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I bought a painting at MidWestcon called something like Dragon Orchids. The other day I picked some flowers from my garden and rather liked how they went together...

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"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.

"I said, 'The parents don't want the refund. They want a place for their children to swim,'" camp director Aetha Wright said.

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shsilver

1. Neil Gaiman is a friend of mine. I first met him at Torcon when Cheryl Morgan (who knew him) and I borrowed his Hugo to pose with as we imagined winning one for Emerald City (which in fact we did, later, but that's another story). But I didn't really speak to him at the time, so I really truly met Neil as his Guest of Honor liaison at Penguicon 2.0. I was not previous to that a big fan of Neil's, and I'm not exactly a rabid fan of his work now - though I find much of it delightful, other of it is not to my taste or goes over my head much in the manner of the writing of Gene Wolfe, of whom Neil is, in turn, a big fan.
   
   I had heard of The Sandman comics but hadn't read them until my honeymoon in 2001, when Laura Hewitt sent them with us to Cozumel and they became a critical factor in the lying-around-recovering-from-the-sunburn-we-got-while-snorkeling phase of the week. Previous to that, I'd read Good Omens when the wolfpack loaned it around enthusiastically, which I think was shortly after it came out. But when I became Neil's liaison, like a good liaison, I went to read his work. Turned out there was too much of it to read between then and that Penguicon, but it also turned out Neil was a delight, and we got along really well, so by happenstance and inclination I helped him out at three more events that year, (and at the Nebulas the next spring thanks to shsilver himself, actually). I have kept picking up his books and stories, many of which I have read before they were published, because sometimes he honors me with beta reader duty, or asks me to favor him with a quick proof of something, so in this way and also through working for Subterranean Press I have beta read, copyedited or proofed drafts or editions of Sunbird, Anansi Boys, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The newspaper/poster version of A Study in Emerald, some of Fragile Things (that was during Balticon; Neil almost never stops working on his writing, even during a con), Odd and The Frost Giants, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and his story in Songs of the Dying Earth, plus little things like the Halloween piece he published a couple years ago and showed a few of us the weekend of Mike Ford's funeral, which was just before it went to press.
   
   In the meantime, Neil and I have become friends, and I have also gotten a little slice of fame through an essay I wrote that first year, called Notes on Neil-Handling. It has been convenient for Neil to refer other conrunners to that essay, and he has delightedly related to me how people in distant countries I've never been to say things like, "We're not sure we have exactly followed the instructions of Anne Murphy, but we have tried." Sometimes I meet people and find out they are fans of Neil, and mention the essay, and find out they have read it already. I also had fun and privilege of introducing him at the banquet at Mythcon.
   
   As a friend and assistant to Neil, I am sometimes privy to information about his private life that is not public, but I don't share it with other people any more than he does, so if you are looking for gossip I will likely disappoint you. But I have very much enjoyed meeting all of the people I have been lucky to meet through my association with him, including of course his other assistants, the Fabulous Lorraine and Cat Mihos -- they are both of them fabulous in truth. It will be good to see him at the upcoming Worldcon, Anticipation, where he is a Guest of Honor and I am his liaison to the con. It will also be a lot of work - Neil is currently a rock star in fandom, so assisting him involves crowd management, phrases like "and we're moving," press conferences, skill at procuring dinner reservations for suddenly larger groups of people or acquiring clothing accessories like cuff links and bow ties on short notice, and etc. But it's good work, and rewarding work, and I'm happy to do it. Because he's also a very nice person who works very, very hard, and he's also, well, Neil. Whose smile when he shares something that truly tickles him still manages to be shy, after all these years of all of us loving him.
   
   
2. Apples to Apples
   
   Nothing compares to my first game of Apples to Apples, which was also the first time I met shsilver, and though we did not know each other found we were sufficiently on the same wavelength that I took every one of Steven's adjective cards, to the point where he drew one and turned to me to ask, "should I just give it to you now?"
   
   In some ways it is sad how few times since then Steven and I have met in person, but since he was and is happily married to a very nice person, I had to conclude a long time ago that that legendary Apples to Apples game was not in fact the Universe saying we were fated to be together romantically. Then again we have collaborated on a number of endeavors, and I dare say we shall again, so fate has at least thrown us together in the same bag. (of apples...? And made pie? Keith, I'm blaming you for this turn of mind.)
   
   Other memorable games include playing Apples to Apples with Carl Sagan's niece over at Mary's apartment and learning how much it bugged her when people misquoted her uncle as saying "billions and billions..."
   
   I believe the game is best played in smaller groups of people. Say, fewer than 8. Which is probably part of why my crate version of the game has gotten very little use.
   
   
3. Midfanzine was and perhaps is the fanzine produced by Midwest Conventions, Inc, or MidFan. The group and the fanzine are about smoffing in the midwest, as was MidWest Construction, the con where I met Steven and Apples to Apples. I edited three editions of MidFanzine, which I will get up on eFanzines any year now. One includes an essay by Steven on "Fannish Apples to Apples" and some awesome illustrations of that by Kurt Erichsen. I'm trying to revive the group; we have a discussion list. Check it out.
   
