You’re welcome.

Tags: common knowledge, video, youtube

In my quest to find more rice recipes (cause I have a giant bag of rice and it’s cheap), I tried this recipe for Spanish rice from Greg Atkinson’s West Coast Cooking. Really easy, fresh ingredients, pretty tasty.

• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 large tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 bay leaf

1. Rinse the rice several times in cold water
2. Let rice drain in strainer
3. Chop the onion
4. Cut the tomato up
5. Put tomato, onion, garlic and oregano in a blender
6. Puree
7. Remove mixture from blender when the blade just spins through the tomato chunks
8. Put mixture in food processor and/or chop stuff by hand until the chunks are much smaller
9. Put mixture back into blender
10. Puree vegetables until they are liquefied
11. Add water to make 4 cups total liquid
12. Pour vegetable liquid into 3 quart saucepan
13. Add salt and bay leaf
14. Bring liquid to boil
15. Add rice to saucepan
16. Reduce heat to low and cover
17. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes until liquid is absorbed
18. Remove lid, stir, and let stand

Tags: cooking, rice, vegetables, vegetarian

I took this recipe for a carmelized onion tart from The Pie and Pastry Bible and modified it a bit to make it a bit easier. I don’t own a tart shell, so I just used a shallow pie plate. I also didn’t use any of the fancier pie crust recipes the author suggested. Just a plain old whole wheat pastry flour, unsalted butter, and chilled water pie crust. As always, recipe below is what I did, not exactly what’s in the cookbook.

• Single shell pie crust
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 6 medium sweet onions
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• ½ ounce Gruyère cheese
• pitted Manzanilla olives

1. Pre-bake the pie crust
2. Lightly beat egg white
3. While still warm, brush the crust with egg white
4. Peel and thinly slice onions
5. In skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over low heat
6. Add onions
7. Sprinkle onions with sugar, salt, and pepper
8. Cover and cook without stirring on lowest possible heat 45 minutes
9. Shred Gruyère cheese finely
10. Preheat oven to 400°
11. Raise heat on onions to medium
12. Stir and cook onions until all liquid has evaporated and they are golden
13. Turn heat to low
14. Add garlic and thyme
15. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes
16. Fill pie shell with onion mixture
17. Sprinkle with Gruyère cheese
18. Place olives on top
19. Bake for 20 minutes or so (until cheese is melted and top is brown)

The result was heavenly. Several folks told me it was the best of the 20 or so pies we had at the last Pie Night. It might become one of my staple pies. Easy to make and so very very tasty.

Tags: cooking, onion, pie

So I’m reading Nariman Behravesh’s Spin-Free Economics (which isn’t). In particular, I’m reading the section on immigration. Behravesh is decidedly pro-immigration. I tend to be middle of the road here, neither falling in with the conservative camp railing against immigrants stealing jobs, nor with the liberal camp that bemoans the poor treatment we give illegal immigrants. Put it another way, I don’t have enough information really to come to any really good opinions about immigration.

I guess the way I’ve been trending in my political thought in the last few years is towards a sort of free-market liberalism. In other words, finding market based solutions for problems that the country faces. I still favor government intervention, but in such a way as to align that intervention with how people naturally behave. I don’t believe markets are magic. Any serious look at the economics of health insurance shows there’s a huge disincentive to that market working properly. But using the free market can have huge benefits. Carbon taxes or an auction based cap and trade system for reducing greenhouse gases, for instance.

Back to the immigration thing. Our current immigration policy essentially allows large numbers of low-skilled immigrants and very few high skilled immigrants. While there’s lots and lots of bloviating about illegal immigrants, there’s very little that’s done about it in comparison to the number of people that are illegally here, though what’s done is fairly harsh. Illegal immigration is largely composed of low skilled immigrants.

High skilled immigrants, like doctors and economists and journalists and programmers, is very limited. Illegal immigration for these kinds of people is much lower. Legal immigration is also limited. But if we put high skilled employees in direct competition with people who are willing to work for less, the benefits to the average American would be much greater than low skilled immigrants. Bringing in one doctor who is willing to work for 10% less than American doctors will help the average American far more than 10 additional minimum wage landscapers.

So how to do that? The thought that occurred to me as I was reading was an auction. Set the number of people allowed to enter the country legally at a fairly high, but limited number, say 250,000 or 300,000 per year. Then auction off those slots. Use the money to help fund job training for those displaced, and for additional safety net protections that conservatives complain about. I.e., they complain about immigrants using welfare. Well, use these visa auctions to fund welfare for immigrants.

The economics of it would favor high skilled immigration, but not cut off low skilled immigration if the number allowed in is set high enough.

At the same time, I would drastically reduce the paperwork necessary to immigrate this way.

Obviously, I can’t have been the first person to think of this. On returning home, a quick search brought up some academic papers relating to the idea. And something on the Becker-Posner Blog, which I generally avoid because Richard Posner is annoyingly a hack in areas outside his expertise. But nothing I could find that was written for a non-economist that discusses both pros and cons.

Tags: immigration, markets, opinion, politics

Yesterday, I went to Hump 5, The Stranger’s annual amateur porn festival. I missed the first year, but have gone every year since. This year was the awesomest! The best in terms of entries overall compared to other years. And also awesomest because because I took my girlfriend. Sharon’s awesome for going with me (and for lots of other reasons). But enough mushy stuff, porn!

