No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on March 5, 2014

Today is Ash Wednesday but it is also my Mother’s birthday.

I remember sitting around in some convention green room with a bunch of people with one of those wandering conversations going. You know the ones that go from point A to point B only with many side trips to the rest of the alphabet. Some how the topic drifted to complaining about parents. Everyone was venting about parents and how they didn’t understand them or how they outright abused them. The conversation got to me and I said, “I got nothing.” Some people said that couldn’t be true but those who knew my parents said, “She is telling the truth.”

I really don’t have anything to complain about from my childhood. I am sure at the time I could have given a laundry list of little complaints but they were the usual things children grouse about. I had a good childhood. I was warm, fed, and clothed. I knew I was loved. I knew my parents loved each other. It was a really good situation to grow up in.

My mother made me things like clothing. I had these really great jumpers she made me for the summer. She made me a sit-a-upon for Girl Scouts that I can still use to this day and she was clever creating handles that one could loop through a belt so that you didn’t have to carry it. She did craft projects with me. She baked me the best birthday cakes ever. She kissed boo-boos and explained the world to me.

She taught me the basics of cooking and eventually had me cook dinner once or twice a week so I could learn that magic formula of how to get everything done on time. If we wanted to learn something, she was willing to teach us.

She taught me that women could do anything that they put their minds to. She kept the monsters away at night.

I had minimal sick days during the school year. Hard to pull something over on a nurse but when we were sick, she took care of us and made sure that we knew that this too shall pass. She taught me how to deal with nicks, cuts, and scrapes. And how to know if it was something that needed more than what we had to home. I learned how to wrap a sprain and other first aid things from her.

She is a shining example to all my siblings.

She loves her grandchildren and they love their Baba.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you.

I am still grateful that my Mom is my Mom.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 28, 2014

I found out this morning that Aaron Allston passed away due to a massive heart attack. He was attending VisionCon this weekend.

I first “met” Aaron while I was Shelly Shapiro’s assistant at Del Rey Books. He was a voice on the phone and e-mail for a while. We finally met at some convention and were glad to put faces to voices.

Over the years we became friends. We would catch up at whatever convention we were at and talk about all kinds of subjects. He e-mailed me after Peter had his stroke asking if there was anything he could do to help.

Aaron was a funny guy. He would be quiet on a panel and then come up with the perfect quip that would all have us laughing. His sense of mischievous fun was infectious. There was always a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face.

I knew about his heart problems. We had discussed them at various conventions. I remember one Dragon Con I was so happy to see him because I knew that I had come close to not seeing him except that he had a triple bypass. We talked about that and getting old and life in general.

Dragon Con was where we knew we would run into each other at least in passing. There is going to be an Aaron-sized hole in my Dragon Con this year.

He will be missed by many including me.

My deepest sympathies to his family and friends. He was one of a kind.

I am grateful that I could call Aaron a friend.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 27, 2014

I have been in various forms of fandom for more years than I care count. Ok I could count them but I don’t want to.

One thing that always seems to come into play is drama of one form or another. This happened before the Internet allowed it to be more a part of fandom all the time.

As a young fan I learned various phrases like FIWOL (Fandom is a way of life) and SMOF (Secret Master of Fandom) and BNF (Big Named Fan). I also ran into some bigger than life personalities that left nothing but flotsam and jetsam in their wakes.

I made mistakes and backed the wrong individuals who later proved to be anywhere from untrustworthy to dangerous. I admitted to those mistakes and move on. My BS radar got to be pretty good and after the Dr. Who incident, I am cautious about what I read and hear within a fandom.

Having crossed the line from fan to pro, my activity in fandom changed. But I still observe from the outside. I don’t comment much at all but like the Watcher, I watch what is going on.

Occasionally I will do something behind the scenes but I don’t say anything about it.

I sometimes get frustrated. I can see where fandom is about to tear itself apart but I can’t say anything or do anything because of who I have become. I also see individuals who are bad news hopping from fandom to fandom leaving a trail of figurative bodies behind them.

Fandom can be inclusive and very much exclusive. I am cautious about groups that have an “us vs. them” attitude. But I also have trepidation about groups that bend over backwards to keep people in the fold that are hazardous to the group as a whole.

There is a balance and many groups have struck that balance which is good. The fandoms that haven’t done this and tend to eat their young are the ones that I try to avoid which can be harder when I have done something professionally that puts me on their radar. I am polite but keep my distance.

There are times that I wish I could just open up and give some individuals both barrels and maybe save some people from the agony of dealing with the aftermath. But I also know that the Internet has a long collective memory as does fandom so I sit on the side and watch.

I am grateful for fandoms that work.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 26, 2014

Many things besides the obvious lyric from Avenue Q.

Yesterday ours vanished on us at a rather inopportune time since Peter had finished up a syllabus for a course he is teaching on Comic Experience. (For more information on that click here. It should be a very informative course.)

We went through the usual phone rigmarole about sending signals to the DSL line and all the rest. I had a checklist of all the things I had done before calling them so I could tell them honestly that I had done everything before calling. Once they did a second line test, they agreed that it was something that we needed a technician for. The problem was a very old phone line connecter that was no longer connecting. It was a simple swap of the box and the magical Internet was back.

Props to the technician who listened to what I had done already and believed me when I told them that I believed the problem was at one point in the system.

The phone line never went out so that was good. We send short emails with the iPad and our phones. There was a “stone knives and bearskins” comment at some point but we muddled through it.

Now we are back and happy to be so. It is amazing how much we use the Internet during the day for various things.

I am grateful that I got a technician who listened to the information I had for them when they came to fix the DSL.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 25, 2014

I was asked at a convention not so recently, “Puppets? Why Puppets?” in terms of my entry in the art show.

The obvious is that I like puppets.

I like that it is a practical piece of art that can be used to make more art.

I like the looks on peoples faces both adults and children when they see one of my puppets. I have watched some seriously dower expressions turn to all smiles when they see the puppets I have created.

I like the looks on the faces of the new owners of the puppets. There is so much glee about having the puppet and they really wanted THAT puppet to be theirs. My work is not an impulse purchase so those who invest in the puppet really are glad that they have THAT puppet.

I am a great builder and a good performer. I enjoy using my puppets to produce sketches that amuse others.

Over the years I have found that my calling, as it were, is to teach others about puppetry in all its various forms. I want others to know how nifty puppets are and what can be done with them. And that they are not as hard to make as one would think. Getting puppets in the public eye is the first step of the process for me.

I do enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to convert someone to puppet scale.

I have a talent and I love using that talent to create. Puppets are the form I like to create in.

And I just like to do it.

I am grateful that I can share my creativity with others.

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