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Norwescon and the Big Swing Fling
Seasons pursuing each other the indescribable crowd is gathered.
-- Walt Whitman
Saturday, April 3, 1999
One year ago: Dulce de Leche
I had arranged with Jack that I'd meet him at the Norwescon hotel, since plans were up in the air and I wasn't quite sure when I'd be getting there. Of course, I ended up arriving before he did!
Norwescon is the regional science fiction convention, but there is some distance between the people who are involved in running it, and the folks I'm closest to in Vanguard, so I didn't expect it to be packed with all my dearest friends as Potlatch is. I parked on a side street, made only slightly nervous by the "Residential Parking Only" signs. I didn't see any notation about a specific parking zone sticker being needed, which is the system in my own neighborhood, so I hoped I'd be alright. (I later learned that the hotel parking was only five dollars, and I was there early enough that they did have room, so I should have parked there!)
I picked up my badge, which Jack had transferred to my name the previous day, and looked for him in the Volunteer lounge. They hadn't seen him yet, though, and he wasn't in the room where the science panels were happening, so I went to a panel on "Fanzines and E-zines and Apas, Oh My!", run by Dar Korrati (an online acquaintance from early Microsoft days), Ryan K. Johnson (I've talked to him at Vanguard a few times), and Ed Stiner. My arrival made the audience members equal in number to the panelists, which pleased them! The discussion didn't really seem to get anywhere. I couldn't figure out whether it was supposed to be Fanzines 101 with an electronic twist, or just general chatter, or what. I did bring online journals into it (of course!), since I feel that this sort of writing and the writing people do in personal zines is closely related.
When the panel was over at eleven, I checked for Jack's arrival once more, then called him. He was still at home! So I decided to grab a fast-food lunch, then go to the panel at noon that he was scheduled to stage-manage. That panel got started all right without him, and he tiptoed in when they were almost halfway through.
Jack had signed up to stage-manage almost all of the science panels for the day, which added up to about eight [!] hours' worth. This is the programming at a convention that he enjoys the most, so by volunteering for it he helps out, and he's where he wants to be anyway! In a normal weekend I probably wouldn't have attended that much of this, but because my time with Jack would be limited, I chose to stick around.
The stage manager's tasks, in this context, include counting the crowd at beginning, middle, and end, making notes on the mood and degree of panel and audience participation, shutting the doors at the start and opening them up at the end, making sure the panelists have water or other supplies they need, giving a five-minute warning near the end of the time, and shoo-ing the speakers out if they won't leave when they should! (And much that I'm not aware of, I'm sure!)
* * * * * * * *
We listened to (and Jack participated in) "Vacuum Energy and Einstein's Cosmological Constant," "Privatization and the Future of NASA," "Nanotechnology and Micromachines," "Cheap Access to Space," and "Social Consequences of Nanotech." Actually, I skipped the first nanotech item to go hear the science Guest of Honor speak. Jack Horner, famous paleontologist, gave an hour talk about his career, which he said he'd never been asked to talk about before!
Horner is the one who made those great discoveries of dinosaur nesting habits, herding habits, and parental care of the hatchlings. I didn't know that he flunked out of seven colleges in seven semesters! And that he doesn't have a degree, beyond the honorary doctorate awarded him by the University of Montana in 1986. He had some great slides that showed how his camps had grown over the years, and how much beer it takes to find a lot of dinosaurs.
After Jack got the five o'clock panel kicked off, we went to dinner with his friend Forrest Bishop and another panelist, Thor Osborn. Osborn is a bioengineer who is working at a firm that's developing a computer display which projects a laser beam directly into the eye! The nanotech stuff is coming down on us very quickly, and will be affecting our lives before you know it, apparently. Jack and I had the same meal (foreshadowing!) -- prime rib, salad, baked potato, veggies, ice cream. Good!
* * * * * * * *
After Jack was done with his stage managing, we toured the art show. It's a bit dicey doing this during the "meet the artist" time -- you comment frankly on what you are seeing, and forget that the artist might be standing right there!
Jack had a system for hitting the room parties. He wrote down all the room numbers he found posted, then we visted his truck so he could change to a tshirt he deemed suitably festive. We wandered the halls for the next several hours, chatting with various folks (Forrest again, and my friend Janna) and rocking out to the loud music at some parties. The "Toxic Waste" party had the loudest disco room, Team maroon was the most fun, and Portland Westercon was the most elegant. I was really getting tired by twelve thirty, so Jack and I drove home
* * * * * * * *
Jack hadn't really gotten as drunk as he thought he might, and I gave up alcohol a long time ago, so our queasy stomachs all through the night weren't due to that. There must have been something in our dinner that wasn't quite right! But we didn't actually get sick, and we felt better in the morning.
I drove back over to the convention. Jack was patient with my driving, both then and the night before, though I do drive more slowly than he does. He did get a bit bugged, though, when the hotel parking lot was full and I didn't grab the smidgen of space he thought would do for my car, but went and parked in the side street again. He was a bit rushed getting to the room where he was volunteering, but we made it ok. "Plasma Thrusters to Mars," and "Lunar Rover Construction" were our topics for the afternoon.
Before I left for my evening activities, I asked Jack if he'd be joining us for brunch tomorrow at my sister's house. This had been a bit up in the air. He said yes, he'd be there. "You've been so nice to me this weekend, after all." "That's an interesting way to put it," I replied. I'd been doing what I wanted to, since I enjoy spending time with Jack!
* * * * * * * *
The folks at Living Traditions, and the people behind the Folklife Festival, had gotten together to put on a big swing dance at the Mercer Area at Seattle Center. This place has a former life as a hockey rink! All the swing dancers in Seattle were going to be there, and even some folks from Portland, since the band was a good one and Frankie Manning was the star of the evening. Frankie is one of the original lindy hop dancers from Harlem in the thirties. He's now almost eighty five, but still a beautiful dancer, lively, charming and inspiring.
I got to the hall in time to do the shim-sham workshop, taught by Frankie's son Chazz Young. I think I've finally learned enough (I've been working on this dance for a long time) so I didn't do the whole hour, but spent some time walking around and checking out the scene.
The hall filled up steadily, so that by the time the band started (Casey McGill and the Spirits of Rhythm), the place was packed! I think they sold a thousand tickets. They divided the floor into two halves: "Smooth and Easy" and "Wild and Crazy", with the smooth side being further subdivided by marking out a traveling lane around the perimeter. I see the Living Traditions influence here, since they teach a lot of non-swing dancing that travels around the floor. I think these divisions worked ok, but I didn't see much difference between smooth and wild. Perhaps everyone thinks that their own dancing is smooth!
The one difficulty for me: the crowd density and the unfamiliar layout of the place made it difficult to find a partner between dances sometimes. There were people there that I like to dance with, but finding them wasn't always easy! I did catch up with some buddies that I haven't seen for a while, which was good, and I met dancers from Portland and Eugene which I'd been wanting to do.
My other wish for the evening would have been to have less non-dance stuff. Long rambling speeches thanking the volunteers should usually be kept to a minimum. There were three intermissions, which is one or two too many, and there were performances, great in themselves, from every swing dance organization in town! I'd have liked to keep it to one act besides Frankie and Chazz -- when I'm at a dance, I want to dance! But this is a minor negative in a positive evening.
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