• Dance Belt – Two very cute girls and one guy do a naked spoof of Beyonce’s Single Ladies. Awesome part was the naked guy running the camera was visible in the mirrors at the dance studio where they filmed it. I voted this one the funniest, but it was close.
• Citizen Came – Total A for effort here. Documentary of a guy who attempts to masturbate 10 times in one 24 hour period. This is what happens when your girlfriend is in rehab for 28 days.
• Full Swap – Fuzzy security cam action of a swinger apartment. Boring actually.
• Boys Beware – After the success of Getting a Leg Up In Porn a few years ago, a couple of people this year did their own 50s style documentary porno. This one, about the dangers of homosexuals didn’t inspire me. To cliché
• Read My Lips – You’d think porn and books would be an automatic winner for me, but this wasn’t the most inspired.
• I’m Hard – Animation of a rapping dick. Dumb.
• The Good Book – Very bad porn plot about a nun who reads the book of Mormon and gets punished by her priest. They were enthusiastic though.
• How to Please Your Man – Larry King hosts a blow job expert on Larry King Live. With clips from Larry King artfully spliced in. Another A for effort.
• Beyond Gay – Lynn Shelton’s entry, not starring Lynn Shelton. She’s the director who made Humpday, a documentary about two straight guys who made a gay porn for a previous Hump. Dan Savage challenged her to make an actual entry for Hump, and she did. The best dialog of all the entrants, but the decidedly unsexy topic of a lesbian and a fag trying and failing to get each other off but failing because they are not into each other.
• Incubus – Every year there’s one of these types of entries, something that looks really good and really like someone’s film school project that they decided to enter into Hump. Maybe I just have a bias against entries that don’t look amateur enough for my view of an amateur porn festival.
• Dumpster Humpster – Sex in a dumpster. Kind of a magical dumpster like the Narnia wardrobe, that’s bigger inside than outside. They overplayed loaves of bread in a faux-sexy way, and the bread dough was bad. A for creativity though!
• Sex Moves 102 – I think the only entry this year that had both gay and straight sex. Just some made up sex moves with accompanying demonstrations. Really liked this one and up there for both funny and sexy categories.
• Violet Uprising – Really really creepy puppet sex. Really well done, but since the categories were funny and sexy, and not creepy, I couldn’t in good conscious vote it for either.
• Maximum Overload – Cliche plot. Surprising actually, since the porn in Hump is usually kinda creative in ways that real porn isn’t. Guy goes into virtual reality to have sex with V.R. girl. Roommate bumps the power cord, and the girl comes out of V.R. and the guy is stuck inside it. Cute participants. Pretty well put together.
• Trolley Tryst – Dan Savage’s short version: Sluts ride the SLUT. It’s exactly what you’d think it is. Someone had the guts to have sex on the SLUT, with several helpful people to film (at least one on the streetcar and one in a vehicle alongside). Those streetcars aren’t that big. You can’t go to the back of the train to do this and hide, though the streetcar did appear empty except for the driver. Gutsiest entry this year. Top 3 for sexiest.
• Guess Who’s Cumming to Dinner – Eh. Delivery boy. I need say no more.
• The Password – Tell me the password or I will torture you with S&M. With lines even more wooden than actual porn. I had to look away when the needles made an appearance.
• The Modern Housewife – The second 50s style documentary this year. Susie goes next door to borrow some Saran Wrap while her husband is away. Lots of creative uses of Dow Chemical products. Totally hot lesbians. Really pretty funny.
• I Went To a Party and Had a Dream – Guy falls asleep on the couch at a party while multiple other couples have sex on the other end of the couch. Kinda boring except the last scene, which was an outtake of the girl on the other end of the couch projectile cumming on the pretend asleep guy (and thus had his eyes closed so he didn’t see it coming).
• Our Ruinous Love – Clips of various things I would never ever try. Kitchen implements. Traffic cones. Anal hook. Saran wrap. Here’s the thing, either you got to turn me on, or you really need to show how turned on you are. This did neither.
• Fuck – The absolute worst entry this year. Only entry that I thought nothing positive of. At least all the others had something going for them, funny, creative, gutsy, sexy, etc. These guys took a creative idea and made it bad. Evil nemesis poisons two cops johnsons so that if they lose their erections they die. No one gets naked. No style to the dialogue. Hated this so much.
• Cyclust – Sorta stop motion photography style. Two cyclists meet riding and then go have sex. I love the pictures where the two were just smiling at each other, totally into each other. Voted this one for Sexiest just for that. I love seeing two people into each other.
• ET2: Dark Territory – Animation. ET returns. Elliot’s all grown up. Shocking. And diabolical.

Tags: amateur, hump, porn, reviews, the stranger

I’ve been remiss in not posting some promotional/reminder stuff for the upcoming Pie Night. So here’s the scoop:

Doesn't pie look tasty?

Pietoberfest, the next Pie Night is October 17th, officially from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

What is Pie Night? It is a celebration of pie! People come over, and then we eat pie. Sometimes before the sugar crash hits, we converse. There are fruit pies, cream pies, chocolate pies, and meat pies. There are all sorts of pies.

This time I am going to post the rules in the the form of frequently asked questions, because people never seem to read them if they are rules.

Do I have to bring pie?

No. You do not have to bring a pie. I will make enough pie.

Can I bring pie?

Yes, you can bring pie.

Can I bring a cake?

No.

What about cookies? What about cake-pie?

The concept is Pie Night. Every time there’s some joker who thinks it’s funny to ask these questions. It’s about as funny as Jay Leno. If you ask these questions I will revoke your license to breed.

My pie didn’t turn out. I forgot. I ran out of time. What’s the nearest store so I can pick up a pie?

The nearest store for approved Pie Night store-purchased pies is in Chaiten, Chile, which is currently evacuated due to volcano eruption. In other words, do not bring a pie from a store! This is to encourage people to attempt their own pies. If you don’t make a pie, just come and eat pie.

Can I bring anything?

Ice cream and beverages are always welcome, particularly alcoholic beverages. I do not drink, so you don’t want me picking out your alcohol.

Can I bring friends?

Yes.

Can I bring my kids?

If you don’t mind your kids hearing ribald discussion, yes.

Should I R.S.V.P.?

Yes yes yes! Please let me know in the comments or on the Pietoberfest Facebook event if you intend to come, how many friends you plan to bring, and whether you intend to bring pie. I need to know how much pie to make. I don’t mind a few last minute additions or cancellations, but if I end up with 50 people when I expected 25, you may not get pie.

When is it again?

Saturday, October 17th, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. (come early if you want, though)

Where is it?

My condo. It’s small but we’re all friends, right? 2301 Fairview Ave E. Ring WEISS on the call box out front.

Image Long Slice of Pie Ala Mode 4 of 4 by cobalt123 used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 2.0 license.

Tags: events, pie, pie night

Remember in 2002 when the U.S. went to war with Iraq because the U.S. government said Iraq was developing nuclear weapons, and then it turned out that Iraq wasn’t? Me too.

Because of that I’ve been skeptical about U.S. government claims about Iran’s nuclear program for the last couple of years. Having a Democratic President hasn’t lessened my skepticism. Here’s an example.

In an A.P. story on Iran’s obligations to the I.A.E.A. this morning, Iran claims it revealed it’s new secret nuclear facility early. According to them, they don’t need to reveal anything about it until 6 months prior to it going operational. According to the I.A.E.A., the additional protocols to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty require disclosure as soon as Iran started planning. Iran claims they aren’t party to those additional protocols (they voluntarily followed them for a couple of years) anymore, and Mohamed El Baradei (the head of the I.A.E.A.) claims that Iran can’t back out of them.

What are these additional protocols to the N.N.P.T.? Follow that link to read them. What I find interesting is that the I.A.E.A.’s own web site says that the agreement with Iran on those protocols was never in force. And the additional protocols document itself explicitly refers to the date the protocols come into force in the section on when a state has to disclose a facility. It does not refer to the ratification date or the date the I.A.E.A. approves the protocols with that state.

So who’s right? I don’t know. But it’s certainly much more ambiguous than the U.S. government and the I.A.E.A. claim. And my own personal idea of open and forthcoming requires much more than following the legal requirements.

Tags: diplomacy, i.a.e.a., international relations, iran, middle east, non-proliferation, nuclear weapons, opinion, united states

Fairview and Lynn, 1962

Item #63791 from the Seattle Municipal Archives Photograph Collection: Fairview and Lynn, minus my apartment building, September 1962. No Pete’s Market either. It does appear that Robert in Yellow House’s house is there though.

