I just got home from Wiscon 32, which is the feminist science-fiction convention in Madison, over Memorial Day weekend. I'd gotten Chris a ticket and twisted her arm until she agreed to come out from the wilds of New Jersey and meet me, and we had an awesome time. I found myself thinking of ideas that I hadn't wrestled with since college or shortly thereafter. There were discussions of racism in fantasy writing, how to create a world, a smackdown between Philip Pullman and C.S. Lewis (general conclusion: Pullman wins hands-down, but Lewis gets points for writing a series to which Pullman felt the need to respond so brilliantly). The art show was better than most, although still not devoid of badness; however I really liked Laurie Edison's images of Japanese women which included old and Korean-Japanese and Ainu and other women not often seen when you google "Japanese women". There was a fat acceptance panel, which I did not attend, but I noted that actually in comparison to Norwescon the Wiscon-goers appeared, overall, slightly more mesomorphic. There were some wonderful discussions of books for kids, books about nonwhite societies or with nonwhite protagonists, books that push sentience in different nonhuman directions. I got to hear Ted Chiang read something new, and I introduced myself to him as a friend of his wife's. Chris fiddled and I played dulcimer at least 45 minutes a day, ending with a lovely jam on a grassy lawn across the street from the Concourse hotel before my shuttle for the airport left. I found myself wishing I could be three places at once quite a lot, or at least not so much of a late-night zombie.

Back home I am struggling to put the ideas in my head into ideas on paper. The problem is that it's often easier to put ideas into words than into images for me. For example, I can think of two or three interesting ways to write about an outsider protagonist in a story right now ... but trying to figure out how to *paint* an outsider, that's harder. OTOH, the idea of painting a picture of a magical Negro is funny as hell, and very tempting.

I joined the Carl Brandon Society this morning, having missed the party on Friday night. Then I got online and started reading various people's LJs, jumping back and forth, finding all sorts of interesting people talking about ... all kinds of things, including all the panels I missed (duh, aforementioned desire to be three places at once). I really hope I can get more involved with these folks; they remind me of what I've missed since I left off working at Aradia. Feminists! People of color! Science fiction! The Buffyverse! Terry Pratchett! And, of course, Ellen Klages, whose auctioneering skills are simply without peer. I would post a picture of her in a mustache doing the Happy Dance Of Reaching a $100 Bid, but we are having photoshop problems at the moment, so perhaps later. I bought both Wiscon Chronicles 1 and 2, The Green Glass Sea, Marque and Reprisal, the comic book collection of Buffy Season 8 #1-5 which I didn't know about, Zahrah the Windseeker and a bunch more I've forgotten, plus I've got a long list of stuff to order because I didn't want to carry it all home.

In art news, working on painting of Tim at the moment. He is shirtless, leaning an elbow on a yellow book on a desk, writing on a white pad with the other hand, and looking very GQ. I would post a pic of that painting in progress except, as I mentioned, PhotoShop not talking to my camera atm. So, later. The painting I did before, of Quinn's naked torso, is mostly done although I have to re-work a couple of gray spots on her breastbone and thigh, and Kimberly wants me to put it in the end-of-year student show, so I am excited about that. Going off now, in fact, to think about that.