Somewhere Different Now

I am super pleased to see that Dragon*Con has a new anti-harassment policy that is MUCH clearer about what is considered harassment and what attendees can do if they feel they've been harassed.

Prior to this, all the con had was a line in the policies that said that people could be expelled for "behaving - in technical terms - like a jerk."  While that certainly allowed the con to get rid of harassers, it also allowed too much wiggle room for people to claim "I wasn't being a jerk, I was just flirting" or some such nonsense.  It wasn't very reassuring to people who experienced harassment that their concerns would be taken seriously.

This new policy is a big improvement.  I hope it helps the con to become a safer space.  While I have not personally experienced sexual harassment there, I have heard about it happening to way too many other people.  The security improvements made a little while back to keep badgeless gawkers from entering the hotels in the evening helped, and I hope having a clearer, more supportive anti-harassment policy will also promote more respectful behavior within the geek community.

The geek community has been trying to have this important conversation for a while.  I suspect that the timing of this move by Dragon*Con may have been prompted by John Scalzi's announcement of his policy of not participating in cons without a clear and adequately publicized policy on harassment.  Scalzi is not (to the best of my knowledge) going to be a guest at Dragon*Con this year, but he has been in the past and might be in the future.  I think his policy got enough people around Teh Intertubes talking that making a change became important business.  It's kind of sad that an issue that mostly effects women needs support from a prominent guy before change can happen.  Still, when the problem is (most often) the behavior of men, I do think having respectful men speak out is important.

Anyway, Dragon*Con is only 21 days away!  I am super excited!  And also I really need to finish my costume work.

Four things:

1)  It's Dragon*Con time! I spent two hours in line today picking up the badge.  Now that that ordeal's done, it's time for a big party with 40,000 new nerd friends. Huzzah!

2)  Last night, I had a dream that I went shopping with Bradley James.  I'm fuzzy on the details, so possibly my shopping buddy was actually Prince Arthur, but I'm pretty sure the dream was about the actor and not the character.  We were both buying pearl necklaces. This baffled me upon waking, since I don't actually want a string of pearls, and I strongly suspect that Bradley James doesn't want one either.  In the dream, however, he looked quite fetching in his dainty pearl choker.  Analyze that how you will. 

3) ( Sherlock spoilers (The Great Game) )



Finally,

4) DRAGON*CON!!!!!!!!!!

Dragoncon was grand fun.  It was a fairly eventful weekend.  Among other things, I:

-won a Vogon poetry slam.  Winning a contest to write poetry in the style of the third-worst poets in the Universe is a dubious honor at best, but it was really fun.  I hadn't originally intended to participate.  When volunteers were running short, I ended up volunteering and winning my first matchup.  In the final round, where the winners so far competed against each other, the topic was naked mole rats.  Now, I'm a biology major with a fondness for bizarre animal behavior, and among mammals you just don't get much more bizarre than naked mole rats.  They're some of my favorite creatures.  I know quite a bit about them, so I managed to write a poem that was educational while still being atrocious literature!  I won a wooden egg decorated by hand to be a Dalek.  It's pretty nifty.  

-attended the Brit Track's party for the anniversaries of Doctor Who and some other shows.  The party was mysteriously lacking in traditional party characteristics like snacks or music, although some of us did briefly compensate by singing the DW theme song while beating out the rhythm on our thighs.  Despite all that, I got into a lovely long conversation about DW with rusty_halo , minervamoon , jaydk , darketernal09 , and other fans I met there.  We had lots of similar opinions, making it fun, but enough differences to keep things lively.  It was great.

-watched the Mighty Rassilon Arts Players*'  From TARDIS with Love, a spoof of DW with a dash of James Bond style thrown in.  It was hilarious, like watching a live action version of a high quality crackfic.  As a bonus, the guy they had playing Captain Jack was appropriately good-looking and spent a good chunk of the play shirtless.  Huzzah!

-had people complement and even ask to take pictures of my Turn Left Donna costume.  Having my work on that beetle appreciated was wonderfully flattering.

-saw panels with Gareth David Lloyd, James Marsters, Nathan Filion, Alan Tudyk, Sean Astin, and more.  They were all entertaining speakers.  The Firefly lads in particular seemed to be having a great time in each other's company on stage. 

-actually woke up in time to see the parade, which was full of great costumes.  The costumewatching throughout the convention was excellent.

-attended a panel on New Who so crowded they had to move everybody to a new room. My fandom is unexpectedly large, like the TARDIS interior!

-let my fangirl tendencies rule me for long enough to stand in line for James Marsters's autograph.  Eee!  I managed not to completely embarass myself or lose my capacity for speech while shaking his hand and collecting the autograph.  He is very friendly and still quite good-looking in real life, although rather too tan to play a vampire at the moment.

-barely restrained myself from spending nearly $300 on a corset.  I don't need a corset.  I wouldn't have many occasions to wear it.  But it was so pretty, and it made my figure look great!  Sigh...maybe I'll get one next year.

-met a guy in a panel on the Whedonverse track and ended up seeing a movie with him after the con.  Alas, he lives on the opposite coast from me.


*a comedy group that has previously performed plays with titles like Buffy:  Warrior Princess;  Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter; and Welcome Back, Potter.  Their first play many years ago was classic Who themed, hence the name.