Tags: common knowledge, eastlake, seattle

some Black Caucus members said that Wilson’s outburst is but the latest in a long string of ugly events rooted in racism, such as last week’s flap over Obama addressing the nation’s schoolchildren …

I agree that there’s a large element of racism behind the anger and attacks on Barack Obama, but I don’t think the anger or attacks would disappear if racism wasn’t present (magically). A vocal and more-or-less-in-charge-of-the-party section of the Republican party would proffer idiotic baseless attacks that in previous generations would be laughed as paranoid delusions no matter which Democrat was President. And the media would be a primary legitimizer of those attacks no matter who was President.

Remember Bill Clinton? He was accused of murdering Vince Foster, running drugs, raping women, and having the Arkansas State Patrol kill opponents.

How about Al Gore? He got branded as a liar and an environmental lunatic. Of course, he turned out to be right on the money for his concerns about global warming. Every major case of his lies weren’t things he said. They were things Republicans and journalists said he said, but when quotes were checked he hadn’t said them.

Just a little over four years ago John Kerry helped coin the term Swift-Boating as it’s first subject. The so-called fringe right turned John Kerry’s war service from one of honor and valor to one of lying and cowardice. Their claims were all false.

And now Barack Obama gets the beat-down from the right wing. Racism is changing the substance of their attacks, and perhaps the number of them. But since 1994’s Contract With America, the trend has been towards a Republican party dominated by right wing lunatics with little grasp of the truth. Had we elected Hillary Clinton these attacks would have been anti-woman in nature, rather than racially focused. Even if we elected someone like Dennis Kucinich, we were bound to get crazy falsehoods.

The simple fact is that those who control the Republican party are by and large people who don’t believe anyone but the far right has a legitimate claim to power. And they will believe whatever it takes to confirm their view of the world.

But they are also racists.

Why sensible people remain Republicans I do not understand.

Tags: opinion, politics, republican party

So I was sitting in my chair reading a bit before bedtime last night, when I heard spattering from the dining area. I knew that sound! It’s the sound of water! I recognize it because the unit above mine sent water into my bathroom whenever the resident took her bath before she fixed the problem. This time it’s in an area where there’s no plumbing.

So I headed upstairs to the unit not directly above mine, but one unit over. I knocked. No answer. But I could hear water. So I went back downstairs and quickly looked up their phone number, but I was flustered so I couldn’t figure out the number.

Instead, I rapped on the door of the building manager across from me. She sounded grumpy when she yelled from the other room What is it? Being that it was after 11, I wasn’t surprised. I answered, We have a water situation I answered as she came to the door talking on a cell phone. (She was on her cell phone dealing with other grumpy residents about parking spaces.) She poked her head out of the door and I pointed down the hall to a puddle of water expanding across the hallway. I can hear water in 205, but no one answered when I knocked I told her.

She hurriedly looked through her sets of keys for 205 as well as her phone list and we headed upstairs. She seemed a little loopy. (That would turn out to be the sleeping pill she took 15 minutes earlier; I envy her night even less than my own.) I had her read off a number for me to call on the cell, but she stopped me just after the first ring. Wrong number. Had me dial a different one. Also no answer, so I started leaving a message while she tried to unlock that unit. But I was botching that call so I handed it to her. She didn’t realize it was their voice mail for a moment or two and started trying to talk to someone. Then she left a message telling them she needed to enter their apartment for an emergency. But she couldn’t get her keys to work.

Then I realized the water sounds coming from behind that door were not quite right. I told the manager I bet that 305 might be having problems too. So we climbed one more flight of stairs and sure enough could hear water from that unit. It sounded more like a spray than cascading water like the unit under them. However, no one was home at that unit either. The manager realized she had her own cell on her, so she called that apartment’s owner to tell him we were going in. Then she headed downstairs to find keys.

She returned with the keys and unlocked the door. Water everywhere inside. The water was coming from the toilet tank. But the manager was loopy and started freaking out about getting a plumber there quickly. or finding the correct shut off for the unit. I looked for the faucet knob under the toilet and quickly shut it off. That crisis averted. It was actually a plastic hose that burst.

Units 305, 205 and 105 were all unoccupied last night. If any one of them had residents, the damage would have been much more limited. As it is, the flooring in 305 is probably ruined. The ceiling in the bathroom in 205 looked to be falling apart. Luckily the water didn’t spread beyond the bathroom there. But the floor for my floor is cement, so the water hit it inside the walls and just spread out. 105 had a half inch of water in three rooms, and several walls were soft to the touch.

My damage: well, I slipped on a puddle of water in my kitchen not realizing water had actually entered my apartment. Biffed it big time, wrenching my shoulder pretty good when I over-extended it catching myself. I can’t lift my arm without a fair amount of pain. It’ll be fine in a few days though.

The carpet in my dining area was soaked. The ceiling in my dining area has some soft spots, and water came through the track lighting in the kitchen and down the wall behind one set of cupboards. Not anywhere near as bad as the empty 105. I don’t know yet what parts will need to be replaced.

The building manager called ServPro to come start drying the building out. That guy left sometime between 5 and 6 a.m., but he finished in my place around 4:30 a.m. He left two giant fans and a heavy duty dehumidifier. They are running quite loudly. Right now it sounds like I-5 runs through my condo.

Two Fans and a Dehumidifier

After he left and the fans were running, I was about to finally climb in bed. Then something got me thinking about the light fixture in my dining area. It was off. It had been on. I turned the switch off, then examined it closer. It looked okay, but I had a sneaking suspicion. It took me five minutes to twist the fixture out, what with a messed up shoulder as well as what turned out to be a few extra pounds of water filling the fixture. The light bulbs were under water.

A gallon of water in a light fixture

Where the water was

Not a good end to my weekend.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: life

Due to a scheduling conflict, the next Pie Night is postponed from October 3rd to October 17th.

Repeat, do not show up at my place for Pie Night on October 3rd. I will not be here.

Pietoberfest is now October 17th. Same bat time. Same bat place. Different bat day.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: events

Before I forget, the next Pie Night will be October 3rd. Save the date!

Update: Due to a schedule conflict, Pie Night will be October 17th.

Except it won’t be Pie Night. It’ll be Pietoberfest!

Location: 2301 Fairview Ave E Apt 107, Seattle (my place).

Time: Afternoon through late.

As always, all that’s required to attend is that you like pie. RSVP is requested, however so I can have a head count.

Further promotional posts to follow.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: events, pie, pie night

My mom never talked much about family history. But driving my grandfather around the last 6+ months I’ve learned a ton that I didn’t know before.

