So, do I go to femmeconne this year?

[stephbg]

At last year's femmeconne I met and connected with old friends, got to know some people better and met some bright new shiny people. That was great.



There were some confrontational aspects to the program (or lack of program), and times where I just couldn't fit in. I lurked on the fringes too much, which made me a little sad. Too many bad memories of childhood camps. I like to hang and chat, really, but it's hard to get into the mode. The screaming children thing is an issue I can't ignore.

This year if I go I will need to self cater, which is no biggie, but if I don't stay overnight and drive there and back at least twice, the costs look quite significant.

But I know that if I do go it will be a great experience and I'll be unlikely to regret it.

What are people thinking? How are you making your choices?

What's my deadline?

Comments

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

The structured bits were the best bits for me. I felt very cast adrift last year when the program basically didn't happen. I don't recall having a problem with personally confrontational content. I'm not keen on abstract academic feminism, but am quite comfortable with the idea of wandering off at those times. Fire is good.

Something else that's out of your control is the acoustics in the main meeting hall. It's so boomy that I can't understand a word if there are too many conversations going at once. So in theory when people are most relaxed and just generally chatting, I'm at my most isolated.

[transcendancing.livejournal.com]

Well hopefully adjusting the scheduling will work a bit better to make sure that everything happens.

You're right about the acoustics not being something we can do much about though...

Personal vs Academic - those are choices people will weather themselves i think, though better if I try and mix things and other less heavy stuff up in amongst it.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Do you think if we brought in curtains and stuff to hang over the windows that might help to absorb some of the noise?

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I suspect the suspended wooden floor would be more of an acoustic problem than the walls and windows, so rugs might be a better bet.

(a) I don't know, and
(b) I can't imagine we can do this practically.