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Convergence initial thoughts
Jul. 10th, 2023 06:52 pmI had fun. I met people. Went to parties. Talked to people I don't normally encounter in real life. Saw that there was a big representation from ex-Christians, like their families would know the Duggars personally, so that was nice and I think that they got way more out of the convention than I did.
But it felt smaller. There weren't as many people. There weren't as many panels. Most of my friends had not signed up for it. I did not get to be on panels and the friend that I sent books to did not actually bring them to Con because she's got a lot going on. I asked her to mail them to me and hopefully she can pass them out to people who want them in Minnesota but I was supposed to give them to people.
So I think for me there's the combination of "this isn't my happy place anymore" and the fact that I pay $1100-$1500 for convergence between registration, travel, hotel and food once I get there that leads me to think that I don't want to go next year. It's too expensive and I can't even justify it as advertising since I wasn't on panels.
And next year they are finally doing the diversity theme that they've been threatening to do for 2 years. Only the programming isn't that diverse. And it's Minnesota. Not that they haven't had diversity in the programming in the past but it seems like they are pushing against a very white culture. A well-meaning white culture but one of the first posts on the Facebook group was asking if this meant that they could talk about crystals, telepathy, etc. Besides the neo-pagan angle which I'm less inclined to mock because it represents an escape from Christianity for many of the con-goers, one that they sorely need to reconfigure their worldview away from the Death Cult vs. Hell one that still affects them. But it's also not terribly diverse in terms of representation, at least not in Minnesota where a lot of people are neo-pagans and there's a definite "hey, we had a cool earth based religion too" underscore to the faith.
Anyhow, I liked it. I had a decent time. But did I have a decent enough time to justify the expenses, especially when I only have one client (two if the one who contacted me through a burner email actually checks her damn email so I can send her something)
But it felt smaller. There weren't as many people. There weren't as many panels. Most of my friends had not signed up for it. I did not get to be on panels and the friend that I sent books to did not actually bring them to Con because she's got a lot going on. I asked her to mail them to me and hopefully she can pass them out to people who want them in Minnesota but I was supposed to give them to people.
So I think for me there's the combination of "this isn't my happy place anymore" and the fact that I pay $1100-$1500 for convergence between registration, travel, hotel and food once I get there that leads me to think that I don't want to go next year. It's too expensive and I can't even justify it as advertising since I wasn't on panels.
And next year they are finally doing the diversity theme that they've been threatening to do for 2 years. Only the programming isn't that diverse. And it's Minnesota. Not that they haven't had diversity in the programming in the past but it seems like they are pushing against a very white culture. A well-meaning white culture but one of the first posts on the Facebook group was asking if this meant that they could talk about crystals, telepathy, etc. Besides the neo-pagan angle which I'm less inclined to mock because it represents an escape from Christianity for many of the con-goers, one that they sorely need to reconfigure their worldview away from the Death Cult vs. Hell one that still affects them. But it's also not terribly diverse in terms of representation, at least not in Minnesota where a lot of people are neo-pagans and there's a definite "hey, we had a cool earth based religion too" underscore to the faith.
Anyhow, I liked it. I had a decent time. But did I have a decent enough time to justify the expenses, especially when I only have one client (two if the one who contacted me through a burner email actually checks her damn email so I can send her something)
