Westercon 69 is happening in Portland in three short weekends, from July 1-4, at the Doubletree Hotel near the Lloyd Center. As usual with cons, I am on a lot of panels, and a lot of these are political which I'm really looking forward to.
SATURDAY
5:00:pm - 6:00:pm: Creativity and Mental Health - The care and watering of the creative brain. Ways of actively taking care of mental health to optimize creativity rather than coping or thinking mental health struggles as the price of creativity. Blythe Ayne, Erica Satifka, Langley Hyde, Kristin Landon
6:30:pm - 7:00:pm: Erica Satifka Reading - (This will be something from Stay Crazy, just don't know what yet!)
7:00:pm - 8:00:pm: Obligatory Paranoia Panel - What's the government really doing? And why is this panel obligatory? Ari Goldstein, Erica Satifka, Frog Jones, Rhiannon Louve
SUNDAY
10:00 am - 11:00 am: Kaffeeklatsch - Small group discussions with authors, artists, and other interesting personalities (referred to as "hosts") Sessions are limited to the host and a small group of attendees. A.M. Brosius, Erica Satifka, Sharon Joss, Wendy Wagner
11:00 am - 12:00 pm: Future Laws - How is copyright law going to deal with 3D printers? Piracy laws on movies/music still don't work with the invention of videos/DVRs now, how will it handle physical mass copying of objects? Ari Goldstein, Andrew P Mayer, Erica Satifka, Sean Robinson, William Hertling
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Zombies, Vampires, and Capitalism - If the modern vampire may have functioned as an apt metaphor for the predatory practices of capital in colonial and post-colonial societies, today's zombie hordes may best express our anxieties about capitalism's apparently inevitable byproducts: the legions of mindless, soulless consumers who sustain its endless production, and the masses of 'human debris' who are left to survive the ravages of its poisoned waste." How apt are these analogies? Are there other ways to link our modern capitalist practices to the creatures of horror and fantasy? And if capitalism is a horror story, do other economic philosophies offer more hope of a happy ending? Emily Jiang (M), Bob Brown, Gwen Callahan, Andrew P. Mayer, Erica Satifka
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm: The Leisure Society: Phantom or Just Around the Corner? - People are working harder and longer hours over the last couple of decades, despite increased productivity and automation. Was the leisure society we were promised simply a fevered dream born of the a drug-fueled decade, or has the promise been somehow perverted or inverted? Bob Brown, Erica Satifka, Ramez Naam, Rhiannon Louve
And that's it! See you in two weeks!