Totally Don’t Worry About The Bears
So while I was in transit on Friday afternoon, the news came: the Alaska Robotics Mini-Con is back on for 2017! School programs! Camping! Probably not getting mauled to death by enormous land predators!
Everybody that went to last year’s confab in/just outside lovely Juneau, Alaska, has relayed a tale of renewal of purpose and energized creative batteries. Alaska Robotics honcho Pat Race has invited a slew of guests for public programs and opened up applications for the really appealing part for the creator community: the camp.
A few dozen creators/aspiring creators/interesting people will get to attend an informal confab in the temperate rainforest, sleeping in cabins, eating s’mores, hanging out with other cool people away from deadlines and internet; the invited guests will be there, and you might as well. I’m filling out an application and hope that I make the cut (given the limited capacity of the camp, I might not; if Race has to choose between accepting me and allowing, say, a Boulet or a Jeff Smith¹, I hope he goes with them and not me).
Now here’s the rub: this isn’t a show weekend to vend and make money (there is a one-day public con component, but the real attraction is the camp); it’ll cost US$600 to attend (including lodging and food), and getting to Juneau will certainly cost more. Look at it as a professional-development opportunity of the first rank, a weekend-long equivalent of Comics Grad School. And if you’re still not convinced, consider that ARM-C has the absolute best code of conduct/harassment policy ever:
Many conventions have harassment policies and we feel like it’s important to approach this event in the spirit of inclusion. We love the many varied groups and fandoms that congregate at comic conventions we’ve attended and we want everyone to feel safe and welcome at our convention. If anyone makes you feel unsafe or goes out of their way to make you feel uncomfortable, let us know. We’ll feed them to the bears. [emphasis mine]
More information at the site, at the intro video, and at the camp exploration video; the application is also available for your perusal.
Oh, and if I do get in, I’m planning on bringing my trauma bag, so if they do feed you to the bears, I can probably patch you back up again.
Spam of the day:
Luukkaan evankeliumi, luku 12. “kukaan ei tiedä, milloin tuomiopäivä koittaa, ei edes Jeesus itse, vaan yksin Isu;o&qu.t¤mÃtta Jehovat tuntuvat tietävän, tai aikankin ajankohta on ainakin tarkentunut:).
Google Translate assures me this is a somewhat-garbled extract of the Gospel of Luke, in Finnish. Just in case you were wondering.
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¹ I have no idea if they’re applying, I just went with people that it would be insanely cool to learn from.
As a Finn, I can tell you it’s not proper Finnish. It resemples Finnish, but the especially the later half is grammatically all wrong and makes little sense. And the most of the commas are in the wrong places. So yeah, thanks for reassuring me that I won’t be loosing my job as a translator to machines just yet! ;)
By Inachis on 01.10.17 6:41 am
“maled to death”? My eyebrows are raised.
By Bathymetheus on 01.10.17 11:53 am
Typo fixed. Stupid editor.
[Editor’s note: Yeah, my bad.]
By Gary Tyrrell on 01.10.17 12:56 pm
[…] It’s doubtful I’ll be able to be there, as I’m applying for the Alaska Robotics Minicon Camp in Juneau that same […]
By Fleen: The Awkward Christmas Dinner Of Our Obligation To Existence » One Day To Go And Finding The Good Where We Can on 01.19.17 3:02 pm
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