• Gramps’ mother’s family was Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, but Gramps quit the church after his mom died. He was irritated that none of the church members his mother had loaned money to would repay. Gram also said he wasn’t too happy that the church changed it’s name a few years ago. Even so, he’s contacted one of the local churches because he wants to have one of their ministers conduct part of the service when he’s buried.
• I’d thought he’d grown up in Ballard. He graduated from Ballard High School, but his family moved around a bit before that. Around 10, he was living off Delridge near where Chief Sealth High School is.
• I’d thought his dad had grown up in Western Washington. His mom did, and his grandmother came to Western Washington in the late 1800s, but the Hathaways came here in the 20s from North Dakota.
• My great grand-father wasn’t born Otto Hallin. His original name was Otto Omaan (sp?). He changed it after the Great War when he got his citizenship. Supposedly he knew a Hallin in the Army.
• Two of Otto’s brothers returned to Sweden rather than serve in the Army during the Great War. Otto nearly disowned them. Gramps thinks this is why he changed his name.
• My great grandmother’s maiden name was Nordwall (sp?). One of her brothers shortened it to Nord when he became a citizen.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s what I remember of his family stories off the top of my head.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: family, life

The last few days have been hectic to say the least. Most of it bad, but not all. Here I shall write about the bad stuff.

Thursday I got a call from Gram. Sort of. She called, but didn’t realize I’d picked up. I could hear her talking to a nurse in the background saying her phone wasn’t working and asking the nurse to call me. Nurse asking for my number. Gram not knowing. I hung up and called Gram thinking the nurse would hear the ring and show her how to answer, but I got voice mail. While I called, the nurse called me and I still haven’t figured out how to switch calls on call waiting, so that went to voice mail. But at least now I knew what hospital.

Gramps was feeling pressure in his chest and short of breath. So he called 911 and went to the ER. They don’t know what’s wrong exactly, though whatever it is isn’t as bad as the heart attacks and blod clot he had in December/January. He’s definitely weaker than he was a couple of weeks ago. And he definitely had more fluid than he should around his heart. They upped his dosage of ferosimide (I probably misspelled that) to get him to piss away the fluid. He’s lost about 7.5 pounds in 4 days, with no bowel movements (which is beginning to be an issue).

Tomorrow morning they’ll put some nuclear material in him and watch it go through his heart on a machine. I don’t know if they’ll send him home afterward, or if they’ll be keeping him.

Meanwhile, I’ve been driving Gram there to visit every day, and spending a fair amount of time with her outside the hospital. Her dementia has been pretty bad, and Gramps didn’t want her to be alone for too long. He’s said they need to hire help, and I think he means it this time. He’s withered in the face of Gram’s opposition before. We even had a conversation with Gram, and she seemed more resigned in her opposition than obstinate. It’s a good, albeit minor, sign as far as I am concerned.

My aunt Gail arrived today to help out watching Gram. One of the things she wants to do is go look at assisted living places with me. We’re hoping that Gramps’ doctors insist on something like that. Both Gram and Gramps need it.

Me, I’m a ball of stress. I’ve gotten very little sleep. But I’ve also taken some time for myself as well. Unfortunately, that cut into my sleep, but it was worth it.

I haven’t forgotten the Walk to Defeat A.L.S. I have half an article on drugs written up, and hopefully I’ll get time to finish it within the next few days. In the meantime, my Walk to Defeat A.L.S. page is still up, and still taking donations.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: family, grandfather, hospital, life

From Tech Know: Kinky boot that whips

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: boots, common knowledge

A Dynavox DV4

I barely remember mom’s voice. The last time she tried to talk to me was over the phone after a family vacation to Ocean Shores. I left a day early because Erin needed to get back to work. On the way home, mom called to ask me something. I couldn’t understand a word she said.

Dad fared better than I did. He was able to interpret mom’s grunts four or five months longer than I could.

At the first A.L.S.A. support group meeting mom went to, someone there loaned her a Dynavox. Basically a talking computer. It has a touch screen that lets you pick letters or words. It has a computer generated voice that speaks what you’ve typed. It’s portable, at least compared to a laptop. Thing weighed more than my laptop though. But it’s design makes it more usable for carrying and speaking than a laptop. Under the hood it ran Windows CE, so it had typical Windows stability issues. The new versions run Windows XP.

Mom had a love/hate relationship with her Dynavox. I asked her to practice with it before she needed to use it. I figured it would be easier to solve any problems with it when she could still talk. But she didn’t. It was too slow. And it was too much like giving up. So she only started using it after her speech was nearly gone.

A Dynavox is a pretty versatile machine, but it’s not designed specifically for A.L.S. patients. It’s primary users are seriously mobility impaired, paralyzed, or with severe loss of fine motor control. Eventually mom got to that point, but not until the last few months she was alive. A.L.S. patients tend to lose their speech either near the beginning of their illness (in the case of bulbar onset A.L.S.) or near the end (in limb onset A.L.S.). There are exceptions, but these are the general cases.

For those with bulbar onset A.L.S., using the touch screen is pretty slow. You can use a U.S.B. keyboard with a Dynavox. Mom could still type 60+ words a minute. So she didn’t slow down that much actually at first. The problem was that you couldn’t map any key on the keyboard to be speak or clear. So she’d have to reach over to the touch screen to make it say what she’d typed. And then she’d have to reach over again to clear it so she could type her next sentences.

Even so, she talked slower than she used to, but was still just as wordy as ever. For instance, Mom would still preface her statements with To answer your question … followed by the answer, rather than just answering. I constantly battled with having the patience to wait for her to get through her wordiness with a slower mode of communication. Not everyone had the patience. Having visitors over would be difficult because while they waited for mom to type something, they would continue the conversation with other people in the room. By the time mom pressed Speak, the conversation would have moved on.

As mom lost the use of her hands, it became more difficult for her to type. Again the A.L.S.A. helped out, this time with buttons and switches and a giant trackball. Instead of typing, she would use the trackball to click on stuff on screen. It was slow, but the Dynavox has built in word prediction, something like what cell phones do.

The A.L.S.A. actually helped out with two Dynavox machines. While they are pretty sturdy, they don’t stand up to repeated abuse. Mom’s Dynavox got dropped a few times. Eventually it stopped working. Once when the U.S.B. port was damaged. Another time when the screen stopped responding. Both times the A.L.S.A. had a second machine for mom to use while the original was getting repaired.

At $7500 a pop, that’s a hell of a lot of help. Mom had pretty good insurance, but they didn’t cover communication. Speech aids were specifically excluded. Most A.L.S. patients don’t have insurance coverage for A.A.C. Without the A.L.S.A., they’d be S.O.L.

This is one of a number of articles I’m writing to bring up awareness about A.L.S. and to encourage donations to the 2009 Walk to Defeat A.L.S. I’ve set up a donations page to collect money, where donors can claim one of over 100 books as a thank you gift. If you don’t have the money to donate, you can help by publicizing and linking to that page. I’ll be giving away a signed book by Elizabeth Bear for those who help publicize the drive (and more prizes will be forthcoming). More information on that offer can be found here.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: life

The two most famous cases of A.L.S. are that of Lou Gehrig and Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking’s illness is somewhat atypical for A.L.S., in that most patients with the disease have a lifespan of 2 to 5 years after diagnosis. Longer lived patients survive 10 to 15 years. If indeed the underlying disease is A.L.S., Stephen Hawking is the longest surviving patient ever.

