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sereneI just had a really enjoyable half-hour or so of going through the FOGcon schedule. Oh, my goodness! It's so hard to choose which things to do, especially when I'm not sure how I'll feel at the time. Anyway, I chose one thing for each slot, except when it was impossible for me to do so ahead of time, and I'm putting it here for my reference, and so that anyone who wants to (a) hang out with me; or (b) talk me into going to a different panel can do so.
There is NO chance I'll go to everything I've chosen. I require lots and lots of downtime. Still, it's a wonderful schedule, and I can't wait.
Yay, FOGcon!
Friday, March 30
1:30-2:45 P.M.
75-Minute Writing Workout
Sacramento
Hone your fiction-writing skills in a timed environment. All writers are welcome.
Moderator: Vylar Kaftan
3:00-4:15 P.M.
Outlaw Bodies Roundtable
San Jose
Sometimes, just being who you are is enough to make you an outlaw — whether that’s because you’re a POC in a sundown town, a genderqueer person in a sexually-binary society, or a cyborg in a flesh-only space station. What examples of this do we have in the literature, and how do people cope — both in the real world and in the literature? This will be a roundtable/ salon-type discussion.
Facilitator: Lori Selke
4:30-5:45 P.M.
Designing Alien Bodies
Salon B/C
Aliens are probably going to have very different biology than humans do. How do bodies evolve from their surrounding environments? What might be different if an alien evolved in a waterless wasteland, or a chlorine swamp, or in the goo-powered city we designed at FOGcon 1?
Moderator: Ann Wilkes
Panelists: Carol Dorf, M. Christian, David Levine
8:00-9:15 P.M.
ConTention
Sacramento
Last year we kicked off FOGcon 1 with “ConTention” — a panel all about arguing; the sort of arguments that cause flamewars to erupt in newsgroups, or bring other discussions to a grinding halt. Here’s where we can have them and have fun with them. Last year, Miéville, Card, Tolkien, and many others were the subject of argument — what’ll it be this year? Without audience participation, there’s no event: bring your favorite arguments with you!
Moderators: Steven Schwartz, Liz Henry
9:30-10:45 P.M.
Mars Wants Our Genitals
Sacramento
Humanity has often been described as exogamous — if it’s strange, and new, we want to have sex with it. This was simple enough when it was the people from the group down the river who spoke strangely — but what will it mean as we move out into the universe? Writers have already gone there — James Tiptree Jr.’s “And I Awoke And Found Me Here By The Cold Hill’s Side”, for example. How will we relate to a universe whose expectations of sex (if they exist at all) may be very, very different from ours?
Moderator: Shannon Prickett
Panelists: Mary Anne Mohanraj, Steven Schwartz, David Levine, Jean Marie Stine
Saturday, March 31
9:00-10:15 A.M.
What I Reread and Why
Salon B/C
When many readers start slipping into depression, we compulsively re-read a set of books and series that comfort us. For example, each of these books/series may have a strong female protagonist who, after being misunderstood or rejected by her birth family, goes on to create a new family that understands. Do other people find themselves re-reading certain books or series under specific conditions? What books? What do we gain by this re-reading? Is it different than random re-reading? More generally, what books, or types of books, do we re-read? Are there books that you really enjoyed that you will never again pick up? What do we gain by revisiting a story when we already know the plot?
Moderator: Lynn Kendall
Panelists: Anaea Lay, Jackie Gross, Andrew Clark
10:30-11:45 A.M.
Who Are You?
Sacramento
Exactly what is a body? Is it just the usual two arms and two legs? How does how we look or how we are shaped affect what we think of as us? Does a wheelchair become part of a person over time? Let’s also discuss cybernetics, and their integration with a person’s self-image.
Moderator: Betsy Lundsten
Panelists: Courtney Eckhardt, Guy W. Thomas, Anaea Lay
1:30-2:45 P.M.
