Donna Barr's Blog, page 17

2014 Clallam Bay Comicon Spaces

BOOTH FEES: $25 ($27.00 Paypal).  CONTACT for payment instructions.

Upper building, parking, lawn.WHERE:
Clallam Bay/Seiku Lion's Club
90 Bogachiel Street
Clallam Bay, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, United States (Take Highway 112 through Clallam Bay. After the hard left, look for liqour store on the right; Bogachiel Street is the next left).

Upper dealer's roomSPACE: Dealer's Room: main club building. Gaming and music: outside covered porch. Panels: outside covered porch. Parking: around Lion's Club, Old Fire Hall and Clinic parking lot. 
Outside porch: gaming, concert, panels, as needed.
PROVIDED: space, electricity (PROBABLY wi-fi). More Wi-fi is 24/7 at the library, right around the corner. LOTS of table space!

SPACE: Dealer's Room: main club building. Gaming and music: outside covered porch. Panels: outside covered porch. Parking: around Lion's Club, Old Fire Hall and Clinic parking lot.
Old Fire Hall; extra dealers', panel & performance space.
The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2014 Clallam Bay Comicon Panels and Events

Okay. Generally being driven crazy by Google Calendars. So, since we're still small, here's the schedule. Email me at donnabarr01@gmail.com to make changes or put in a panel. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. Make up your own stuff, find your own panelists. You're grown-ups.

Saturday, July 12, 2014: OPTIONAL. Parade, fun, fireworks, parties.

Sunday, July 13, 2014: First Day of 2014 Comicon:

9:00 Show opens.

(Panels and Other events go here).

5:00 Show closes.

Monday, July 14, 2014: First Day of 2014 Comicon:

9:00 Show opens.

(Panels and Other events go here).

5:00 Show closes.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Van Gogh Didn't Hang, Either.

Alanah White  and Stephen Hrivnak and their mandala.(That photo - taken on the Hobuck Beach during Photosynthesis 6 - is just to have something to link a pretty picture for social media postings. But it's a nice mandala they both worked on, and I'm not using it as a bad example.)
Once again, the REAL artist is diffident and ignored, while others get all the attention. At Photosynthesis, the young artists sitting around the bonfire were oohing and ahing over crude mandalas and the fact that somebody had actually pressed down hard enough on Prismacolor pencils to get some color. I wouldn't harsh their buzz - they were having fun, and not being mean about it. And most of them were really math geeks, playing with patterns. Which is a good cross-over. But -
One kid was agog at a poster I'd done, while the others seemed confused. Then I saw her notebook, which was just lying on a log by the fire-pit. 
After flipping through it, I got this quiet child's attention and said, "I'm not going to insult you by saying you have 'talent,' because you and I know that's just a little better ability to see color, or better hand-eye control. But you've done the work. I can SEE you've done the work." 
She'd done her thousands of drawings, and drawn delicate, real nudes, based on friends and herself. Sensitive, soulful, speaking work.
Gorgeous lines, delicate pencils that showed weight, fabulous innovative color - and she had her OWN STYLE. If you're looking for the real artist in the group - look for the one the fake artists are ignoring or snubbing. It's worth it.   Before I told her what I believe about her art, she'd said, "I saw your face, and I knew I wanted to talk to you." I need to run something for Photosynthesis. I don't even know if I got her name, because it was early in the morning, and I was still trying to get caffeine in my brain. She'd even done some things with word balloons. One Of Us was at the show, just waiting to bloom. I hope she's there next year, too.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2013 Clallam Bay Comicon Report

The Gang at the Clallam Bay Inn - fish and chips!Yes, there will be a report. In the meantime, get ready for the 2014 Comicon (links on this page).

Dara Korra'ti making a stamp con report 'zine - because she can! Opening Ceremonies - on the beach! Donna Barr in her Ka-Blam tshirt - at the show!
The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2014 Clallam Bay Comicon

The 2013 Con was bigger, slower, but "ridiculously fun" and built the foundation for an entire new paradigm. Let's just say the Lion's Club said they'd "expand" and let us use the old Fire Hall before they'd let us hold the con anywhere else. News to come - and next year's plans. Right here. Stay Tuned.

Links to the 2nd annual con:

The 2013 Comicon Blog/Record Page

The 2013 Comicon Facebook Page  The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Heron Finished

Extended white wing feathers, like a ghost.In Seattle for the Toonies, saw the mural by my favorite tofu shop is finished. NOTE THE WALL-WIDE GRADIENT! Which is just as perfect in person. And yes, it was done with spray paints. Now THAT's some graffiti!
Perfect gradient.
The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

2013 TOONIES! BlueBear's Perspective

Oh, you wish you were at the Toonies with Cartoonists Northwest this year.  I went because I was up for a Toonie, but Dave Lasky and The Carter Family so much deserved it more! Have some pictures, with BlueBear (found on the beach, came from Japan the hard way). 



Keith
Larry Lewis Maureen ("Mom")
Moore
Pat Moriarty!
Elizabeth, her husband, and Mike the Tackett.
The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

When Pagans Go Off The Cliff

Why can't I use my pretty bathroom as a shrine?I guess my writing page is becoming kind of my political page. So here goes. Do you need to be told this is after a lot of crap on Facebook? So I have a link to a final statement and can go do something more useful?
To my Pagan Friends: When us of the atheist label hit on religists, your snickering, "I say atheism is just a belief, too!" is not only a dumb borrowing from religists, it makes me wonder where your head is at.
First of all, if you find a fuming atheist, remember most of us come from religist households, and it's all damage and repression in those places. Yes, we come out spitting rage and wanting to take on anybody who lights candles and talks to them. So "I met an angry damaged person" is NOT a fucking argument.

