freaking genius. I was really impressed by her views on fan fiction and copyright and intellectual property.
2) When Keith said something about JKR inventing the name "Hogwarts," this was me:
Oo oo oo I know this one
because of course she didn't. It's definitely in Geoffrey Willan's Molesworth series. If you go over to the sidebar, you can see a link to a story called "Ho for Hogwarts" which is in the style of the Molesworth books. Never mind. It's ok not to invent everything personally down to every single detail, but that does screw with the idea that the author is the sole single never to be challenged creator.
3) Is it unreasonable to think that by 2012, anyone heavily involved with HP fandom should know what "slash" is and what "porn" is and what "erotica" is and what the differences are? Don't answer that. I know it is. Which is too bad. Anyway, Heidi knows the difference. I keep forgetting this. I made the mistake of mentioning some fandom stuff to a colleague last week while I was lamenting that most conventions don't mix fandom and academia very well. I think she completely misunderstood me, anyway. We both were regretting that a conference we loved had changed or gone away, and hers had become too inclusive, in her opinion, and of course I like things being more inclusive, mostly. Then I mentioned Snape/Hermione, and this was a mistake. That was coronary time. She didn't seem to understand the idea that very smart people like fandom activities, and even when I waved the "and some of them have PhDs!" flag, the best she would give me was "well, I guess it's an outlet."
Mostly I enjoyed it, though. I liked hearing some smart people talk about intellectual property, which is such a moving target.
I missed all the Quidditch things :( That was too bad, because some of my students want to start a Quidditch team, and I wanted to be able to report back to them. True story: they think I should be a Bludger coach. I was kind of startled, and they added, "well, we think you'd work off a little frustration."
Just enough time before the Harry Potter 101: Legitimating Harry Potter Courses in Colleges panel. Really, it was Cathy Leodegrande's talk and I was mostly a ride-along. I'd like to think I contributed something, because we teach at such different institutions. Anyway, she impressed the heck out of me, with her bibliography and her list of all the different ways that Harry Potter courses are characterized (as dumb, easy courses, usually.) That's why I had to bend over backwards to make sure my students work really hard in mine. Quote: "people don't want to believe that anything fun can be academic." I really enjoyed myself in that one, only I'm sorry to say that the audio quality for that and the other panel sucks, and it is entirely my fault for not speaking properly into the mike. I know I saw Clay Dockery out there and he totally cheats at Lupin because he's got believable facial hair. No, seriously, I really did enjoy meeting Clay, and Misti-Con sounds as though it's going to be great. I'd love to be there and I envy those of you who are going.
Quick zoom through into the Craft Faire and a chance to say hello to pennswoods. I think my messing around in Snape hangouts is mostly her fault, because we're both huge Neviluna shippers. (I still am: are you, Pennswoods?) I also quickly ran off and printed out a MS for the next thing, just in case.
Then I met with Saritza Hernandez, and all I'm going to say about that is that I think it was really interesting and hopefully fruitful. Instead, I'm going to insert another true story: I used to be a writing tutor during graduate school, and at one point I had to help a student with a really bad paper. He was in school on a wrestling scholarship, and the paper had earned a D, and he needed to get a better grade and had been shipped over from the Athletic Department.
Student: I got great ideas. I just need someone to write 'em down for me.
Quick zoom into the Vendor Room. I bought My Little Remus from My Little Fandom and also a wand. Of course I already had one. In fact, I have two, but one is a plain wand from Alivan's and another is a replica of Lupin's wand from the Wizarding World. That one is made of resin, i.e., useless. I can't believe that I had to go all the way across the country to buy a wand from Phoenix Wands, when I live about forty five minutes away from Whimsic Alley, but as Slughorn says, "but that's life, I suppose."
(HPEF and Jenn Racek again.)
Yep, that wand looks all right. It's a replica of Lupin's but it's wood, so I can use it. If you look carefully, you can see the Cambridge robe slug over my right arm. Tweed my own, hair my own, saggy nervous face also, sadly, my own. In other words, I'm wearing Lupin clothes, but I'm not wolfed up or full wolf.
By now, I am a wreck. I stopped by the American Bar and said hello to droxy , who was having hat issues, and irishredlass, and alabastard and I really wanted a drink very badly, but of course I could not have one.