Nalo Hopkinson Honored Guest Presentation
Salon B/C
It wasn’t until Nalo moved to North America as an adult that she began to hear people saying wistfully, “But I have no culture.” And yet, human beings make their own cultures and sub-cultures, beginning in childhood. Children everywhere build bonds with each other by accessing and re-enacting shared libraries of movement, rhythm and chants that are mysteriously passed down from generation to generation and across borders of time and space. The skipping games, ring games and other types of repetitive movement/rhythm games we played as children stay with us for decades. Say the words “Mother, May I?” or “Brown Girl in the Ring” in the right places, and chances are you’ll find scores of people of all ages willing and eager to teach you how to play the game. So; what movement/rhythm games did you play as a child? What types of games do we have in common? What can we learn about each other as we teach each other our childhood games? Join Nalo Hopkinson and award-winning children’s writer Ellen Klages (and their respective toy boxes) so that we can all share an active 70 minutes of serious fun. Expect clapping, chanting, dashing about, and general silliness.
Presenters: Nalo Hopkinson, Ellen Klages
3:00-4:15 P.M.
I refuse to decide between two panels with my family members until the moment I have to decide, so I'll put them here and see how my mood is at the time.
Occupy SF/F
Salon B/C
What’s happening with the Occupy movement? What started it and why does it matter? Let’s discuss what happened in Oakland, what effects the movement is having on the world, and whether and how science fiction and fantasy relate to what we’re seeing.
Moderator: Debbie Notkin
Panelists: Alex Gurevitch, Naamen Tilahun, Nick Mamatas, Steve Boyett
OR
Look, Mom, I’m a Unicorn!
Sacramento
Shapechangers have been beloved in stories and mythology since the dawn of the human race. The idea of shifting into another body opens a ton of questions about identity and self-perception. What are some of the best examples in fiction of shapechangers? What can go terribly wrong with shapechanging? What happens when there are no limits?
Moderator: Daniel Starr
Panelists: Valerie Frankel, Courtney, Guy W. Thomas, Christie Yant
Readings: Madeleine Robins, Ivy Blaine, Greer Woodward
Santa Rosa
4:30-5:45 P.M.
Readings: Liz Henry, Anaea Lay, Julia Dvorin
Santa Rosa
8:00-9:15 P.M.
Body Image 201
Salon A
Body image is often used as a replacement term for “how I feel about my weight,” but a great many more factors impact body image: gender (of course), but also race, height, ethnicity, age, level of fitness, and more. Let’s discuss how these factors affect one another, and what’s involved in examining and enriching the conversation around body image.
Moderator: Debbie Notkin
Panelists: Laurie Toby Edison, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Aaron Spielman
9:30-10:45 P.M.
Our Monsters, Ourselves
Salon B/C
Vampires in modern urban fantasy seem to reflect contemporary Western bodily obsessions: they’re all thin, pale, good-looking, and we never see them eat solid food. Zombies, on the other hand, seem to reflect a different set of body anxieties. What do the monsters in our contemporary fiction say about how we think about our bodies?
Moderator: Eric Zuckerman
Panelists: Lori Selke, Jay Ridler, Ann Wilkes
Sunday, April 1
9:00-10:15 A.M.
Loving Something Problematic
Salon B/C
Most of us have at least a few books, movies, or TV shows that we love that are also problematic in their depiction of race, gender, class, or something else. How can we be fans of these things while still acknowledging their flaws? How can we discuss the flaws in these works without incurring the wrath of devoted fans?
Moderator: Liz Argall
Panelists: M. Christian, Andrea Blythe, Carolyn Cooper, Nalo Hopkinson
10:30-11:45 A.M.
Honored Guest Readings: Shelley Jackson by video, Nalo Hopkinson
Santa Rosa
1:30-2:45 A.M. (they probably mean P.M.)
Bodies on the Line
Salon A
Soldiers, sex workers, models, circus performers, dancers, athletes: all work in professions where the body in space is the primary instrument, place of value and risk. How is your life different when your body is your primary instrument? How does society value and mythologize the different modes of body work, and how do the practitioners see it? How do activities shape bodies and people’s relationship to their body?
Moderator: Jaym Gates
Panelists: Elsa Hermens, Courtney Eckhardt, Darrin Barnett
3:00-4:15 P.M.
