Susanna J. Sturgis   Martha's Vineyard writer and editor
writer editor born-again horse girl

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Winding Down

May 29, 2006

In room 739, 5 p.m. or so:

Con's over, all but the shouting and maybe that's over too. Flight leaves at 8:05 in the morning. I'm having dinner with Hal Davis, who appeared last night at the dessert salon + GoH speeches + Carl Brandon Society award presentations + Tiptree Award presentation, which was a hoot. I got to be one of "the Tips" -- no secret handshake required, only that when solicited by Ellen Klages you have to claim you can sing. The song in honor of Air was to the tune of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" --

He wrote the book Air with the greatest of ease,
Geoff Ryman is here, and he's eager to please.
The means of production
His characters seize,
And now he has won an award.

In a faraway village, high fashion was born,
But for new technology, people had scorn.
A tiara is something
Chung Mae would have worn,
But Geoff gets to wear one today.

Geoff Ryman was a pleased and charming winner. He looked very good in his tiara, and was seen sporting it at the SignOut (mass book signing on Monday afternoon), various elevators, etc.

So now I'm packing, sorta, spreading out stuff on the second bed. I know there's room in the two suitcases I brought but I'm going home with about 400% more books than I came with, and books are heavier per square inch than clothes.

I'm really glad I came. Can I manage to come again next year? Laurie Marks is going to be GoH, along with Kelly Link. How can we continue the feminist think tank discussion? The panel got mentioned in other panels I either attended or was on, and in conversation too. Damn do we need it or what?

I still have such ambivalence about being a past GoH. Dawns on me that this place, this intersection, this crossroads is a home a catalyst for me, and that I've got plenty of experiences and ideas for the cauldron. Am very intrigued by this generation thing -- how does one generation pass the fire along without getting too possessive, especially considering that generations are fluid and at any given time several generations will be working together? What's OK to change and what are the bedrock fundamentals, the lodestar, the compass?

I'm concerned about the whole transgender thing -- it's at home at Gaylaxicon but here? Doesn't the underlying premise -- man in a woman's body, woman in a man's body -- contradict some bedrock feminist basics about the social construction of gender roles? On one hand it's people's lives we're talking about; on the other hand, just because some feminists do it or believe it doesn't make it automatically feminist. Messing around with horses isn't a feminist activity, even though some feminists do it -- at the same time, anyone interested in category "woman" would do well to pay attention to an activity that attracts so many girls and women (in fantasy and in real life) and so relatively few boys and men.

Whatever, it's worth exploring further, both in fiction and in real life.

 

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