The Third Time is the Charm
1 month ago
Monday, February 22, 2010
Gee, Now I'm REALLY Sorry That I Missed It. No, I'm Not.
I have a general rule about what goes on in the Pagan community: If Hecate didn't spend her time organizing it (and she didn't) she should shut the fuck up and not criticize. Because I've been on the other side of the spectrum, having spent a cauldron-full of hours doing the work, just to have someone who didn't do anything criticize. And it doesn't exactly inspire me to work even harder next time.
But I'm going to make an exception to my general rule, although I hope this offering will be accepted in the spirit of friendly suggestion, rather than criticism.
Contrast the TED Talks, or Ehrenreich's talk before the Chicago Humanities Festival with the two, count them, two YouTubes that show up if you do a search for YouTubes this month under "Pantheacon."
I'm not trying to pick, per se, on the very young woman who went there to get hit on by Otherkin and to buy a new tail, nor on the folks, above, who took pictures of their friends dressed up in fun costumes. But I'm given to understand that there were wonderful, serious, informative speeches and panel presentations. And they're nowhere to be found on one of America's most influential forms of new media.
A search of last year's Pantheacon offerings would have you believe that, other than the GreySchool of Wizardry and some musical performances, nothing was going on. So it's not as if the problem is that folks just haven't had enough time to get home and load things up onto YouTube.
I'd love to see some of the more serious presentations show up, not only for the many Pagans who, for reasons of family responsibilities, work responsibilities, disabilities, and poverty can't travel to San Jose, but also for those who are curious about us. Others seem to be able to figure out how to do this.
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5 comments:
When I attended the most mundane boring conferences on industry and business -- most of the talks do end up on tape/video somewhere ... perhaps we have to purchase them? But I would think that some of the vendors would insist that the marketplace offerings would be filmed -- and presented on video? Just for basic "spreading the word" about their products?
Jan at Rosemary Cottage
Sounds like a project for the Pagan Newswire Collective.
There really were so many great workshops, rituals, discussions, concerts, etc. that I regretted not being able to clone myself. Hey, S.J Tucker was there - and wonderful.
There was also a very strict rule - NO photos or videos. Some attendees are still in the broom closet and don't need to be exposed on You Tube.
So, except for some of the panel discussions which may appear in a week or two in "official" releases, the only videos you will see are those made by irresponsible fools.
Terraluna,
I completely get the audience privacy issue, and there's no need to film anyone in the audience. And maybe you don't film the Q&A session afterwards. But the actual presentations could be filmed and, as Jan points out, for many presenters, it's free publicity.
If the only videos available on YouTube are those shot by "irresponsible fools" at the premier conference of the wide-ranging Pagan community -- then the public (and members of our own community) will naturally think that these sum up what happens there. Not that partying and costumes and fun doen't have a wonderful place there -- BUT that we do have serious issues at hand (past, present and future) that truly need to be set out and discussed -- at large -- as well as in the conference setting. As Hecate wisely stated -- the presenters could be the only ones videotaped. But I believed that this is supposed to be a CONFERENCE first -- not a festival! Although (as I wrote above) lots of fun could and SHOULD be available to the participants -- videos of wide-ranging issues ((for example: aspects of law (including the McCollum case); business, workplace, home and personal finances and issues; health and well-being etc.)) could be the key to all of our futures.
Just some thoughts! Jan
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