Arisia article in the Phoenix

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Arisia 2011: Bigger, better, and building up to Boskone

Apparently Arisia is a sexathon? I must be doing the wrong events!

As for having once been part of Boskone, I guess fact-checking is dead. :)

Comments

[ron_newman]

Reporter can't count, either:

now they've both grown so big that they actually take place in the same hotel two weeks apart

Edit: After reading my comment on her blog, she fixed this.

(other than these inaccuracies, however, this was actually a decent writeup of a number of panels and events)

[londo.livejournal.com]

Well, Arisia *was* originally founded by a bunch of people who thought Boskone was too old and stuffy for them. So that's not mind-blowingly inaccurate.

[ron_newman]

... and who wanted a convention in Boston, at a time when Boskone had (by necessity) moved to Springfield.

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

...and whom wanted costuming events, at a time when Boskone had banned costuming

Banned costuming?

[arxacies.livejournal.com]

But..what is a convention without costuming? It's like Christmas without..Christmas-y things.

Re: Banned costuming?

[archangelbeth]

As I recall the rumors, way-back-when, Boskone was trying to be a "literary convention." Please to be reading the words within the quotes with the snootiest faux british accent you can imagine.

I went to one Boskone, back in that era, and it was... okay. The art show was absolutely pathetic, though.

I gather that Boskone has loosened up a bit, though, from some of the flyers I see or get sent occasionally.

Re: Banned costuming?

[ron_newman]

Depends on definition of 'way back when'. I'm not sure when you went, but take a look at Boskone history (noting especially the 1980s) and The Rise and Fall of the Giant Boskones. This is all before my time but it's legendary.

For a more purely 'literary' local convention, see Readercon.

Re: Banned costuming?

[archangelbeth]

OH! Ford in 1997! That must be when I met him! I had this totally unattached memory of talking to him in at a con, and I didn't think it was Worldcon...

Well, the rumors that I'd heard must've been around the mid-to-late 90s, then.

Re: Banned costuming?

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

The text of the Boskone Letter is at http://www.nightsong.com/phr/boskone-25.txt If we are going to talk about it, people should at least have the facts.

[eanja]

This is the second year in a row that the same person has written the con up as "OMG, Arisia is all about sex!" Sure, there are panels on alternative stuff, but I really don't think it's such a huge part of the con that married monogamous people need to be warned away.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't. But then, I've been going to Arisia a lot longer than I've been married.

I can't help wondering if articles like this bring in a bunch of teens expecting, well, more of a sexathon than I assume there actually is.

Given the robust Fast Track program and the abundance of family-friendly programming in general, the article does present a very one-sided view of Arisia! I might even call it single-minded. :D

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

I can't help wondering if articles like this bring in a bunch of teens expecting, well, more of a sexathon than I assume there actually is.

This was one of several factors that contributed to the clusterfuck known as the Boskone From Hell (Yes, I was there!). Tons of underage first-time "fans" looking for the party scene...

[ron_newman]

For those who weren't there (like me), this is probably worth reading:

The Rise and Fall of the Giant Boskones, by Mark L. Olson

It describes the series of events that led Boskone to radically downsize and move (temporarily) to remote places like Springfield and Framingham.

[alpha-helixx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not to crazy about the attitude the author has taken in regards to that. Yes, there are sexy and kinky things happening, and yes there are lots of people who get together to have sexy and kinky fun times. The author makes it seem like Arisia is nearly an adults only thing while totally ignoring the fact that things are pretty tame during the day and that with the fast track and turtle track it's one of the more kid-friendly cons out there.

I agree with that totally..

[arxacies.livejournal.com]

having gone to my first Arisia my experience was that the sexy and kinky fun times had to be looked for specifically. I'm sure they happened but it wasn't really "in your face". If it wasn't for the fact that I was supporting a good friend who was on the Sacred Sexuality panel I would have gone though the whole con without being exposed to anything more sexual than what you would see in a PG-13 movie(maybe even PG).

If Arisia was a sexathon I am pretty sure that wouldn't be the case.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

What I found interesting was that after that intro, the reporter discussed panels attended, and none of them were about sex.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I think it's fair to say that Arisia and Boskone were once the same con. Her description is certainly an oversimplification of a complex process -- but I'd say, in general outline, it's more-or-less correct.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

In the early days of Arisia, the only connection between Arisia and Boskone was the source of their names and that they're both winter SF cons in Massachusetts. The founders of Arisia mostly came from UMass, Amherst and NotJustAnotherCon (held at UMass).

