Kevin dancing with Pernilla Wahlgren at Allsang på Skansen
Well then, in the last three months, I’ve been to Sweden to catch Covid-19, helped run a rodeo, presented on the possibilities of quantum computing for weather/climate forecasting, and attended PacAnthro Weekend aka PAWCon, as well as trying to keep the routine business of the ICG ticking along…
Peregrinations and other fluffy stuff
My last post was from SeaTac airport as we were en route to Reykjavik and Stockholm for a long-overdue non-volunteering vacation. Reykjavik was a far-too short visit, and on Monday we moved into our lovely-if-at-the-top-of-4-flights-of-stairs apartment in the middle of Gamla Stan (The Old Town section of Stockholm). Tuesday we attended the dress rehearsal performance of Allsang på Skansen, a weekly sing-along concert which has been held during the summer in Skansen Park since 1935. I had my rainbow mohawk up and was wearing one of the rainbow shirts I’d sewn, and ended up getting pulled out of my seat to dance by Pernilla Wahlgren, the current host of the show. If we’d been there for the broadcast rather than the rehearsal, I’d have been on Swedish TV and streaming!
Toy Unicorn Kevin went to Pride while Kevin isolated in the attic bedroom
Unfortunately, that evening I started feeling poorly, and tested positive for Covid-19 the following morning. I spent the next five days isolating in the attic bedroom while the rest of our party went to Stockholm Pride. A squishy rainbow-maned unicorn toy served as my avatar at those events.
I did recover to do some (quiet) sightseeing our second week in town, including a visit to Uppsala, but missed all of the Pride events. Even so, it was still a good trip, and we intend to go again in 2026.
In September we helped run the Bay Area Gay Rodeo in Guerneville (where I was honored to sing the Canadian and US Anthems again this year), and just a week and a half ago we attended PAWCon (aka Pac Anthro Weekend) just for fun here in San Jose. I bought my first “petsuit” (printed spandex bodysuit) in advance of the convention which turned out to be great fun, and am plotting ways to use it as a base layer for future constumes.
And (slightly less fluffy), as I hinted in the opening, I presented about the potential for Quantum Computing to be used for weather/climate modeling and forecasting to the Storm, Flood, and Sea Level Defense Conference 2023. The short answer: the technology isn’t powerful enough yet to be useful, but there is a 100,000 qubit quantum-focused supercomputing project underway which could get us there inside the decade.
ICG Business
- You may have noticed a subtle change in a few places on our website. The board agreed we should explicitly mention cosplay in our masthead as an act of inclusion. Thanks to Phil Gust for executing the request so quickly. We have members and potential members who identify as cosplayers more than they do as costumers, and this makes it clear that we consider their art a part of what we do; it’s a simple signal of outreach.
This is actually a simple foretaste of the work our Governing Documents Review Committee is undertaking to position the ICG to thrive more in years to come. I’ve written a separate article on this project. - Right now the Board of Directors has reviewed and is in the process of approving the proposed ICG Budget for 2024. There are tweaks to a few line items for the Annual Meeting, the Archives and the Marty Gear Costuming Arts and Sciences fund. Thanks to everyone who offered feedback to their Board representatives! The annual budget is our best (educated) guess on what it will cost to operate for the year to come; note that some line items are to cover contingencies that may not come to pass.
- This year’s Annual meeting will be held at Costume-Con 42 in Aurora, Colorado, the weekend of March 29-April 1 (after a day of excursions on March 28). The meeting is currently scheduled for the morning of Friday, March 29th. That means that now is not too early to think about:
- Reports to present at the annual meeting
- Ratification of the revised ICG Governing Documents, if they are ready.
- Items for the Agenda
- If you cannot attend and wish to assign your voting proxy for the officer election and any other business for the Annual Meeting, you can fill out the online Proxy Form
- Considering nominations for the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award (or asking me to reactivate a nomination from last year)
- Nominations for ICG Officers
- The ICG is a 100% volunteer-run organization, and right now we are sorely short of members on several committees. A relatively small group of people is bearing the load of maintaining all of our activities, and that is not healthy for either those people or the Guild as a whole. Please consider whether you can dedicate a bit of your time and talent to helping us function:
- pubs committee (We still lack both an International Costumer editor, and a ICG Press editor!)
- public relations committee (chair, members)
- tech and web committee (assistant webmasters)
- volunteers to work as assistant archivists (various roles)
- Several chapters have started leveraging our online resources (Zoom and Google workspace). Consider how they might make be useful to you!
As we come up on the winter holiday season, I hope you and yours stay healthy and happy, and find frequent opportunities to dress to the nines during any celebrations you attend. I’m looking forward to Further Confusion in January, and Boskone (where I am honored to be attending as this year’s Hal Clement Science Speaker) and Gallifrey One in February.
Stay safe and wear silly clothes!
Kevin Roche
ICG President
Recent Comments