Post Mortem
Salon B/C
Come and tell us what you loved, what you hated, what could be improved, and share with us your stories about this year and ideas for future years!
Moderator: Vylar Kaftan, and whichever of the ConCom is still functional
There is NO chance I'll go to everything I've chosen. I require lots and lots of downtime. Still, it's a wonderful schedule, and I can't wait.
Yay, FOGcon!
Friday, March 30
1:30-2:45 P.M.
75-Minute Writing Workout
Sacramento
Hone your fiction-writing skills in a timed environment. All writers are welcome.
Moderator: Vylar Kaftan
3:00-4:15 P.M.
Outlaw Bodies Roundtable
San Jose
Sometimes, just being who you are is enough to make you an outlaw — whether that’s because you’re a POC in a sundown town, a genderqueer person in a sexually-binary society, or a cyborg in a flesh-only space station. What examples of this do we have in the literature, and how do people cope — both in the real world and in the literature? This will be a roundtable/ salon-type discussion.
Facilitator: Lori Selke
4:30-5:45 P.M.
Designing Alien Bodies
Salon B/C
Aliens are probably going to have very different biology than humans do. How do bodies evolve from their surrounding environments? What might be different if an alien evolved in a waterless wasteland, or a chlorine swamp, or in the goo-powered city we designed at FOGcon 1?
Moderator: Ann Wilkes
Panelists: Carol Dorf, M. Christian, David Levine
8:00-9:15 P.M.
ConTention
Sacramento
Last year we kicked off FOGcon 1 with “ConTention” — a panel all about arguing; the sort of arguments that cause flamewars to erupt in newsgroups, or bring other discussions to a grinding halt. Here’s where we can have them and have fun with them. Last year, Miéville, Card, Tolkien, and many others were the subject of argument — what’ll it be this year? Without audience participation, there’s no event: bring your favorite arguments with you!
Moderators: Steven Schwartz, Liz Henry
9:30-10:45 P.M.
Mars Wants Our Genitals
Sacramento
Humanity has often been described as exogamous — if it’s strange, and new, we want to have sex with it. This was simple enough when it was the people from the group down the river who spoke strangely — but what will it mean as we move out into the universe? Writers have already gone there — James Tiptree Jr.’s “And I Awoke And Found Me Here By The Cold Hill’s Side”, for example. How will we relate to a universe whose expectations of sex (if they exist at all) may be very, very different from ours?
Moderator: Shannon Prickett
Panelists: Mary Anne Mohanraj, Steven Schwartz, David Levine, Jean Marie Stine
Saturday, March 31
9:00-10:15 A.M.
What I Reread and Why
Salon B/C
When many readers start slipping into depression, we compulsively re-read a set of books and series that comfort us. For example, each of these books/series may have a strong female protagonist who, after being misunderstood or rejected by her birth family, goes on to create a new family that understands. Do other people find themselves re-reading certain books or series under specific conditions? What books? What do we gain by this re-reading? Is it different than random re-reading? More generally, what books, or types of books, do we re-read? Are there books that you really enjoyed that you will never again pick up? What do we gain by revisiting a story when we already know the plot?
Moderator: Lynn Kendall
Panelists: Anaea Lay, Jackie Gross, Andrew Clark
10:30-11:45 A.M.
Who Are You?
Sacramento
Exactly what is a body? Is it just the usual two arms and two legs? How does how we look or how we are shaped affect what we think of as us? Does a wheelchair become part of a person over time? Let’s also discuss cybernetics, and their integration with a person’s self-image.
Moderator: Betsy Lundsten
Panelists: Courtney Eckhardt, Guy W. Thomas, Anaea Lay
1:30-2:45 P.M.