Since then, Arisia has grown and acquired some volunteers from Boskone.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

This is the Phoenix. They're only incidentally concerned with facts anyhow.

[madfilkentist]

The Phoenix ran a very good article on filk a couple of years ago. I'm disappointed with their printing this garbage.

As others have noted, Arisia and Boskone were never the same con. A con started by people who are dissatisfied with another con doesn't thereby become "the same con."

[wrenn.livejournal.com]

IIRC (I have exec staffed Anime Boston) I remember her from that crowd. Compared to an anime con, any overtly sexuality themed panel is far more than they are used to dealing with. (outside of 'hentai-dubbing' late at night and over 18).

I was amused, though, when I was involved with them. Non-anime cons were far more 'free' in many was than they were. Even with all the skimpy costumes on teenage and early 20 somethings.

[samuraix47.livejournal.com]

I think when this same thing cropped up last year, written by the same person, I took a look at the listing of all the programming which you can see here... http://2011.arisia.org/Tracks2011 and counted them all and compared which may have been considered about sex or related to sex or sexuality. So out of a total of 640 listed events, lectures, panels, etc. the Social Issues track contains the most related to this with 36 total items, not all of which are about sex. There's a few in Anime and Literature. No way is this close to half of the programming that Maddy Myers says is "about the best way to bang." That is just an undeserved characterization for 6 percent of convention.

[ron_newman]

As someone who wandered from event to event working entirely from the Pocket Program .... I didn't even know that Arisia's programs were divided into 'Tracks'. The Pocket Program makes no mention of them.

[noeltheone.livejournal.com]

[The following is from someone who has helped run Programming at Arisia before, but not recently.]

Tracks are mostly an internal way of organizing the programming, and trying to make sure we are really having something for at least most people. Tracks are generally coordinated by a Track Manager, who typically has a deeper focus on a particular topic, and looks at all panels on that topic during the brainstorming and early planning stages, often making recommendations for panelists in their area.

Once the con opens, the tracks are considerably less important, and are generally omitted from publications due to space constraints.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

...which they shouldn't be, because some tracks have panels with similar topics, and people get confused about which one is about literature and which one is fan interest. There's no reason not to do at least a single-letter code for tracks.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

Although it would be really nice to be able to list something as cross-track if we were doing that.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

...is anything cross-track?

I mean, if it is, just having letters for both of them after the title should do. Panel About Music in Genre Fiction (L/M) or something.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

A lot of panels on cross-track in topic, though not in how the are organized by the staff.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that a lot of panels morph into different subjects than was originally intended, sometimes even cross-track. In part that may be because some of us get a bit over-clever when writing up a panel description; I know that I've been guilty of that more than once in my time!

Hmm...eighteen of my panel suggestions were used this year, and I was assigned to seven of them. Suddenly, I find myself wishing that all panels were taped, so we could see how they went! But on second thought, maybe not. There are some paneling moments I'd rather not have preserved for all eternity. :D

[kate_nepveu]

I know I went to one panel (Species as an Analogy for Race) not realizing it was on the media track and was surprised to hear a couple of times, "well, this is a media track panel, I guess we should talk more about movies."

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

IIRC, we used to have track info in pocket programs. But I haven't saved mine from previous years.

I know that some of the people on the "Heinlein in the Bedroom" panel thought they were on a Literature Track panel, and I was getting complaints about it - I was like "whoa, that is not my track! I am not in control of that!" But it was assumed that Heinlein automatically = literature. (I think it was fan interest, like the rest of the "in the bedroom" panels.)

When people on a panel can't always tell what their focus is supposed to be, it's time to indicate that on their pocket programs. Many of us have e-mail discussions with fellow panelists before the con, but not all of us; there are always a few people who are just going off the incomplete information in the pocket program.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, I remember that when I expressed interest in panels initially they were sorted by track, but I don't remember that being really obviously flagged on the final schedule for participants (it may well have been there, but I don't remember it jumping out at me).

