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FWA 2022
3 years ago
General
What a con! I feel like this will be one will be one of the few that are long remembered by the fandom. Others have been faster to come back to operations after the terrible years of death and loss, but having the largest con in the south return from the pandemic is something else. After weathering three long years, they are back with a bittersweet bang.
It was almost more than I could handle at times. The old Carolina group held a funeral/memorial for a fur who recently passed from Covid. I didn't attend since I didn't personally know the person but I saw what was done for it and was deeply moved. This is truly a fandom that really cares about its people, and I was reminded quite powerfully of what a force that love can be. The heartache of watching the "In Memory" board fill up with names and well-wishes was tempered with the absolute celebration of life happening all around. It was truly inspiring.
It wasn't quite like picking right up where things left off, but it came damn close. A lot has changed. Everyone is older. People I expected to see where not there. The Carolina Furs group broke up again into "Old" and "New" factions. The new group is trying to start a con and seem to be coming closer than anyone else has in the past. I may yet get involved in that. Speaking of getting older, it's clear I cannot do linecon any more. I "lost" pretty much all of the first day of the con to standing in line, and the pain in my ankle was quite severe. I've noticed that I am slower physically, under greater duress while hauling around my backpack full of pins. Still, was able to get back into gear for the second and third day, picking some panels, sacrificing others to hangouts and food, the usual.
FWA's biggest problem is that it's too big! I love the energy this brings but it unfortunately means that you meet people in a "there and gone" fashion. Saw some old friends I had sort of lost touch with. Saw some I hadn't. Met some new folks; got an opportunity to do chaotic good. I bought waaaaay too much swag!
There was so much music this year it almost felt like a festival (newsflash: it was! at least one electro festival was happening at the con). It was so diverse! We had a group doing actual Chamber Music, and a grunge band from Arizona. Another guy was doing synthpop, and then we had Avian Invasion, who is just amazing live. Matt's singing fits real well with his new style of music.
It was interesting too to see FWA giving the adult side of the fandom more space for an outlet. There was a "moonlight festival" event where certain restrictions were more relaxed and alchohol was served in a kind of social mixer for adults thing. There was a general audience gala later on that served the same function. Adult vendors were given much more space than usual as well, while also being kept respectfully out of the way from those who aren't interested or not of age. FWA is a party con and the alchohol flowed, but this year there was an especially bad problem with roofie attempts. I gave some advice to the con admins that I hope will help fix the problem without necessitating restrictions on future "adult mixers". It's the first time they've done something like this and there were definitely wrinkles that needed smoothing out, but I feel like it'll be better prepared next year.
The artist situation was a bit disheartening. The artists filled up their available slots very quickly, and the ones who didn't were either so expensive as to be in-affordable or did their business in such a way that my commissioning rules excluded them from getting my patronage. I did consider relaxing my rules, but I've been burned too often on commissions in the past to take chances, especially with art going for that kind of money.
All in all, the con was a great time. Looking forward to next year already. Came home to find my closet had torn itself out of the wall while I was away and even that didn't bring me down from my convention high, even though it will likely require replacing the drywall.
Note to future me: Try not to buy so much stuff. Awesome shirts are awesome, but you don't need that many, especially if the weight of your wardrobe is tearing moorings out of the wall.
It was almost more than I could handle at times. The old Carolina group held a funeral/memorial for a fur who recently passed from Covid. I didn't attend since I didn't personally know the person but I saw what was done for it and was deeply moved. This is truly a fandom that really cares about its people, and I was reminded quite powerfully of what a force that love can be. The heartache of watching the "In Memory" board fill up with names and well-wishes was tempered with the absolute celebration of life happening all around. It was truly inspiring.
It wasn't quite like picking right up where things left off, but it came damn close. A lot has changed. Everyone is older. People I expected to see where not there. The Carolina Furs group broke up again into "Old" and "New" factions. The new group is trying to start a con and seem to be coming closer than anyone else has in the past. I may yet get involved in that. Speaking of getting older, it's clear I cannot do linecon any more. I "lost" pretty much all of the first day of the con to standing in line, and the pain in my ankle was quite severe. I've noticed that I am slower physically, under greater duress while hauling around my backpack full of pins. Still, was able to get back into gear for the second and third day, picking some panels, sacrificing others to hangouts and food, the usual.
FWA's biggest problem is that it's too big! I love the energy this brings but it unfortunately means that you meet people in a "there and gone" fashion. Saw some old friends I had sort of lost touch with. Saw some I hadn't. Met some new folks; got an opportunity to do chaotic good. I bought waaaaay too much swag!
There was so much music this year it almost felt like a festival (newsflash: it was! at least one electro festival was happening at the con). It was so diverse! We had a group doing actual Chamber Music, and a grunge band from Arizona. Another guy was doing synthpop, and then we had Avian Invasion, who is just amazing live. Matt's singing fits real well with his new style of music.
It was interesting too to see FWA giving the adult side of the fandom more space for an outlet. There was a "moonlight festival" event where certain restrictions were more relaxed and alchohol was served in a kind of social mixer for adults thing. There was a general audience gala later on that served the same function. Adult vendors were given much more space than usual as well, while also being kept respectfully out of the way from those who aren't interested or not of age. FWA is a party con and the alchohol flowed, but this year there was an especially bad problem with roofie attempts. I gave some advice to the con admins that I hope will help fix the problem without necessitating restrictions on future "adult mixers". It's the first time they've done something like this and there were definitely wrinkles that needed smoothing out, but I feel like it'll be better prepared next year.
The artist situation was a bit disheartening. The artists filled up their available slots very quickly, and the ones who didn't were either so expensive as to be in-affordable or did their business in such a way that my commissioning rules excluded them from getting my patronage. I did consider relaxing my rules, but I've been burned too often on commissions in the past to take chances, especially with art going for that kind of money.
All in all, the con was a great time. Looking forward to next year already. Came home to find my closet had torn itself out of the wall while I was away and even that didn't bring me down from my convention high, even though it will likely require replacing the drywall.
Note to future me: Try not to buy so much stuff. Awesome shirts are awesome, but you don't need that many, especially if the weight of your wardrobe is tearing moorings out of the wall.
