Wednesday Words: Universal Fan Con

I did not plan to talk about this right now. It just came out of my fingers.

I was supposed to be at Universal Fan Con on Friday, but I received an e-mail last Friday that it is postponed because they didn't have enough money to give us the convention we deserved.

I'm still trying to process that, and if you've been on Twitter the past week, you may have seen some more than livid people who were also supposed to attend, some who--unlike myself, who only lives a couple hours from Baltimore and was able to cancel my hotel and parking--are forced to come to Baltimore regardless.

For those who don't know, Universal Fan Con was created for fans of color and other marginalized groups who don't often feel comfortable at the major Comic Cons for various reasons. This would have been my first big convention (Dover has a free one in the Summer), so I had to really build myself up to go. I wasn't even going the whole 3 days, but I've only really lost my original $35 in backing the Kickstarter. Others--fans, vendors, etc.--have lost more.

There are a lot of fingers being pointed, a lot of excuses and explanations that aren't really acceptable, but a bunch of groups got together and are doing a Pop-up Convention called Wicomicon for those who are stuck going to Baltimore this weekend. I've already made plans since, so I can't go, but I really hope everyone has a great time, and it's great that this group is saving the day.

There's still a lot of research I need to do about the people involved, because I'm hearing things now that I haven't before. Something in me KNEW I wouldn't be going to this convention, especially when I received an e-mail for people to confirm their tickets by clicking a link in a previous e-mail I didn't receive because they said they couldn't charge my card (though they did, so that was terrible communication right there). If things turn back around, then perhaps I can trust the parties involved again, but I'm still on a very unsteady fence about the whole ordeal.

Either way, I have off Friday, so I'll be chilling.