CCCC 2006: Day Two

I had some crazy dreams during that sleepathon. I was in some crazy house, which I had apparently purchased, and my sister Holli was there helping me. The strangest thing was that the porch was pushing back into the house, somehow jamming into the building. After some investigation, Holli said that I could just push it back out and watch it so that it wouldn’t creep in again. It was as effortless as shoving a chair across the floor, which was odd given that I was shoving a huge concrete structure. There was a second floor on this house as well, which seemed to be filled with unusual furniture that had been draped and otherwise left unattended. Holli wanted to look through it, but she didn’t because, she said, Daddy had told her not to. There was some sort of bay doors off on to a porch with an enclosed glass chamber that looked very Victorian. I remember wanting to get out there, but not being able to because of all the furniture on that floor between where we were and the bay doors.

I have to say that I am fully and completely dumbfounded on what any of that means. A convention dream would have made so much more sense. How can I come to convention and have insane house dreams?

Anyway, I eventually got up and even dressed. I didn’t plan on the first sessions, cuz as anyone will tell you, I’m not a morning girl. I did do a run through the exhibit hall. Actually, it was fairly leisurely, but I foolishly had on my staff nametag so I was a little limited in what I could do. I did identify a couple of books that I was interested in, checked on the tech center, and the pubs booth, which is at the very back of the exhibit hall. Unfortunately, it’s set up in this way where it looks as if you’re already at the back of the room before you get there, and when you do round the corner on one side, you can’t see anyone because the cashier’s desk is behind a huge column. There was no one there at all when I went in yesterday, but I did see my Kit on display, which was marvelous fun. I’m betting they’ll have low sales though. The booth is really not very prominent.

After my exhibit hall tour, I was off to Session C.24: Picture This . . .: Visual Literacies from Zine to Virtual Responses:

The session wasn’t really all that aligned with things I need, but there were some interesting bits. One speaker, Scott Warnock, was using Camtasia to record comments on students’ papers. He mentioned a recent Time article that referred to the rambunctious young kida as GenN, and more interestingly “Screenagers.” He explained that “Technologies are being refined; and we’re gonna use them or they’re gonna use us.” Speaker Jeffrey Maxson talked about “Ethos through Design,” connecting the style and design of riot grrrl sites and zines to intentional questioning of authority. He pointed to the establishment of street cred through their stylistic choices, such as ransom note text, cut-out lines of text, and so forth. Sex Pistols, punk design. What I found most interesting about the entire conversation was that it validated my belief about the entire “MySpace and slow death of the web” discussion on Techrhet. While people were lamenting the horror of students’ color choices and centered texts, I thought those choices might be establishing a communal style. Maxson’s talk would have been a great addition to the implications on the list that those crazy kids just don’t know better. He also shared an excellently fun site: http://www.disgruntledhousewife.com/, with what has to be my new fav new info, Meals Men Like. Now I’ll catch a man for sure.

After C.24, I wandered back to the Exhibit Hall, where I ran into John, Tari, and Bradley. Some brief chat, and then I had to run up to the room to eat something for lunch before I died of hunger.

I attended the 7Cs meeting at 4PM, to provide all the excitement that an ex officio person can. Actually, I think I mainly jumped on my age-old hobby horse. The conversation wandered into plans that sounded amazingly helpful only to tenure track and tenure-interested folks. Generally speaking, the meeting went very well. Especially well, I guess, since I don’t have to do anything. Being ex officio has its charms.

After the meeting, off to the Bedford/St. Martin’s party at the Field Museum. There was an incredible wait for the elevator, and I got to sit and chat with Harriet from the B/SM New Media group on the way over. Inside, I had water and some snacks, and I wandered around among dinosaurs. Sue, the T. Rex, looked mean, especially when I was standing in a line for water and she looked like she was coming right for me. I don’t think she was being very thoughtful.

After a while of wandering about the cavernous room and not finding anyone new to talk to, I decided to head back to the hotel. Serendipitously, I ended up walking out with Cheryl Ball and Moe with the MTU-snow injury. Cheryl insisted that I could tag along to a Kairos party, even though I really wasn’t part of the group. Because of Moe’s crutches, the bus folks loaded us into the first seats on a bus—and Cheryl and I took it upon ourselves to welcome everyone to bus individually. “Welcome to the bus!” :)

After the joyful bus ride, we walked to the Exchequer for the party. Had a nice time chatting with folks from various places. Got to see Joyce Walker and Eric Hayenga, and the end of a couple of basketball games before Tony Atkins kindly escorted me back to the hotel. All in all, a long, but interesting day.