Deborah M. Castellano

Gentle readers,

When I said I would be involved in behind the scene convention work, I had thought I was going to be more, well, behind the scenes. But I was asked by the con chair herself to head the Steampunk/Neo-Victoria Track for the prestigious convention,Arisia in Boston, Jan. 14-17.

I’ve already gotten some of our old pals on board and some new ones.

I will confess, I feel in love with Arisia last year. It was such a pleasure working under rosefox in the Green (absinthe) Room (so much so, that I will likely be grabbing a shift or two for 2011), it was so organized and lovely and I had so much fun with all my green room volunteer friends. I loved how organized and diverse everything was. I was especially impressed that Ms. Eppler not only corresponded with me during Arisia ’10′s crunch time, but that she made time to have a breakfast meeting with me during the convention as well. And, oh, who are we kidding? It was pretty epic at the Gothic themed Skank party, dancing with my new green room friends, the wind blowing through our hair like a White Snake video and a panoramic view of the Boston Harbor.

It’s been great to have time to recharge and to refocus on the aspects I find important in the Steampunk/Neo-Victoria culture, I think you’ll be pleased by our selection of workshops, panels, and other goodies. While I’m the first to confess that playing dress up is one of *my* favorite parts, we will of course have 101 as well. I’ve been especially excited about delving deeper into the more intellectual aspects, such as if Steampunk is the future of the past that never was, what does it do for race, class, and gender politics?

Mark your calendars, gentle readers! It’s going to be an awesome con. I will be keeping you posted on our schedule as it comes.

corsets and kisses,
Deborah

Gentle Readers,

It’s with a heavy heart that I am announcing that we have decided to end SalonCon at this time. We had some really good offers from a few conventions to take us on, but we all have privately come to the conclusion that our hearts just aren’t in it anymore. We’ve all begun work on moving in different directions – Jow and I have become home owners, and a lot of our attention is focused there, Blue is considering grad school in various cities in the country, Jow is changing careers, James is traveling the world, and I have been very focused on my writing career, as well as my day job and possibly starting up a small traveling store.

This is a very difficult decision for me to make, SalonCon was and is my baby. We had a v. solid offer from a v. respectable convention, but I kept hesitating about taking the next steps and I realized I would rather do some behind the scenes work with some conventions as well as some assistant work (which will also likely bring me to cons) with Catherynne M. Valente. We may give workshops in the future and various other things con-related, we will keep you posted here about that.

But I would rather go out on top than fade away. And I feel like I accomplished that – year three landed us interviews with NYT and MTV, we had a good turn out, and we had amazing Guests of Honor.

all my love,
Deborah Castellano
Minitrix of Organization
SalonCon

Last year was really rough on people that I knew personally on some level or another. The majority of my charitable efforts went to donating to paying it forward. So far this year, gods willing, people I know seem steadier on their feet.

I would like to get back to raising money for RAINN. I had a great start with …my annual fund raising dinner with the Amethyst Circle of Sisters and I plan on having more events as well as crafts and writing efforts going directly to RAINN. If you would like to contribute towards my goal, or just keep up with what I’m doing, please check out my RAINNmaker webpage.