Lou Gehrig’s performance as a Yankee started declining in 1938, mostly his power at the plate. By 1939 he was having problems running the bases, fielding balls, and connecting with pitches at all. After 2,130 consecutive games played, Gehrig benched himself. Weeks later he went to the Mayo Clinic where he was diagnosed with A.L.S. Two years later he died.

Stephen Hawking first noticed symptoms when he was rowing. He didn’t have the strength he previously had, and then he started falling down. Over the next 40 years, he has gotten progressively worse. At this point in his life, he uses his cheek to control his speech A.A.C. device.

The first symptoms of A.L.S. that mom noticed were that her tongue and throat felt odd. Not loss of strength in her arms or legs. We (her family) started noticing that she slurred her words, and my brother and his wife talked mom into seeing a doctor. She got her diagnosis in March 2007 and lived 18 months afterward.

The prognosis for a patient with A.L.S. can’t be determined with specificity. Some patients live longer than others, and the reasons why are largely unknown. In two visits to the A.L.S. clinic at Virginia Mason, the doctor there refused to even speculate. For one, he thought knowing lowered the morale of the terminally ill. But the main reason was that there just isn’t any way to predict.

One thing that is known is that people with bulbar onset A.L.S. tend to have symptoms that progress faster than patients with limb onset. Bulbar onset is when the first symptoms show up in the function of swallowing. The medulla oblongata is also known as the bulbar nerves. They control the muscles that effect speaking and swallowing. Typical limb onset A.L.S. affects all the limbs first, sometimes progresses to the bulbar nerves, and lastly affects the diaphragm. For some reason that generally seems to take longer. Bulbar onset affects those nerves first, followed by arms and/or legs, and finally the diaphragm. In mom’s case, the decline in her breathing came concurrently with the loss of function in her arms and legs. And the prognosis, rather than the 2 to 5 years that most limb onset patients might expect, is 18 months to 3 years. Mom’s illness fell at the short end of that range even.

Bulbar onset has a whole different set of challenges than limb onset. Communication and eating are the first set of concerns for bulbar onset patients. Mobility and strength are prime problems for limb onset patients. Mom didn’t lose enough strength in her legs for that to be a serious concern until the last few weeks she lived. Another patient we knew didn’t lose the ability to talk or swallow ever. Because of the differences, in the early stages the same disease doesn’t even resemble itself.

This is one of a number of articles I’m writing to bring up awareness about A.L.S. and to encourage donations to the 2009 Walk to Defeat A.L.S. I’ve set up a donations page to collect money, where donors can claim one of over 100 books as a thank you gift. If you don’t have the money to donate, you can help by publicizing and linking to that page. I’ll be giving away a signed book by Elizabeth Bear for those who help publicize the drive (and more prizes will be forthcoming). More information on that offer can be found here.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: life

As most of my friends know, last October my mom died from Lou Gehrig’s disease, officially known as A.L.S. I moved to Bellingham for a year to help take care of her. A.L.S. is an ugly illness. While patients with A.L.S. don’t typically experience a lot of pain, they do lose independence and quality of life. Mom had to eat through a tube, wear a brace to hold her head up, and talk with a computer. I heard that computer so much the last year that I don’t remember much of mom’s actual voice.

My part to see that as few people go through this as possible is to support the Evergreen Chapter of the A.L.S. Association. They fund research into A.L.S. and lobby on behalf of patients. For those who are afflicted, including mom, the A.L.S.A. was a lifeline of support. That computer? Provided by the A.L.S.A. Her hospital bed? Provided by the A.L.S.A. When the family first met with hospice, Mary from the A.L.S.A. was there. When mom saw specialists at Virginia Mason’s neurology center, Mary from the A.L.S.A. was there.

The A.L.S.A. holds the 2009 Walk to Defeat A.L.S.A. in Bellingham in September. Until then, I’m going to write a lot about A.L.S. to educate and to get people to donate money. My family has a team, and I’ve set up a page for donations.

If you donate money, I’ll give you a book. I need shelf space, so why not solve two problems at the same time. Books aren’t just the crappy books either: advance reading copies, autographed copies, hardcovers. Here’s the list of books. More information about mom, how to donate, and how to get your book at my walk page.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: events

This recipe comes from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook, which I picked up for free outside Michael’s Books in Bellingham. It worked out pretty good, though I might do something slightly different next time. Instead of coconut flakes, I might use shredded coconut. Since coconut doesn’t soften too much during the cooking, it resulted in kind of a crunchy/fibrous texture. That was minor though. Turned out to be an excellent pie, and pretty easy to make.

As always, recipe is how I made it, not exactly how it appears in the cookbook.

• unbaked 9 inch pie shell
• 4 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• 1½ cups flaked coconut
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Combine 2 egg whites, nutmeg, salt, vanilla, sugar, coconut, milk, and butter.
2. Cook over hot (not boiling) water in a double boiler for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly.
3. Let cool to room temperature.
4. Beat 2 egg whites just until stiff (but not too stiff). I’ve never been able to beat egg whites to stiffness anyway, so this wasn’t a problem.
5. Fold beaten egg whites into coconut mixture.
6. Pour into pie shell.
7. Bake at 450° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until filling is firm in the center.
8. Cool and let it set.
9. Put pie in refrigerator overnight and serve cold.

No pictures of my finished work this time.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: coconut, cooking, pie

Saturday was Pie Night. It also was my birthday, though I didn’t post that. I haven’t been particularly enamored of making a big deal of my birthday for a few years. I’m not a particularly holiday-ish kind of person, and I only like being the center of attention in special circumstances. I scheduled Pie Night for my birthday mostly because it was a convenient weekend; the 4th would have sucked to host Pie Night. A few people noted it was my birthday and brought gifts, which was very thoughtful of them.

Pies I made were a coconut pie, apple-cranberry pie, pear-ginger pie (with lots of fresh ginger), cherry pie, a pork-cranberry pie, and corn pie. All of them turned out to be tasty. I didn’t like the corn pie so much, but that was more that I like corn tasting somewhat different than it turned out.

Ellen brought a raspberry custard pie. Mike made a key lime pie. And Carrie brought a crab pie and another savory pie, which I forget the contents of. Very tasty all of them.

People who came by, that I remember: Erin, Walter, Ellen, Nisi, Jason, Kim, Mike, Allyson, Darren, Sara, Ron, Sara (a different Sara), Daidre, Keenan, Katie, Carrie, Amanda, Jeri, Gord, Chris, and Michael. Dawn and Manda didn’t make it but stopped by in the morning to hang out and help me clean up.