   Through MidFanzine I had fun publishing artwork and articles and also one of my favorite poems by Laura Hewitt:
   
   Recurrance
   
   You know that dream?
   
   You know, the science-fiction one. Where you have been given a bi-cornate uterus, and your ovaries stuffed with millions of redundant-data engineered unicellular genotypes, and eventually you will allow yourself to give birth, every month, to the hermaphroditic parents of two more species to colonize a terraformed planet, becoming the Supreme Justice of Clarke's law, a living ark of a new covenant, the Isis throne to the Osiris cycles of a new earth, Moses' cradle among the bulrushes? Where every cell your skin sheds will grow to be a new plant, a colony of microorganisms? You should be a little grossed out, but it all feels perfectly natural — perfectly wonderful, perfectly blissful. And you smile benignly, fat with life, floating among millions of spilled-salt, throbbing stars, and press your forehead against the viewport, reaching tender fingertips to that blue-white saltwater opal that calls you to your mutual destiny? And you know that, whenever you have that other dream from now on, that other dream where you haven't really graduated and can't find the final exam for the course you'd never been to even once that semester, you'll smile serenely at the principal and say, "I'm sorry I didn't learn what I came here to learn, but it's not what I need to know. Excuse me, I have a world to populate." And you look...
   
   
   You know that dream?
   
   
   The dream of anticipating cats?
   
   
   How do you have it again?
   
   
   How do you have it again?
   
   
   
4. Dayton
   
   I haven't seen much of Dayton yet. I live half an hour away, in Yellow Springs. I've been downtown in Dayton four times for a) dinner in the Oregon District, b) dinner and a drag show, c) the gay pride parade, and d) dinner in the Oregon District (same place as a. The oregon district is not actually that big).
   
   There are good people in the area, though, and an amazing network of Rails to Trails biking trails. Soon I intend to check out the museums and the art institute.
   
   
5. Ann Arbor
   
   I can speak at great length about how Ann Arbor is no longer the hippie down-to-earth small town with all the resources of a big city where I was privileged to be born and grow up attending alternative, student-centered schools and thus become one of that rare breed of person who can say "I liked high school" without having her nose grow metaphorically longer. It is yippified so that art galleries are more common than art and dance studios, the music scene is not what it was and Zingerman's is not what it was and Drakes Candy shop and restaurant is gone and downtown is gutted of many of the wonderful things like, well, drugstores and camera stores and department stores and a downtown McDonalds with stained glass windows and the Pan Tree restaurant (and then Denny's downtown, briefly) and Fantasy Attic Costumes and Ryder's Hobby Shop, and Borders died and came back in Zombie form (shudder) and Kerrytown is Upscale and no longer a place to make your own candles on the lower level, but Dawn Treader books still exists (now above ground!) as does the Michigan Theater and the Hands-on Museum and many things but not the Graceful Arches stage at the Art Fair nor Discount records, nor our once-proud record of having the most used book stores per capita of any town in the US.
   
   For the last 7 years of living there I drove around with my head half in a ghost shell of the city that was no longer there, and it hurt.
   
   So it was time to leave.
   
   But it's still a nice place to visit.
   
   

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Tags: hugos2009

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1. Dance
   
   If I were to dance for you, as hard as that would be to do, would you watch?
   
   That was written on the bathroom wall at Grinnell, and it struck a chord for me, but I don't think it means to me something that's obvious in the words. Is dancing hard for me? No. Dancing is like breathing, like singing with your body. I have danced since I was little, danced down the street despite my sister digging me in the ribs with her elbow, danced with my family every holiday and with friends in childhood summer solstice parties, barefoot in the grass, barefoot on the beach, and also in the studio and on stage. I love to dance.
   
   Dancing around other people, however, is hard for me now. When I read "would you watch?" I think, "would you see ME?" Not would you enjoy some sexy object dancing in front of you, but would you see me and feel my joy and see what I'm doing there when I try that trick and manage to look like I'm flying instead of falling, because flying is where you fall and miss the ground. I love to dance with other dancers, to play off of each other's themes, and fool around. I used to be married to someone who rarely danced, who didn't understand me and dancing. Dancing around those who do not dance makes me feel awkward and self-conscious. People are jealous, or lewd, and just generally don't understand. Sometimes, I dance, and people catch the joy and share a smile with me, and that's wonderful. Sometimes I dance and pretend no one is around me at all, so I can get into the music and the movement. Mostly, I dance by myself, where you cannot see me.
   
   But I'm working on that.
   
   
2. Collaborate
   
   At its best, dancing is collaborative play and performance. I enjoy both of those things. I think participatory fun is the best kind. I like to cook together, paint together, and do all kinds of projects together, including running science fiction conventions. Things that cannot be done by a single person, but involve the interest, ideas, energy and talents of many, are some of the most challenging and rewarding things you can do.
   
   I like to collaborate on not-so-pleasant chores, too. This topic reminds me of Free To Be You and Me, and the poem Housework, which ends,
   
   If you want all the days of your lives
   To seem sunny as summer weather,
   Make sure, when there's housework to do,
   That you do it together!
   
