[PS] theme as inspiration

[Bridget J Boyle]

We are not going to have get to know you meetings. Frankly we are too  
diverse geographically to do so. In it's place I will be sending  
memos. Feel free to discuss, debate, and debunk them. This one is  
about how Jill sees Arisia 2009. I helped her in the beginning with  
some of her ads. So I have an idea of what she was thinking. She  
wants us to look at the very foundations of what makes SF tick. What  
makes a con Arisia. This is all I'm going to say on what should be  
programming. I may from time to time veto a panel. But I promise to  
give you good reason for it.

--------some of the ad copy-------------

Here is a summary:

Encompassing the realms of Science Fiction, Science Fact, Fantasy and  
Role Playing, Arisia gives you the opportunity to spend a glorious  
weekend out of the cold and in a Boston area hotel with 2000 people  
just like you. We are imaginative, innovative, intelligent, and crazy  
– all wrapped up in one package. This year’s convention will focus on  
participation with workshops, contests, participatory events,  
discussions, and adventures. Come here to teach, learn, grow (yes,  
good food too!) and thrive in a community set to respect and honor  
the past while building new ideas and work for the future.

And, how, you say, can we do all that in a few short days? We will  
host program panels, talks, presentations, and debates to stretch  
your mind, events where you can watch, vote, take part and dance, a  
far-ranging Art Show to see, experience, and sometimes buy great  
things to enhance your life, variety in store at our Dealers’ Row for  
books, trinkets, clothing, and more that you can take home, socialize  
in the hallways, Con Suite and in planned events with people you  
already do and will love in your fannish family for years to come,  
play in our Gaming Rooms, sing with our Filk singers, watch some of  
the newest, oldest, and most interesting in Anime and Video, and even  
your kids will have fun in Babysitting (ages 2-6) or Fast Track (ages  
7-12) and learn something they can teach you when you go home.

The Fabric of Science Fiction - Woven from many fibers –facts and  
theories, fairy tales and rumors, gossamer threads of the mind’s  
fancy– Science Fiction and Fantasy warp the imagination by weaving  
intricate patterns that define who and what we are.
How flexible is your mind?
Can you visualize ideas?
Can you explore the Inner and Outer?
Can you change the very Fiber of Life by adding your color, your  
prospective, and thus transmute the dull into the vibrant?
This Arisia, Alter the Fabric of Science Fiction Forever.How flexible  
is your mind?
Can you visualize ideas?
Can you explore the Inner and Outer?
Can you change the very Fiber of Life by adding your color, your  
prospective, and thus transmute the dull into the vibrant?
This Arisia, Alter the Fabric of Science Fiction Forever.

---------points I'd like you to ponder------------

I want everyone to use this year's theme as a guiding force when  
creating tracks of programming. I don't want it to be the master that  
controls you though.
Fabric of Science Fiction.
What make it up?
Science & People? Is that the fabric of it?
Does this mean more panels on how to work with spandex and or Leather  
in costuming?
Sure
Does it mean an art panel on how to choice the proper paper for  
painting?
Sure
But it can mean so much more. It can mean how we have taken SF values  
(Time Enough for Love, Stranger in a Strange Land) into our lives and  
built families around  those fibers.

Thank you for reading,
Bridget