girlie jones

I always get taken by surprise by antisemitic remarks. It always puts me back into my shell and makes me wonder if I really should be so open about the fact that I am Jewish. I wish telling people I am didn't feel like some kind of secret about me that I had to disclose.

Today, the guy at work I was telling you about before said this, in response to my remark that I am going to a wedding in Israel:

Him: Is it a friend?
Me: No it's my cousin's?
Him: Are you Jewish?
Me: Yes.
Him: You don't look Jewish. You don't have a big nose or anything.
Me: *drinks from my bottle of water*
Him: There's nothing meant by it one way or another. It's just a remark.
Me: And if I didn't have the cultural baggage I come with, it would be.

Just had an email about who is eligible to vote in the Ditmars.

The Swancon website currently says: Members of the previous natcon Convergence 2 as well as members of Swancon 33 “The State of the Art” will be eligible to vote in the final ballot.


I believe the intent is to remove the home advantage bias by opening up voting eligibility to the previous Natcon members. That is, you need to be a member of at least one of the Cons - this one and the last one - to be eligible to vote. I need a venn diagram. Basically, it's to include as many people as possible to vote not exclude. So if you're coming to Swancon, you can vote (up to March 21) or if you went to last year's Natcon, you can vote (up to March 21).

Also... some trivia for the weekend, since I was already at the website:

Who is this Ditmar person?
The Ditmars are named after Martin James Ditmar (Dick) Jenssen, a founding member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club. Martin financially supported the awards until about 1975 and is still active in fandom.

Thank you to whomever sent me the lovely gift for my birthday from Amazon. What a lovely surprise.

And thanks for the laugh you gave my postmaster and myself at the name you addressed it to!