Nalo Hopkinson Honored Guest Presentation
Salon B/C
It wasn’t until Nalo moved to North America as an adult that she began to hear people saying wistfully, “But I have no culture.” And yet, human beings make their own cultures and sub-cultures, beginning in childhood. Children everywhere build bonds with each other by accessing and re-enacting shared libraries of movement, rhythm and chants that are mysteriously passed down from generation to generation and across borders of time and space. The skipping games, ring games and other types of repetitive movement/rhythm games we played as children stay with us for decades. Say the words “Mother, May I?” or “Brown Girl in the Ring” in the right places, and chances are you’ll find scores of people of all ages willing and eager to teach you how to play the game. So; what movement/rhythm games did you play as a child? What types of games do we have in common? What can we learn about each other as we teach each other our childhood games? Join Nalo Hopkinson and award-winning children’s writer Ellen Klages (and their respective toy boxes) so that we can all share an active 70 minutes of serious fun. Expect clapping, chanting, dashing about, and general silliness.
Presenters: Nalo Hopkinson, Ellen Klages
3:00-4:15 P.M.
I refuse to decide between two panels with my family members until the moment I have to decide, so I'll put them here and see how my mood is at the time.
Occupy SF/F
Salon B/C
What’s happening with the Occupy movement? What started it and why does it matter? Let’s discuss what happened in Oakland, what effects the movement is having on the world, and whether and how science fiction and fantasy relate to what we’re seeing.
Moderator: Debbie Notkin
Panelists: Alex Gurevitch, Naamen Tilahun, Nick Mamatas, Steve Boyett
OR
Look, Mom, I’m a Unicorn!
Sacramento
Shapechangers have been beloved in stories and mythology since the dawn of the human race. The idea of shifting into another body opens a ton of questions about identity and self-perception. What are some of the best examples in fiction of shapechangers? What can go terribly wrong with shapechanging? What happens when there are no limits?
Moderator: Daniel Starr
Panelists: Valerie Frankel, Courtney, Guy W. Thomas, Christie Yant
Readings: Madeleine Robins, Ivy Blaine, Greer Woodward
Santa Rosa
4:30-5:45 P.M.
Readings: Liz Henry, Anaea Lay, Julia Dvorin
Santa Rosa
8:00-9:15 P.M.
Body Image 201
Salon A
Body image is often used as a replacement term for “how I feel about my weight,” but a great many more factors impact body image: gender (of course), but also race, height, ethnicity, age, level of fitness, and more. Let’s discuss how these factors affect one another, and what’s involved in examining and enriching the conversation around body image.
Moderator: Debbie Notkin
Panelists: Laurie Toby Edison, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Aaron Spielman
9:30-10:45 P.M.
Our Monsters, Ourselves
Salon B/C
Vampires in modern urban fantasy seem to reflect contemporary Western bodily obsessions: they’re all thin, pale, good-looking, and we never see them eat solid food. Zombies, on the other hand, seem to reflect a different set of body anxieties. What do the monsters in our contemporary fiction say about how we think about our bodies?
Moderator: Eric Zuckerman
Panelists: Lori Selke, Jay Ridler, Ann Wilkes
Sunday, April 1
9:00-10:15 A.M.
Loving Something Problematic
Salon B/C
Most of us have at least a few books, movies, or TV shows that we love that are also problematic in their depiction of race, gender, class, or something else. How can we be fans of these things while still acknowledging their flaws? How can we discuss the flaws in these works without incurring the wrath of devoted fans?
Moderator: Liz Argall
Panelists: M. Christian, Andrea Blythe, Carolyn Cooper, Nalo Hopkinson
10:30-11:45 A.M.
Honored Guest Readings: Shelley Jackson by video, Nalo Hopkinson
Santa Rosa
1:30-2:45 A.M. (they probably mean P.M.)
Bodies on the Line
Salon A
Soldiers, sex workers, models, circus performers, dancers, athletes: all work in professions where the body in space is the primary instrument, place of value and risk. How is your life different when your body is your primary instrument? How does society value and mythologize the different modes of body work, and how do the practitioners see it? How do activities shape bodies and people’s relationship to their body?
Moderator: Jaym Gates
Panelists: Elsa Hermens, Courtney Eckhardt, Darrin Barnett
3:00-4:15 P.M.
Post Mortem
Salon B/C
Come and tell us what you loved, what you hated, what could be improved, and share with us your stories about this year and ideas for future years!
Moderator: Vylar Kaftan, and whichever of the ConCom is still functional