This talk, The Werewolf Renaissance or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Moon, was really important to me and also really personal. I hit up a lot of things: a State of the Wolf report (too many werewolves, who'd have thunk?), some things about marginalization and treatment, and a bunch of other stuff. Eh, you've had had to be there. I was astonished to look out and see so many people who'd actually given up time at the end of the day to be there, people wearing Remus scars and scratches. I got onto the teaching things and then took a deep breath and hit exactly why this character speaks to me so much. That was hard.
At the time, I felt really awful and awkward. The audio sucks, but I'm glad I downloaded and listened to it anyway. Because at the end, they're not clapping or applauding. They are howling. They are howling back at me because they get the pain and paying it forward, too.
We're not lone wolves. We're pack. The whole thing was pretty amazing. I didn't realize that at the time, but I figured it out by things people said later.
I went off to see Mischief Managed, which was a tough call because I also wanted to go to the Sherlock meet up very badly. I have to admit that I didn't stay beyond the first half and I think some other people peeled away too. I hope the actors didn't feel really discouraged by that. The actor playing James was really good, and Peter was cast against type, but that part was really, really sweet. What threw me was Lupin and the way the Marauders figured out he was a werewolf--by being there when it happened. Lily is standing there as he's rolling around, saying "somebody DO something!" and I muttered to myself, "what do you want them to do? He's a motherfucking WEREWOLF. There's nothing anybody can do." I've always gotten the impression that it's pretty hard to bring down a full throttle werewolf, or else they wouldn't be such a threat.
So I left for the Sherlock meet up, which was crazy nuts full, but I got to say hi to chaeche and pennswoods and talk to some cool people, plus I got a Sherlock keychain and was able to rejoice in Cumberawesome, so that was good. The most intense Sherlockians I know adore that show, and I know the Curious Collectors of Baker Street.
And then it was time to slink home and crawl into bed.
I wish I could say that I remembered everything that went down on Friday, but like I said, it was a long, long day. I definitely don't remember much about the Welcoming Feast. I am very, very bad about planning to sit with people and that kind of thing. If you ever see on this blog that I am planning to be at a conference, for Merlin's sake remind me to do that or flag me down to sit with you or something, because otherwise I will just sit wherever and try to look inconspicuous. I will say that you get to talk to some nice people that way, though.
First up was the MuggleNet Academic live podcast. For some reason I thought that I was supposed to be there or something, but anyway, I wanted to be there. It turned out that the topic was copyright and fan fiction, which surprised me. I thought it was going to be on something more academic. I do know that it had something to do with the opening of myHogwarts, which of course I am on now. I don't know how to friend anyone or send out friend requests, though.
Anyway, all I can say about that is that:
1) Heidi Tandy is a freaking genius. I was really impressed by her views on fan fiction and copyright and intellectual property.
2) When Keith said something about JKR inventing the name "Hogwarts," this was me:
Oo oo oo I know this one
because of course she didn't. It's definitely in Geoffrey Willan's Molesworth series. If you go over to the sidebar, you can see a link to a story called "Ho for Hogwarts" which is in the style of the Molesworth books. Never mind. It's ok not to invent everything personally down to every single detail, but that does screw with the idea that the author is the sole single never to be challenged creator.
3) Is it unreasonable to think that by 2012, anyone heavily involved with HP fandom should know what "slash" is and what "porn" is and what "erotica" is and what the differences are? Don't answer that. I know it is. Which is too bad. Anyway, Heidi knows the difference. I keep forgetting this. I made the mistake of mentioning some fandom stuff to a colleague last week while I was lamenting that most conventions don't mix fandom and academia very well. I think she completely misunderstood me, anyway. We both were regretting that a conference we loved had changed or gone away, and hers had become too inclusive, in her opinion, and of course I like things being more inclusive, mostly. Then I mentioned Snape/Hermione, and this was a mistake. That was coronary time. She didn't seem to understand the idea that very smart people like fandom activities, and even when I waved the "and some of them have PhDs!" flag, the best she would give me was "well, I guess it's an outlet."
Mostly I enjoyed it, though. I liked hearing some smart people talk about intellectual property, which is such a moving target.
I missed all the Quidditch things :( That was too bad, because some of my students want to start a Quidditch team, and I wanted to be able to report back to them. True story: they think I should be a Bludger coach. I was kind of startled, and they added, "well, we think you'd work off a little frustration."
