Liz Argall

I have scrimmaged, I have scrimmaged intensely with incredible skaters. I have scrimmaged for two half hour periods, but I have never been in a roller derby bout. I’ve also never played co-ed derby before.

Tonight I will bout for the first time, in front of a paying audience, one team against the other. Our teams are rare exotic birds, once every few years the world turns upside down and Non Skating Officials try their hand at skating, Skaters try their hand at refereeing, Referees will be announcing and nsoing, and Announcers will be nsoing.

I am excited, I am scared, I am hungry for blood, I don’t want to hurt my fellow nsos. I am honored to be part of this NShObo tradition, skating with so many wonderful officials and glad it will be my first bout.

We’ll be playing at Sk8te town in Port Orchard, a few hours from Seattle today, Saturday August 17 2013. First bout Overbeaters Anonymous Skating against the Hungry Hungry Hippocrates Starting at 5pm and then we skate at 7pm
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More info on facebook.
More info on brown paper tickets.

NShObos (wearing pink):
Hussy (Captain)
Thurston
Davistation
Miss Nomer
Chronos
StayC/DC
Shutter
Bill Barnum
Coached by John Foul John and Eve L D’MeanHer

NSOooooo Good Lookin’s (wearing white)
Trip O. Treat
Dolemout
Nine Inch Wheels (Captain)
Skol n Masochism
Betsy Nails (this is me)
D-Cup
King Ad-Roll
Justin Jones
Les R. Evil
Coached by Mama Chewie and Miss Red

Some of my favorite parts of fandom, gaming and pop culture have been critiqued by a vocal but all too defining minority.

Things I really don’t need to hear or have implied include “Women are ruining fandom!” “Diversity will mean quotas and lower standards!” “Where are the young people? Fandom is dying because they don’t support my parties and why don’t they laugh along with my friend’s sexual harassment?” “Complaining about bigotry, bullying or systemic issues will destroy what is good and is off topic anyway.” “The wrong things have popular appeal and $60 is too easy a threshold for voting rights and it could ruin everything! Why, voting might get as cheap as $20 if we are not eternally vigilant!” … Cause we all carelessly throw around that kind of money… And so on, ad nauseum.

People who make me care about fandom, inspire me, encourage me, build diverse communities of practice that make me want to dream bigger and better are called menaces and ruinations. Sometimes I am lumped into the group that is called a ‘ruination.’

I don’t like it when incredible people I know are misrepresented, under represented, and sometimes you just have to celebrate your awesome-sauce. Cheryl Morgan was called a menace to fandom because she created the fanzine Emerald City (1995-2006), which existed in digital and well as print. How dare a science fiction fanzine use something as science fictional as the internet? It just wasn’t fair! Cheryl designed badge ribbons in emerald and gold that proudly proclaimed menace to fandom.

Recent controversies have made quite a few of us want to wear a menace to fandom ribbon, given menace reflects people, issues and activism that make our communities of practice a better place to be. A place that dreams of a complex future and likes seeing a more complex past.

I don’t have a ribbon, but this is possibly the first piece of fan art inspired by a ribbon.

I have also created a blank version, so you can write your own menace statement and wave your manage flag high. I’ve written a few definitions of menace, but there’s also space to write your own.

You’re welcome to use and spread both versions of the image, though I would appreciate it if you use it within a human rights/social justice framework that seeks to dismantle bigotry and oppression… ’cause, you know, more awesome is more awesome :)

At Wiscon I had Indian food with great people. Because of this I was challenged in a way I have never been challenged before. I don’t know how many times I tried to write a poem about The Tick that night. I know I mumbled spoon, city, thick layery chocolate cake of justice. Trying to write like the Tick is a kind of poetry and I wanted to do more than mimic the poetry of one of the best surreal poets in superheroism (is surreal the correct word? he certainly has dream-like qualities. An absurd poet of some sort).

After twitching my fingers like antennae for a saag paneer unit of time, I responded to the Ticks verbal poetry by switching into another mode and created visual poetry. I hope someone tries to do an audio version! You can read my poem, among many other fine poets who use actual words over at Smashwords for free! I am particularly fond of Mary Robinette Kowal’s elegant ode to Robin’s legs.

Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry, edited by Michael Damien Thomas and Shira Lipkin.

And in real world physics my Things over on Things Without Arms and Without Legs have been exploring some of the mind bending awesomeness of this universe of ours. Today is my first (but not last) comic about anti-matter!

 

 

Five things authors and artists put in their bags of holding.

You can find out what’s in my bag, as well as the bags of Elizabeth Bear, Kyle Cassidy, Wes Chu, Eugene Myers, Scott Lynch, Lynne M. Thomas, LaShawn M. Wanak, Chuck Wendig, and A.C. Wise.

What nice company!

Did you know the Canberra Speculative Fiction Writers Guild (spec fic writers of MY hometown) are writing a book in a day to raise monies for Paediatrics at the Canberra Hospital? I love the audacity and intense collaboration of this project, go check it out!

Best wishes to all the mad creators diving in, may the words and imagery be with you.

Last day to vote for Things mini-comic content, what will the Things be?

One my blog posts has been reproduced over on the Science Fiction Writers of America website, Jelousing Is the New Writing Exercise.

Meanwhile, over on the Things website, you to vote for which comics will go into the first print version of Things Without Arms and Without Legs. Please help me decide and let me know which comics you like the most (there’s a shortlist to make your life easier).

Oh wow, I love this song. When I saw it on Scalzi’s blog I expected it to be a fun affirming song to start my day with. I didn’t anticipate crying for the whole song while smiling.

I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear this. Proving yourself can just become second nature.

There were conversations with perfectly nice human beings I didn’t have a party recently, because I didn’t have the energy to prove myself. I probably didn’t need to prove myself with some of them, but I didn’t have the energy to roll the dice and find out. I stuck to the safety of my own gender when it came to strangers and I remember thinking – “I should chat to some of the guys, but I don’t know if I’ll have to push to get over a threshold and prove that I’m human. I just can’t cope with that right now.” As I was leaving I briefly chatted to two of the guys who were bantering with a mutual friend and thought “These guys are awesome! This feels easy and natural, there is no proving here. I should have introduced myself and now it is too late.”

There are things that can be challenging about social interactions for folks of all genders, but if you get exhausted, just want to feel effortlessly human and return to the safety of your gender/ethnicity/morphology/socio-cultural-formation in a “networking” (uggggh, I hate that word) situation it’s a lot easier if your category has more people with power in it.

… anyway, what a nice anthem and assertion of space. We are here, we are, and maybe, if we stand strong enough, that can be enough. Thanks Doubleclicks!

Submit your own Geek Girl Sign here.