I’ll post a couple of the pie recipes later.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: events, pie, pie night

For those who are the type who need reminding, Pie Night is this Saturday at 5pm at my place, 2301 Fairview Ave E in Seattle. If you haven’t already committed to coming, now is the time. I do need to know an approximate head count so I can make enough pie.

If the weather is nice, Pie Night will be held in the pool area overlooking Lake Union. You are welcome to take a dip if you are so inclined.

If you are an alcohol imbibing type, bring something of that sort. Since I am a non-drinker, I hate to pick out the alcohol for the drinkers. Pie is welcome, but not required; I will make enough. Cake is not welcome.

Edited to add: Pies planned are: Pear-ginger, coconut, apple cranberry, pork cranberry, cherry pie, and a corn pie. Plus whatever guests bring.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: events, pie, pie night

Well, you might have gotten the hint that I was sort of messed up as a kid. I didn’t exactly turn out all right, and someone asked me what I am doing about that. The answer is, a lot of things, and not enough. Not yet.

Which brings me to the title. I wanted to be the kind of person who hosted parties. As a teen, I tried to throw a party when my parents were gone once. Complete failure. No one came besides Jason and a couple of people I can’t remember who. I can’t remember trying again until the first Pie Night in 2002.

It’s pretty simple. Pie Night was and is my attempt to be the cool popular kid in high school and college who threw a party and everyone wanted to go to his parties. Instead of playing not to lose, like I did for years, I made a stab at being popular.

I stacked the deck in my favor by having it be a little different. Other people threw parties with alcohol or art or music or whatever. No one else had pie. It would be different, and who doesn’t like pie? I’ve jokingly referred to Pie Night as buying friends but it’s not really a joke. I’m hoping people will like me because I’m doing something in which they like to participate.

Have I mentioned the first pie night was a failure in that regard? I was certainly popular with people Jason cajoled into coming. I wasn’t so successful at convincing them on my own. But I was new at it and I learned. If a person does anything long enough, they’ll get some notice for it. Pie Night is over 7 years old now.

That’s actually sort of important. Becoming a person different from who I was takes time and practice. Pie Night isn’t the only thing I do to change who I was. Some of them I stuck to. Some of them I gave up prematurely. Pie Night has been pretty successful.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: life, pie night, self-improvement

Yesterday was Hallmark Father’s Day. Nisi Shawl’s post about her father got me thinking. Crying actually. I cry easily at sad things. Losing mom last year exacerbated this tendency in me that seemed to be getting more pronounced as I got older.

I felt the need to write about my relationship with my father, but after writing the following, it’s inadequate. My memory is spotty and jumbled by years of emotional tumult. So take it as a confused mental image more than anything else.

I grew up without a father.

My dad died in December 1972 after what I understand to be an ugly battle with cancer. I was 2. My brother Dan entered the world the following month, January 1973.

I’ll never know what kind of father he would have turned out to be. Probably pretty good. But it’s a big what if.

In 1975, mom married my step-father Andy. He wasn’t and isn’t the father I wish I had. I call him dad, and father, and it’s somewhat more than convenience for me to do so. Where exactly he fits and what a good definition for my feelings for him are pretty hard to describe. Properly, it isn’t dad. But it isn’t not dad either. (Oh, how Zen of me!)

I never felt like dad treated me like one of his kids. I felt like he treated Elaine, Matt, and Joe as his favorites because they were his kids. They got to do things I didn’t. I got punished more severely and for stuff at a lesser threshold of badness. Worse, he was mildly physically abusive to me.

I remember him coming into my room once, very angry. He had his belt off, and he meant to give me a thrashing. The proper way for me to take a spanking was to submit meekly. I didn’t that time. I scrambled off the bed as he hit me with the belt to try to slide underneath the bed, or over my brother’s bed. I didn’t get away. He grabbed me and held me and hit me with the belt quite a few times. Maybe a dozen. I don’t remember exactly, as it was a long time ago. I think I was 12 or 13. He was very angry and taking it out on me.

One of his favorite punishments was to make me kneel bare-kneed on gravel or our asphalt driveway. It doesn’t start off as too painful, but after just a couple minutes it hurts quite a bit. After 30 minutes, it’s excruciating.

I didn’t get punished for no reason. He didn’t get drunk and start hitting, for instance. It’s just that I got punished hard.

I never received a word of encouragement from him. He made fun of me for chewing my nails. He made fun of my hair. I didn’t have to work on the farm, so I had it easy.

When I was 14, I lived with my paternal grandfather for a year on weekdays. Weekends I stayed with mom and dad. Friends and family were told it was because taking Metro to Seattle Prep was easier from where Grandpa Weiss lived in Broadview. I think I even pitched it that way to mom. But that wasn’t the real reason. The real reason was that as I hit adolescence I became both more angry at dad and more scared of him. It didn’t work out after that year though. When I moved back, things were different with dad. We still didn’t get along. But he never hit me after I started high school either.

To be clear, there are some people who suffer horrible abuse at the hands of their fathers or whatever substitute passes for father in their house. What my dad did to me was minor in comparison to the psychological and physical scars that I’ve seen on some kids. Nevertheless, what I experienced, no child should experience.

What do I wish I had for a father? I totally would have liked Ward Cleaver or Mike Brady. Sure it’s not realistic, but that’s about all I knew besides what I had. I didn’t have very much contact with other dads. Holidays with uncles. Getting the occasional ride home from someone’s dad in Cub Scouts.

That’s not completely true. I had one other model for what a father could be: John Sloane. He’s pretty awesome as Jason’s dad. John does everything a dad is supposed to do. He even did a few dad things for me. For instance, when I needed someone to help me learn how to drive, Mr. Sloane Senior took me out to practice driving. My dad refused to get in a car with me in the driver’s seat.

Anyhow, I really don’t have first hand experience for what a father is like, day in day out. Among other things, when I become a father, that could really bite me in the ass.

Years ago, he married a woman with two kids when he hadn’t even had a good role model for a father himself. A few months after that his first child was born and two more were born before he’d been married four years. Married four years and five kids in the family. More or less he was in over his head. He did what he knew.

My dad couldn’t read up on how to be a good father. His reading skills are elementary. He only got as far as the 8th grade. He’s not a person to ask advice. He couldn’t see how what he did would hurt me. He thought he was curbing my bad tendencies and setting me on the correct path.

Tomorrow I will drive to Lynden to bring a check to dad. I’ll also be signing some paperwork that puts me and my brother in control of dad’s house. Mom worried that someone would try to take advantage of dad. So rather than leave everything to him, Joe and I are trustees. It’s for his benefit.

A quarter century after I moved out of the house for a year because of this man, I am in charge of seeing that he is okay. And I am fine with that.

Andy has good intentions. He’ll help you out if you need help. His next door neighbor has multiple sclerosis and can’t drive long distance without pain, so dad drove him an hour each way for a doctor’s visit. He was mom’s primary caregiver, even when mom was not nice to him and criticized every little thing he did. He loved mom. He’s a doting grandfather as well.