   But generally, if I invite you to do a project with me, it's not because I think it's a chore and I want others to bear the burden. It's because I think it would be fun to do together. If it's not your thing, just say no. But don't get the impression that I'm just inviting you over because of what you can do for me. That sort of invitation is about what we could do, together. Which ought to be fun, or you're doing it wrong.
   
   
3. Orange
   
   Orange you glad I didn't say banana?
   
   
4. Performance
   
   I have been performing on stage from time to time since I was 6. Second grade. I played Mr. Sylvester McMonkey McBean in the play The Sneetches. I did not have the most lines. My friend Frannie, the narrator, had the most lines, but I got to ride my tricycle on stage and wear a red hat! I was hooked.
   
   I like performing on stage. It's a place where you put your all into what you do for a defined period and the metrics of how you did are very very clear, and when the performance is over you're done. The ultimate deadline-driven work, which is the format I work best under.
   
   Every performance is different, and it's not just about being the shiny star solo. I have been a member of a greek chorus (the trick is to listen to each other breathe and inhale to speak at the same time). I have sung in the wonderful Singers choir in Grinnell. I never soloed in the choir, but I loved being part of the choir. The orchestral power of Carmina Burana. The a cappella beauty of the All Night Vigil by Rachmaninoff. I would love to perform singing jazz and blues, but I've never had the opportunity, except in high school.
   
   
5. Laughter
   
   Laughter is The Best Medicine.
   
   Remember when Reader's Digest was worth reading? Well, for the jokes at least. Laughter is a really important part of life. When you choose a partner, choose one that you can make laugh. Turns out I didn't, in my first marriage, and that took away a number of the coping mechanisms I'd grown up with. My parents made me laugh 5 minutes after my first serious boyfriend broke up with me. It isn't about forgetting. It's about accepting. Letting go so you can hold on and move forward. Sometimes it's laughing so you won't cry (though laughing through your tears works too), but sometimes it's just laughing.
   
   I *love* friends I can get the giggles with. I'm going to see one of them in a couple days -yay!- and I hope to have friends like that all my life. I feel lucky to have a family that laughs together. It helps us deal with all the ways we make each other crazy, but it's also just something we share, how we appreciate life and the world. I want to be like that. I choose to be like that. I love to laugh. Loud and high and clear!
   

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• 11:51 @AletheaKontis congrats! the awesome women continue to take over @SFWA! er, I mean join. that's right. :) (*innocent look*) #
• 11:53 RT @mitten Ingite Ann Arbor tomorrow night: igniteannarbor.eventbrite.com/ #

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vichan

kylecassidy

webqatch

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• 06:46 pretty much sick of this sore throat, and the coughing up of phlegm morning ritual. #

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• 09:33 @AletheaKontis can't eat pears! How sad. reminds me of how I couldn't eat cheesecake after smofcon in florida: cheesecake overload. #
• 09:35 @JaeGamer make sure to check out Jeni's Ice Creams while in Columbus. The lemon with blueberry sauce is really good! #

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• 10:12 is eating a banana. Thrilling, I know. #
• 12:34 New discussion group for MidFan (Midwest conrunning): bit.ly/18KghX #
• 13:43 I miss you, Banana. #
• 15:20 @Sorcycat :P with a flourish. I miss the banana I ate this morning, not a euphemistic banana. C.f. Grr: I miss you, cupcake. #
• 16:24 Never mind, I have a pear now. #
• 16:50 The banana is forgotten, in favor of the pear. #

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Hey folks. Just wanted to remind everyone that we're shooting the short movie, "Love Song Straight from the Heart" next Sunday. I have about fifteen confirmed extras, and a number of "probably"s, but I need between 50 and 100 people to make it work well, so if you are at least 21 and interested in being in a movie, please be at Club Divine on N. Washington in Ypsi at 10:30 am one week from today. This is not a paying gig, but you will receive screen credit, and when Monkey Rampant and Lion Belly are doing feature films and skyrocketing into stardom, you can say, "hey...I did a movie with those guys!"

Besides, it'll be fun. There will probably also be some downtime, so bring a book or something.

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• 09:41 My dad is so fabulous, he got up this morning, made himself breakfast, and did the dinner dishes while I slept in! #

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• 20:38 Show support for democracy in Iran add green overlay to your Twitter avatar with 1-click - helpiranelection.com/ #
• 23:29 Looking like the best route to worldcon will require staying overnight in NYC. airlines are weird. A night in NYC, I can handle. #
• 00:24 @nalohopkinson beddy-bye for me too. Oh wait, I have to drive home from work first. Why don't we have transporters *yet*?! Night. #
• 12:21 Have discovered leaving a snack bar next to the bed at night is a good way to facilitate sleeping in. #
• 14:02 Have friends and family who smoke? Check out the alternative: www.njoycigarettes.com/ #
• 15:34 I just did my full physical therapy for my shoulder for the first time in way too long. Had to lower some weights but I did it. #

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Oktapodi from Asım Varol on Vimeo.

coffeeem

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