Atheism = "Leave me alone to live my life, don't put stupid laws on me or my friends based on delusion, and let me get these #!!! comic books done." It does NOT mean, "I've invented an invisible spirit and now I want peer review in science journals!"
We atheists are NOT going to show up with the sheriff and close down your magic circle - we will probably be joining in because, since we don't have a belief, we don't care about yours, but you have drumming and alcohol and fire, and us and the science community can't resist those (Oh, please. The scientists blow up bathtubs on YouTube).  Oh, and food. Loads of fabulous pagan feasts, because eating isn't one of the Seven Deadlies. An awful lot of religists in this country just offer a little sour wine and some tasteless bread. Really? Although the Catholics do some pretty good spaghetti suppers.
And if you're telling ghost stories, we'll believe 'em and tell ours - as long as they don't become part of what medications we're allowed to pick up at the pharmacy. Now remember who made the Burning Times - and who DIDn't. Oh, and who was killing all the cats - and why. And it wasn't US, thank you.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

"Banzai, Stumpjumpers!"

I'm living where it's often still 1950. My email note to the editor of the Forks Forum:
Hi, Mark -
I couldn't resist. With an author who writes historical fiction in the house, and a history geek making comments across the room, you know we had to do it.

Have fun (I know you can't use it, but I couldn't resist).

Dan was the one who said, "Banzai, stump-jumpers!" He's from Ohio. I keep trying to tell him the PROPER term for Washingtonians is Webfoot. "Stump-jumper" is for Oregon.

BTW, my college Japanese teacher disappointed all of us when she told us "banzai" only means "hooray!"
The letter itself: 

"Banzai, Stump-jumpers."
I know I work for the Forum, but the controversy over the supposed Japanese airfield on the Ozette prairie reminds me of my own long experiences in writing historical fiction.
One of my writing rules is, "If it's funny, it's right." That includes weird, strange, unexpected, or just silly. It applies to writing, historical research and science, especially astronomy - the goofy story is going to be the real story.
Of course, the job of the military is to have attack plans ready, in case the peace negotiations fall through. All governments with a military do it that way; it's their job.
Just for musing - what if the Japanese had actually had contingency plans that included an Ozette airfield? Those of you with military experience can imagine what might have happened.
The Admiral knows he needs a staging area, even in obscure coastal areas, that include airfields. So he assigns the project to his Commander. The Commander passes it along to an area Captain. Some Lieutenant - with, say, art classes in college because - well, they draw, right? - gets the assignment. The Lieutenant grabs some sailor to sharpen pencils.
"Hm," mutters the young officer, looking over old 1899 maps, or if he's really lucky, 1920's surveys. "Well, this place has a sort of harbor look to it. I think this is deep water. What do you think, Watanabe?"
The sailor pauses in setting out the tea, and scratches his head. "I guess so, sir. But is that a cliff? No, wait, sir - I think there's a low place here. Would that work?"
"I wish there were forest or swamp symbols on this map. But I think it was for minerals or something. Well, at least it's flat. We'll use this."
The Lieutenant writes his report. The Captain is happy, and the Commander is happy, and the Admiral is already thinking about something else, and the maps and report are still in a dusty cabinet someplace.
I'm not saying it happened this way - but if any such plans ever existed, I'll bet a sushi dinner at that nice place in Port Angeles that there's some old sailor someplace who could say, "Oh, hai - I remember Lieutenant Rioku had me doing something with maps."
I'd bet dessert that somebody's trying to get out of paying reparations for interning the coastal Japanese, but I'm full.
Pass the saké.The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...

Eating in Seattle - Café Soleil

Writer Bruce Taylor was hold a table for comics classic Roberta Gregory and me at Seattle's Hot Spot. 
On the way to meet Bruce, we passed a little restaurant that was nearly empty - but a waitress was delivering two big breakfast plates that looked and smelled divine.
Hungry?It was Mother's Day, and the Hot Spot was slammed. Bruce was still waiting. So I suggested we head back and check out the other café. 
Plenty of room in a big, roomy hall, with both outside walls mostly window. Now, let's just have the facts:
Café Soleil, Ethiopian Restaurant. Devoted to the organic and real.
Big, tasty, American-style breakfasts, served fast (haven't had a chance to try the Ethiopian dishes, but the dinner menu looked yummy). Fried potatoes tender and crisp, eggs tender, goat cheese, sausage and veggies scrumptious. No, it's not all vegetarian, but they have plenty of veggie choices.
Very reasonable prices, right in the Cheap Eats class.
Fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Bottomless cup of STRONG coffee.
Almond milk or soy for the lactose intolerant.
Attention to special needs and sensitivities, such as gluten-free upon request.
Cheerful, out-going wait-staff and cooks.
Bathroom (I always check, for a key to overall restaurant cleanliness): Let us say - old-time post office building needs floor help, but clean and charming. And organic: even the odor spray was nothing but orange oils, with no propellants. 

Where: Seattle's Madrona neighborhood, 1400 34th Avenue, Seattle, WA  206- 325-1120. Lots of neighborhood parking.

We didn't mean to bleed off the line of people standing in front of the Hot Spot, and fill up the Soleil - but those poor people were backed up for days, and neither place is huge. And two good restaurants attract more overall customers than one.  

Now we'll have to go back for dinner!


The Little Store: http://donnabarr.blogspot.com/2007/04...