Just enough time before the Harry Potter 101: Legitimating Harry Potter Courses in Colleges panel. Really, it was Cathy Leodegrande's talk and I was mostly a ride-along. I'd like to think I contributed something, because we teach at such different institutions. Anyway, she impressed the heck out of me, with her bibliography and her list of all the different ways that Harry Potter courses are characterized (as dumb, easy courses, usually.) That's why I had to bend over backwards to make sure my students work really hard in mine. Quote: "people don't want to believe that anything fun can be academic." I really enjoyed myself in that one, only I'm sorry to say that the audio quality for that and the other panel sucks, and it is entirely my fault for not speaking properly into the mike. I know I saw Clay Dockery out there and he totally cheats at Lupin because he's got believable facial hair. No, seriously, I really did enjoy meeting Clay, and Misti-Con sounds as though it's going to be great. I'd love to be there and I envy those of you who are going.
Quick zoom through into the Craft Faire and a chance to say hello to pennswoods. I think my messing around in Snape hangouts is mostly her fault, because we're both huge Neviluna shippers. (I still am: are you, Pennswoods?) I also quickly ran off and printed out a MS for the next thing, just in case.
Then I met with Saritza Hernandez, and all I'm going to say about that is that I think it was really interesting and hopefully fruitful. Instead, I'm going to insert another true story: I used to be a writing tutor during graduate school, and at one point I had to help a student with a really bad paper. He was in school on a wrestling scholarship, and the paper had earned a D, and he needed to get a better grade and had been shipped over from the Athletic Department.
Student: I got great ideas. I just need someone to write 'em down for me.
Quick zoom into the Vendor Room. I bought My Little Remus from My Little Fandom and also a wand. Of course I already had one. In fact, I have two, but one is a plain wand from Alivan's and another is a replica of Lupin's wand from the Wizarding World. That one is made of resin, i.e., useless. I can't believe that I had to go all the way across the country to buy a wand from Phoenix Wands, when I live about forty five minutes away from Whimsic Alley, but as Slughorn says, "but that's life, I suppose."
(HPEF and Jenn Racek again.)
Yep, that wand looks all right. It's a replica of Lupin's but it's wood, so I can use it. If you look carefully, you can see the Cambridge robe slug over my right arm. Tweed my own, hair my own, saggy nervous face also, sadly, my own. In other words, I'm wearing Lupin clothes, but I'm not wolfed up or full wolf.
By now, I am a wreck. I stopped by the American Bar and said hello to droxy , who was having hat issues, and irishredlass, and alabastard and I really wanted a drink very badly, but of course I could not have one.
This talk, The Werewolf Renaissance or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Moon, was really important to me and also really personal. I hit up a lot of things: a State of the Wolf report (too many werewolves, who'd have thunk?), some things about marginalization and treatment, and a bunch of other stuff. Eh, you've had had to be there. I was astonished to look out and see so many people who'd actually given up time at the end of the day to be there, people wearing Remus scars and scratches. I got onto the teaching things and then took a deep breath and hit exactly why this character speaks to me so much. That was hard.
At the time, I felt really awful and awkward. The audio sucks, but I'm glad I downloaded and listened to it anyway. Because at the end, they're not clapping or applauding. They are howling. They are howling back at me because they get the pain and paying it forward, too.
We're not lone wolves. We're pack. The whole thing was pretty amazing. I didn't realize that at the time, but I figured it out by things people said later.
I went off to see Mischief Managed, which was a tough call because I also wanted to go to the Sherlock meet up very badly. I have to admit that I didn't stay beyond the first half and I think some other people peeled away too. I hope the actors didn't feel really discouraged by that. The actor playing James was really good, and Peter was cast against type, but that part was really, really sweet. What threw me was Lupin and the way the Marauders figured out he was a werewolf--by being there when it happened. Lily is standing there as he's rolling around, saying "somebody DO something!" and I muttered to myself, "what do you want them to do? He's a motherfucking WEREWOLF. There's nothing anybody can do." I've always gotten the impression that it's pretty hard to bring down a full throttle werewolf, or else they wouldn't be such a threat.
So I left for the Sherlock meet up, which was crazy nuts full, but I got to say hi to chaeche and pennswoods and talk to some cool people, plus I got a Sherlock keychain and was able to rejoice in Cumberawesome, so that was good. The most intense Sherlockians I know adore that show, and I know the Curious Collectors of Baker Street.
And then it was time to slink home and crawl into bed.