Fourth Street panels

[mrissa]

I've seen a few people post their panel schedules for Fourth Street, so here's mine, in case you care:

7:30 p.m. Friday: Reasons Things Go Wrong. With Pamela Dean, Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, and Jo Walton. (In construction of stories, apparently; we will not have time to get into the fall of the Roman Empire on the panel.) (I expect. Do not hold me to that lack. Particularly considering my fellow panelists--I don't know Catherynne and couldn't say whether she has strongly informed opinions on that particular thing going wrong, but oh, I know the rest.)

1:30 p.m. Saturday: Fantasy and the Family. With Kelly Barnhill, Liza Furr, Kit Gordon, Beth Meacham, and Deb Notkin. I am so excited about this panel. This is the panel I always wanted. (Where by "always" we mean "since last 4th St.")

10:00 a.m. Sunday: How to Give and Take Critique. With Beth Meacham, Michael Merriam, Jo Walton, and Tom Whitmore. The programming webpage notes, "from editors, as a beta readers, in writers groups, or from your dog (how to take a critique from your cat would require its own panel, if not its own convention)." This is good, as I have no experience with cats in this regard.

I'm not sure how to say this without sounding passive-aggressive about Minicon programming, but I'll go ahead and try: it's really nice to have my panel schedule two weeks out. (Not quite two weeks now! Week and a half now! But I got my panel schedule before today.) In this case, there's only one of the panels for which I'd want to do preparatory reading--the "Fantasy and the Family" panel--but knowing that is good, rather than saying, "Well, crap, if I'd known I was going to be on a panel about Heinlein juveniles, I'd have made sure I'd reread at least one or two of them more recently than five years or so ago," or similar sentiments adjusted for the panels in question. Time to chew over my reactions and think, "Am I wrong about that? Can I come up with counterexamples to that sweeping generalization I have the urge to make?" before I'm in front of an audience is a definite plus.

Also having an idea when to turn up Friday so as not to miss things is a great goodness I could derive from examining the e-mail because it had other people's schedules in it. (First panel is 3:30 Friday. Which, even given my theory of morning and lunch, fits neatly within my theory of a pleasant Fourth Street Friday.)

Comments

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

For the Roman Empire, I think we can make time.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

All right, now I'm really bitter about missing Fourth Street.

[rosefox]

Cat (who is very much call-me-Cat) has strong opinions on just about everything. I wouldn't worry on that front.

[guppiecat]

I plan to arrive Friday late afternoonish, in the hopes that someone may want to get a dinner group together.

ETA: In retrospect, the above statement could be read as a subtle hint that was not intended. I am not holding out hope that any specific "someone" is arranging anything. I just intend to show up and see if anyone is going anywhere interesting and if a tagalong would be accepted. If not, no big deal.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I would be surprised if you couldn't find more than one someone to choose from, under the circumstances.

Fantasy and the Family

[kitgordon.livejournal.com]

Hi Merissa,
I'm one of your panel mates, and am looking forward to the event. I'm a reader, rather than a writer, so that's where my "take," such as it is, on the topic will come from. With a topic this broad, I'm not sure where to begin, but at least I'll have some time to think about it. I was at last year's 4th Street and really enjoyed it, including your contributions.

Re: Fantasy and the Family

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! I expect this year to be just as good. Or better!

(Nitpicky note: my first name is Marissa, not Merissa. I know the lj name doesn't provide any assistance there.)

Re: Fantasy and the Family

[kitgordon.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Sorry: names are important. I'm usually pretty attentive to detail, but I blew this one.

Re: Fantasy and the Family

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the apology--that you'd take the time to do that means a lot more than a little misplaced vowel here or there.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Though I know that you have nothing to do with this aspect of the con, do you know when a schedule of events/programming/etc. will be available to the public?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Really no idea. But when I find out, I will let you know--assuming no one else comes in and says, "Here is the schedule," on this post.

[prettymuchpeggy.livejournal.com]

4th Street Fantasy! Yay! Vacation! I really look forward to the ideas and conversations that come out of 4th Street. And there is talk of music too.

[keilexandra]

I swear if I'm residing in Northfield or St. Paul two years hence, I will do all that is humanly possible to get to Fourth Street. It sounds so nifty.

Oh wait. It's during the summer. Bah.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, sometimes there are summer research things that work out for summer stays.