Once I was an adult (i.e., mid 20s), our relationship changed for the better. I wasn’t an angry kid, and he didn’t feel like he was responsible for me. We don’t have a lot to talk about, but we don’t have anything to argue about either.

How he raised me is a thing of the past. It’s not that I’ve forgiven. I’m no longer actively angry, just sad about this hole in my life. It’s hard to describe how I think of him. He’s both the person who hurt me gravely years ago, and the man who loved mom and treated me well as an adult. Kind of a cognitive dissonance, and it actually helps.

He’s not my father, and yet he is my father.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: family, father, life

Pie lovers! Your time has arrived. Or will in a month, because the next Pie Night will be Saturday, July 11th, at 5 p.m. (2301 Fairview Ave E Apt 107, Seattle - Ring WEISS on the call board)

What is Pie Night? It’s pretty much what it sounds like: all pie, all night long. No cake. No cookies. Now, it’s not just dessert pies; we have a few savory pies as well in case your mother would get upset for skipping straight to dessert.

Up Close With a Lovely Lemon Pecan Pie

Is it required to bring a pie? No. If you’d like to bring pie, please do, but it’s not required. If you do decide to bring pie, please take the effort to make it yourself. No store bought pies. Buy the crust; buy the filling. But assemble and bake it yourself, please.

Are children welcome? Yes, if you don’t mind them hearing naughty words and discussions.

What can you bring besides pie? Ice cream. Beverages. Friends. I have a large supply of plates and utensils, so those are not needed.

Is an R.S.V.P. necessary? Please don’t be flaky. I need to know how many pies to make, so do please let me know if you’ll be attending. Commenting on this entry is sufficient, or add yourself to the Pie Night event on Facebook.

Image Up close with a lovely lemon pecan pie by kat selvocki used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 2.0 license.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: events, pie, pie night

Why Wiscon?

I haven’t even left Madison. I intended to wait a few days after returning to Seattle to write about my Wiscon experience. I’m sitting in Michaelangelo’s coffee shop, where I intended to read some of the books I bought. I sat down, pulled Feeling Very Strange from my backpack, and then just looked at it. All I’ve got going through my head is my experience, and I don’t think I can read. So I write instead, though this won’t get published until I get home.

I decided to attend Wiscon after the kerfluffle last year over what I wrote about Joe Abercrombie’s Before They Are Hanged. Some commenters on Abercrombie’s blog accused me of … well, I’ll just quote one:

I thought this was quite amusing. I’ve never taken a feminist lit class. Ever. I’ve taken only the Intro to the Canon type of literature classes, and I don’t mean the feminist canon. I attended the University of Idaho. Idaho! In the center of the whitest Congressional district in the U.S. at the time. A state where the women’s groups that get any attention are headed by Phyllis Schlafly. This was after attending high school run by the Catholic church and only a decade away from being an all boys prep school. Don’t even get me started on my elementary and junior high education! There I was taught that dinosaur fossils were planted by the devil’s minions to trick us.

The point being, no one has ever indoctrinated me in proper or even improper feminist theory.

But afterward, I thought perhaps I should learn more. I subscribed to Feminist SF - The Blog!. My friend Kim planned on attending Wiscon last year and told me about it, encouraging me to go. Last year I had mom’s illness and impending death to deal with, so I didn’t. Kim attended and returned with awesome things to say about it. Earlier this year, I decided to go.

Introversion and Culture

I’m not the most extroverted of people. A fair number of people seem surprised that I am shy. I can fake outgoingness sometimes. The best comparison I have to the trepidation I felt about Wiscon is my experience going to India. I was stepping into a foreign culture. It had values about which I was not familiar. It had unwritten rules about which I was completely unaware. I went by myself, without a protective posse. I stood out as not being part of the locally dominant culture. All these things worked against me in India, and all of these elements were present to some degree with attending Wiscon.

I did two things (at least) though to make things easier on myself. My first tactic I chose consciously. I would not open my mouth to express any opinion in any panel programming. Questions were fine. Requesting clarification I thought was safe. But I decided against expressing any sort of opinion.

This goes back to something Nelson told me 15 years ago. Your job is just to listen right now. It was a different context, but the issue was the same as now. I am an opinionated guy, and I have an instinctive reaction to spout my opinion to any and all who come within earshot (or read my crap online). Regardless if I was asked for my opinion. Regardless if I have any background information. Regardless if I knew the reasons why other people had their opinions. I’m better than I was nearly half a lifetime ago, but I’m still pretty bad about it.

That’s the intellectual reason to keep my mouth shut. It’s valid, but the driving force was emotional. I fear being wrong. I fear being attacked. I fear getting jumped on. My fear is not rational. Others may have a perfectly rational fear of attack. I do not. I have lived and learned from every personal attack. I’ve thrived even. Yet every time I write something negative about a book or express an opinion online, the pit of my stomach drops before I press publish.

The second choice I made was not conscious. I didn’t shy away from controversial panel topics to attend, but I did avoid those with the most inflammatory descriptions. The first panel I attended tackled the topic of the portrayal of the working class in speculative fiction. I’m really no longer working class, but I still identify because I grew up in a working class family. I picked mostly literature related topics. I picked topics with panelists whose names I knew.

RaceFail floated as a prominent issue at Wiscon. The people who were the most involved in RaceFail discussions on blogs were either names I didn’t know well, or didn’t come to Wiscon. Writers of color (i.e., those with the most at stake immediately in RaceFail) that I’ve read and who were at Wiscon included Nnedi Okorafor and … Nnedi Okorafor. And although RaceFail directly concerns literature, discussion about RaceFail is one level removed from books. Keeping my panels directly related to literature kept me one level away from RaceFail discussions. I did attend one panel on multiculturalism and thought it was great discussion, but I doubt it would register much controversy compared to other rooms.

I don’t believe it was an accident that the things I consciously thought about when choosing panels led me away from scary stuff. If I go next year (and I’m leaning towards attending) I think I will examine the choices I’ve made to make sure I’m not avoiding difficult topics. Or at least if I am avoiding them it’s a considered choice.

I’m not sure whether my panel choices was a good thing or not. One one hand, I didn’t freak myself out about a topic that won’t be resolved for quite some time anyway. On the other hand, I learned about 5% of what I could have learned. Had I thought more I might have chose different.

Social interaction

People come back to Wiscon from all over the United States and the world year after year. It’s not just a place for discussion of feminist topics. It’s a place where people of like mind return for fellowship or sisterhood (to use both gender loaded terms). It’s an environment that can strengthen people’s resolve before returning home to fight battles alone or in smaller groups.

There’s a drawback to that though. For the non-outgoing, there isn’t a lot of support for integrating into the community particularly in the first day or so, at least as far as I could tell.

