Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
WisCon Activities
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2019 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
I'm on my way today to WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention. This'll be the tenth anniversary of my first!
I'm a panellist or performer for three sessions:
- "Ethics In The Good Place And Crazy Ex-Girlfriend", panellist, Friday 9:00-10:15pm, in Caucus.
Fantastical US TV shows The Good Place and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend both explore what we owe to each other, and to ourselves. What ethical frameworks do they explore and seem to approve? How do the shows judge the appropriateness of self-sacrifice, the importance of pleasure, the choice to fix or leave a dysfunctional relationship, and other ethical issues? And how do they use fantasy to approach and consider these questions?
- Tiptree Auction: comedian and auctioneer, Saturday 7:30-9:30pm (probably more like 9pm), in Capitol/Wisconsin.
It is totally fine to just turn up for 15 minutes of this and spend no money and laugh at my jokes and then go get dinner. But also all the money we raise goes to the Tiptree Award.
- "Imaginary Book Club", panellist, Sunday 10:00-11:15am, in Conference 4.
Panelists each choose an exciting book from the last year to describe, and the group discusses them all. The catch: we made all of them up. This year, we might talk about Charlie Jane Anders's inspirational romance, a newly discovered YA dystopia by F. Scott Fitzgerald, G. Willow Wilson's entry in the Babysitter's Club series, and the 90s-nostalgia horror anthology I'll Be There for You(r Blood).
And I will be getting cool free clothes during the Gathering and going to the Dessert Salon and subsequent speeches so I may catch you there!
I am also attempting to meet MetaFilter acquaintances on Sunday night and to hang out with other farflung friends over the course of the next week. Here are some tips for contacting me and so on during the con.
