WisCon: Panels I Was On, Part 2
Jun. 8th, 2005 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pantryslutThe other two panels I was on were "The Politics of Food" and "How to Form a Productive Writing Group."
"The Politics of Food" was a re-run of a panel from last year. This year was a bit more contentious and unfocused. On the plus side: I got to meet Maureen McHugh. I got to talk up CSA's and truck-based organic groceries in West Oakland and school farms in Vallejo.
On the minus side were two audience members. One was a know it all in the food biz; at one point she told me that there are plenty of grocery stores in poor urban neighborhoods. Everywhere, all over the country. At another she told me demand hadn't affected the price of Marcona almonds at all, the precipitous price rise recently is entirely due to fuel/shipping costs and the weak dollar. And who knows, she might be right, but I have my doubts. The other wanted, as far as I can tell, a concrete plan of action for poor people (possibly himself as a poor person, but possibly not) that did not involve compromises of time, energy, or money. Hm.
I wanted to, but I didn't know how to counter the yuppie-foodie vibe and the overly personal focus of the panel. I wanted to talk about the bigger structural issues of food distribution, and I kinda wanted to talk about it in a speculative vein, too -- I mean, this is a science fiction con, after all. I did not articulate this well to the other panelists beforehand, though, and that's my fault. On the other hand, I'm not sure that, given the audience and the other panelists (Barth Anderson, who works for a grocery co-op, excepted), it would have made much of a difference.
Still, it was exciting to get a chance to talk to a large group about these issues for once. Usually, I read a lot and keep it to myself. (Believe it or not :P ) Maybe that's what we needed -- a bibliography. Maybe also more organization beforehand, though I'm usually pretty casual about that sort of thing. Maybe I should have volunteered to moderate...
...maybe I should have let myself be switched to the panel on sex and technology after all. That panel only had two people. OTOH, one of them was David Levine, who can speculate wildly about anything at the drop of a hat. So I thought they were in good hands.
"How to Form a Productive Writing Group" was small and, well, productive, I think. I talked up the San Francisco Literation Front a lot. We discussed various organizational strategies, interpersonal dynamics, and so on and so forth. Again, we had an audience member who was focused on solutions for his particular situation, but in the smaller, more focused setting, this seemed more do-able. Also he seemed more flexible. I ended up being the only one on the panel for the last fifteen minutes because everyone else had to run to catch a plane.
"The Politics of Food" was a re-run of a panel from last year. This year was a bit more contentious and unfocused. On the plus side: I got to meet Maureen McHugh. I got to talk up CSA's and truck-based organic groceries in West Oakland and school farms in Vallejo.
On the minus side were two audience members. One was a know it all in the food biz; at one point she told me that there are plenty of grocery stores in poor urban neighborhoods. Everywhere, all over the country. At another she told me demand hadn't affected the price of Marcona almonds at all, the precipitous price rise recently is entirely due to fuel/shipping costs and the weak dollar. And who knows, she might be right, but I have my doubts. The other wanted, as far as I can tell, a concrete plan of action for poor people (possibly himself as a poor person, but possibly not) that did not involve compromises of time, energy, or money. Hm.
I wanted to, but I didn't know how to counter the yuppie-foodie vibe and the overly personal focus of the panel. I wanted to talk about the bigger structural issues of food distribution, and I kinda wanted to talk about it in a speculative vein, too -- I mean, this is a science fiction con, after all. I did not articulate this well to the other panelists beforehand, though, and that's my fault. On the other hand, I'm not sure that, given the audience and the other panelists (Barth Anderson, who works for a grocery co-op, excepted), it would have made much of a difference.
Still, it was exciting to get a chance to talk to a large group about these issues for once. Usually, I read a lot and keep it to myself. (Believe it or not :P ) Maybe that's what we needed -- a bibliography. Maybe also more organization beforehand, though I'm usually pretty casual about that sort of thing. Maybe I should have volunteered to moderate...
...maybe I should have let myself be switched to the panel on sex and technology after all. That panel only had two people. OTOH, one of them was David Levine, who can speculate wildly about anything at the drop of a hat. So I thought they were in good hands.
"How to Form a Productive Writing Group" was small and, well, productive, I think. I talked up the San Francisco Literation Front a lot. We discussed various organizational strategies, interpersonal dynamics, and so on and so forth. Again, we had an audience member who was focused on solutions for his particular situation, but in the smaller, more focused setting, this seemed more do-able. Also he seemed more flexible. I ended up being the only one on the panel for the last fifteen minutes because everyone else had to run to catch a plane.
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off topic
Date: 2005-06-08 07:28 pm (UTC)Re: off topic
Date: 2005-06-08 08:10 pm (UTC)Re: off topic
Date: 2005-06-08 08:26 pm (UTC)Re: off topic
Date: 2005-06-08 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:31 pm (UTC)The Wiscon CoH!
Date: 2005-06-08 07:45 pm (UTC)Re: The Wiscon CoH!
Date: 2005-06-12 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-09 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 01:24 pm (UTC)Thanks for the Politics of Food writeup--I'd really wanted to go to that (& about 3 other things at the same time, of course) but I remember during that block really really needing a break & spending the hour in my hotel room drinking tea instead. ;) I would love if that panel ran a 3rd year, though...