Emchap’s Shit from the Internet 9/12/18 🍠
I spent the last week in Portland, attending XOXO 2018. When people have asked about the festival, I've described it as an internet arts and culture event (which it is), but I much prefer the description I overheard on the conference venue pavilion during registration: the meeting of the mutuals. Started as a conference for digital creatives, it's morphed into a sort of free-for-all conference for the Very Online; where all of Twitter who somehow seems to know each other goes and actually meets each other.
I was, of course, expecting to enjoy it. After all, I am Exceptionally Online. I like people. And much of it was interesting: I saw a goose, the talks were for the most part compelling, and I got to meet a few internet friends in the flesh for the first time (as well as connecting with old BullCon folks).
But, much like Twitter itself, the conference struggled with problems communities of scale. There were twice as many attendees as there were the last time they put on the conference, and not enough small group structures outside of tabletop games (which, no) to avoid overwhelm. I spent much of my time in the auditorium or at the sea of pavilion picnic tables thinking fondly of BullCon's hotel conference room and the round table where I made several friends this last go-around.
There was a quiet room where you could go sit on beanbags with other quiet strangers, but there was no place to be alone. The event was was cliquish in the sort of way that really just means that some people already know each other, and it feels terrible even if you know you're being ridiculous. The free sodas gave me heartburn, and the earnest but over-the-top apologies for small missteps reminded me of the exhaustion of the Discourse.
So, that was a bit sad, and much of it was my own fault in terms of planning for my needs. Such is life. I did still enjoy many individual parts of the conference (meeting a woman whose blog I've read for 10 years, seeing Lizzo perform, the linguistics meetup where the organizer anticipated 5 people and got 50, buying a fake fur coat that makes me look like a Russian spy for cheap).
I enjoyed parts of Portland itself very much. I had some fantastic Mexican food, and a giant pot of cheese fondue, and I met an internet friend, and went to a beautiful Spanish bar, and sat in a perfect pub, and drank an apple spice Jello shot while feeling absolutely contented. (And the food and drink: so cheap!) It's still a ridiculous town that I don't think I want to live in without some major life changes, but I had fun and enjoyed visiting. I'm glad I went.
Shit to read
I finally read Piper Perish (a YA novel about a girl trying to go to art school) and it was great! I would have liked it even if I didn't know the author! A perfect vacation book.
A friend sent me this article about middle class money mindsets with the caveat that he thought I would hate it. I did not, and think that it's worth reading if you're someone who finds the intersection of money and values interesting.
Rich women made some sort of Lysistrata island.
Weight loss is mostly a scam and doctors are (as most women know, certainly most fat people) both very biased and often very unwilling to admit that fact. (A thing I think about a lot is that more than one of the premed students I attended school with who showed up in anthro classes lied about doing the reading and then argued that Christian values were biological.)
My most unpopular actual opinion is that homeschooling and private schools should probably just be illegal (combined with changes to how we fund schools, but I digress). (Also giant CW on that whole piece, it's horrible.)
This comic made me cry.
Shit to eat
Go to Portland.
At the invite of your internet friend, go to Rontoms.
Ask for the brie and sherry wine fondue.
It's $14, so you might think that it would be a small pot of cheese, markups what they are and cheese being expensive.
The waitress will bring you a cast iron pot with a candle and half a loaf of bread.
Will there be grapes?
Fuck yes there will be grapes.
Offer to split your bounty with your friend.
Eat your $7 of cheese, which will be enough, because it is SO MUCH CHEESE.
Full of cheese and toasty bread, roll yourself home or to your hotel, which should be anywhere but the Jupiter because they will make you look at a very large mural of Marilyn Monroe while sleeping and it'll be weird.
Shit to listen to
Let's go hang out with Leon Bridges.
Shit to buy
Go to Buffalo Exchange ("like if Crossroads Trading didn't hate fat people!") and buy the jacket that makes you look the most like a Russian spy. It is the right call.
I considered buying this light coat in Portland this weekend and didn't and I regret my choice. You should get it!