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Pretty Terrible

Pop Culture Criticism by Natalie Luhrs

November 10, 2015

The World Fantasy That Was

SJW/Sad Pup Rumble

SJW/Sad Pup Rumble

Well. That was a convention, yep.

I had a decent time, but I won’t be going back to World Fantasy until 2018 at the earliest–in part because of budget & location considerations, but mainly because of the ongoing and persistent issues regarding accessibility and codes of conduct.

Mari Ness has more about the accessibility issue and I agree with her completely: there was no reason for this to happen yet again.

And of course, it is about more than just ramps to stages (or panel rooms without stages, this isn’t SDCC, for fuck’s sake): it’s about every aspect of the convention. I saw a suggestion on Twitter earlier today (I can’t remember who it was, I’m sorry) that con staff ask someone who uses a wheelchair to walk through the facility with them well before the convention–perhaps during the bidding process for something as prominent as a World Fantasy–so they can raise awareness about potential barriers or issues.

As Elsa S. Henry points out:

But let’s even go a little further – by only seeing ADA accessibility as necessary to not get sued, you’re gatekeeping.

You’re saying that the experiences, and the participation of disabled gamers, storytellers and participants in an industry don’t matter.

Creating spaces where I, and many other creators can’t be is an effective way to make sure that we won’t be heard. Our words don’t matter because we can’t even get in the door.

There’s absolutely no reason why there can’t be an accessibility coordinator and staff (and corresponding budget). Except that, historically, there hasn’t been. Perhaps that needs to change. In my experience, when many con-runners talk about best practices, what they mean is the way it’s always been done–and the way they’re most comfortable doing it.

Mary Robinette Kowal also has a great post on this subject–with a lot of really good comments with links to other people’s experiences with accessibility.

And as for the harassment policy? Completely non-existent at the convention.  Wasn’t in the program book, wasn’t posted anywhere, and I still have no idea who was on the con com (never got a response to my emails). No names were in the program book and I didn’t see any special denotation on badges or ribbons on badge holders indicating con com versus volunteers or whatever.  Of course, I didn’t really go to programming–because the initial program draft was nonsense and the final wasn’t a whole lot better (although it did lose the “miscegenation”–which apparently appeared later during the awards ceremony).

It just seemed–like so much else with this convention–half-assed, at best.

WFC Program

Interestingly, they didn’t sell out–people were able to buy memberships at the door, which is unheard of for a World Fantasy. I wonder if they made the tens of thousands of dollars in profit that previous conventions made or if they merely broke even.

Also a thing is the announcement that the Lovecraft bust will be discontinued after this year as the World Fantasy Award. This has been a long time coming–the first I remember hearing about it was this essay by Nnedi Okorafor all the way back in 2011. Other people have been talking about it since, but I remember that Okorafor was one of the first to really raise the issue of what it meant for this award–a World Fantasy Award–to be the face of a xenophobic racist.

Not everyone has handled this announcement with grace.  Most notably among that group is Stephen Jones, co-chair of the 2013 World Fantasy held in Brighton, which was smugly proud of its lack of a code of conduct and which was also inaccessible–huh, imagine that (for the Facebook non-enabled, right click & open in new tab or window).

However, in addition to all the excellent company I enjoyed at World Fantasy this year (so many friends, so little time!), I also partook of these two delights:

Almond Croissant from Mrs London's

Almond Croissant from Mrs London’s

Cocktail Fountain at Tremontaine party

Cocktail Fountain at the Tremontaine party

And despite the promise of the sidewalk chalk. this did not happen:

west side story 1

(I do acknowledge that some folks didn’t think the sidewalk chalk announcements of a rumble were very funny, but I did because I find the word “rumble” inherently silly and conjures up choreographed dance routines for me.)

ETA: And we have an epic flounce from S.T. Joshi on the matter of the award:

S.T. Joshi Flounce

S.T. Joshi Flounce

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Filed Under: Opinion Natalie Luhrs

About Natalie Luhrs

I'm a lifelong geek with a passion for books and social justice.

Reader Interactions

Links: 11/05/15
Links: 11/13/15

Comments

  1. ULTRAGOTHA says

    November 10, 2015 at 8:41 pm

    That croissant looks as big as your head! Wow.

    I absolutely don’t understand not publishing the names of staff and committee. No kudos, no responsibility. It ought to be required.

    • Natalie Luhrs says

      November 10, 2015 at 8:44 pm

      I may have gone to Mrs London’s every day I was in Saratoga Springs. FOR REASONS.

      And I agree: the people responsible for putting on the convention should be known to the membership.

  2. --E says

    November 10, 2015 at 8:44 pm

    I need to start charging for my convention precognition. I guess after so many years and so many different cons, some part of my brain has learned the whiff of incompetence well enough to spot it early.

    (Likewise good con-running. If the Helsinki folks don’t throw the best Worldcon in years, I’ll eat my own foot.)

    • Natalie Luhrs says

      November 10, 2015 at 8:45 pm

      At least I had a nice time in Saratoga Springs. I’m plotting a return trip next October for our anniversary.

  3. Justin says

    November 11, 2015 at 1:02 am

    That West Side Story gif is the best thing ever.

    The Joshi flounce is kind of a thing of beauty. He has taken umbrage… and what he has done with it is marvelous.

  4. Selki says

    November 11, 2015 at 9:15 am

    “Flounce One Niner-Niner, you are cleared for take-off!”
    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/keithbuff/media/Caturday/original.jpg.html

    Also yay Saratoga Springs, I’ve been there several times (in February, yet!) for a dance festival.

  5. Craig L Gidney says

    November 12, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    To the surprise of no-one, most of the apologists are white. I want to ask them, do they know people of color who are copacetic with virulent racism? (If Lovecraft were just “a man of his time” the occasional off-color quip would be one thing; he was horrible even by those standards). Do they even know any people of color–besides Joshi? Would they be comfortable reading Lovecraft’s racist doggerel to a group of black children and then saying, no biggie? The lack of empathy—the lack of just common sense–is blistering.

Trackbacks

  1. These are the things I would do for linkpost | Geata Póeg na Déanainn says:
    November 13, 2015 at 11:27 am

    […] work that Natalie Luhrs does in keeping records, bearing witness, and holding people to account. This report on the recent World Fantasy Convention was […]

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Hello! I’m Natalie Luhrs. I write about books and culture and whatever else strikes my fancy. I have so many opinions.

I was a nominee for the Best Fan Writer Hugo in 2017.

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