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At Gilliland's, Rosa Oliver presiding. The meeting was called to order at 9:09:49 PM. The minutes were approved as read. The Treasury stood at $4,840.88.
COMMITTEES:
MEMBERSHIP: One new member, Lucille Ennis.
PUBLICATIONS: The June Journal will be an address list - get any changes to the Secretary.
ENTERTAINMENT: 21 people saw "Quest for Fire." The Bradbury talk at the Library of Congress April 26 is titled "Beyond 1984 - What to Do When the Doom Doesn't Arrive."
OLD BUSINESS: obsolete.
NEW BUSINESS: equally so.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The meeting was adjourned at 9:25:57 PM.
At Oliver's, Rosa Oliver presiding. We had a quorum. The meeting was called to order at 9:10:45 PM. The minutes were approved as read. The Treasury stood at $4,699.09.
COMMITTEES:
PUBLICATIONS: If you need a roommate/ride to Chicon, see the Secretary - future Journals may carry notices.
ENTERTAINMENT: No tickets are needed for the Ray Bradbury talk.
OLD BUSINESS: A possible hotel for the next relaxacon is the Best Western in College Park (jacuzzi, sauna, indoor pool, electronic game room, rates from $36 to $48).
NEW BUSINESS: The 5th Friday party will be at Nancy Handwork's. Any interest in a WSFA Saturday at an amusement park? (Editor's note: Who is to be amused?) Craig Glassner has $4.50 discount coupons for June weekends.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The meeting adjourned at 9:36:09 PM.
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The WSFA Journal is the eccentric publication of the Washington
Science Fiction Association Inc. Editor-in-Chief: Jane Wagner, 1000
6th St. SW #312, Washington, DC 20024. Assistant Editor: Joe Mayhew.
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If you can't type, write! I am not picky!
Dear Regina: Greetings! Things here are tolerable. Woody is asleep right now because he has been working mids again. I'll have to wake him up soon to eat dinner, get dressed, and go back to work. Poor man. Hope that the job market loosens up a bit before we get back, which will be in January or June. We knew briefly, but now we are uncertain again. Fun and games. We are still having fun, but no luck. Thanks for writing!
Dear Alexis: Congratulations on your retirement. Is it really non-working when you are writing books? I wouldn't think so. Have fun anyway. Wish that we could get to a convention....Of course, we have our fill of beaches, so maybe it all evens out. Best wishes!
Dear Walter: Hope the Balticon Art Show went well. It would be strange not to see you running something. Say hello to our son for us. (Woody's and mine, of course.) He lives up to his name and never writes us. Your job sounds a lot like Woody's. What do you do? Have fun.
Dear Jane: Are you back from Puerto Rico? How did you win this trip? Do you think that you maybe could come to Okinawa someday, instead? Oh, well. Enjoy yourself unless of course you already did.
Take care, everybody, and write now and then. We really enjoy your letters.
Jane & Woody
The Con Suite 3 blocks from the main hotel was the pits!!! With a small child in tow, who was going to consider going to the con suite - phooey - The Art Show was its usual excellent self - thanks to the hard work of the usual crowd. The hucksters room was the same old crowd. And as usual, who could make most/any of the programming. P.S. Thanks again to Dick Preston for the Youth Center - Something like that should become an on-going tradition. Michael thinks you're good.
There were too damn many people playing at amateur police. Good "security" at a con is invisible and works by persuasion and subversion rather than force and authority--distracting the belligerent rather than confronting him works a lot better.
The huckster room was small, but the art show was excellent. The idea of having the guest artists (pro & fan) selling their works and there to meet their fans was good. The Hyatt was beautiful and the hotel staff appeared more than cooperative.
The film show was excellent, as usual for Balticon - especially "The Howling," "Superman II," and "Dead of Night." The amateur films, on the whole, were good although there weren't very many of them. The shorts were nice, particularly the claymation on the dinosaurs and of course Jittlov's shorts.
The Hyatt is too small (in terms of meeting room space) for a 2600 person con, not to mention the food & drink policy. The Art Show - quality aside - was overcrowded (hangings too close). The hallway video program clogged up an area that should be free-flowing. Find a room for it.
The dealer's room is one of the most important parts of a con for me, & this year's was a serious disappointment. There just wasn't enough space for a decent number of tables. And the matter of parties - walking three blocks in damp cold is not the best way to get in a party mood! We were very lucky it didn't rain. And since Balticon is often earlier than it was this year, future Balticons at this location run the risk of being frozen and/or rained on. The masquerade worked out well thanks to Marty Gear, but lack of communication on the con committee pretty well destroyed the chance of decent photo opportunities. If the photo area had been set up early as Marty planned it, I could have gotten a lot more pictures. As it was, since I was working on the masquerade during & after, I had very little time to chase down costumes - I'd been counting on the time before the show.
My sister (gopher coordinator) says it was a success - she lost 3 pounds.
Registration ran better than last year, but NEXT YEAR it will be run better. Badges will be ready earlier & master list will be copied and at-the-door people will be instructed to write NAMES on ALL BADGES...
I have no real idea what went on there.
I got the impression that there was this 3-ring circus swirling around the periphery of my reality. Too many gangs - Scorpions, Warriors, Droogs - Maybe next year's Balticon should be just a big mediacon, advertised on TV and aimed at all those thousands of affluent, bored, suburban kids who are looking for a good time downtown.
Shoot Dalroy Ward.
We need a bigger room for scientific programming! I liked the rest. The trek to the other hotel for coffee & doughnuts was well worth it.
Next year's Balticon will serve no alcoholic beverages. Why? We don't need teenage drunks.
Too many people; encounters of the wrong kind.
Great art show, lovely hotel and area - never got to other hotels for parties though so didn't get full feeling of "CON!" ConStellation should be fun.
As a security guard I feel that Balticon 16 was a total *expletive deleted* - even more total insane asylum escapee party.
I ran into a bunch of friends who were determined to have a good time. We did - despite the !@#?* hotel. The con itself seemed pretty good - I only ran into one obnoxious Twit and one stinkbomb.
Had a reasonably good time Saturday in spite of the problems (no parties, hostile security people, parking which would tax the resources of many countries to pay, and a crowd at each function I attended). Many of the problems can be solved next year, and hopefully will be.
For a first con I had a ball - found what a gopher does when not eating my garden - found that a panel isn't only what one goes to when the lights short out - found that all fans that go round and round don't create breezes. In all a lovely educational first of many many more.
Repeat 100 times: I will never volunteer to work crowd control again. I will never....