Returning attendees eagerly embrace their friends from previous years, rejoicing at the end of the interruption of their camaraderie. Groups of friends unload their belongings and decamp to food or other activities, leaving the less connected behind. I’m sure not everyone experiences this, but I know I did and several people I talked to related similar experiences for their first time attending.

Friday night I attended the First Wiscon Dinner which seemed to have no support other than a line in the program guide. Ostensibly an event where a few experienced hands would welcome first timers to acculturate us, instead 25 of us newbies stood around at the designated meeting point wondering what the plan was supposed to be. We eventually split into three groups because the word from the Madison local newbies was that close by restaurants wouldn’t be able to handle large groups. I quite enjoyed the small group I dined with, and chatted with a couple from my group throughout the convention.

I didn’t hide out in my hotel room. I purposefully planted myself in the hotel lobby during breaks and periodically introduced myself to people. None of those conversations lasted long nor did any of those folks return to conversation with me a second time during the first couple of days. I wasn’t dismissed, but I didn’t feel any real engagement either.

The first time someone initiated conversation with me was Sunday. M. Rickert engaged me in conversation Sunday morning, sensing I was bewildered and not pulled into the thick of things, sharing her first Wiscon experience from a few years ago. I don’t know the causes, whether our interaction was the key or something else was working, but I subsequently hooked into conversation with people better. Lunch with Liz Henry and C-ko (C-ko being the one person I knew) and a dessert table oddly magnetized to Seattleites for the guest of honor speeches. Maybe I just felt more comfortable by that point.

Authors

One big reason to go to Wiscon was to find more good literature that I didn’t know about. I bought books and I got to meet some authors.

Though probably working off bad assumptions, I didn’t chat too much with author panelists. I know they are real people. Most have day jobs. But I still have them on somewhat of a pedestal, and I didn’t want to turn into a fanboy in the hallways. And neither could my puny brain come up with reasons to chat with them or with other panelists. In retrospect, the panel topic would have been a great icebreaker for me to chat with any panelist. Though in most cases I couldn’t have chatted coherently on the panel topics immediately afterward anyway, even just to ask questions.

SignOut on Monday is kind of the designated fanboy event. A fair number of the authors in attendance set up at tables so folks can get their books signed. I bought a dozen or so books by authors who attended and got them signed at SignOut: Geoff Ryman, Ellen Klages, David Schwartz, M. Rickert, Nnedi Okorafor, John Joseph Adams, Carol Emshwiller, and Nisi Shawl. In most cases I chatted a bit with them as well. Other than guests of honor Ellen Klages and Geoff Ryman, most didn’t have lines of more than one or two. Of course, all were friendly. I knew this, but I still have a twinge of surprise. Cue Bart Simpson: I will not put authors on pedestals. I will not put authors on pedestals.

I made a point to pick up something by M. Rickert to thank her for chatting with me Sunday. That turned out to be Feeling Very Strange, an anthology of slipstream stories. I’ve never read much slipstream though. I chatted with David Schwartz and M. Rickert (sitting side by side) talked with me about the genre. I tend not to like literature I don’t understand. Slipstream is designed around cognitive dissonance; by definition it will be hard to understand. But I wanted to try it out because I hadn’t done so before, and M. Rickert writes slipstream. I may get something out of it, but I’m pretty sure the pieces that don’t work for me really aren’t going to work for me.

At the Sunday night Tiptree Award ceremonies, Nisi Shawl received, instead of the traditional Tiptree chocolate, a pie. I thought I recognized a kindred pie aficionado, so when I got her to sign Filter House, I asked her about the chocolate replacement thing. Turns out she gets migraines from chocolate, and thinks pie is the best thing ever. So I mentioned my own predilection for pie and how I made friends through Pie Night. Her response: Where? Can I come? I knew she lived in Seattle, and kind of hoped she’d want to come. Fanboy me emerges. To tell the truth, I haven’t yet read anything she’s written, but she seemed like one of the nicest and most thoughtful people on any of the panels I attended. So I wanted to get to know her. Hopefully she’ll actually be able to come to the next Pie Night.

Geoff Ryman also impressed me. I’ve only really read his story V.A.O. before. I’m fairly familiar with his Mundane Manifesto and the movement he’s trying to start. I appreciate the stance, but I enjoy non-Mundane SF too much to stick to stories that fit that mold only, as he has advocated at times. I attended one panel he was on, and had him sign a book at SignOut. Despite having only the limited interaction, when he ran into me on the streets of Madison this morning, he stopped to chat with me. Nothing substantive, but I was nevertheless impressed. There are a lot of people at Wiscon and not all of them can register on a person’s consciousness.

Wiscon Programming

I’m not normally one to gush about anything, but the panel topics were chock full of substantive discussion. Sure, a few of them were fluff, and I enjoyed those of that ilk that I attended as well. In most time slots I circled at least two or three possible panels. Each panel had enough content to generate at least one separate post. Some had enough for two or three.

Not being a con person, I don’t know how much Wiscon’s panel selection/assignment method differs from other SF conventions. Panels have a mix of professionals and fandom. Any attendee can put their name in the hat ahead of time to be on panels. I don’t know how the programming committee selects folks, but it seemed to work out well for the most part. In only one case did it seem like a panelist was outclassed by the material and the rest of the panel.

In a couple of cases, the moderator could have done a better job leading the panel. Some kind of just were there, and their panels tended to ramble more. A couple panels had members who just had to talk. The moderator for one of those never showed. In the other case, the moderator was the person who dominated the discussion. Neither person ruined the panel, but I would have liked to have heard more from some of the other panelists. Three moderators were outstanding: Fred Schepartz on the working class, L. Timmel Duchamp on book reviewing, and Jesse the K on feminist/leftist SF book groups.

Next year?

I can’t say I’ve found my tribe yet. I don’t bond deeply, quickly enough to make that assertion. I have found kindred spirits and content that serves my intellectual craving. I felt fulfilled like I haven’t in a long time. There’s something about engaging in deep discussion that I enjoy. About books no less. I read a lot. It’s hard to find people who read as much or as widely as I do. Wiscon is full of people who outclass me in that respect. Full of people who outclass me in a lot of respects. That’s stimulating.

Next year’s Wiscon guests of honor or Nnedi Okorafor and Mary Anne Mohanraj. I really liked Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi’s young adult novel. Her manner inclines me to turn into a fanboy. She’s nice, and incredibly positive. It took a couple minutes of cajoling to get her to say she didn’t like Twilight. To paraphrase her: I don’t like tearing down authors who are just doing their thing.

I haven’t read Mary Anne Moharaj’s fiction. Mary Anne wrote a couple of thoughtful pieces for John Scalzi’s blog that made clear to me some of the issues of RaceFail. I hadn’t mentally connected her to those pieces until this morning.

Both guest of honor selections make me want to go next year.

Photo Wiscon 32 by Liz Henry used under a Creative Commons By-Nd 2.0 license.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.

Tags: convention, feminism, life, science fiction, wiscon