Not that it was an issue for any of the ones I was on, but the situation you describe is definitely a problem!

[tehuti.livejournal.com]

A little feedback: I was one of the panelists on that panel. We spent about 50% of the panel talking about Heinlein's work and his affect on society, and the other 50 or so on how his work affected us individually. We had a very active and engaged audience, and I think the panel was quite good, one of the highlights of my con. But to relate this to the above discussion, this panel was definitely a "cross-track" panel.

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

and are generally omitted from publications due to space constraints.

They track names are usually omitted from the panel grid fold-out but, usaully in the Pocket Program. Often there is a section in the front or back where you can see the items listed by track. Other years we've gone with icons next to the titles (like books for Lit.).
Don''t see that this year so it may have been a space or formatting issue.

[ron_newman]

The Pocket Program has some icons -- Art, Music, Game, Presentation, Combat, FastTrack, Reading, Anime, Film, Video -- but many events have none of these icons next to them.

The 2009 pocket program has a track listing, but 2008, 2010, and 2011 don't. (I don't have any earlier programs.)

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

This year's representation is better than last years, but that's not saying much.

[eanja]

And looking at the same programming list, there 57 fast track events, plus a couple specifically YA events, which is about 9% of the convention. And that's not counting all the non Fast-track but wonderful for kids stuff like the Higgins weapons demonstrations (when my son was 8, we just parked ourselves there and he couldn't be budged for about 4 hours).

[cos]

Arisia can be quite different things to different people. It's like when someone tries to describe what LiveJournal is like - what they see is the slice of LJ that comes out of who their friends and friends' friends are and what communities they're on. Arisia experiences are partly that - who you go to the con with and who they know - and of course partly what your focus is in your choice of things to go to. So now we know what kind of Arisia this reporter's friends are into. And yes, that is a real slice of Arisia, and one I've experienced (by choice) most years. But it's certainly not a representation of everyone's Arisia.

[madfilkentist]

One's experience certainly will affect one's reporting; no one could attend everything without tenfold self-replication. But a statement such as "half the panels are about the best ways to bang" is categorically false and demonstrates professional irresponsibility.

[eanja]

In particular, describing 6% of the con as half the con, with the specific implication that non-queer or older people will feel unwelcome, and that she personally feels like an outsider and can only cope with such things due to previous family exposure is very misleading. I've never had a kid in fast-track, but I still manage to be aware that Arisia has a lot of stuff for families and kids and isn't a place that they need to be warned away from.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad that my parents don't read the Phoenix! I'd hate having to explain why I took their grandchild to a round-the-clock four-day orgy and bondage festival. :D

[archangelbeth]

*SNRK*

I do admit, my kid has, at prior Arisias, gone into certain dealer's rooms which... Well, I think she was three or four when she had to be talked out of a little key-chain sized "pen-chain" flogger as a toy. (She really liked the sensation of running those little pen-keeper-chains through her fingers, I think.) Not that I was explaining any of the issues except that it was made of metal and I didn't want it being flailed around in the house! My tactic with such things was to deal with them very matter-of-factly and calmly, so as to discourage Curiosity About The Forbidden Thing That Makes Mommy Act Weird. Lecture-mode can work wonders to make anything Not Worth Investigating! And now, she's an adorable little prude. "Ew, grown-up stuff!"

(If anything, the kink selection at this year's Arisia was pretty small and mild, from what I saw. I don't think there were any dealer's rooms that my little prude wandered into and did an about-face, except one that'd been heavily Perfumed.)

I've also never had a kid in Fast Track...

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

... and every year I read the description of their programming wishing I could go to a bunch of them! Kudos to Fast Track for putting together stuff that I-as-a-teen/kid would've loved.

[noeltheone.livejournal.com]

FWIW, this isn't so much a Phoenix article, as a post on a very specifically-focused Phoenix blog.

[ron_newman]

Right -- it's not in the printed paper this week.

However, these are in the printed paper, and somewhat relevant to one of this year's Arisia panels (Boston as Setting):

11 fictional glimpses of the Boston of tomorrow

COMIC: The illustrated history of Boston's future, 2020-2100 AD

Interview: The authors of Future Boston on building the Boston of tomorrow

How to create a readable future, by "Several Future Boston authors" (this one is only online, not in print)